Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 9:9
And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth [with] blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.
9. become fine dust, &c.] i.e. be dispersed in the air over the whole land in the shape of fine dust, which settling down on men and cattle, will produce boils. For ’b, fine, flying dust, cf. Isa 5:24; Isa 29:5.
a boil, breaking out (Lev 13:12; Lev 13:20; Lev 13:25) into blains, or pustules. Blain is still ‘commonly used in the West Riding to denote a large pustule or boil’ (Aldis Wright, Bible Word-Book). Wycliffe uses the word of Job’s ‘boil’ (Job 2:7). The Heb. for ‘boil,’ as the cognate languages shew, in which the root signifies to be hot, means an inflamed spot: it is mentioned also in Lev 13:18-20 (a symptom of elephantiasis), 23 (a common ulcer), Deu 28:27 (the ‘boil of Egypt’), 35, 2Ki 20:7 = Isa 38:12, Job 2:7 . Cutaneous eruptions, of various kinds, are common in Egypt (cf. Dt. l.c.): we cannot say exactly what kind is here meant. Di. after Kn. thinks of the Nilescab, an irritating eruption, consisting of innumerable little red blisters, which is frequent in Egypt at about the time when the Nile begins to rise in June, and often remains for some weeks upon those whom it attacks (Seetzen was attacked in this way two years running, iii. 204 f., 209, 377): it is attributed either to the unhealthy condition of the water at the time (cf. on Exo 7:23), or to the excessive heat. It is not known to attack animals; but that is no objection to its being intended, in what is represented by the writer as miraculous.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A boil – Means probably a burning tumor or carbuncle breaking out in pustulous ulcers. The miracle consisting in the severity of the plague and its direct connection with the act of Moses.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. Shall be a boil] shechin. This word is generally expounded, an inflammatory swelling, a burning boil; one of the most poignant afflictions, not immediately mortal, that can well affect the surface of the human body. If a single boil on any part of the body throws the whole system into a fever, what anguish must a multitude of them on the body at the same time occasion!
Breaking forth with blains] ababuoth, supposed to come from baah, to swell, bulge out; any inflammatory swelling, node, or pustule, in any part of the body, but more especially in the more glandular parts, the neck, arm-pits, groin, &c. The Septuagint translate it thus: And it shalt be an ulcer with burning pustules. It seems to have been a disorder of an uncommon kind, and hence it is called by way of distinction, the botch of Egypt, De 28:27, perhaps never known before in that or any other country. Orosius says that in the sixth plague “all the people were blistered, that the blisters burst with tormenting pain, and that worms issued out of them.”
[Anglo-Saxon] Alfred’s Oros., lib. i., c. vii.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A burning scab, which quickly raised blains and blisters; whereby they were both vehemently inclined to scratch themselves, and yet utterly disenabled from it by its great soreness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt,…. Which ashes, thrown up into the air, should be so multiplied and spread as to be over all the land of Egypt, and come down like showers of snow or sleet everywhere, only of a hot and scalding nature; or these handfuls of ashes were to be cast up into the air, and come down in the above manner, about Pharaoh’s court, as a sign and token of what would be the case all over the kingdom:
and shall be a boil breaking forth [with] blains; that is, these ashes becoming a small dust, and falling down like the dew, snow, or sleet, yet hot and burning, should produce sore boils, burning ulcers, hot carbuncles, rising up in pustules, blisters, and buboes, which last word is pretty near in sound with the Hebrew word here used:
upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt; so that, as the last plague affected their property, substance, and riches, which in those times greatly lay in cattle, this, besides that, would affect their persons, and give them exceeding great pain, though it might not issue in death.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
9. And it shall become small dust The ashes shall scatter in a fine powder, the grains of ashes being exceedingly small, and easily blown abroad .
A boil breaking forth Literally, a hot, burning sore, breaking forth into pustules . In previous plagues the water had been made their enemy, the dust of the earth had been changed to vermin, their wealth in the fields had been smitten, and now the strength and pride of their cities are cursed . The temples and treasure cities are cursed in the plague that is scattered from the ashes of the lime-kiln . It is the unrequited toil of Israel’s multitudes upon these vast public works that now burns and fevers man and beast through all Egypt .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 9:9. A boil breaking forth with blains This should be rendered, an inflammation breaking forth into blains; for blains generally arise from inflammations, and more usually break forth into boils, than boils into them: but if by boil we understand, with Johnson, only a sore angry swelling, it may then be very proper; for the original, word shechin, signifies an inflammatory swelling. Bishop Patrick observes, that “the ashes, which they strewed into the air, came down a small fleet, like hoar-frost, which scalded the flesh of man and beast, and raised a blister upon every part where it fell;” for it is certain that the word shechin, signifies an inflammation which makes a tumor, as we translate it, Lev 13:18-19. It turned into such a grievous ulcer, that Moses speaks of it afterwards as an unusual plague, and calls it the botch, or inflammation of Egypt. Deu 28:27.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Deu 28:27 ; Rev 16:2 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 9:9 And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth [with] blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.
Ver. 9. A boil breaking forth. ] This Moses threateneth to all disobedient persons Deu 28:27 Job’s boils were rather probational than penal. So were Munster’s ulcers (medicinal they were, howsoever), which he showed to his friend, and said, Hae sunt gemmae et pretiosa ornamenta Dei, quibus Deus amicos suos ornat, ut eos ad se attrahat. These be those gems and jewels wherewith God adorneth his best friends, that he may bring them nearer to himself. a
a Manlii, loc. com, p. 127.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man. Hebrew. ‘adam, with art. = mankind.
beast. Other than those “in the field”, Exo 9:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a boil: Lev 13:18-20, Deu 28:27, Deu 28:35, Job 2:7, Rev 16:2