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The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:20-32
The Fourth Plague. I. THE SUPERSTITION OF EGYPT IS MADE ITS SCOURGE. 1. The land was covered with the sacred beetle. It swarmed upon the ground and in their homes. No movement was possible without crushing or treading u…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:21
Swarms of flies is an unfortunate translation of a single substantive in the singular number, accompanied by the article. A mixture, etc; is nearly as bad. The writer must mean some one definite species of animal, which…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:22
I will sever in that day the land of Goshen. On the position of the land of Goshen, see the Excursus on the Geography. The "severance" is a new feature, and one distinguishing the later from the earlier plagues. It was…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:23
A division. Literally "a redemption," i.e; a sign that they are redeemed from bondage, and are "My people," not thine any longer. To-morrow. Particulars of time and place are fixed beforehand, to mark clearly that the v…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:24
A grievous swarm of flies. Rather "a multitude of beetles." As with the frogs, so with the beetles, it aggravated the infliction, that, being sacred animals, they might not be destroyed or injured. Beetles were sacred t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:25
In the land—i.e; in Egypt within the limits of my dominions, so that I may not lose sight of you—far less run the risk of losing you altogether.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:25-32
EXPOSITION The fourth plague moves the Pharaoh more than any preceding one. He still cannot bring himself to grant the demand of Moses; but he offers a compromise. The Israelites shall have a respite from their toils, a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:26
It is not meet so to do. So many animals were held sacred by the Egyptians, some universally, some partially, that, if they held a great festival anywhere in Egypt, the Israelites could not avoid offending the religious…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:27
Three days' journey into the wilderness. This was the demand made from the first (Exodus 5:3) by Divine direction (Exodus 3:18). Its object was to secure the absence of Egyptians as witnesses. As he shall command us. Co…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:28
Only ye shall not go very far away. Here for the first time Pharaoh shows his real objection to letting the Israelites go—he is afraid that they will escape him. So he suggests the compromise, that they shall just enter…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:29
The duty of God's servants to rebuke the great of the earth. "Let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more." Deceit is despicable in the meanest of men. How much more in a king! Subterfuge, tricks, lies, are said to be the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:29
To-morrow. As Pharaoh had fixed the "morrow" for the departure of the second plague (Exodus 8:10), so Moses now announces a similar date for the departure of the fourth. He adds a remonstrance against any further deceit…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:31
There remained not one. The hand of God was shewn in the removal no less than in the infliction of the plagues. The complete disappearance was as abnormal as the sudden coming.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:32
At this time also. Compare Exodus 7:13, Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:15. HOMILETICS Exodus 8:25, Exodus 8:26 Compromise not allowable in religious matters. The struggles of political and social life, the conflicting claims of…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 9:1-7
God will have Israel released, Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. The hand of the Lord at once is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, die by a sort of murrain. This was greatly…
The Plagues of Egypt. (b. c. 1491.)
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. (B. C. 1491.) Here is, I. Warning given of another plague, namely, the murrain of beasts. When Pharaoh's heart was hardened, after he had seemed to relent under the former plague, then Moses is sen…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1-7
EXPOSITION THE FIFTH PLAGUE. Hitherto the plagues had been directed rather against the persons of the Egyptians than against their property. Property had perhaps suffered somewhat in the preceding plague, if it was real…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1
Excepting in the designation of Jehovah as "the Lord God of the Hebrews," this verse is an almost exact repetition of the first verse of Exodus 8:1-32. Such repetitious are very characteristic of the most ancient writin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1-7
GOD'S MERCY IN TEMPORAL JUDGMENTS. Hitherto no great loss had been inflicted; now their cattle is taken. In God's mercy the afflictions deepen that Egypt may forsake the path of death. When the Lord's hand falls in heav…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1-8
The plague of murrain of beasts. I. THE ALTERNATIVE AGAIN (Exodus 9:1, Exodus 9:2). Surely Pharaoh was well warned. The analogy of the third plague would have led us to expect that on this occasion—after a second and gl…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1-7
The fifth plague-the murrain among the beasts. I. THE USE WHICH GOD HERE MAKES OF THE LOWER CREATION. In the three plagues immediately preceding God made the lower creation his scourges. He took little creatures, the ba…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1-7
The burthen of man's sin presses on the brute creation, as well as on man himself. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Romans 8:22). Brutes are to a large extent co-partners with man…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:3
Thy cattle which is in the field. The word "cattle" here is to be taken generally, as including under it the various kinds particularised. The cattle are mentioned as being at this time "in the field," because during th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:4
The Lord shall sever. Compare Exodus 8:22. There shall nothing die, etc The original is more emphatic, and might be rendered literally—" There shall not die of all that is the children's of Israel a thing."