more obstinate; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither 23 did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also; his proud heart regarded not, nor was 24 properly affected with it. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river; and they probably found some small 25 quantity for their present necessity. And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river: But during this time, Pharaoh was not humbled; and after this, God probably removed that plague to make way for another. 1. LE REFLECTIONS. ET us adore the almighty power of God in this remarkable change. He turns water into blood, and inanimate into living bodies, and changes them again. How wonderful is his power! and what madness is it for any, even the greatest men, to contend with him! 2. God knows how to overrule the hardness and obstinacy of men's hearts, to serve the purposes of his own glory. He overruled Pharaoh's obstinacy, that he might make himself known to Israel, as the faithful God; to Egypt, as the only true God; the almighty, irresistible King; and to make way for the deliverance of Israel: thus he causeth the wrath and the pride of man to praise him. 3. God foresces the excuses sinners will make, and provides a proper answer to them. Pharaoh will say, Show me a miracle. Sinners will plead in their own excuse, what they retain in their hearts; but God directs his ambassadors to give proper replies. He has in his word furnished answers to these pleas; and it is the business of ministers to study that word, and human nature too, that they may know how to discharge their duty. 4. God sometimes honours the advanced age of his servants with distinguished usefulness. Thus he did with regard to Moses and Aaron, when they perhaps began to think their days of service over; thus he puts an honour upon aged piety. Days shall speak, and multitude of years shall teach knowledge. When God is pleased to preserve the senses and memory, aged christrans should be willing to be employed for God; showing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. 5. Sinners are but hurting themselves, when rebelling against the divine revelation and command. Pharaoh, by his obstinacy, only made his plagues more wonderful: he had better have submitted at once. He thought his magicians could do wonders, and would not let Israel go, even when he saw the magicians overpowered. God's hand will be stretched out till the sinner is humbled, for none ever hardened himself against God, and prospered. 6. God, in the midst of judgment, remembers mercy: during the seven days while the water was turned into blood, some water was to be found by digging pits. He does not let forth all his wrath, but has compassion for a people, while he punishes them for their sins. And has he such compassion for his enemies? happy then are all his friends; blessed are all they that put their trust in him! CHAP. VIII. In this chapter we have an account of three more plagues, the frogs, the lice, and the flies, 1 A ND the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my peo2 ple go, that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let [them] go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs : 3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading4 troughs And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. Moses gives him fair warning, tells him what the plague shall be, and how dreadful to himself and all his people; but he still hardened his heart. And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon 6 the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up n immense 7 quantities, and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. God suffered them to do this; but they were not able to destroy them, nor send them away.† 5 8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, entreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that 9 they may do sacrifice unto the LORD. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs This was a sad plague, as it was constant and general. The creatures were offensive to the sight and smell, made a very disagreeable noise, came upon their persons, hindered their baking, and made their food loathsome. It was a plague that fell heavier on Pharaoh than the former. Psalm cv. 30. they came in abundance to the chambers of the king: No art could destroy them, or keep them out. At Pharaoh's command, they practised some of their divinations, and God gave them success, contrary to their own expectations. Thus they increased the plague and hardened Pharaoh, but could not remove the frogs. from thee and thy houses, [that] they may remain in the river only? As if he had said, Prescribe your own time when it shall be done, that you may know it is the mighty work of God, and not by chance, or any natural means, that the frogs are 10 destroyed. And he said, Tomorrow. He was so loth to be beholden to God or Moses, that he chose rather to endure the plague till next day, to see whether it might not go away of itself. And he said, [Be it] according to thy word: that thou mayest know, that [there is] none like unto the LORD our God. 11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shal 12 remain in the river only. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh and Moses cried unto the LORD because of 13 the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 16 : And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields. 14 And they gathered them together upon heaps and the land 15 stank. This was a further rebuke to the Egyptians. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may be17 come lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land, that is, the dust in every part of the land, became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Here was no warning given, because Pharaoh had been perfidious, 18 and dealt treacherously. And the magicians did so with their enchantments, to bring forth lice, that is, smote the dust, as Aaron had done, but they could not so there were lice upon 19 man and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This [is] the finger of God, the immediate power and work of God:* and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said; therefore this plague seems to have been continued on man and beast. 20 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let 21 my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms [of flies] mixed swarms of hornets, wasps, gnats, and all kinds of troublesome flies, (Psa. lxxviij. 45.) upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms [of flies,], There was nothing more difficult in the producing lice than frogs, but God here frus wated their counsellors, and made their diviners mad. Now the magicians owned a divine power was present, and that it was above all the power of enchantment to do this thing they probably referred to the other miracles as well as to this. It might have been expect. ed that Pharaoh would now have relented, but he did not. 22 and also the ground whereon they [are.] And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms [of flies] shall be there; This was surprising ; for the air was open, and their motion swift; there were much cattle and good food for insects there; but none could pass the bounds which God had prescribed to them; I will do thus, to the end thou mayest know that I [am] the LORD in the midst of the earth, and have the whole creation at my command❤ 23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: tomorrow shall this sign be. He fixes the time, to show that he had a divine commission; to give Pharaoh space to repent; and convince him that it was not owing to any natural causes. 24 And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm [of flies] into the house of Pharaoh, and [into] his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm [of flies ;] the air was infected, and many of the people poisoned or stung by them. Psalm lxxviii. 45. And Pharaoh began to relent, and he called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land; you may sacrifice to your God, but not go out of this land to do it. 26 And Moses gave a remarkable reason why they could not do so, and said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God, those animals which you worship as idols, and thus make them an abomi*nation: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians 27 before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go 25 three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the 28 LORD our God, as he shall command us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away: 29 entreat for me. And Moses, having gained his consent so far, agreed to intercede for him, and said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entreat the LORD that the swarms [of flies] may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD, since the same almighty power can bring even worse plagues 30 than these. And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and entreated 31 the LORD. And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms [of flies] from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not 32 one. And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, continued obdurate, neither would he let the people go, notwithstanding the promise he had made, and the warning he had received from Moses only the day before. The rod of Moses was not used in this instance; God showed that there was no virtue in the rod, and that he was not confined to any particular mode of operation. There was no law for doing this, but they would do it in a popular fury. A Roman in Egypt once killed a cat inadvertently, upon which the people tumultuously met together, beset the house, and killed the man, in spite of the king and princes who endeavoured to prevent it. This story illustrates what Moses here says. 1. REFLECTIONS. WE may learn hence, the uncontroled power of God over the creatures. He doeth according to his will, makes them instruments of mercy, or judgment. See what power he gave to Moses, and to the magicians; and when he pleased he restrained it. He is the great God, and of great power; his understanding is infinite. He overrules various orders of beings; holds infernal spirits in his chains, and restraineth them when he pleaseth, as easily as he does a frog or a fly. Who would not. reverence so glorious a Being! 2. See by what contemptible instruments God can scourge the proudest enemies how easily he can bring swarms of frogs, lice, and flies; and thus cast contempt upon princes. God hisseth for the flies and other animals, he calls them forth with infinite ease; they are all at his control. How much reason have we to fear before him, who can make such small, despicable creatures, the instruments of terrible vengeance! who can make them trample upon, and conquer the mightiest of the sons of men! Herod was destroyed by them; so were some other emperors and princes, of whom we read in history. Let all worship and reverence the King of kings, against whom none can prevail. 3. See what an honour God puts upon prayer, in that he made it the means of delivering Egypt. Moses cried unto the Lord, and entreated him, and he heard. Moses compassionately prayed for this tyrannical prince, and God chose to communicate his mercies in this way. He would have men pray always; and delights to see his servants sensible of their dependance upon him. 4. Professions of repentance are little to be regarded, when they are extorted by divine judgments. This is an awful truth, remarkably illustrated in Pharaoh. When the judgment was removed, he forgot his promise; when the rod was gone, the conviction was gone, and he repented of his repentance. In afflictions men will seek God early, and promise, and vow; but such impressions too frequently wear off: when there is not a principle of religion in their souls, they will come to nothing. If the goodness of God does not lead men to repentance, his judgments seldom do it. The disposition of the heart must be changed (as Mr. HENRY observes) by divine grace, or else, what melts in the sun, will freeze in the shade.' Thus the prophet observes, Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord, Isa. xxvi. 10. When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after God. Psalm lxxviii. 34. This shows how careful and serious we should be in making engagements, lest we add treachery and deceit to our other crimes, as Pharaoh did. |