Exodus 8 The plague of frogs threatened, vv. 1, 2. The extent of this plague, vv. 3, 4. Aaron commanded to stretch out his hand, with the rod, over the river and waters of Egypt, in consequence of which the frogs came, vv. 5, 6. The magicians imitate this miracle, v. 7. Pharaoh entreats Moses to remove the frogs, and promises to let the people go, v. 8. Moses promises that they shall be removed from every part of Egypt, the river excepted, vv. 9-11. Moses prays to God, and the frogs die throughout the land of Egypt, vv. 12-14. Pharaoh, finding himself respited, hardens his heart, v. 15. The plague of lice on man and beast, vv. 16, 17. The magicians attempt to imitate this miracle, but in vain, v. 18. They confess it to be the finger of God, and yet Pharaoh continues obstinate, v. 19. Moses is sent again to him to command him to let the people go, and in case of disobedience he is threatened with swarms of flies, vv. 20, 21. A promise made that the land of Goshen, where the Israelites dwelt, should be exempted front this plague, vv. 22, 23. The flies are sent, v. 24. Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aaron, and offers to permit them to sacrifice in the land, v. 25. They refuse, and desire to go three days’ journey into the wilderness, vv. 26, 27. Pharaoh consents to let them go a little way, provided they would entreat the Lord to remove the flies, v. 28. Moses consents, prays to God, and the flies are removed, vv. 29-31. After which Pharaoh yet hardened his heart, and refused to let the people go, v. 32. Notes on Chapter 8
The Second Plague—Frogs
Exodus 8:1
Let my people go—God, in great mercy to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, gives them notice of the evils he intended to bring upon them if they continued in their obstinacy. Having had therefore such warning, the evil might have been prevented by a timely humiliation and return to God.
Exodus 8:2
If thou refuse—Nothing can be plainer than that Pharaoh had it still in his power to have dismissed the people, and that his refusal was the mere effect of his own wilful obstinacy.
With frogs—צפרדעים tsepardeim. This word is of doubtful etymology: almost all interpreters, both ancient and modern, agree to render it as we do, though some mentioned by Aben Ezra think the crocodile is meant; but these can never weigh against the conjoint testimony of the ancient versions. Parkhurst derives the word from צפר tsaphar, denoting the brisk action, or motion of the light, and ידע yada, to feel, as they seem to feel or rejoice in the light, croaking all the summer months, yet hiding themselves in the winter. The Arabic name for this animal is very nearly the same with the Hebrew zafda, where the letters are the same, the ר resch being omitted. It is used as a quadriliteral root in the Arabic language, to signify froggy, or containing frogs: see Golius. But the true etymology seems to be given by Bochart, who says the word is compounded of zifa, a bank, and rada, mud, because the frog delights in muddy or marshy places; and that from these two words the noun zafda is formed, the re being dropped. In the Batrocho myomachia of Homer, the frog has many of its epithets from this very circumstance. Hence Λιμνοχαρις, delighting in the lake; Βορβοροκοιτης, lying or engendering in the mud; Πηλευς, and Πηλβατης, belonging to the mud, walking in the mud, etc., etc. A frog is in itself a very harmless animal; but to most people who use it not as an article of food, exceedingly loathsome. God, with equal ease, could have brought crocodiles, bears, lions, or tigers to have punished these people and their impious king, instead of frogs, lice, flies, etc. But had he used any of those formidable animals, the effect would have appeared so commensurate to the cause, that the hand of God might have been forgotten in the punishment; and the people would have been exasperated without being humbled. In the present instance he shows the greatness of his power by making an animal, devoid of every evil quality, the means of a terrible affliction to his enemies. How easy is it, both to the justice and mercy of God, to destroy or save by means of the most despicable and insignificant of instruments! Though he is the Lord of hosts he has no need of powerful armies, the ministry of angels, or the thunderbolts of justice, to punish a sinner or a sinful nation; the frog or the fly in his hands is a sufficient instrument of vengeance.
Exodus 8:3
The river shall bring forth frogs abundantly—The river Nile, which was an object of their adoration, was here one of the instruments of their punishment. The expression, bring forth abundantly, not only shows the vast numbers of those animals, which should now infest the land, but it seems also to imply that all the spawn or ova of those animals which were already in the river and marshes, should be brought miraculously to a state of perfection. We may suppose that the animals were already in an embryo existence, but multitudes of them would not have come to a state of perfection had it not been for this miraculous interference. This supposition will appear the more natural when it is considered that the Nile was remarkable for breeding frogs, and such other animals as are principally engendered in such marshy places as must be left in the vicinity of the Nile after its annual inundations.
Into thine ovens—In various parts of the east, instead of what we call ovens they dig a hole in the ground, in which they insert a kind of earthen pot, which having sufficiently heated, they stick their cakes to the inside, and when baked remove them and supply their places with others, and so on. To find such places full of frogs when they came to heat them, in order to make their bread, must be both disgusting and distressing in the extreme.
Exodus 8:5
Stretch forth thine hand—over the streams, over the rivers—The streams and rivers here may refer to the grand divisions of the Nile in the Lower Egypt, which were at least seven, and to the canals by which these were connected; as there were no other streams, etc., but what proceeded from this great river.
Exodus 8:6
The frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt—In some ancient writers we have examples of a similar plague. The Abderites, according to Orosius, and the inhabitants of Paeonia and Dardania, according to Athenaeus, were obliged to abandon their country on account of the great numbers of frogs by which their land was infested.
Exodus 8:7
The magicians did so—A little juggling or dexterity of hand might have been quite sufficient for the imitation of this miracle, because frogs in abundance had already been produced; and some of these kept in readiness might have been brought forward by the magicians, as proofs of their pretended power and equality in influence to Moses and Aaron.
Exodus 8:9
Glory over me—התפאר עלי hithpaer alai. These words have greatly puzzled commentators in general; and it is not easy to assign their true meaning. The Septuagint render the words thus: Ταξαι προς με ποτε, etc., Appoint unto me when I shall pray, etc. The constitue mihi quando of the Vulgate is exactly the same; and in this sense almost all the versions understood this place. This countenances the conjectural emendation of Le Clerc, who, by the change of a single letter, reading התבאר hithbaer for התפאר hithpaer, gives the same sense as that in the ancient versions. Houbigant, supposing a corruption in the original, amends the reading thus: אתה באר עלי attah baar alai—Dic mihi quo tempore, etc., “Tell me when thou wishest me to pray for thee,” etc., which amounts to the same in sense with that proposed by Le Clerc. Several of our English versions preserve the same meaning; so in the Saxon Heptateuch; so in Becke’s Bible, 1549, “And Moses sayed unto Pharaoh, Appoint thou the time unto me.” This appears to be the genuine import of the words, and the sense taken in this way is strong and good. We may conceive Moses addressing Pharaoh in this way: “That thou mayest be persuaded that Jehovah alone is the inflicter of these plagues, appoint the time when thou wouldst have the present calamity removed, and I will pray unto God, and thou shalt plainly see from his answer that this is no casual affliction, and that in continuing to harden thy heart and resist thou art sinning against God.” Nothing could be a fuller proof that this plague was supernatural than the circumstance of Pharaoh’s being permitted to assign himself the time of its being removed, and its removal at the intercession of Moses according to that appointment. And this is the very use made of it by Moses himself, Exodus 8:10, when he says, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God; and that, consequently, he might no longer trust in his magicians, or in his false gods.
Exodus 8:14
They gathered them together upon heaps—The killing of the frogs was a mitigation of the punishment; but the leaving them to rot in the land was a continual proof that such a plague had taken place, and that the displeasure of the Lord still continued. The conjecture of Calmet is at least rational: he supposes that the plague of flies originated from the plague of frogs; that the former deposited their ova in the putrid masses, and that from these the innumerable swarms afterwards mentioned were hatched. In vindication of this supposition it may be observed, that God never works a miracle when the end can be accomplished by merely natural means; and in the operations of Divine providence we always find that the greatest number of effects possible are accomplished by the fewest causes. As therefore the natural means for this fourth plague had been miraculously provided by the second, the Divine Being had a right to use the instruments which he had already prepared. -
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