Like. They got a small quantity of water, either from the sea, from Gessen, (Wisdom xi. 5,) or by digging wells, ver. 24. (Calmet) --- This plague lasted a full week, ver. 25. The water which they found in the mean time in the wells was mixed with blood. (Philo; St. Augustine, in Psalm lxxvii.) Wisdom xi. 7, thou gavest human blood to the unjust. CHAPTER VII. Frogs, not by a new creation; but the spawn was miraculously brought to maturity. (Calmet) --- Angels, or a divine instinct, brought them to infest all places; and thus they became a more grievous plague than that of blood. (Menochius) Servants. The Abderites and Dardanians were formerly obliged to abandon their country by such a plague. (Orosius iii. 23; Pliny, Natural History viii. 29.) (Calmet) --- Here the Samaritan copy adds, that Moses delivered this message to Pharao. (Haydock) Frogs, few in number, and brought by the ministry of devils. (Menochius) Pray ye to the Lord, &c. By this it appears, that though the magicians, by the help of the devil, could bring frogs, yet they could not take these away: God being pleased to abridge in this the power of Satan. So we see they could not afterwards produce the lesser insects; and in this restraint of the power of the devil, were forced to acknowledge the finger of God . A time. Moses thus prevents the king from attributing their departure to natural causes. Pharao was perhaps inclined to suspect this would be the case, and therefore had a mind to wait till the morrow. (Menochius) Corrupted. This helped to produce the ensuing plague of flies, &c. (Calmet) --- The Egyptians might then recollect the putrid carcasses of the children, whom they had drowned. (Haydock) Pharao hardened his own heart. By this we see that Pharao was himself the efficient cause of his heart being hardened, and not God. See the same repeated in ver. 32, Pharao hardened his heart at this time also; likewise chap. ix. 7, 35, and chap. xiii. 15. (Challoner) --- This is the constant doctrine of the holy fathers, St. Augustine, ser. 88, de Temp. q. 18, 28, 36; St. Basil, orat., "that god is not the author of evil;" St. Chrysostom, hom. 67, in John; &c. Hence Origen, periar. 3, says, "The Scripture sheweth manifestly that Pharao was hardened by his own will; for God said to him, thou wouldst not: if thou wilt not dismiss Israel ." Even the priests of the Philistines were so well convinced of this, that they said, (1 Kings vi. 6,) Why do you harden your hearts? God therefore hardened them only by not absolutely hindering their wickedness, and by punishing them with less severity, as they did not deserve to be corrected like dear children, Hebrews xii. --- Perdition is from thyself, Osee xii. 9. Thus God cast Pharao into the sea, by permitting, not by forcing, him to enter, Exodus xv. 4. How shocking must then the blasphemous doctrine of Zuinglius, (Ser. de Provid. 5,) Calvin, (Instit. viii. 17,) &c., appear, who attribute every wicked deed to God, though they pretend at the same time that he is not unjust, even when he commands and impels a man to commit murder or adultery! Idem facinus puta adulterium....quantum Dei est auctoris, motoris, impulsoris opus est, crimen non est; quantum hominis est, crimen ac scelus est. (Zuinglius, sup.) The light of reason may suffice to confute such absurdity. (Worthington) Sciniphs, or Cinifs, Hebrew Cinnim, small flying insects, very troublesome both to men and beasts. (Challoner) --- Like midges. (Origen, hom. 4.) Others think they were lice. (Bochart.) Pharao is not forewarned of this plague. Practiced, fecerunt; the same expression as ver. 7: whence some argue, that the former were delusions, not real changes. (Haydock) --- God was pleased to shew here the vanity of their attempts, and the imbecility of the devil, who could not even bring a single animalcule or insect, though he had before appeared to work great wonders. (Tirinus) Finger, the spirit, (Luke xi. 20; compare Matthew xii. 28,) or power of God, Isaias xl. 12. The magicians here confess, that Moses is something more than themselves. (Calmet) --- Thus God interferes, whenever a contest of miracles, real or apparent, might lead any sincere seeker astray. He caused the priests of Baal to be confounded; (3 Kings xix,) and Simon Magus, flying in the air, was hurled down at the prayer of St. Peter. (Hegesip.) Cyrola, the Arian patriarch, attempting to deceive the people, by giving sight to a man whom he bribed to feign himself blind; and Calvin, who wished to have the honour of raising a man to life, at Geneva, by the like imposition, were both deservedly covered with confusion; while, of those unhappy men who joined in the collusion, one lost his sight, and the other his life. (Gregory of Tours, ii. Hist. 3; Bolsec.) On such occasions, we are admonished to be on our guard, and to adhere to the old religion. (Deuteronomy xiii.; Matthew xxiv.) (Worthington) --- The magicians, though fully convinced, were not still converted. Flies. Hebrew earob. Septuagint, "dog-flies." Some include under this plague all sorts of wild beasts. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] ii. 13; Wisdom xi. 9, 16, 18.) Insects are very troublesome, and the pagans honoured Jupiter with the title of Apomuios, because he delivered them from flies. Beelzebub, "the god-fly," got his name for the same reason, 4 Kings i. 1. (Calmet) CHAPTER VIII. Gessen, where the Hebrews dwelt. The Egyptians who lived among them would not, however, escape this plague. Be. Here again the Samaritan copy observes, that Moses told this to Pharao. (Haydock) The Lord, without the intervention of the rod, lest any inherent power might be supposed to rest in it. (Menochius) --- Corrupted, ravaged; men and beasts being destroyed by their bite or sting. (Psalm lxxvii. 45; Wisdom xvi. 9.) The abominations, &c. That is, the things they worship for gods: oxen, rams, &c. It is the usual style of the Scriptures to call all idols and false gods, abominations; to signify how much the people of God ought to detest and abhor them. (Challoner) --- The Egyptians adored the stars, and even the vilest creatures, on account of some advantage which they derived from them. (Cicero, N. Deor. i.) They sometimes sacrificed animals; though, at first, "they offered only prayer and incense." (Macrobius, Satur. i. 7; Genesis xliii. 16.) Their belief in the transmigration of souls, perhaps, induced them to abstain from the immolation of beasts. (Calmet) Hardened. Hebrew and Septuagint, "Pharao hardened his heart for this time also." (Menochius) My hand. God inflicts the fourth, fifth, and tenth plagues without Moses. Land. Moses related all this to the king, according to the Samaritan copy. All the beasts. That is, many of all kinds. (Challoner) --- So it is said, (Jeremias ix. 26,) all the nations are uncircumcised, though some few observed the rite of circumcision with the Jews. (Haydock) Hardened. He did not beg for a deliverance, as the beasts were dead. (Menochius) Blains. Pestiferous buboes or burning swellings. (Calmet) --- Thus were the pride and luxury of the Egyptians punished by Moses; and they who had kept the Hebrews in an iron furnace, were themselves scorched with fiery ashes and ulcers. (Menochius) Stand before to oppose Moses. They could not screen themselves. (Haydock) Hardened, &c. See the annotations above, chap. v. 21, chap. vii. 3, and chap. viii. 15. (Challoner) --- The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of sins, condemneth: but ignominy and reproach follow him, Proverbs xviii. 3. Plagues of fire and hail, that thy heart may relent. But as all my chastisements will not produce this effect, I will be glorified in thy fall. (Haydock) --- I could now strike thee dead; (ver. 15,) but I reserve thee for a more dreadful punishment, (ver. 17,) in the waters of the Red Sea. (Calmet) Pestilence, or various evils which now came fast upon Pharao. (Menochius) Raised thee to the throne, or preserved thee hitherto from the former plagues. God disposes of things in such a manner, as to draw good out of the evil designs of men. (St. Augustine, City of God xi. 17; Romans ix. 17.) (Calmet) Cattle. Some had escaped the former plague, or the Egyptians had purchased more from their neighbours, and in the land of Gessen. (Haydock) --- God tempers justice with mercy. (St. Augustine, q. 33.) --- Die. This message was accordingly delivered to Pharao. (Samaritan copy) (Haydock) In all the land of. So the Hebrew: but the Samaritan and some Hebrew manuscripts have simply in Egypt. (Kennicott) --- Founded, about 627 years before. Hence it appears, that the rain falls in some parts of Egypt, (Menochius) particularly about Tanis, ver. 18, 34. (Calmet) (Wisdom xvi. 17.) CHAPTER IX. Lateward. The hail fell in February. (Bonfrere) Aristophanes (in Avibus) says, the Egyptians and Phenicians have their harvest when the cuckoo begins to sing. The month Nisan, which answers to part of March and April, was honoured with the first fruits, chap. xiii. 4. (Menochius) Hard. Hebrew, "and he hardened his heart." (Worthington) Servants. They took occasion, from God's withdrawing his chastisements, to become more obdurate. (St. Augustine, q. 30, and 36.) Scandal, or source of repeated misery; whether they meant their own resistance to God's orders, or Moses, with the Hebrew nation. (Calmet) Herds. Out of which the Lord may choose what victims he requires. (Menochius) --- The people of Egypt kept solemnities of this description. (Herod. ii. 58, 59.) So be. A form of imprecation mixed with scorn: as, I shall not let you go, so may God abandon you. (Calmet) Desired. Moses had requested that all might go. He had not specified the men only, as the king boldly asserts. (Menochius) --- A partial obedience will not rescue him from the threatened plague. (Haydock) Wind from "the south," (Septuagint) or "east," or perhaps blowing from the south-east. (Bonfrere) The locusts would come from Ethiopia, or from Arabia, in both which countries they abound. (Ludolf, &c.) They lay their eggs in autumn, and hatch in spring. Frequently they devastate one country after another. They are very large in the East, and sometimes will fasten upon the heads of serpents, and destroy them, as they did on this occasion the Egyptians, Wisdom xvi. 9. --- In Cyrene, bordering upon Egypt, it is requisite to encounter these creatures thrice in the year. (Calmet) (See Leviticus xi. 22.) Hereafter. Joel i. 2, speaking of locusts which infested Judea, uses the same expressions to denote a very heavy judgment. Two events never perfectly agree. (Calmet) Also. Hebrew, "only," and I will amend. --- Death, or plague. (Menochius) Moses. The printed Hebrew and Chaldean do not read his name; but some manuscripts have it agreeably to the Septuagint and Syriac versions. (Kennicott) West. Hebrew sea, (Mediterranean) to the north and west of Egypt. --- Red sea. Hebrew, "of suph," or green herbs, which abound there. It has also a reddish appearance in some places, from the coral branches of a saffron colour. It probably was called red from Edom, or Erythros, the son of Isaac. (Calmet) --- God drowned the locusts in this sea, by means of the wind, which often proves the destruction of those animals. (Pliny, Natural History xi. 29.) Darkness upon the land of Egypt so thick that it may be felt. By means of the gross exhalations, which were to cause and accompany the darkness. (Challoner) --- Thus were the Egyptians punished for keeping the Hebrews in dark prisons. (Menochius) --- Philo says, even a lighted lamp or fire was extinguished. The Egyptians were affrighted with hideous spectres and evil angels. (Psalm lxxvii. 49; Wisdom xvii. 4.) More. Of my own accord. (Menochius) --- Thou wilt send for me. (Calmet)