1 And Jehovah said to Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his bondmen, that I might do these my signs in their midst,
2 and that thou mightest tell in the ears of thy son and thy son's son what I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
3 And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of the Hebrews: How long dost thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.
4 For, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, I will to-morrow bring locusts into thy borders;
5 and they shall cover the face of the land, so that ye will not be able to see the land; and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which ye have remaining from the hail, and shall eat every tree which ye have growing in the field;
6 and they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy bondmen, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.
7 And Pharaoh's bondmen said to him, How long shall this man be a snare to us? let the men go, that they may serve Jehovah their God: dost thou not yet know that Egypt is ruined?
8 And Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh. And he said to them, Go, serve Jehovah your God. Who are they that shall go?
9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters; with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we have a feast of Jehovah.
10 And he said to them, Let Jehovah be so with you, as I let you go, and your little ones: see that evil is before you!
11 Not so: go now, ye [that are] men, and serve Jehovah! for it is that ye have desired. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
12 And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up over the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land -- all that the hail hath left.
13 And Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and Jehovah brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt, very grievous; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them will be such.
15 And they covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left; and there remained not any green thing on the trees, and in the herbs of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.
16 And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against Jehovah your God, and against you.
17 And now, forgive, I pray you, my sin only this time, and intreat Jehovah your God that he may take away from me this death only!
18 And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated Jehovah.
19 And Jehovah turned a very powerful west wind, which took away the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea: there remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt.
20 And Jehovah made Pharaoh's heart stubborn, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
21 And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward the heavens, that there may be darkness in the land of Egypt -- so that one may feel darkness.
22 And Moses stretched out his hand toward the heavens; and there was a thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt three days:
23 they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place, for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
24 And Pharaoh called Moses and said, Go, serve Jehovah; only, let your flocks and your herds remain; let your little ones also go with you.
25 And Moses said, Thou must give also sacrifices and burnt-offerings into our hands, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.
26 Our cattle also must go with us: there shall not a hoof be left behind; for we must take thereof to serve Jehovah our God; and we do not know with what we must serve Jehovah, until we come there.
27 But Jehovah made Pharaoh's heart stubborn, and he would not let them go.
28 And Pharaoh said to him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt die.
29 And Moses said, Thou hast spoken rightly: I will see thy face again no more!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Exodus 10
Commentary on Exodus 10 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 10
Ex 10:1-20. Plague of Locusts.
1. show these my signs, &c.—Sinners even of the worst description are to be admonished even though there may be little hope of amendment, and hence those striking miracles that carried so clear and conclusive demonstration of the being and character of the true God were performed in lengthened series before Pharaoh to leave him without excuse when judgment should be finally executed.
2. And that thou mayest tell … of thy son, and of thy son's son, &c.—There was a further and higher reason for the infliction of those awful judgments, namely, that the knowledge of them there, and the permanent record of them still, might furnish a salutary and impressive lesson to the Church down to the latest ages. Worldly historians might have described them as extraordinary occurrences that marked this era of Moses in ancient Egypt. But we are taught to trace them to their cause: the judgments of divine wrath on a grossly idolatrous king and nation.
4. to-morrow will I bring the locusts—Moses was commissioned to renew the request, so often made and denied, with an assurance that an unfavorable answer would be followed on the morrow by an invasion of locusts. This species of insect resembles a large, spotted, red and black, double-winged grasshopper, about three inches or less in length, with the two hind legs working like hinged springs of immense strength and elasticity. Perhaps no more terrible scourge was ever brought on a land than those voracious insects, which fly in such countless numbers as to darken the land which they infest; and on whatever place they alight, they convert it into a waste and barren desert, stripping the ground of its verdure, the trees of their leaves and bark, and producing in a few hours a degree of desolation which it requires the lapse of years to repair.
7-11. Pharaoh's servants said—Many of his courtiers must have suffered serious losses from the late visitations, and the prospect of such a calamity as that which was threatened and the magnitude of which former experience enabled them to realize, led them to make a strong remonstrance with the king. Finding himself not seconded by his counsellors in his continued resistance, he recalled Moses and Aaron, and having expressed his consent to their departure, inquired who were to go. The prompt and decisive reply, "all," neither man nor beast shall remain, raised a storm of indignant fury in the breast of the proud king. He would permit the grown-up men to go away; but no other terms would be listened to.
11. they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence—In the East, when a person of authority and rank feels annoyed by a petition which he is unwilling to grant, he makes a signal to his attendants, who rush forward and, seizing the obnoxious suppliant by the neck, drag him out of the chamber with violent haste. Of such a character was the impassioned scene in the court of Egypt when the king had wrought himself into such a fit of uncontrollable fury as to treat ignominiously the two venerable representatives of the Hebrew people.
13-19. the Lord brought an east wind—The rod of Moses was again raised, and the locusts came. They are natives of the desert and are only brought by an east wind into Egypt, where they sometimes come in sun-obscuring clouds, destroying in a few days every green blade in the track they traverse. Man, with all his contrivances, can do nothing to protect himself from the overwhelming invasion. Egypt has often suffered from locusts. But the plague that followed the wave of the miraculous rod was altogether unexampled. Pharaoh, fearing irretrievable ruin to his country, sent in haste for Moses, and confessing his sin, implored the intercession of Moses, who entreated the Lord, and a "mighty strong west wind took away the locusts."
Ex 10:21-29. Plague of Darkness.
21-23. Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness—Whatever secondary means were employed in producing it, whether thick clammy fogs and vapors, according to some; a sandstorm, or the chamsin, according to others; it was such that it could be almost perceived by the organs of touch, and so protracted as to continue for three days, which the chamsin does [Hengstenberg]. The appalling character of this calamity consisted in this, that the sun was an object of Egyptian idolatry; that the pure and serene sky of that country was never marred by the appearance of a cloud. And here, too, the Lord made a marked difference between Goshen and the rest of Egypt.
24-26. Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord—Terrified by the preternatural darkness, the stubborn king relents, and proposes another compromise—the flocks and herds to be left as hostages for their return. But the crisis is approaching, and Moses insists on every iota of his demand. The cattle would be needed for sacrifice—how many or how few could not be known till their arrival at the scene of religious observance. But the emancipation of Israel from Egyptian bondage was to be complete.
28. Pharaoh said, … Get thee from me—The calm firmness of Moses provoked the tyrant. Frantic with disappointment and rage, with offended and desperate malice, he ordered him from his presence and forbade him ever to return.
29. Moses said, Thou hast spoken well.