Old Testament Commentary - Exodus 8

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 8 The Lord sends plagues of frogs, lice, and flies upon Egypt—Pharaoh hardens his heart.
1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may ^aserve me.		1^a OR consecrate or set apart. ^b Lev. 21:10 (10-15) ^c OR young bull (also vv. 3, 10-12, 14, 36).; Lev. 8:2; 1 Chr. 13:9 2^a Lev. 2:4 ^b HEB mingled OR smeared
2 ~ F R O G S Heket was the Egyptian 'frog=goddess' of childbirth or fertility. Midwives were called 'servants of Heket'. Ironically Heket hastened the final stages of labor and delivered the babies safely. This seemingly also associates this god with the birth of the male children of the Hebrews who the midwives said were too lively and delived before they could assist them in their child birth. Heqet was the daughter of the sun-god, being called the Eye of Ra. She was the 'moon' which was linked to the ebb flow of water which seemed to raise the frogs out of the mud and water in their germination process. Ironically it was the Hebrews who were more fertile in child bearing than the Egyptians and this was the concern of the Egyptians that the Hebrews were multiplying and becoming more numerous than the Egyptians. The attack on Heket would have been quite disquieting. Frogs were consecrated and sacred symbols to the Egyptians. If someone killed a frog they could be punish by death. Thus when Pharaoh's resultant plea to Moses was to rid Egypt of the plague of frogs by distroying them, he in effect was ordering the destruction of their own goddess Heqet. In relation to Christ, Heqet was the Goddess of life, both of birth and rebirth of the resurrection. This we know Christ to be, both creator and the giver of the breath of life and of the ressurection. Thus this plague would symbolize Christ being supreme over Heqet in this respect.
2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite ^aall thy borders with ^bfrogs: 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 kneadingtroughs: 4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.		1^a OR consecrate or set apart. ^b Lev. 21:10 (10-15) ^c OR young bull (also vv. 3, 10-12, 14, 36).; Lev. 8:2; 1 Chr. 13:9 2^a Lev. 2:4 ^b HEB mingled OR smeared
5 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the ^arivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. 6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the ^afrogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. 7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.		1^a OR consecrate or set apart. ^b Lev. 21:10 (10-15) ^c OR young bull (also vv. 3, 10-12, 14, 36).; Lev. 8:2; 1 Chr. 13:9 2^a Lev. 2:4 ^b HEB mingled OR smeared
8 ¶ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD. 9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, ^aGlory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only? 10 And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is ^anone ^blike unto the ^cLORD our God. 11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.
12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 13 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 stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he ^ahardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.
3 ~ L I C E Depicted as a bearded male with a goose on his head, Geb represented the earth and was called 'the Great Cackler' for his laugh was the cause of earthquakes. He was the third divine king of earth. The throne of Egypt was known as the 'throne of Geb' in honor of his great reign. For the 'dust of the Geb was the god of the living things of the earth and for Geb to bring forth gnats or lice was a direct affront upon Geb. Lice were an abomination to religious sanctity as the Egyptians prided themselves on their cleanliness. It was thought that Geb would either hold the souls of men captive in the earth or show them the way to heaven. For Geb to inflict lice upon man was therefore a likely inference to man's fate after death in the hereafter. It the venacular of the day, it would amount to a statement of judgment that 'you are going to hell'.
16 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become ^alice throughout all the land of Egypt. 17 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 became ^alice throughout all the land of Egypt.
18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to ^abring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. 19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the ^afinger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.
4 ~ S W A R M S Khepri or Khepera is 'He who comes into existence of himself'. He is one of the creator gods whose symbol is the dung beetle which pushes the sun across the sky. He has power to transform or create life, particularly that of the insect world. He is depicted as a winged man with a beatle's head. As the 'swarm' is translated with the 'implied' italisized 'flies', it makes one wonder it the 'swarm' was not that of the symbol of Khepri, that being swarms of flying beatles rather than just some type of house fly. A buzzing June Bug Beatle certainly cause a bit more distress than a single house fly and what would swarms of such buzzing beatles be? That the God of Israel controlled or had all power over khepri was certainly exemplified by the bring forth swarms of dung beatles to infest the people, but not the Israelites. As they Israelites, the God of the Hebrews had power not only to control but against any such powers of Khepri. This plague of the beatle or scarab, was also an emblem of Ra, the sun god and an affront to him.
20 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; ^alo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of ^aflies 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, and also the ground whereon they are.
22 And I will ^asever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that ^bno swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. 23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be. 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 ^acorrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.
25 ¶ And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. 26 And Moses said, It ^ais not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice ^bthe abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?^a	26^a will they not stone us? Evidentally there was a law against the worship of the God of the Israelites to the effect that if any one is so caught worshipping Him and offering sacrifice unto the God of Israel, they would be taken and stoned. Thus the logic of removing Israel from the sight of the Egyptians seems more than to just 'get away' but to allow Israel to worship unseen by the Egyptians who by right of law could then legally have the Israelites stoned for so worshipping a none Egyptian God.
27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us. 28 And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me. 29 And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.
30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD. 31 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 one. 32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.