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14 And m the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rest

m Ps. 78. 46. & 105. 34.

enabled, by the aid of a 'strong east wind,' to cross that sea from Arabia, which was another remarkable circumstance, as the winds which prevalently blow in Egypt are six months from the south, and six months from the north. -¶ Brought the locusts. Heb. 2 nasa, bore up, supported, sustained. Syr. and Vulg. 'The burning rushing wind raised the locusts.' Considering what Pharaoh and his people had already suffered from the preceding plagues, this additional one must have been beyond measure afflictive. The dearth and desolation were now complete. Every leaf and blade of grass left from the previous ravages of the hail, were now devoured. It is difficult to conceive the devastating effects that follow when a cloud of hungry locusts, comes upon a country. They devour to the very root and bark, so that it is a long time before vegetation can be renewed. The account which M. Volney (Travels in Syria, vol. 1. p. 188) gives of the devastations of these insects, contains a striking illustration of this passage :"Their quantity is incredible to all who have not themselves witnessed their astonishing numbers; the whole earth is covered with them for the space of several leagues. The noise they make in browsing on the trees and herbage may be heard at a great distance, and resembles that of an army plundering in secret. The Tartars themselves are a less destructive enemy than these little animals. One would imagine that fire had followed their progress. Wherever their myriads spread, the verdure of the country disappears; trees and plants stripped of their leaves and reduced to their naked boughs and stems, cause the dreary image of winter to succeed in an instant to the rich scenery of spring. When these clouds of lo

ed in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; n before them

n Joel 2. 2.

custs take their flight, to surmount any obstacles, or to traverse more rapidly a desert soil, the heavens may literally be said to be obscured with them.' To this may be added the narrative of a similar visitation in the Canary Islands described by an eye-witness, about two centuries ago. "The air was so full of them, that I could not eat in my chamher without a candle; all the houses being full of them, even the stables, barns, chambers, garrets, and cellars. I caused cannon-powder and sulphur to be burnt to expel them, but all to no purpose; for when the door was opened an infinite number came in, and the others went out, fluttering about; and it was a troublesome thing when a man went abroad to be hit on the face by those creatures, so that there was no opening one's mouth but some would get in. Yet all this was nothing, for when we were to eat, these creatures gave us no respite; and when we cut a bit of meat, we cut a locust with it; and when a man opened his mouth to put in a morsel, he was sure to chew one of them. I have seen them at night, when they sit to rest them, that the roads were four inches thick of them, one upon another; so that the horses would not trample over them, but as they were put on with much lashing, pricking up their ears, snorting and treading fearfully. The wheels of our carts and the feet of our horses bruising these creatures, there came forth from them such a stench as not only offended the nose, but the brain. I was not able to endure it, but was forced to wash my nose with vinegar, and hold a handkerchief dipped in it continually at my nostrils.' Gallaudet's Life of Moses, vol. 1. p. 114, See also 'Scrip. Illust.' p. 551. 14. The locusts went up over all the From the following passages in

land.

there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. 15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in

o ver. 5. P Ps. 105. 35.

the herbs of the field, through allthe land of Egypt.

16 ¶Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. 17 Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and rentreat the LORD your God that

9 ch. 9. 27. r ch. 9. 28. 1 Kings 13. 6.

ther after him arose there any like him.' Here indeed it is not easy to see how the same thing could consistently be said of these two different kings, except on the ground of the correctness of Rosenmuller's remark. On the same principle we are perhaps to interpret the

and our Savior; Dan. 12. 1, ‘And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.' Mat. 24. 21, 'For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.' It may indeed be affirmed that the two predictions refer to the same time, which is indeed possible, though not certain.

the Psalms some have thought that the locusts were accompanied by countless swarms of caterpillars. Ps. 78. 46, 'He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labor unto the locust.' Ps. 105. 34, 'He spake, and the locusts came, and the caterpillars, and that without number.' But it is now gener-two prophetical declarations of Daniel ally admitted that the original terms merely imply different species of locusts. Before them there were, &c. This has been thought to be inconsistent with Joel, 2. 2, when in speaking of an invading army of locusts the prophet says, 'A great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.' To this Abarbanel, the Jewish critic, answers, that Moses' words are to be understood of the country of Egypt only; that there never was before and never was to be again such a plague of locusts there. But Rosenmuller contends that this is no more than a common hyperbolical and proverbial mode of speech, which is not to be pressed to the utmost strictness of its import. He adduces the following instances of parallel usage. 2 Kings, 18. 5, 'He (Hezekiah) trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.' 2 Kings, 23. 25, 'And like unto him (Josiah) was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, ac-3 cording to all the law of Moses; nei- call. So formidable was this calamity

ayin kol עין כל הארץ .Heb

15. Covered the face of the whole earth. haaretz, the eye of the whole earth. See Note on v. 5. T The land was darkened. Heb. eretz, the same word as in the preceding clause. Either the surface of the ground was so covered as to be hidden from sight, so making the phrase exegetical of the preceding; or, which is preferable, the immense clouds of them in the air intercepted the sun's rays, and thus darkened the land. Chal. 'They covered all the land so that the sun-beams could not pierce to it, and the land was obscured.'

16, 17. Then Pharaoh called. Heb. yemaher likro, hastened to

he may take away from me this death only.

18 And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the LORD. 19 And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind which took away the locusts, and cast them tinto the

s ch. 8. 30. t Joel. 2. 20.

Red sea: there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.

20 But the LORD u hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.

21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward

u ch. 4. 21. & 11. 10. x ch. 9. 22.

However this may be, he deprecates the plague of locusts more than the plague of his own heart, which was much more deadly. But this is one of the thousand cases continually occurring, where men are more anxious to be delivered from their troubles than their sins, and cry upon their beds only from acuteness of bodily pain or fear of hell. They shrink and writhe under the consequences of their transgressions, but they do not hate and repent of the transgressions themselves.

רוח ים חזק מאד .Heb

19. The Lord turned a mighty strong west wind. ruah yam hazak meod, a sea-wind strong exceedingly. The Hebrews denominated the West from the Mediterranean sea, which lay to the west of Palestine.

that although Pharaoh had previously driven Moses and Aaron from his presence, yet he is now constrained to send for them again, to avow his fault, and to beg for one reprieve more. His confession now has more the air of unfeigned repentance than on any former occasion. He acknowledges that he had sinned against God and his servants, humbly asks their forgiveness, and sues for their intercession. Only let him be forgiven this once, only let him be delivered from this death, and there should be no more cause for complaint. Alas! there are but too many who upon reading this will be reminded of something | similar in their own case; too many who will recollect in the hour of sickness and in the fear of death, to have prayed to be delivered only this once, with promises of amendment, but who yet upon recovery have returned, Pharaoh-like, to their former impenitence, worldliness, and sin. But let it not be forgotten that these repeated lapses and broken vows are all the while swelling our guilt to fearful dimensions, and making us more and more ripe for a sudden destruction.- This death. That is, this deadly plague. Thus, 2 Kings, 4. 40, 'And they cried out and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot i. e. something deadly. The plague of the locusts was in itself deadly in the sense of having been des-red.' tructive; but it is probable that Pharaoh alluded rather to its apprehended consequences. He may have supposed, that famine and pestilence causing a general mortality would follow in the train of the ravages of the locusts.

Cast them. Heb. p yith kathu, fastened them; i. e. they were so cast or driven into the sea, that as to the event, it was as if they had been 'fastened,' like a tent which is pitched and fast nailed to the ground. This complete removal of the locusts was as miraculous as the bringing them on.———— ¶ Into the Red Sea. Heb. 70 yam suph, Sea of Suph, or weedy sea, sea of rushes, from the great quantities of seaweeds and flags which abound upon its shores. It is called 'Red Sea' from its bordering upon the country of Edom, which, in the Hebrew tongue signifies

21. Even darkness which may be felt. Heb. va-yamesh hoshek, that one may feel darkness; the same word in the original with that used to express the 'darkness' which covered the deep at the time of the six days' creation.

heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven: and there

It was a darkness consisting of thick, clammy fogs, of vapors and exhalations so condensed that they might almost be perceived by the organs of touch. Some commentators, supposing that human life could not be sustained an hour in such a medium, imagine that instead of 'darkness that may be felt,' the Heb. phrase may signify a darkness in which men went groping and feeling about for every thing they wanted. But some. thing of a hyperbolical character may be allowed for expressions of this kind, which are not to be pared to the quick. Considering that the sun was one of the deities of Egypt, and that in that country any darkening of his light in the day time is an extremely rare occurrence, we may imagine the consternation that would sieze upon the inhabitants at such a phenomenon. The cloud of locusts which had previously darkened the land were nothing compared with this. It was truly 'an horror of thick darkness.'

אפלה חשך

22. There was a thick darkness. Heb. hoshek aphëlah, darkness of obscurity or gloom; i. e. a darkness of preternatural density. The expression in the original is peculiarly emphatic, and is, therefore, rendered in the Gr. by three words, 'darkness, thick blackness, and tempestuous gloom.' The description which the author of the Book of Wisdom, chap. 17. 2, 3, 21, gives of their inward terrors and consternation may not be altogether conjectural: 'They were not only prisoners of darkness and fettered with the bonds of a long night, but were horribly astonished likewise and troubled with strange apparitions.' Compare with Moses' account of the ninth plague, the woe of the fifth apocalyptic vial, Rev. 16.

was a y thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:

23 They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for

y Ps. 105. 28.

10, 'And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for anguish.'

23. Neither rose any from his place. Heb. 1 mittahtav, from that which was under him. Gr. EK TNS KOLTNS avrov, from his bed. The meaning probably is, that no one went out of his house to attend to his usual business. It is probable too that they were prevented by the heavy and humid state of the atmosphere from availing themselves of any kind of artificial light. So Wisdom, chap. 17. 5, 'No power of fire might give light.' We can scarcely conceive a more distressing situation; yet as Pharaoh and his people had rebelled against the light of God's word, conveyed to them by Moses, it was a righteous thing with God thus to punish them with a sensible pre-intimation of that 'blackness of darkness' which enters into the misery of the damned.

The children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Again God put a marked difference between his enemies and his people. Well is it said of this miracle in the apocryphal book above quoted, ch. 17. 20, 21, 'The whole world shined with clear light, and none were hindered in their labor; over them only (the Egyptians) was spread a heavy night, an image of that darkness which should afterwards receive them: but yet were they unto themselves more grievous than the darkness! In allusion, perhaps, to the gracious discrimi nation here spoken of we find the promise, Is. 60. 1, 2, 'Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall

three days: zbut all the children of offerings, that we may sacrifice unIsrael had light in their dwellings. to the LORD our God. 24 And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and a said, Go ye, serve the LORD: only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your blittle ones also go with you.

25 And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices, and burnt

26 Our cattle also shall with go us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we come thither. 27 But the LORD hardened

c ver. 20. ch. 4. 21. & 14. 4, 8.

do part with any, it is with the utmost reluctance, like the mariner who casts his goods overboard to lighten his ship and keep it from sinking. But while Pharaoh would plead for some abatement, and shrinks from obeying the Lord wholly, Moses, instead of receding an iota from his previous demand, grows bolder as the crisis approaches, and declares that not only shall the children go, but also that there shall not an 'hoof be left behind.'

25. Thou must give us also sacrifices.

z ch. 8. 22. a ver. 8. b ver. 10. arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.' Yet a greater difference will hereafter be made between the righteous and the wicked, between those that fear God, and those that fear him not. While the light of his countenance and the glory of his heaven shall exhilarate and rejoice the former, in that state which needs not sun or moon to enlighten it, the wicked shall endure the total loss of day, and dwell darkling in perpetual night. There is even now an earnest of the final diversity of lot. The darkness of ignorance Heb. 7 titten be-yadenu, shalt and sin enshrouds the one, and the night | give in, or into, our hands. It is not of nature clouds all their perceptions; probably to be understood from this that while the bright shining of the sun of Moses demanded that animals for sacririghteousness sheds its kindly and re- fice should be given to them from the freshing beams upon the other. flocks and herds of the Egyptians, but that he should freely allow them to take their own; that he should throw no obstacle in the way of their taking their stock of cattle with them. To give into their hands, therefore, is equivalent to leaving in their power and at their disposal. This is evident from the drift of the next verse.

24. And Pharaoh called unto Moses. That is, after the lapse of three days of darkness.- - Go ye, serve the Lord, only let the flocks, &c. The visitation of the darkness, so well calculated to appal and terrify the Egyptians, compelled the king to relax his previous determination. Still he is bent on a compromise. He will now permit the children also to go, but the flocks and the herds must be stayed behind as a security for their return. Thus it is that sinners are disposed to make terms with the Almighty, instead of yielding cheerfully to all his demands. They will consent, under the pressure of judgments, to part with some of their sins, but not all. They would rather retain them all, if they could do it consistently with their hope of heaven. If they

26. Not an hoof be left behind. The exact and punctilious obedience of Moses to every item of the divine commandment is here displayed, as an example from following which we should be deterred by no persecution or tyranny of men. The 'not leaving an hoof behind' intimated their full and complete egress from Egyptian bondage, leaving nothing to tempt them to return.

27. He would not let them go. Heb.

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