Commentaria in Exodum
Chapter 8
The second plague of Egypt is described, which was of frogs; and at verse 16, the third, which was of sciniphs; and at verse 21, the fourth, which was of flies of every kind; and that after each Pharao was hardened.
1. And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. 2. But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will strike all thy coasts with frogs. 3. And the river shall bring forth abundance of frogs: which shall come up, and enter into thy house, and thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the houses of thy servants, and of thy people, and into thy ovens, and into the remains of thy meats, 4. and to thee, and to thy people, and to all thy servants, shall the frogs come in. 5. And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron: Stretch forth thy hand over the rivers and streams and pools, and bring forth frogs upon the land of Egypt. 6. And Aaron stretched forth his hand upon the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. 7. And the magicians also by their enchantments did in like manner, and brought forth frogs upon the land of Egypt. 8. And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Pray ye to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people: and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. 9. And Moses said to Pharao: Appoint me when I shall pray for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs may be driven from thee, and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people, and may remain only in the river. 10. And he answered: To-morrow. But he said: I will do according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like to the Lord our God. 11. And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people: and shall remain only in the river. 12. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharao, and Moses cried to the Lord, concerning the promise of the frogs which he had made to Pharao. 13. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses: and the frogs died in the houses, and in the villages, and in the fields. 14. And they gathered them together into immense heaps, and the land was corrupted. 15. And Pharao seeing that rest was given, hardened his own heart, and did not hearken to them, as the Lord had commanded. 16. And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron: Stretch forth thy rod, and strike the dust of the earth: and let there be sciniphs in all the land of Egypt. 17. And they did so. And Aaron stretched forth his hand, holding the rod: and struck the dust of the earth, and there came sciniphs on men and beasts: all the dust of the earth was turned into sciniphs throughout all the land of Egypt. 18. And the magicians with their enchantments practised in like manner to bring forth sciniphs, and they could not: and there were sciniphs as well on men as on beasts. 19. And the magicians said to Pharao: This is the finger of God. And Pharao’s heart was hardened, and he did not hearken to them, as the Lord had commanded. 20. The Lord also said to Moses: Arise early, and stand before Pharao: for he goeth forth to the waters, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. 21. But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will send in upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses, all kind of flies: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with flies of divers kinds, and the whole land wherein they shall be. 22. And I will make the land of Gessen wonderful in that day, wherein my people is, that there shall be no flies there: and 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 very grievous swarm of flies into the houses of Pharao and of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt: and the land was corrupted by this kind of flies. 25. And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go and sacrifice to your God in this land. 26. And Moses said: It cannot be so: for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Now if we kill those things which the Egyptians worship, before their eyes, they will stone us. 27. We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness: and we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. 28. And Pharao said: I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the desert: but go no farther, pray for me. 29. And Moses said: When I am gone out from thee, I will entreat the Lord, and the flies shall depart from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people to-morrow: but do not thou any more deceive, so as not to let the people sacrifice to the Lord. 30. And Moses went out from Pharao, and prayed to the Lord. 31. Who did according to his word, and took away the flies from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people: there remained not so much as one. 32. And Pharao’s heart was hardened, so that neither this time would he let the people go.
2. I WILL STRIKE ALL THY COASTS WITH FROGS:—“Coasts,” that is, thy regions to their last limits and borders: it is a metonymy. After the first plague of blood, which lasted 7 days, there followed straightway, namely on the 8th day, this second plague of most numerous and most troublesome frogs, which God, in His merciful justice, so armed for the punishment of the guilty that by the same He also warned them to repentance. Justly are they punished by water-frogs and their croaking, who had drowned infants in the waters and had despised their wailing Infants. For infants are likened to frogs both in crawling and in wailing; for with hands and feet they creep like frogs. So Theodoret.
3. AND THE RIVER SHALL BRING FORTH ABUNDANCE OF FROGS.—The Hebrew sharats signifies to be prolific and to multiply offspring like fishes and frogs; which our Interpreter aptly renders “bring forth abundance” [ebulliet, bubble up], as if to say: Very many frogs, like bubbles, shall be born and come forth from the Nile.
WHICH SHALL COME UP, AND ENTER INTO THY HOUSE.—Behold here, God avenging, the place of aquatic creatures, namely frogs, is changed, so that, by an instinct contrary to their nature, divinely implanted in them, they are borne as a colony into another element, namely air and earth, so that no place in the land of Egypt was closed or impassable to frogs, angels driving or even carrying the frogs in every direction. This punishment of frogs was graver than the former of blood. For the former took from the Egyptians only the waters, leaving the use of wine and milk untouched: but the frogs, spread everywhere, not only deafened their ears with their vocal and untuned music, but also occupied and fouled all foods, vessels, pots, platters, seats, tables, houses, store-rooms, larders, bedchambers, beds, roads, and all things; and many of them dying infected with their gore and stench the waters as well as the roads and houses, says Josephus. Hear Scripture: “They shall enter,” it says, “into thy house, and thy bedchamber, upon thy bed, and into the houses of thy servants, and of thy people, and into thy ovens, and into the remains of thy meats, and to thee, and to thy people, and to all thy servants, shall the frogs come in.” Hear also Philo: “The frogs,” he says, “filled the forums and all buildings, sacred as profane, private as public; so that when men could neither go out of doors, the roads being filled, nor stay within, the inmost recesses being stuffed and the frogs creeping up even to the highest floors, they were reduced to extreme despair.” Moreover Scripture signifies their immense multitude, when, Moses praying and the frogs dying, it adds, verse 14: “and the land was corrupted.” These frogs therefore tormented all the senses: first, sight, by their size and deformity; second, hearing, by their assiduous and troublesome croaking; third, taste, because settling on all eatables and drinkables they defiled them, and leaped with the food into the mouths of those eating; fourth, smell, by the foul stench which they exhaled, especially when dead; fifth, touch: for they climbed upon tables, seats, beds, and there invaded and occupied the bodies, feet, hands and faces of those sitting or lying. Pereira adds that many of the frogs were noxious and venomous. The Hebrews add, or rather fable, that these frogs entered the bodies and bowels of the Egyptians through the open mouth of sleepers, and by other passages. So frogs have often laid waste whole regions, and driven peoples out, as Orosius teaches, book 3, last chapter, that the Abderites were driven from their country by frogs.