Commentaria in Exodum
Chapter 10. Synopsis of the Chapter
The eighth plague of Egypt is described, which was of locusts, and, verse 21, the ninth, which was of the thickest darkness, by which softened Pharao permits the Hebrews to go; but, Moses urging the going of all, even of the cattle, he hardens himself again, and threatens Moses with death.
1. And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao; for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may work these my signs in him, 2. and thou mayest tell in the hearing of thy son, and of thy grandson, how often I have crushed the Egyptians, and wrought my signs among them, and you may know that I am the Lord. 3. Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharao, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: How long wilt thou refuse to submit to me? let my people go to sacrifice to me. 4. Else if thou resist, and wilt not let them go, behold I will bring in to-morrow the locust into thy coasts: 5. to cover the face of the earth, that nothing thereof may appear, but that which hath escaped the hail may be eaten: for they shall gnaw all the trees that grow in the fields. 6. And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of thy servants, and of all the Egyptians: such as thy fathers never saw, nor thy grandfathers, from the time they were born upon the earth until this present day. And he turned himself away, and went out from Pharao. 7. And Pharao’s servants said to him: How long shall we endure this scandal? Let the men go to sacrifice to the Lord their God. Dost thou not see that Egypt is undone? 8. And they called back Moses and Aaron to Pharao: and he said to them: Go, sacrifice to the Lord your God: who are they that shall go? 9. Moses said: We will go with our young and old, with our sons and daughters, with our sheep and herds: for it is the solemnity of the Lord our God. 10. And Pharao answered: So may the Lord be with you, as I will let you and your children go: who doubts but you have some evil design? 11. It shall not be so: but go ye men only, and sacrifice to the Lord: for this you yourselves desired. And presently they were cast out from Pharao’s presence. 12. And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand upon the land of Egypt unto the locust, that it may come upon it, and devour every herb that is left after the hail. 13. And Moses stretched forth his rod upon the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought a burning wind all that day and night: and when it was morning, the burning wind raised the locusts: 14. And they came up over the whole land of Egypt: and rested in all the coasts of the Egyptians, innumerable, such as had not been before that time, nor shall be hereafter. 15. And they covered the whole face of the earth, laying waste all things. And the grass of the earth was devoured, and whatsoever fruits were on the trees, which the hail had left: and there remained nothing green on the trees, or in the herbs of the earth, in all Egypt. 16. Wherefore Pharao in haste called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them: I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. 17. But now forgive me my sin this time also, and pray to the Lord your God, that he take away from me this death. 18. And Moses went out from the presence of Pharao, and prayed to the Lord. 19. And he made a most strong wind blow from the west, and it took the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea: there remained not so much as one in all the coasts of Egypt. 20. And the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go. 21. And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand towards heaven: and may there be darkness upon the land of Egypt so thick that it may be felt. 22. And Moses stretched forth his hand towards heaven: and there came horrible darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. 23. No man saw his brother, nor moved himself out of the place where he was: but wheresoever the children of Israel dwelt, there was light. 24. And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go, sacrifice to the Lord: let your sheep only and herds remain, let your children go with you. 25. Moses said: Thou shalt give us also victims and holocausts, which we may offer to the Lord our God. 26. All the flocks shall go with us, there shall not a hoof remain of them: for they are necessary for the service of the Lord our God: especially as we know not what must be offered, till we come to the very place. 27. And the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart, and he would not let them go. 28. And Pharao said to Moses: Get thee from me, and beware thou see my face no more: in what day soever thou shalt come in my sight, thou shalt die. 29. Moses answered: So be it as thou hast spoken, I will not see thy face any more.
1. FOR I HAVE HARDENED,—in the manner in which I said chap. 7, verse 3, THAT I MAY WORK THESE MY SIGNS IN HIM,—not as hunting for matter of punishment, namely fault, but most justly ordering his fault, already present, to the deserved punishment and the glory of my justice. For to hunt for matter of punishing is foreign, first, to the divine goodness; for it is sad, and a disgrace to a prince, to exercise many punishments, as it is to a commonwealth to see many funerals of citizens, says Seneca. Secondly, to the truth of God, who so often exhorted Pharao to repentance, with so many plagues threatened, which signified that God earnestly and from the heart desires his repentance and salvation. Thirdly, to the order of justice, which holds that punishment is not inflicted save after fault, and that punishment is for the fault, not against it.
4. I WILL BRING IN TO-MORROW THE LOCUST,—a multitude of locusts. For the Hebrew arbe signifies both a locust and a multitude of locusts: for it is called arbe from multitude: for the root rabah signifies to be many.
This was the eighth plague of Egypt, namely of very many locusts, which so covered the land that nothing of the earth appeared. “Behold,” says Rupert, “how great, what armies the Lord drew up, fighting for Israel against the Egyptians, namely frogs, sciniphs, flies, locusts: by a locust was the strong king overcome, but proud in his weakness; he who had raised his neck against God, now submits it to a flea.” For these locusts devoured whatever was green on the earth, as is said verse 15, namely all fruits, leaves, shoots, herbs, seeds, trees even tender: nay entering the houses they filled them, as is said verse 6, leaping into eyes and bodies, and killing men by their bite, as is said Wisdom 16:9. Whence Pliny, book 11,
These locusts therefore invaded and defiled the houses, beds, foods and all things of the Egyptians; also trodden in the roads, and turned to gore, they excited horror and stench.
Tropologically, this eighth plague of locusts signifies the fault and penalty of those who violate the eighth precept: “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” For a lying and detracting tongue is more hurtful than the tooth of a locust, both to others and to itself, as will be plain in hell. Whence Apoc. 9:7, lying heretics are compared to locusts. So Augustine, Prosper, Rupert and others.
Again St. Gregory, book 31 Moral. chap. 20 (where he has much about locusts), understands by locusts the tongues of flatterers, which corrupt all the verdure of virtues by their flattery, while they incline the heart of the doer to seek transitory praises.
7. HOW LONG SHALL WE ENDURE THIS SCANDAL?—The Hebrew: How long shall this be to us a snare, because, namely, by detaining the Hebrews we continually run into the hardest evils.