And the Lord spake unto Moses ,.... Either whilst the plague upon the waters continued, or immediately upon the removal of it: go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me ; mentioning neither time nor place, where, when, and how long they should serve him, for which their dismission was required, but insist on it in general. read more
And if thou refuse to let them go ,.... Will not obey the orders: I will smite all thy borders with frogs ; he gives him warning of the blow before he strikes, which shows his clemency and goodness, his patience and longsuffering; and this he did, not only that he might have time and space for repentance, and thereby avoid the blow; but that when it came, he might be sensible it was not by chance, or owing to second causes, but was from the Lord himself. I will smite all thy borders... read more
And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly ,.... The river Nile; and though water, and watery places, naturally produce these creatures, yet not in such vast quantities as to cover a whole country, and so large an one as Egypt, and this done at once, immediately; for they were all produced instantaneously, and in one day were spread all over the nation, and removed the next: and besides what follows is equally miraculous: which shall go up and come into thine house ; which though... read more
And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy servants. No doubt by the interposition of divine power and providence, and it may be by the ministry of angels; so that let them use what care, caution, and diligence they would, there was no keeping them out; but they came upon all the people of the land, high and low, rich and poor, and upon the king's ministers, courtiers, and nobles, and the king himself not excepted; though by this particular enumeration of... read more
And the Lord spake unto Moses ,.... By a secret impulse upon his mind, for he was now in the presence of Pharaoh, who had refused to let Israel go: say unto Aaron, stretch forth thy hand with thy rod ; for Aaron carried the rod, and he was the minister of Moses, who was appointed a god to him; and be was to speak and to do whatever he ordered him from the Lord: over the streams, over the rivers and over the ponds ; the seven streams of the river of Nile, and over the canals cut out... read more
And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt ,.... That is, towards the waters of the Nile, and towards all places where any water was; for it was not possible he could stretch out his hand over all the waters that were in every place: and the frogs came and covered the land of Egypt : they came up at once, and in such multitudes everywhere, that the whole land was full of them; this was done on the twenty fifth of Adar, or February, the same day the former plague ceased; so... read more
And the magicians did so with their enchantments , &c.; By their secret wiles and juggling tricks: and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt , that is, some few, as a proof of their art and skill, and to show that Moses and Aaron did but what they could do; but what they did either were only in appearance, deceiving the sight of Pharaoh and his people, or real frogs were brought to them by the help of devils, but not in such numbers: and besides, this was adding to the plague, and... read more
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron ,.... He sent for them: and said, entreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people ; he begins now to know the Lord, whom he knew not before, by the judgments he executed on him, to acknowledge his hand in those judgments, and tacitly to own that none else could remove them; and his proud heart was so far humbled, as to beg the favour of Moses and Aaron to intercede with the Lord to cause this plague to cease, which was... read more
And Moses said unto Pharaoh, glory over me ,.... If thou canst; take every advantage against me of lessening my glory, and increasing thine own; or vaunt or boast thyself against me, as the phrase is rendered, Judges 7:2 or take this honour and glory to thyself over me, by commanding me, and fixing a time to pray for thee, and I will obey thy orders; which agrees with the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions, and the paraphrase of Onkelos, "appoint", or "order for me"; that is,... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 8:1-15
Pharaoh is here first threatened and then plagued with frogs, as afterwards, in this chapter, with lice and flies, little despicable inconsiderable animals, and yet by their vast numbers rendered sore plagues to the Egyptians. God could have plagued them with lions, or bears, or wolves, or with vultures or other birds of prey; but he chose to do it by these contemptible instruments. 1. That he might magnify his own power. He is Lord of the hosts of the whole creation, has them all at his beck,... read more