Lange Commentary - Exodus 8:1 - 8:15

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Lange Commentary - Exodus 8:1 - 8:15


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

B.—The frogs

Exodus 7:26–8:11 [in the English Bible, Exo_8:1-15]

26 [Exo_8:1]And Jehovah spake [said] unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, 27 [2]Thus saith Jehovah, Let my people go, that they may serve me. And if thou 28 [3]refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs. And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly [swarm with frogs], which [and they] shall go up and come into thy house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the houses of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine 29 [4]ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs: And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.

Chap. Exo_8:1 [Exo_8:5].And Jehovah spake [said] unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine [thy] hand with thy rod over the streams, and over the rivers [canals], and over the ponds, and cause frogs [the frogs] to come up upon the land 2 [6]of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and 3 [7]the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments [secret arts], and brought up frogs [the frogs] upon 4 [8]the land of Egypt. Then [And] Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat Jehovah, 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 [may sacrifice] 5 [9]unto Jehovah. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory [Have thou honor] over me: when [against what time] shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that 6 [10]they may remain in the river only? And he said, To-morrow [Against tomorrow]. And he said, Be it according to thy word; that thou mayest know 7 [11]that there is none like unto Jehovah our God. And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; 8 [12]they shall remain in the river only. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried unto Jehovah because of the frogs which he had 9 [13]brought against Pharaoh. And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses: and the frogs died out of the hoses, out of the villages [courts], and out of 10 [14]the fields. And they gathered them together upon heaps [piled them up in heaps]: 11 [15]and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them, as Jehovah had said.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

[Exodus 7:27 (Exo_8:2). âְּáåּì here, as often, has a wider meaning than border; it is equivalent to our “territory.”—Tr.].

[Exodus 7:29 (Exo_8:4). This sounds more pleonastic than the original, where the order of the words is reversed: “Upon thee, and upon thy people,… shall the frogs come up.”—Tr.].

[Exo_8:5 (Exo_8:9). äִúְôָּàֵã is variously rendered. Gesenius and Fürst assume a root distinct from the one the Hithp. of which means to boast, and render it “prescribe,” “declare.” “Prescribe for me when I shall intreat,” etc. The LXX. and Vulg. give it the same meaning. Others understand the meaning to be: “Take to thyself honor; for when shall I intreat” etc. i.e., I will give thee the honor of fixing the time when the plague shall cease. These two explanations yield nearly the same sense. Others have been resorted to (e.g., “Give glory over me,” i.e., I will run the risk of a failure, by allowing thee to fix the time), but are less plausible.—Tr.].

[Exo_8:11 (Exo_8:15). äָøְåָçָä has the article, and the sentence reads, “saw that the respite (literally, breathing-space) came,” i.e., the hoped for respite.—Tr.].

[Exo_8:11 (Exo_8:15). åְäַëְáֵּã “And he made heavy.” Comp. note on Gen_7:14. The Inf. Abs. is used for the finite verb.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Exodus 7:26 [Exo_8:1] sqq. The second plague; the frogs. They come up out of the mire of the Nile when the water falls, especially from the marshes of the Nile. On the small Nile-frog called rana Mosaica or Nilotica by Seetzen, see Keil. How did the natural event become a miracle? (1) By the announcement of the extraordinary enhancement of it to the extent of making it a plague; vid. Exo_8:28-29 [Exo_8:3-4]; (2) by the equally confident promise of the sudden death of the frogs. The imitation of this miracle by the sorcerers may here too have consisted in their seeming, during the continuance of the plague, to have increased it by their incantations.

Exo_8:10 [Exo_8:14]. çֹîֶø , the largest dry measure of the Hebrews.

Footnotes:

[Exodus 7:27 (Exo_8:2). âְּáåּì here, as often, has a wider meaning than border; it is equivalent to our “territory.”—Tr.].

[Exodus 7:29 (Exo_8:4). This sounds more pleonastic than the original, where the order of the words is reversed: “Upon thee, and upon thy people,… shall the frogs come up.”—Tr.].

[Exo_8:5 (Exo_8:9). äִúְôָּàֵã is variously rendered. Gesenius and Fürst assume a root distinct from the one the Hithp. of which means to boast, and render it “prescribe,” “declare.” “Prescribe for me when I shall intreat,” etc. The LXX. and Vulg. give it the same meaning. Others understand the meaning to be: “Take to thyself honor; for when shall I intreat” etc. i.e., I will give thee the honor of fixing the time when the plague shall cease. These two explanations yield nearly the same sense. Others have been resorted to (e.g., “Give glory over me,” i.e., I will run the risk of a failure, by allowing thee to fix the time), but are less plausible.—Tr.].

[Exo_8:11 (Exo_8:15). äָøְåָçָä has the article, and the sentence reads, “saw that the respite (literally, breathing-space) came,” i.e., the hoped for respite.—Tr.].

[Exo_8:11 (Exo_8:15). åְäַëְáֵּã “And he made heavy.” Comp. note on Exo_7:14. The Inf. Abs. is used for the finite verb.

[Keil gives no information except by referring to Seetzen. Seetzen distinguishes the rana Nilotica from the rana Mosaica, the latter being the most abundant. Frogs of this kind creep rather than jump, and are called toads by Seetzen, though they are found in water until after the inundation (which continues three months, beginning about June 25). The Egyptian name for this frog is defda.—Tr.].