Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 8:20 - 8:32

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 8:20 - 8:32


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The Plague of the Flies

v. 20. And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water,
the river Nile, probably for purposes of worship; and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let My people go that they may serve Me. It is a monotonous repetition intended to wear down the hard heart of the king.

v. 21. Else, if thou wilt not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.
As nearly as can be determined, the flies here referred to are the dog-flies or blood sucking gad-flies, whose sting is particularly painful. The grievousness of the plague, moreover, would be increased by the fact that the flies would come in such great numbers as to fill the land and cover the ground.

v. 22. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there;
the Lord intended to make a miraculous distinction in favor of the children of Israel; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth, therefore possessing absolute power also over the land of Egypt as the omnipotent Sovereign over all.

v. 23. And I will put a division between My people and thy people,
set a redemption in favor of the children of Israel, to deliver them from the plague; tomorrow shall this sign be.

v. 24. And the Lord did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt; the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.
Not only were the people tortured with the severe stings, as well as the animals, but the vegetation was attacked by the maggots that developed from the eggs deposited on it.

v. 25. And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.
The fierceness of the plague drove Pharaoh to this first concession, at least to grant the children of Israel a few days of rest for a sacrificial festival.

v. 26. And Moses said, It is not meet so to do,
to do so would have been against the rule which the Lord wanted to have observed; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord, our God, for the Egyptians were highly scandalized if animals sacred to them were offered; lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? The idea of offering sacrifices to Jehovah in Egypt, where the true God was not accepted, was in itself an abomination to the Egyptians, and they would not have hesitated about making known their objections.

v. 27. We will go three days' journey Into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord, our God, as He shall command us.
Moses refused to recede from his original demand in any manner.

v. 28. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord, your God, in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away,
a restriction which he was cautious to add; intreat for me. He feigned a compliance which was far from that which the situation demanded.

v. 29. And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will lntreat the Lord that the swarms of files may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.
This was a warning against the trickery which Pharaoh had exhibited before, v. 15. and indicated that Moses was master of the situation.

v. 30. And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the Lord.

v. 31. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and He removed the swarms of flies,
the obnoxious vermin, from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one. It was another miraculous removal of a plague.

v. 32. And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.
It may happen now and then that obstinate sinners will declare themselves willing to reform in the one or the other thing which is offensive to the Lord; but such outward changes do not affect the heart, which remains hardened in sins as before. There is only one thing for Christians to do, namely, to serve the Lord in the manner which He prescribes in His Word. All self-chosen worship is an abomination to the Lord.