“And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:”
Servants. They took occasion, from God’s withdrawing his chastisements, to become more obdurate. (St. Augustine, q. 30, and 36.)
“And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?”
Scandal, or source of repeated misery; whether they meant their own resistance to God’s orders, or Moses, with the Hebrew nation. (Calmet)
“And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD.”
Herds. Out of which the Lord may choose what victims he requires. (Menochius) — The people of Egypt kept solemnities of this description. (Herodotus ii. 58, 59.)
“And he said unto them, Let the LORD be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you.”
So be. A form of imprecation mixed with scorn: as, I shall not let you go, so may God abandon you. (Calmet)
“Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.”
Desired. Moses had requested that all might go. He had not specified the men only, as the king boldly asserts. (Menochius) — A partial obedience will not rescue him from the threatened plague. (Haydock)
“And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.”
Wind from “the south,” (Septuagint) or “east,” (Kadim) or perhaps blowing from the south-east. (Bonfrere) The locusts would come from Ethiopia, or from Arabia, in both which countries they abound. (Ludolf, &c.) They lay their eggs in autumn, and hatch in spring. Frequently they devastate one country after another. They are very large in the East, and sometimes will fasten upon the heads of serpents, and destroy them, as they did on this occasion the Egyptians, Wisdom xvi. 9. — In Cyrene, bordering upon Egypt, it is requisite to encounter these creatures thrice in the year. (Calmet) (See Leviticus xi. 22.)
“And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.”
Hereafter. Joel i. 2, speaking of locusts which infested Judea, uses the same expressions to denote a very heavy judgment. Two events never perfectly agree. (Calmet)
“Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only.”
Also. Hebrew, “only,” and I will amend. — Death, or plague. (Menochius)
“And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD.”
Moses. The printed Hebrew and Chaldean do not read his name; but some manuscripts have it agreeably to the Septuagint and Syriac versions. (Kennicott)
“And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. cast: Heb. fastened”
West. Hebrew sea, (Mediterranean) to the north and west of Egypt. — Red sea. Hebrew, “of suph,” or green herbs, which abound there. It has also a reddish appearance in some places, from the coral branches of a saffron colour. It probably was called red from Edom, or Erythros, the son of Isaac. (Calmet) — God drowned the locusts in this sea, by means of the wind, which often proves the destruction of those animals. (Pliny, Natural History xi. 29.)
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. even: Heb. that one may feel darkness”
Darkness upon the land of Egypt so thick that it may be felt. By means of the gross exhalations, which were to cause and accompany the darkness. (Challoner) — Thus were the Egyptians punished for keeping the Hebrews in dark prisons. (Menochius) — Philo says, even a lighted lamp or fire was extinguished. The Egyptians were affrighted with hideous spectres and evil angels. (Psalm lxxvii. 49; Wisdom xvii. 4.)
“And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more.”
More. Of my own accord. (Menochius) — Thou wilt send for me. (Calmet)