EXPOSITION
THE THIRD PLAGUE. The breach of promise on the part of Pharaoh (Exodus 8:15), was punished by the third plague, which was inflicted without being announced. It is disputed among the best critics, whether the plague was really one of "lice"(as given in the Authorised Version) or of mosquitoes. To the present writer the arguments in favour of mosquitoes seem to preponderate; and he believes the kinnim to represent those subtle pests. Such is the view of the LXX. translators, of Philo, Artapanus, Origen, Rosenmuller, Gesenins, Geddes, Boothroyd, Keil, and Kalisch. Mosquitoes are, under ordinary circumstances, a terrible annoyance in Egypt, when the inundation is going off, especially about October. Their power to annoy is witnessed to in ancient times by Herodotus (2.95), Philo, and St. Augustine; in modem by Wilkinson and others. That Aaron was ordered to produce them out of "the dust of the land," whereas mosquitoes come from larvae deposited in stagnant waters (Cook), is only a proof that God can transform any kind of matter into any other. He who made man of the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7) could with still greater ease have transformed that dust into gnats. It is undoubtedly remarkable that the magi-clans could not produce the kinnim; but this disability does not help us to determine what exactly the kinnim were. Conceivably, the magicians were tired of the contest, and feeling that they would ultimately be worsted in it, withdrew before the circumstances compelled them to withdraw.
Lice. Kinnim—the word is only found here and in the Psalms which celebrate the Exodus (Psalms 78:46; Psalms 105:31). It was understood as "lice"by Josephus, the Talmudical writers, Bochart, Pool, and our translators in the reign of James I. But the great weight of authority is in favour of the rendering "gnats" or "mosquitoes." See the preceding paragraph. It must also be berne in mind that the nearest Egyptian equivalent, khennems, has the signification of mosquito.
And in beast. Kalisch notes that mosquitoes - molest especially beasts, as oxen and horses, flying into their eyes and nostrils, driving them to madness and fury, and sometimes even torturing them to death." He quotes Theodoret, Hist. Ecclesiastes 8:1-21.26.
The magicians did so with their enchantments. The magicians stretched out their rods over certain collections of dust, but no gnats were produced; which would be the natural result, if they had made no secret arrangements. No reason can be assigned why they should not have seemed to produce gnats, as easily as frogs, if they had employed all the arts of which they were masters in so doing. But events had convinced them that they could not cope with Moses and Aaron; and it would seem that they therefore declined further contest,
The magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. Or "of a God." It is not probable that the magicians believed in a single God, or intended in what they said to express any monotheistic idea. All that they meant to say was—"This is beyond the power of man—it is supernatural—some god must be helping the Israelites." No doubt they had come to this conclusion by a careful scrutiny of all the miracles hitherto wrought by Aaron. He hearkened not unto them. The magicians were minded to resist no longer; but Pharaoh was otherwise minded. It is quite possible that the mosquito plague did not greatly annoy him. He would probably possess lofty apartments above the height to which the mosquito ascends (Herod. 2.95); or he may have guarded himself by mosquito curtains of the finest Egyptian muslin. His subjects would naturally suffer from such a plague far more than he. As the Lord had said. See the comment on the same phrase in Exodus 8:11
HOMILETICS
Moral avalanches not easily arrested when once set in motion.
The magicians had begun by exciting Pharaoh to obstinate unbelief and resistance to the Divine Will They had, by artifice or otherwise, persuaded him that there was nothing so very marvellous in the wonders wrought by Moses and Aaron, nothing that indicated a Divine author of the wonders. They had thus encouraged and stimulated him to embark upon a fatal course. Now, they would fain have stopped him, but they could not. His pride and self-conceit—his honour, as no doubt he thought it, were concerned in the struggle upon which he had entered—to give way would be to acknowledge himself worsted in a contest with two contemptible Hebrews. In vain did the magicians change their tone, and make the acknowledgment—"This is the finger of God"—their altered spirit had no effect upon him. No—whoever changed or blenched—he would persevere—his heart had become hardened—if now and then he quailed, and seemed on the verge of yielding, yet after a time he drew back—always provoking God more and more by his continual perverseness, until at last all Egypt was involved in destruction (Exodus 12:29, Exodus 12:30; Exodus 14:27-2). The magicians, who had had a large share in causing his entrance upon an evil course, found themselves unable to arrest his steps, and must be regarded as in part responsible for the final catastrophe. So nations are often urged by evil counsellors into wars or rebellions, which they soon bitterly regret; but it is too late to stop the evil. Men in business are recommended to adopt questionable means of pushing or retrieving their fortunes, and embark on courses from which their advisers would fain withdraw them; but it is impossible. Advisers should recognise the greatness of their responsibility from the first, and set themselves against the very beginning of evil, else they will find the course of affairs soon get beyond their control—they will be utterly powerless to stop the avalanche which they have set in motion.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
The plague of lice.
The precise nature of the visitation is matter of dispute. The word "Kinnim" seems to include various kinds of poisonous flies and insects (Geikie; and see Exposition). Some take it to denote mosquitoes. The plague stands at any rate in immediate relation to the natural troubles of the country. Travellers tell how, as the Nile waters spread over the surface of the land, and moisten its fine dust, gnats and flies burst from their pupae, and spring into perfect existence. They "vivify instantaneously on the dust absorbing moisture enough to discolour it. As the flood advances slowly onwards, a black line of moving insects on the extreme verge moves with it"(Osburn). There is a terrible "tick" described by Sir Samuel Baker, which lives in hot sand and dust, and preys on the blood of animals. "From the size of a grain of sand, in its natural state, it swells to the size of a hazel nut," and is "the greatest enemy to man and beast." Here, then, was a new horror, the intolerableness of the plague being increased by the insignificance of the enemy, and the hopelessness of fighting it down. Note—
I. THIS PLAGUE CAME FROM THE LAND, AS THE TWO FORMER FROM THE RIVER. Aaron "smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice (Kinnim) in man, and in beast"(Exodus 8:17). This was a new blow at Egyptian idolatry, the earth being worshipped as well as the river. The suddenness, extent, and fearfully aggravated character of the plague, and its appearance in immediate connection with Aaron's act in smiting the earth, proved it to be of supernatural origin, while cognate with the phenomena of the country.
1. At the stroke of God's anger, trouble may be made to break forth upon us from any quarter of our existence. Now, the river; again, the dust. The quarter it comes from is not likely to be that from which we are expecting it.
2. Troubles spring not from the dust (Job 5:6); but they may be made to rise so thickly around us that it may almost seem as if they did spring from it.
3. The most insignificant agencies (and circumstances) may be made the means of severe retribution. It is intensely painful to be made to suffer through things which we despise.
4. God's retributions are often such as strike home to our tenderest points. The Egyptians—especially the priestly classes—were extremely cleanly, and this plague, if it was one of vermin, must have been a grievous infliction to them.
II. THE THIRD PLAGUE CAME UNANNOUNCED. We forfeit our claim to warnings by acting presumptuously (Proverbs 29:1).
III. IT LED THE MAGICIANS TO GIVE UP THE CONTEST (Exodus 8:19). We find them still standing before Pharaoh (Exodus 9:11), but from this point we hear of no more attempts at imitation. They may have abandoned the contest—
1. From a sense of shame. The paltriness of their attempts at imitating the miracles of Moses and Aaron was so apparent, that the magicians must almost have blushed at them. They would rather give up the attempt than expose themselves to more humiliations.
2. From astonishment. As experts in magical arts, they knew very well the difference between false miracles and real ones. They are confounded to find men who can work wonders of so stupendous a character, and this, manifestly, by the real assistance of Deity.
3. From fear and pain. They had no interest in courting a continuance of these terrible plagues, which they recognised as true works of God. They were as painful to them as to others, and they dreaded the consequences of perseverance in so unequal a conflict. We see from this
(1) That involuntary testimony to the truth is often extracted from those whose inclinations would lead them to oppose it. There are remarkable examples in the life of Christ, e.g. "Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him," etc. (John 11:47, John 11:48); and in the lives of the Apostles, e.g. Acts 4:16; Acts 16:17. The confessions of the demons in Christ's history are of the same order. Many testimonies of an extraordinary kind have come from unbelievers.
(2) That there are great differences in degree of moral hardihood. Pharaoh held out, but the magicians gave in. They were not converted to the truth, in the sense of becoming servants of Jehovah, but they thought it prudent not to go further in open opposition. Even this degree of submission saved them from being hardened as Pharaoh was subsequently.
IV. THE PLAGUE HAD NO GOOD EFFECT ON PHARAOH (Acts 16:19). In itself, it was as likely to have produced submission as the previous one, and Pharaoh had now, in addition, the testimony of his own magicians to the reality of the wonder. But to place against this, there was the fact that he had already submitted, and had broken his promise. It was doubly bard to submit again, and stronger means would be required to bring him to the point of a second entreaty. Thus do the influences that work for our good gradually lose their power over us, because so frequently resisted. Every time a vow is made and token, a good resolution formed, and not kept, it is rendered harder to repeat the act.—J.O.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
The third plague-the gnats: the finger of God.
I. CONSIDER THE PLAGUE ITSELF. From the water God comes to the land. He who has power over every drop of water has power over every grain of dust. Everywhere at his touch the inorganic becomes the organic. And he still keeps in the same line of action which has been begun with the frogs. He produces small creatures in immense numbers, rather than larger creatures in fewer numbers; that thus he may the more irritate and humiliate Pharaoh. Individually, the gnats are nothing; their delicate little bodies may be crushed out of existence between thumb and finger. Collectively, they amount to the dimensions of a plague.
II. CONSIDER THE VERDICT OF THE MAGICIANS UPON THIS PLAGUE. The noticeable thing in the plague of the gnats is not so much the new agents of chastisement as the discomfiture of the magicians. Not that they had been really successful before. On any view of their proceedings they were deceivers, for what they did was done either by trickery or by the power of God working through them; whereas they took it all to their own credit and the credit of Egypt's deities. This was not success. No man can be called successful when he has the daily fear that his resources are coming to an end. Much that is reckoned success is only failure after all, ingeniously and impudently delayed. The verdict of the magicians was worthless so far as it seemed to indicate the real state of affairs. They say, "This is the finger of God," but we see only too clearly the motive of their admission. When an admission is extorted, as theirs was, it is deprived of all virtue and grace. That the magicians talked of the finger of God was no proof that the finger of God was present. They talked thus because they had no other way of cloaking their own shame, and accounting for their failure. The finger of God was not more evident in the gnats than in the frogs or in the bloody streams, or in the converted rod. He who could really see the finger of God in one of these, could see it in all the rest. That finger had been pointing all the time just as it pointed now. It was a question of hand rather than finger; and the hand was certainly pressing more heavily. Still, though the magicians took up this way of speaking merely for excuse, we have to thank them for an expressive and appropriate phrase. They, in their blind selfishness, speak of the finger of God, not knowing all they say; but the finger of God is a great and helpful reality to those who will lock for it and be guided by it. It should ever be our business to look for this great finger. In a world of weathercocks, blown about with changing and conflicting opinions, that finger ever points in one direction; and yet while it teaches us to maintain a rigorous adhesion to Christian principles, teaches us at the same time to maintain them in a spirit of wise expediency. He has no true eye for the finger of God who knows not when to bend that he may not break. Pharaoh would not recognise the finger even when his own magicians were compelled to make a show of recognition. When they were defeated he seemed to think they were no longer of any account among his advisers. Thus we have to notice again what poor judges we are of the relative severity of the plagues. Pharaoh was more affected by the frogs than by the gnats. Perhaps he was so disgusted with the failure of the magicians as to be filled with a more rebellious spirit than ever. They said they saw the finger of God; he stubbornly refused to see it. Whether a man will really see this finger depends on what he is looking for. Equally pernicious is it to see Divine power where it is not, and to fail in seeing it where it is.—Y.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART
I. THERE IS A LIMIT TO THE DIVINE MERCY. This, like every third plague, came without warning. Opportunity was given twice to avert coming judgment. None is given now. Unannounced it startles them in the midst of their fancied security.
1. When men have baffled the servants of God by unrepentant stubbornness and broken vows the matter is not ended. God who has spoken will also act.
2. God will not always strive. Those who resist mercy pass on to meet sudden destruction.
II. THE JUDGMENT UPON THE IDOLATRY OF EGYPT. In the two first plagues God's hand was laid upon the river which the Egyptians worshipped as the giver of life. In this it was laid upon the land—also an Egyptian god and the giver of their food, etc. God proves that these are his servants, and that they will bless or harm according to his word. The works of God's hands—earth, sea, etc.—are still regarded as bestowing good independently of his will. Let us not need Egypt's chastisements to teach us that all are serving him, both in blessing and in judgment.
III. THE WORLD'S WISDOM TURNED INTO FOOLISHNESS. They who have hitherto contended so proudly with God are confounded before the basest of all the miracles.
1. The wisdom that seeks to rob man's heart of God is brought to nothing before the gospel. With all its vaunted power it could not bring peace to a sinner's heart nor change to his life.
2. Atheistic science, that can see God nowhere, will yet be confounded before his judgments.—U.