Exodus 8:24

24 Then the LORD did so. And there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was laid waste because * of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt.

Exodus 8:24 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 8:24

And the Lord did so
And this he did immediately of himself without any means; not by the rod of Aaron, to let the Egyptians see that there was nothing in that rod, that it had no magic virtue in it, and what was done by it was from the Lord himself, who could as well inflict plagues without it as with it; see ( Psalms 105:31 ) and there came a grievous swarm of flies; or a "heavy" F17 one, which was both very numerous, and very troublesome and distressing:

into the house of Pharaoh, and into the houses of his servants, and
into all the land of Egypt:
into the palace of Pharaoh, and into the palaces of his nobles, ministers, and courtiers, and into the dwelling places of all his subjects, throughout the whole land, excepting the land of Goshen:

the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies;
Josephus


FOOTNOTES:

F18 says, the land lay neglected and uncultivated by the husbandmen; it may be, the air was infected by the flies, which produced a pestilence that took off many of the inhabitants; so among the Eleans, as Pliny F19 reports, a multitude of flies produced a pestilence; however, it is certain many of the inhabitants of Egypt perished by them; they might sting them to death, suck their blood, and poison them with their envenomed stings; see ( Psalms 78:45 ) .


F17 (dbk) "gravis", Montanus, "gravissime", V. L.
F18 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 2. c. 14. sect. 3.)
F19 Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 28.

Exodus 8:24 In-Context

22 "But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, in order that you may know that I, the LORD , am in the midst of the land.
23 "I will put a division between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will occur.""'
24 Then the LORD did so. And there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt.
25 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land."
26 But Moses said, "It is not right to do so, for we will sacrifice to the LORD our God what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not then stone us?

Cross References 1

  • 1. Psalms 78:45; Psalms 105:31

Footnotes 1

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