Exodus 8:24

24 fecitque Dominus ita et venit musca gravissima in domos Pharaonis et servorum eius et in omnem terram Aegypti corruptaque est terra ab huiuscemodi muscis

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

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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 faciamque mirabilem in die illa terram Gessen in qua populus meus est ut non sint ibi muscae et scias quoniam ego Dominus in medio terrae

23 ponamque divisionem inter populum meum et populum tuum cras erit signum istud

24 fecitque Dominus ita et venit musca gravissima in domos Pharaonis et servorum eius et in omnem terram Aegypti corruptaque est terra ab huiuscemodi muscis

25 vocavit Pharao Mosen et Aaron et ait eis ite sacrificate Deo vestro in terra

26 et ait Moses non potest ita fieri abominationes enim Aegyptiorum immolabimus Domino Deo nostro quod si mactaverimus ea quae colunt Aegyptii coram eis lapidibus nos obruent