Exodus 8:25

25 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, "Go ahead. Sacrifice to your God - but do it here in this country."

Exodus 8:25 Meaning and Commentary

Ver. 25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron
He and his people not being able to endure this plague of flies any longer; and we read in profane history of such creatures being so troublesome, that people have been obliged to quit their habitations, and seek for new ones; so Pausanias ^F20 relates of the inhabitants of Myus, that such a number of flies rose out of the lake, that the men were obliged to leave the city, and go to Miletus; so Aelian ^F21 reports, that the inhabitants of Megara were driven from thence by a multitude of flies, as were the inhabitants of Phaselis by wasps, which creatures also might be in this mixture of insects:

and said, go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land;
that is, in the land of Goshen, in the place where they were; he was willing to allow them the liberty of sacrificing to their God, which it seems they had before; but then he would not consent they should go out of the land to do it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Achaica, sive l. 7. p. 400.
F21 De Animal. l. 11. c. 28.

Exodus 8:25 In-Context

23 I'll make a sharp distinction between your people and mine. This sign will occur tomorrow.'"

24 And God did just that. Thick swarms of flies in Pharaoh's palace and the houses of his servants. All over Egypt, the country ruined by flies.

25 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, "Go ahead. Sacrifice to your God - but do it here in this country."

26 Moses said, "That would not be wise. What we sacrifice to our God would give great offense to Egyptians. If we openly sacrifice what is so deeply offensive to Egyptians, they'll kill us.

27 Let us go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to our God, just as he instructed us."