Matthew Poole and continuators on Exodus 10

5 And they shall cover the face of the Earth, that one cannot be able to see the Earth, and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped , which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field.

The Wheat and the Rye, the staffe of their lives.

The fruits and leaves of every tree.

Marginal references: Heb. eye.; Joel 1. 4.

6 And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers fathers have seen , since the day that they were upon the Earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

Such for number, or shape, or mischievous effects, as were never seen before.

7 And Pharaohs 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?

An occasion of sin and destruction. See Exod. 23. 33. Ios. 23. 1[illegible: 1+ letters].

9 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 bold a feast unto the LORD .

A feast upon a sacrifice, wherein all are concerned, and therefore all must be present and ready to do what God requires us.

10 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 .

I wish God may be no more ready and willing to be with you and to do you good than I am willing to let you go.

Either 1. Evil of sin. You have some ill design against me, either to stir up Sedition or War against me, or utterly to depart out of my Kingdom. Or rather 2. Evil of calamity or mischief. 1. Because it is here said to be before their faces, whereas evil designs are in mens hearts, and the fair pretences wherewith they cover them are said to be before their faces. 2. The word of caution he gives to them, look to it or take [illegible: 1+ letters]eed, seems to imply that he speaks not of the evil they designed against Pharaoh, but of that which they would unavoidably bring upon themselves from so potent a King, by the refusal of such fair offers and continuing in such insolent and unreasonable demands.

11 Not so: go now ye that are men and serve the LORD, for that ye did desire : and they were driven out from Pharaohs presence.

Which was not true, but onely was gathered by him out of their declared intention of going to sacrifice, wherein he thought the presence of the Women and Children wholly unnecessary.

12 And the LORD said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land , even all that the hail hath left.

This is no unusual Plague in Africa and Arabia, where, when the harvest is ripe, they frequently come in vast numbers and eat up all their Corn, and what they do not eat they infect with their touch and the moisture coming from them, and afterwards dying in great numbers they poison the Air and cause a pestilence. So that it is no wonder that Pharaoh and his Servants were so concerned for this Plague, so well known to them, especially considering, that this was like to be far worse then all of the same kind which they had either seen or heard of.

13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an Eastwind upon the land, all that day, and all that night, and when it was morning, the East-wind brought the locusts.

Over divers parts of the Land, shaking his rod towards the several quarters of it.

Which in those parts is a most violent and pernicious wind, Exod. 14. 21. Numb. 11. 31. and a dry wind, and therefore fit for the ingendring of those Creatures. This wind brought them from Arabia, where they are in great numbers, as we have seen ver. 12. though God miraculously increased their numbers and their power of doing mischief.

14 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 .

Quest. How can this be true, when the same words are used of the locusts in Ioe[illegible: 1+ letters]s time? Answ. It might be true of both in divers respects, of these for number and quality, of them for long continuance, for they lasted three or four years, when these were but for a little time; of these for Egypt, of them for Iud[illegible: 1+ letters]a, where they were fixed.

Marginal references: Psal. 78. 46. and 105. 34.

15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkned , and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees, which the hail had left , and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

Either by their flying in vast numbers and so darkning the air, as they have oft times done: or by covering the green and lightsome herbs and productions of the earth with their dark and direful bodies.

How could this be, when the hail had smitten every herb, and broken every tree, chap. 9. 25. Ans. 1. There seems to have been some distance of time between these two plagues, in which space, new productions might be sprouting forth both out of the ground and from the trees. 2. The words all and every are commonly understood of the greatest part.

16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste : and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you .

Because this kind of plague in it self was most pernicious, whereby whole countries had been wasted and grievous famines and pestilences caused, and was mightily aggravated by the vengeance of God and by the peculiar quality of these Locusts, which did not onely fall upon their herbs and fruits, as they use to do, but invade their very houses, ver. 6. infect their meats, fill their beds, poison them with their stink and with their venemous bitings, whereby they killed many men, as it is written in the book of Wisdom, chap. 16. ver. 19.

By contempt of your great and terrible works, by breach of my promise made to you, and by my denial of your just desires and commands given to me in his name whom I now find and feel to be the almighty and soveraign God.

Marginal references: Heb. hastned to call.

17 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.

I desire no further favour, I will no more offend nor need your pardon.

This deadly plague, compare 2 King. 4. 40. and 2 Cor. 11. 23. Besides it did destroy the life of herbs and trees, yea of beasts and men, either directly, or at least by consequence in depriving them of the necessary supports of life.

19 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.

Heb. a wind of the Sea, i. e. coming from the Sea, called there the great Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, from whence came the North-west wind, which did blow the locusts directly into the Red-sea.

Cast them, as the Hebrew word signifies, with a great noise, and with great force, so as they should never rise again to molest them.

Heb. the sea of bulrushes, so called from the great number of bulrushes near its shore, Or, the sea of bounds or limits, q. d. the narrow sea, whereas they could see no bounds nor shore beyond the Mediterranean Sea. It was called the Arabian gulf, and by others the Red-sea, either from its red sand; or rather from Esau, called also Edom, which signifies red, Gen. 25. 30. from whom as the adjoyning country was called Edom, or red, so this was called the Red-sea.

Marginal references: Heb. fastned.; Joel. 2. 20.

21 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 .

It is an hyperbolical expression, such being very frequent both in Scripture and in all authors. For darkness being onely a privation cannot be properly felt, yet it might be felt in its cause, to wit, those thick and gross vapours which filled and infected the Air. But the place may be rendred thus, that there may be darkness—after that (so the Hebrew Va[illegible: 1+ letters] is sometimes used, as Micb. 7. 13.) the darkness (i. e. the darkness of the night, or the common and daily darkness) is departed or removed, and the time of the day come: for so the root, from whence this word may be derived, signifies, Exod. 13. 22. And to this purpose the words are rendred by the Chaldee and Syriack, and some others, and the sence is, that the darkness may continue in the day-time as well as in the night.

Marginal references: Heb. that one may feel darkness

23 They saw not one another , neither rose any from his place for three dayes: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings .

Because these gross and moist fogs and vapours did not onely quite shut out the light of the heavenly bodies, but also put out their candles or other artificial lights, or at least so darken them that men could have no benefit by them.

Place here may be taken, either ▪1. more strictly and particularly: so the sence is, the horrour of that darkness was so great that they durst not remove at all, but stood or sat where the darkness found them, like men astonished or affrighted, and therefore unmoveable, having their minds disturbed, being terrified with their guilty Consciences, which most affect men in the dark, and with the dreadful noises which they heard, Wisd. 17. 5. and with the apparitions of evil Angels, as may seem from Psal. 78. 49. where the plague of evil Angels is put instead of this plague of darkness, which therefore is omitted in that place where all the rest are reckoned up. Or rather 2. more largely, for their own houses or dwellings, for so the Hebrew word is certainly used, Exod. 16. 29. So the sence is, they did not stir abroad out of their houses upon their most necessary occasions. Obj. He saith not that they could not go, but that they could not rise from their place, which may seem to limit this expression to their particular places. Ans. The word, to rise, is commonly put for going about any business, and here it is a pregnant word, as they call it, and implies going in it, none arose, viz. to go or remove, from his place. And rising cannot be properly taken here for that particular posture, unless we will suppose that this darkness found all men sitting, which is absurd to imagine.

Whereby they might have conveyed themselves and families and goods away, as afterwards they did in haste: but they waited for Moses his orders, and he for Gods command, and God intended to bring them forth not by stealth, but in a more honourable and publick manner, in spight of all opposition.

Marginal references: Wisd. 18. 1. chap. 8. 22.

24 And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD: only let your flocks and your herds be stayed : let your little ones also go with you.

Or, Therefore: or Then, to wit, after the darkness was either wholly or in part removed.

Either as a pledge of your return after your sacrifice is ended: or as a recompence for the cattel which I have lost by your means.

And consequently the women, whose help and service was necessary for their little ones in diverse regards.

25 And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices, and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God.

i. e. Suffer us to take of our own stock.

Marginal references: Heb. into our hands.

26 Our cattel also shall go with us, there shall not an hoof be left behind, for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God: and we know not with what we must serve the LORD until we come thither .

Which was not a pretence, but a real truth. For this being a solemn and extraordinary sacrifice by the express and particular appointment of God, they knew not either of what kinds, or in what number or manner their sacrifices must be offered. And for all these things they did not receive particular directions till they came to mount Sinai.

29 And Moses said, thou hast spoken well , I will see thy face again no more.

Heb. right, not morally, for so it was very ill said; but logically, that which agrees though not with thy duty, yet with the event and truth of the thing: for as thou hast warned me to see thee no more, so I in the name of God assure thee, that thou shalt see me no more, to beg my prayers, or to be helped out of thy troubles by my means. And therefore that discourse of Moses to Pharaoh, which follows chap. 11. 4, &c. though it be put there out of its order and proper place, as many other passages are, yet was delivered at this time and upon occasion of these words.