Exodus 10

Exodus 10:1-20

1–20. The eighth plague. The locusts. From J, with short passages from E.

Exodus 10:2-3

2, 3a. Before the last plague comes, the Israelites are to make request of the Egyptians, as directed in Exodus 3:21-22; cf. Exodus 12:35-36. 2. every man] in Exodus 3:22 only the women are to make the request. and jewels of gold] LXX. Sam. add and raiment (as Exodus 3:22, Exodus 12:35). It must be supplied, or understood, from Exodus 12:36, to be included. 3a. gave. &c.] according to the promise of Exo 3:21 a; cf. Exodus 12:36. 3b. Cf. Numbers 12:3 ‘Now the man Moses was very meek,’ &c.; also, for ‘the man Moses,’ Genesis 19:9, Judges 17:5, 1 Samuel 1:21, 1 Kings 11:28, Esther 9:4. was very great, &c.] on account viz. of the wonders wrought by him. The words suggest a reason why the Egyptians acceded the more readily to the Israelites’ request.

Exodus 10:3-6

3–6. The announcement of the plague to Pharaoh.

Exodus 10:4-8

4–8 (J). The sequel,—and once, probably, the immediate sequel,—to Exodus 10:28-29 (J): see the note there.

Exodus 10:5

5. they shall cover, &c.] This is literally true of locusts. As Thomson says of an invasion in the Lebanon district, ‘Their number was astounding; the whole face of the mountain was black with them’ (Joel, p. 89). face] Heb. eye. A peculiar usage: so v. 15, Numbers 22:5; Numbers 22:11. they shall eat, &c.] their voracity is insatiable. Cf. Joe 2:3, with the passage cited in the writer’s note from a traveller, ‘On whatever spot they fall, the whole vegetable produce disappears. Nothing escapes them, from the leaves on the forest to the herbs on the plain.’

Exodus 10:6

6. thy houses shall be filled, &c.] Cf. Morier, describing an invasion in Persia (ibid. p. 89), ‘They entered the inmost recesses of the houses, were found in every corner, stuck to our clothes, and infested our food.’ And he turned] i.e. Moses, though Aaron also, according to v. 3, had gone in. See the note on vv. 1b, 2, at the end.

Exodus 10:7-11

7–11. The Pharaoh’s ministers suggest to him that Moses should no longer be permitted to ruin Egypt. He accordingly makes an attempt to come to terms with Moses; but when Moses declares that the whole people must go to hold the feast to Jehovah, he replies that he can only in the men go. The ministers shew by what they say that they are prompted not by religious fear, but only by solicitude for the welfare of their country, the misfortunes of which they attribute to Moses.

Exodus 10:8

8. again] back, a frequent sense of ‘again’ in Old English.

Exodus 10:9

9. a feast unto the Lord] more naturally, Jehovah’s feast.

Exodus 10:10

10. The Pharaoh’s good wishes are of course intended ironically (cf. Amos 5:14): Jehovah be with you, and protect you, as assuredly as I will let you go, i.e. not at all. for evil is before you] i.e. is contemplated by you, is what ye purpose (marg.): lit. is before your faces. The ‘evil’ is their intention of leaving Egypt altogether.

Exodus 10:11

11. men] Not the word used in v. 7, but one meaning more distinctly men, as opposed to women or children: cf. Deuteronomy 22:5 Heb. for that is what ye desire] viz. to worship Jehovah at a festival, which could be sufficiently observed by men alone (Exodus 23:17). And they were driven, &c.] With this ultimatum, that only the men might go, the interview abruptly terminates.

Exodus 10:12-13

12, 13a (E). The locusts are brought at the signal given by Moses with his rod. Cf. Exodus 9:22-23 a, with the note. 12. (even) all that, &c.] LXX. Sam. read, and all the fruit of the trees that, &c., perhaps rightly: cf. v. 15, and Exodus 9:25 end. 13b (J). The sequel of v. 11 in J: cf. Exodus 9:23 b, similarly after an insertion from E. brought (first time)] led (Exodus 3:1), or brought along,—the word used in Psalms 78:26 b of the wind which brought the quails. an east wind] so Psalms 78:26 a, for which the parallel clause has the south wind. The word does in fact include winds at least from the SE. The ‘east wind’ commonly denotes the violent and scorching sirocco (from Arab. sherḳ ?îyeh, ‘eastern’), often described as ‘drying up’ vegetation, &c. (Ezekiel 17:10; Ezekiel 19:12, Hosea 13:15); hence the Vulg. here has ‘ventus urens.’ ‘That the wind brings locusts is stated by ancient and modern authorities alike, e.g. Agatharc. p. 42, Strabo, 16. p. 772, Diod. Sic. iii. 28, Shaw, Travels (1738), p. 256’ Kn.). brought (second time)] more exactly, bore along; cf. 1 Kings 18:12 (‘carried’). For the construction of the Heb., cf. Genesis 19:23; Genesis 44:3; and see G.-K.§ 164b, or the writer’s Heb. Tenses, §§ 167–9.

Exodus 10:14

14. went up] came up (v. 12). borders (Heb. border)] i.e. territory, as Exodus 8:2, Exodus 10:4; Exodus 10:19 (cf. p. 56). grievous] Exodus 8:24, Exodus 9:3; Exodus 9:18; Exodus 9:24. before them, &c.] cf. v. 6b, Exodus 9:18 b, 24b, Exodus 11:6 b; and p. 56.

Exodus 10:15

15. was darkened] i.e. hidden (cf. v. 5) by the multitude of locusts resting upon it. Cf. the description of Thomson, cited on v. 5, ‘the whole face of the mountain was black with them’; and of the Jaffa invasion in 1865 (Joel, p. 90), ‘in parts they covered the ground for miles to a height of several inches.’ not any green thing] cf. the last note on v. 5.

Exodus 10:16-17

16, 17. Such terrible ravages move the Pharaoh to confess his sin, in stronger terms than before (Exodus 9:27); he prays for forgiveness, and for a fourth time intreats for the removal of the plague (cf. Exodus 8:8; Exodus 8:28 Exodus 9:28).

Exodus 10:17

17. only this once] Genesis 18:32. this death only] only this terribly destructive pest. The term ‘death’ depicts vividly the consternation which the Pharaoh feels at it.

Exodus 10:18-19

18, 19. At Moses’ entreaty, the locusts are removed.

Exodus 10:19

19. turned, &c.] i.e. caused by a change a west wind to blow. west wind] Heb. a sea-wind. The ‘west’ is regularly in Heb. the sea (Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:14, &c.). The idiom must have formed itself in Palestine, where the ‘sea’ was on the west. It is a common fate of locust swarms to be driven away by the wind, and to perish in the sea. Cf. Joe 2:20, with the writer’s note (p. 60). Pliny (H.N. xi. 35) writes, ‘Gregatim sublatae vento in maria aut stagna decidunt.’ The swarm described by Denon (on v. 4) was driven back by a change of wind into the desert on the East.

Exodus 10:20

20. But again, after the removal of the plague, the result was the same as before, and the Pharaoh would not let the people go. The expression, as elsewhere in E (Exodus 4:21 b, Exodus 9:35, Exo Exodus 10:27).

Exodus 10:21-27

21–27. The ninth plague. The darkness. From E and J.

Exodus 10:23

23. but, &c.] What is here described is evidently miraculous: but it is said that the sand-clouds of the Ḥ ?amsîn (see below) sometimes travel in streaks, so that parts of the country may escape them. The darkness was no doubt occasioned really by a sand-storm, produced by the hot electrical wind called the Ḥ ?amsîn, which in Egypt blows in most years intermittently,—usually for two or three days at a time,—from the S., SE., or SW. during some 50 days in spring (hence its name, ḥ ?amsîn = fifty). These winds spring up for the most part suddenly: they are violent, and often as hot as ‘the air of an oven’; and they frequently raise such an amount of sand and dust as to darken the sun, and even to conceal objects a few yards off. Men and animals like are greatly distressed by the sand and heat: the sand penetrates everywhere; and while the storm lasts, people are obliged to remain secluded in their houses. On account of the sand and dust, the darkness is really such as ‘can be felt.’ See R. Pococke, Description of the East (1743), i. 195; Volney, Voyage en Syrie et en Égypte (1787), i. 55–7; DB. iii. 892a; A. B.

Edwards, A thousand miles up the Nile2 (1889), ch. 5, p. 76 f.; Rosenm. Schol. ad loc. (a sandstorm, c. 1100, producing darkness so intense that it was thought the end of the world had come); Denon [above, p. 79], i. 285 f.; and a photograph in the Ill. London News, Feb. 17, 1906.

Exodus 10:24-26

24–26. The Pharaoh now summons Moses again, and offers a greater concession than before (vv. 8–11): the entire people may go; only their flocks and herds must be left behind (as a security for their return). But Moses will not listen to such a compromise. The passage must belong to the same source as vv. 8–11 (J).

Exodus 10:25

25. Thou also must, &c.] The pron. is emphatic. Pharaoh, besides letting the Israelites’ cattle go, must also himself contribute to the sacrifices which will be offered. By ‘sacrifices’ (lit. slaughterings) are meant the most common kind of sacrifice, called elsewhere for distinction ‘peace-offerings’ (see on Exodus 20:24): they are often, esp. in the historical books, mentioned together with burnt-offerings (see ibid.). sacrifice] Heb. do,—used in a sacrificial sense, like ῥέζειν and facere, and the Ass. epκshu. So Exodus 29:36; Exodus 29:38, Deuteronomy 12:27, 1 Kings 3:15, and frequently (the instances in the OT. have been collected by the writer in DB. s.v. Offer, Offering, No. 7, iii. 588b).

Exodus 10:26

26. The Israelites’ own cattle must go as well: because until they reach their destination they do not know how many sacrifices will be required. and we know not] The pron. is emphatic.

Exodus 10:27

27. The result is the same as in v. 20. 28, 29 (J). The original sequel of v. 26 (J). The Pharaoh is greatly angered at Moses’ persistency; and declares peremptorily that he will never admit him to his presence again. In the existing text of Exodus, Moses is admitted to the Pharaoh’s presence again, viz. to deliver the message Exodus 11:4-8 after he had received the command contained in Exodus 11:1-3 : the difficulty is removed by the supposition that originally Exodus 11:4-8 was the immediate sequel of Exo 10:28-29, and that the connexion was interrupted by the compiler’s insertion of Exo 11:1-3 from E.

Exodus 10:28

28. from me] Heb. from upon me, i.e. from being a trouble to me; cf. Genesis 13:11, Numbers 20:21, 2 Samuel 13:17 (Lex. p. 759a). Not the ‘from’ [Heb. from with = ðáñὰ with a gen.] of Exodus 8:12; Exodus 8:29-30, Exodus 9:33, Exodus 10:6; Exodus 10:18, Exodus 11:8. see my face] i.e. be admitted to my presence; cf. Genesis 43:3, 2 Samuel 14:24; 2 Samuel 14:28, 2Ki_Exodus 25:19.