he plague lasted seven days and was appar- ently then suddenly removed. It was Grittatadl b the magicians, which seems to imply that not all the water of the land was transformed. As to the time of year of its occurrence, if the phenomenon had any relation to the natural discoloration, it probably took place about the height of the flood in the month of Epiphi (beginning June 25), or, if pe de ep esis be adopted, probably in the month of Thoth, beginning about the 29th ugust.
(2) The Second Plague, that of the frogs (Ex 8!, J, P), was preceded by an interview with Pharaoh, at which Moses announced the visita- tion. This was at once brought upon the land ty the agency of Aaron stretching forth his hand.
Togs are in most years plentiful in the Nile, and the ponds and canals connected with it, but do not usually wander far from the water; but now they suddenly swarmed on the land, invad- ing the houses, even the bed-chambers, ovens, and kneading-troughs. In Ps 78 they are said to have destroyed the Egyptians, hence some Rabbinical authorities suppose these were other than ordinary frogs, but the word used, zéphardéa’ (LXX βάτραχος), is the name of the ordinary amphibian. It was noticed by some Hebrew writers that while the word is used in the plural in general, it is singular in v.°, literally, ‘and the frog ascended,’ hence Akiba says in Semoth Rabbah that there was but one frog, so rapidly prolific that it filled the whole land. The word is obviously used as a collective, as it occasionally isin Arabic. The magicians imitated the miracle, but, as more than one commentator remarks, when the land was full of frogs, who could tell those brought by the Israelites from those of their Egyptian imitators?) The plague must have been one of great irritation, not only from the discomfort, but from the croaking noise which at times frogs utter continually. The Nile frogs make a sharp sound like two pieces of wood striking together (Hasselquist, pp. 68, 254, 304). The frog was not reckoned unclean by the Egyptians, nor was it specially venerated in Lower Egypt as far as is known. In the Egyptian language Bis figure of a frog was used as a numerical symbol for 100,000 with the phonetic value Afnu. In Upper Egypt there was an obscure goddess anrenenten with a frog’s head and named
890 PLAGUES OF EGYPT
Hkt, but we know little of her, except that in the Middle Empire the superintendents of nomes in Upper Egypt are called her priests, een ahy about the 12th dynasty. Horapollo says that the frog was the symbol of Ptah because it is the representative of man in embryo (Hierogl. i. 25), but there is no native confirmation of this. A frog-headed figure, called ‘Ka, the father of waters,’ is figured by Wilkinson and thought by him to be a form of Ptah (iii. 15). In Papyrus Ebers lii. a frog boiled in oil is recommended as an external application for swelling of the abdomen. Several species of frog inhabit the Nile, the commonest eine Rana esculenta, R. Nilotica, and R. Mosaica. They are called in Egyptian ‘bénh and in Coptic xpOwp. The sagacity of the Egyp- tian frog is said to exceed that of all others. See Elian, Varie Historia, i. 3. : ὃ Plagues of frogs were known in ancient times. Pliny (viii. 43), Orosius (iii. 23), lian (de Nat. Anim. ii. 36), Diodorus (iii. 29) give instances of these. Athenzeus quotes from Heraclides Limbus an account of an invasion of frogs in Pronia and Dardania, which drove out the inhabitants; and Justinus, in his epitome of Trogus Pompeius (xv. 2), speaks of a similar occurrence in Thracia Abderitis. Showers of frogs are often referred to by the old writers. Aélian tells us that he experienced on his way to Dicearchia a fall of rain mixed with tadpoles and mud (Hist. Anim. ii. 56). Several such occurrences are referred to in Beyerlinck’s Theatrum, under the head of Pluvie extraordi- narie. See also Valentinus Albertus, de Pluvia Prodigiosa. Similar occurrences are reported in recent times, one in London, in the Mirror for 4th Aug. 1838. Several others are collected in Andrews’ Book of Oddities, 1892, and some well- authenticated Scottish instances are given in the Glasgow Herald for 19th July 1894 and several succeeding issues. A plague of toads in the upper Nile Valley is rooactal by Hegpard (Under Cres- cent and Star, 1895, or Egyptian frogs see Seetzen (Reisen
. 279). ἜΞΩ Syrien, ete., 1854, iii. Pp. 245, 350, 364, 490, 501); see also Cameron,
cross Africa, i. 267.
At Moses’ entreaty the frogs were removed, and their dead bodies were gathered in heaps which made the land to stink, and probably gave rise to
plagues. Appius tells us that when the people of Antareia had offended Apollo, he sent, among other plagues, an immense host of frogs, which, when they decomposed, poisoned the waters and caused a pestilence which drove them from their homes (de rebus Illyricis, 4). See also Allian, de Nat. Anim. xvii. 41.
(3) (4) The Third and Fourth Plagues consisted of insect pests, the former of o%33 kinnim, or Ὁ)» kinnam, tr. lice AV and RV, ‘sand flies or fleas’ RVm; the latter of a5y ‘ardbh, tr. flies AV and RV. The account of the Third Plague is derived from P (Ex 8'*%), that of the Fourth from J (v.28), The kinnah was probably a stinging fly, mosquito or gnat, such as was, and still is, common in Egypt (Herodotus, ii. 95). A cognate word is applied in Peah toa grain-fly. This plague was sent without any warning to Pharaoh, and was brought about by Aaron smiting the dust with his rod, as God commanded him. The insects attacked man and beast (ν.}7), devouring them (Ps 78*). The interpretation in AV and RV, ‘lice,’ is an ancient one, as it is found in Jos. Ant. π. xiv. 3, and in many other Jewish writings. LXX renders the Heb. words by σκνῖφες, oxvires, or xvires, the name given to small insects found in figs and other fruits (Theophrastus, Hist. Plant, ii. 9, iv. 17), and the Vulgate calls them ciniphes. Κνῖπες and Vives are mentioned by Aristophanes as fig-para- sites (Aves, 590). Philo (Vita Mosis, i. 17) says