commllllds given by God are executed, and Ver. 18.-The fish .. . sha.11 die. This tho result is ea declo.rcd beforehand by Moses would increese the greutness of the co.lamity, (vors. 20, 21) for the Egyptians lived to a very largo extent u,Pnon fish (Birch, ' Egypt from tho Ver. 14. -- Pharaoh'• heart is hardened. Earliest Times,' p. 45), which wa.<1 taken in Rather, "is hard," "is dull." The adjective the Nile, in the co.nals, and the Lake Mreris used is entirely unconnected with the verb of (Herod. ii. 149). The river shall stink. the preceding verse. As Keil and Delitzsch ohqerve, "this seems tn Ver. 15.-In the morning. The expression indicate putrefaction." The Egyptians shall used both hero and again in eh. viii. 20 seems loathe to drink. The expression is stronger rather to imply a daily custom of the Pharaoh. in verse 24, where we find that " they could It is conjectured, not without reason, that not drink." We may presume that at first, among the recognised duties of the monarch not supposing that the fluid could really be at this time was the offering of a morning blood, they tried to drink it, took it into their sacrifice to the Nile on the banks of the river mouths, and possibly swallowed some, but that (Keil e.nd Delitzsch, Kalisch, etc.). Possibly, very soon they found they could not continue however, this ma.y not ha.ve been the case, to do so. e.nd God ma.y have chosen for certain miracles Ver. 19.-Be.y unto Aaron. There is an particule.r days, on which the king we.a about omission here ( and generally throughout the to proceed to the river in view of some special account of the plagues) of the performance by ceremony connected with the a.nnua.1 inunda- Moses of God's behest. The Samaritan Pen- tion. Against he come. Literally," to meet ta.tench in each ca.<1e supplies the omission. It him." Ill their hand. When the time came he.a been argued (Kennicott) that the Hebrew for smiting the waters, the rod we.a transferred no.rra.tive has been contracted ; but most critics to Aaron's he.nd (vcr. 19). agree that the incomplete form is the early Ver. 16.-The Lord God ... hath sent me one, and that, in the Sa.mar. version, the unto thee. Rather, "sent me unto thee." original narrative has been expanded. The The reference is to the original sending waters of Egypt ... streams ... rivers ... (eh. v. l). Thou wouldest not hear. Literally, ponds . .. pools of water. The waters of "Thou hast not heo.rd," i.e. up to this time Lower Egypt, where this miracle was wrought, thou hast not obeyed the command given to consisted of (1) the various branches of the thee. Nile, natural a.nd artificial, which were seven Ver. 17.-In this thou shalt know that I when Herodotus wrote (Herod. ii.17), whence am the Lord. Pharaoh had declo.red on the the Nile was called " septemfluus," or " sep- occasion specially referred to, "I know not temgeminus; " (2) the canals derived from Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go " ( eh. v. 2). each branch to fertilise the lands o.long its He is now told that he shall " know j ehoveh " banks ; (3) ponds, marshes, e.nd pools, the in the coming visitation; he shall know, ;.e., results of the overflowing of the Nile, or of that there is a. great and truly existent God its percolation through its banks on either who controls nature, does as he will even with side; and (4) e.rtificio.l reservoirs, wherein the Nile, which the Egyptians rege.rded as a. water wo.s stored for use after the inundo.tion great deity ; and can tum, if he see fit, the was over. The four terms of the text seem greatest blessings into curses. llehold, I will a.pplico.ble to this four-fold division, and smite. God here speaks of the acts of Moses "show an accuro.te knowledge of Egypt" and Aaron e.s his own acts, and of their hands (Cook), and of its water system. The os his hand, because they were mere instru- " streams" a.re the Nile branches ; the " rivers " ments through which he worked. The Roman correspond to the ca.nals ; the " ponds " are lo.w said: "Qui facit per alium, facit per se." the natural accumulations of waters in per- The waters ... shall be turned to blood. manent lakes or in temporary pools and Not simply, "shall be of the colour of blood," marshes; while the" pools," or " gatherings of es Rosenmiiller po.raphreses, but shall become waters 11 (margin), are the reservoirs made by and be, to all intents and purposes, blood. It art. Ao.ron was to stretch out his rod over the is idle to ask whether the water would have Nile, but with the intent to smite all the answered to all the modern tests, microscopic Egyptian waters, a.nd a.11 the waters would at a.nd other, by which blood is known. The once be smitten, the streams a.nd the canals question cannot be answered. All that we are a.nd the natural lakes and the reservoirs. The entitled to conclude from the words of the text miracle would even extend to priVllte dwell- is, that the water had all the physical appeo.r- ings, and the change would take place through- ance--tho look, taste, smell, texture of blood ; out a.11 the land of Egypt, not only in respect and hence, that it was certainly not merely of the open wo.ters spread over the country, discoloured by the red soil of Abyssinia., nor but even in respect of that stored, as W'13 by cryptogom.ic plants and infusorio.. Water usual, in houses, and contained either in thus changed would neither kill fish, nor vessels of wood or in vessels of stone. With "stink," nor be utterly undrinko.ble respect to these, it is to be observed th,1t the 172 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [CH, VII, 17--21.
Nile ,,,atcr was much improved by keeping, .on ver. 15. And of hia ■ervanta, Either fiince the sediment subsiMd ; and that tanks, "his conrtiers generally," or, at any rate, 11 sometimes of wood, ~ornetimes of stone, were large troop of attendants. usual adjunct,; of all the better clllSS of houses. Ver. 21.-The :8.ah that we.a in the river Yer. 20.-He lifted np the rod. "He" died. It is most nature.I to understand " all must be underst-Ood to mean "Aaron" (see the fish." There was blood, etc. Litemlly, ver. 19) ; but the writer is too much engrossed " e.nd the blood was throughout a.II the lo.nd of with the genera.I run of his narrative to be Egypt." The exact intention of the phrase is careful about minuti,.,, All that be wants to doubtful, since undoubtedly "in numberless impress upon us is, that the rod was used as instances, the Hebrew terms which imply an instrument for the working of the miracle. universality must be understood in a limited He is not thinking of who it was that used it. sense" (Cook). "All the land" may moon no In the Bight of Pharaoh. See the comment more than "all the Delta."