Ver. 15.-Double-minded men, unstable in all their ways. An Egyptian ldng was not likel:, unless exceptionally gifted by nature, to be firm, fixed, and stable in his con- duct. Flattered and indulged from infancy, no sooner did he obtain the crown, than he found himself recognised as a divinity by the great mass of his subjects, and regarded as one who "could do no wrong." Occasionally, he may have been so fortunate as to fall under the influence of a wise counsellor, but in general he would have been surrounded by advisers only anxious to please by echoing to him his own wishes and ideas. This Pharaoh-whether he was Menephthah, or any one else--was evidently a weak, impulsive, double-minded monarch. He wavered between good and bad impulses, now inclining one way, now another. He was sure therefore to be unstable in his ways. Similar, though (it may be) less pronounced, instability attaches to all those whose l!Ouls are not anchored upon the :firm and unchangeable basis of :fixed principles. It is fatal to the consistency of a career that a ma.n should be double-minded. No man can serve God and Mammon. 'l'here is no fellowship between light and darkness, or between Christ and Belial. A man should make his choice, and not " halt between two opinions." lf Jehovah be God, follow Him; but if Baal, t.hen follow him. Shifting, unstable, uncertain, variable souls earn universal contempt, and are powerless to effect anything but their own ruin..
EXPOSITION. Vers. 16-19.-Tm: Tmm> PLAGUE. The them out of" the dust of the Jo.nd," whereas breach of promise on the pert of Phamob mosqnit.oes come from lo.rvie deposited in (ver. 15), wa.s punished by the third pl.e.gne, stagnant waters (Cook), is only a proof that which we£ inflicted without being announced. God ce.n transform a.ny kind of matter int.o It is disputed among the best critics, whether any other. He who made man of the dust of the pla.gue wa.s really one of "lice" (a.s given the ground (Gen. ii. 7) could with still greater in the Authorised Version) or of mosquitoes. ease h.o.ve transformed tho.t dust into gnats. To the present writer the arguments in favour It is undoubtedly remarkable that the magi- of. mosqnitoes seem to preponderate ; and he cie.ns could not produce the ltinnim ; but this believes the ltinnim to represent those subtle disability does not help us to determine what pests. Such is the view of the LXX. trans- exactly the kinnim were. Conceivably, the lators, of Philo, Artape.nus, Origen, Rosen- ma.gicie.ns were tired of the contest, and feeling miiller, G~ius, Geddes, Boothroyd, Keil, that they would ultimately be worsted in it a.nd Kalisch. Mosqnitoes are, under ordinary withdrew before the circumstances compelled circumstances, a. terrible annoye.nce in Egypt, them to withdraw. when the inundation is going off, especially about October. Their power to annoy is Ver. 16.-Lice. Kinnim-the word is only found here and in the Psa.bns which celebrate witnessed to iit ancient times by Herodotus the Exodus (Ps. lxxviii. {6; cv. 31). It wos (ii. 95), Philo (Vit. Mos. ii. p. 97), and understood a.s " lice " by Josephus, the Te.I St. Augustine; iit modem by Wilkinson e.nd mudice.l writers, Bochert, Pool, and our trans- others. That Aaron wa.s ordered to produce 1.e.tors i.ti the reign of Ja.mes I. But the great orr. vm. 10-10.J 'l'HE BOOK OF EXODUS. 189
weigl1t of (lttthority is in favour of the render- Ver. H). - The magioiana said unto ing "gn(lt:s" or "mosquitoes." See the pre- Phn.raoh, Thie is the finger of God. Or ceding p(lro.gmph. It must niso be borne in "of a God." It is not probable that the mind that the nearest Egyptian eqa.ivalent, magicians believed in a single God, or intended ldiennem•, hM the signification of " mosqa.ito" in what they said to express any monotheistic (Spealcer's Commentary, vol. i. p. 490). idea. All that they meant to say was--" This Ver. 17.-And in beut. Kalisch notes that is beyond the power of man-it is aupematurnl mosquitoes "molest especially beMts, as oxen -some god must be helping the Israelites." (I.Ild horses, flying into their eyes and nostrils, No doubt they had come to this conclusion by driving them to madness and fury, nod some- a careful scrutiny of all the miracles hitherto times even torturing them to death." He wrought by Aaron. He hearkened not unto quotes Theodoret, Hist. Eccl,es. viii. 26. them. The magicians were minded to resist Ver. 18.-The magicians did so with their no longer ; but Pharaoh was otherwise minded. enohantmenta. The magicians stretched out It is qa.ite possible that the mosquito plague their rods over certain collections of dust, but did not greatly annoy him. He would proba- no gnats were produced ; which would be the bly possess lofty apartments above the height natural result, if they had made no secret to which the mosquito ascends (Herod. ii. 95) ; arrangements. No reason can be assigned or he may have guarded himself by mosquito why they should not have seemed to produce curtains of the finest Egyptian muslin. His gnat:s, as easily as frogs, if they had employed subjects would naturally suffer from such a all the arts of which they were masters in so plague far more than he. Aa the Lord had doing. But events had convinced them that said. See the comment on the same phrase in they could not cope with Moses and Aaron ; ver. 11 and it would seem that they therefore declined further contest