never know the comforts and beauties that belong to the temperate zone as loner0 as he stubbornly o.bides in the frigid one. III. CONSIDER THIS LAST PLAGUE IN THE ACTUAL EFFECTS OF IT. 1. It produced immediate action on the part of Pharaoh, and, what is very noticeable, on the part of the people also. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron by night. He had sent them away with a menace of death, if they ventured again into bis presence; but only a few short hours pass and he has to beg them to hurry and save him. We should never threaten and bluster, for we know not how soon we may have to swallow our words again. Ho did not wait till morning, even till the early morning. Every moment would bring to him news from a widening circle, and quicken him into the promptest action possible. And yet, immediate as this action appears, we know that it had been led up to very gradually. Jehovah had been for a long time undermining the strength of Pharaoh; and if it now collapsed in a moment instead of crumbling away, it was because the massive fabric had lost, bit by bit, the foundation on which it had been raised. .And in the same way we may be sure that everything in the world which is unjust, ungodly, and tyrannical, is being undermined. There is no proud and stubborn soul but God is working upon it by something substantially the same as the nine plagues ; and the ten_th plague will come in due time to produce its immediate and decisive effect. 2. Tn,e action took the shape of complete and eager liberation. Egypt was filled with panic and terror to the exclusion of every other motive. The full signi- ficance of Pharaoh's words in vers. 31, 32, can only be seen by comparing them, first, with his contemptuous treatment of Moses in the beginning (eh. v. 2); an.d n~t, with his procrastinating, half-giving, half-grasping attitude during the course of the pla,,<TUes (eh. viii. 10, 25; x. 8-11, 24). Pharaoh began as one whose foot was on the rock- he was sure he could not be shaken ; then he was made to feel himself as more and more in a state of unstable equilibrium; and now at last he is utterly prostrate at Moses' feet. He who said he would grant nothing, now grants everything. He who, in response to the first request of Moses, added to the severities of the bondage already existing, now, when all requests have ceased, not only undoes the fetters, but hurrie~ the captives out of his realm, as if each of them was a mass of fatal infection.- Y.
EXPOSITION. Vei's. 9-10.-Before proceeding to relate smote a.11 the first-born, that the king's obsti- the last .e.nd greatest of the plagues, the nacy was overcome, e.nd he proceeded to author a.llows himself a momentary po.use " thrust the people out." That my wouders may be multiplied. Compare eh. iii. 20 ; wbile he costs his eye be.ck 011 the whole series vii. 8. If Pharaoh had yielded at the fust, of miracles hitherto wrought in Egypt, 011 the or even after two or three miracles, God ·s circumstances under which they had been greatness e.nd power would not have been wrought, their failure to move the stubborn shown forth very remarkably. Neither the will of Pharaoh, e.nd the cause of that fe.ilure, Egyptians nor the neighbouring nations would have been much· impressed. The circum- the hardening of his bee.rt, which hardelling stances would soon have been forgotten. As the author once more ascribes to J ehova.h. it was, the hardness of Pharaoh's bee.rt, while With this summary he terminates the second it delayed the departure of the Israelites for e. great division of his work, that which began year, a.nu so added to their sufferings, was of with eh. ii., e.nd which traces the history of advantage to them in various we.ys :-1. It Moses from his birth to the close of his direct ge.ve them time to· organise themselves, e.nd make o.11 necessary preparations for a sudueu dealings with Phare.oh. departure. 2. It deeply impressed the Egyp- Ver. 9.-And the Lord said. Re.ther, "had tians, and led them to e.bste.in from all inter- so.id." God had forewarned Moses that ference with the Israelites for above three Pha.raoh's bee.rt would be hardened ( eh. iv. centuries. 3. It impressed the neighbouring 21 ; vii. 8), e.nd that, in spite of a.ll the nations e.lso to.some extent, e.nd either pre- miro.cles which he wos empowered to perform vented them from offering opposition to the before him, he would not let the people go Israelites, or made them contend with less ( eh. iii. 19 ; iv. 21 ). It was not un!,il Go_d heart, e.nd so with less success age.inst them. took Pharaoh's punishment altogether mto his Veri 10.-Moaes and Aa.ron did a.11 these '>Wll hands, e.nd himself co.me down and plagues before Phare.oh. Aa.ron's agency is THE BOOK OF EXODUS. LCII. XI. 9, lU.
not nlwavi; mentioned, and seems to have been those which ea.me without warning from thO!le less marked in the later than in the earlier which were announced beforehand, and noting, miracles, Moses gradue.lly gaining self-reliance. where possible, their actual worker, their In p118Sing from the subject of the plagues duration, their physice.l source, and tho hurt wrought by the two brot.hers, it may be useful which'they did to give a synopsis of them, distinguishing
Announced Actuol Physlcnl Plogues. or Not. Worker. Duration. Souree. Hurt which they did,
1. Rh·er turned} announced into blood Aaron 7 days water annoyance to man and be ... t. n Frogs do. do. unknown do. annoyance to man.
3. Mosquitoes not do. do. dust of the} annoyance to man and beast. { earth -- 4. Beetles announced God do. air (?) annoyance and loss to man. 5, Murrain do. do. do. do. loss to man. 6. Boils not Moses do. ashes of the} suffering to man and beast. { fw-nace -- 7. Bail announced do. do. air loss to man. 8. Locusts do. do. do. east wind do. 9. Darkness not do. 3 days air (?) annoyance and horror to man.