Ver. 1. For I have hardened his heart.] As he that brings in a light blinds an owl; or as he that pours on water kindles the lime whereupon it is poured: so the Lord by publishing his commands, and by doing his miracles, hardened the heart of Pharaoh; who, for his wilful rebellion, was justly forsaken of God, and delivered up to his own heart which is somewhat worse than to be delivered up to the devil.
Ver. 2. And that thou mayest tell.] The memory of God’s magnalia, his great works, must be transmitted to posterity— “ Ut nati natorum et qui nascentur ab illis, ” that later ages may hear and fear this great God. See 1 Samuel 4:8.
Ver. 3. How long wilt thou refuse?] God thinks long of the time that men misspend and waste in wicked courses. (Jeremiah 4:14,13:27) It is a savoury saying of Bernard, Totum vitae meae tempus perdidi, quia perdite vixi: the time of my looseness I have utterly lost.
Ver. 4. Else, if thou refuse.] Men should look up with David, and see the punishing angel over their heads with a drawn sword, and submit. And if not, Balaam’s ass shall condemn them for their desperate lewdness: for he fell down before the angel. I will bring the locusts.] God hath treasuries of plagues for the obstinate; neither can he be, as the poet feared of his Jupiter, possibly exhausted. Si quoties peccent homines, & c.
Ver. 5. And they shall cover.] For “they go forth by heaps,” (Proverbs 30:27) and huge multitudes. (Judges 6:5) And shall eat every tree.] See Joel 1:7, Plin., lib. xi. cap. 29.
Ver. 6. And he turned himself.] No man may turn himself to go out of the great Turk’s presence, but must go backward till he be out of the room. Dissension falling out between Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex about a fit man for the government of Ireland, he uncivilly turned his back, as it were in contempt with a scornful look: she, waxing impatient, gave him a cuff on the ear, bidding him come again when she sent for him, &c. But Moses may not be imagined to have so turned himself. Turk. Hist. Camden’s Elis., fol. 494.
Ver. 7. And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him.] They were convinced and mollified, though he was not. “Whom he will God hardeneth.” (Romans 9:18) How long shall this man be a snare unto us?] He was not the “snare,” but their own sin. (Proverbs 29:6) Howbeit he must bear the blame. As if some fond people should accuse the herald or the trumpet as the cause of their war: or, as if some ignorant peasant, when he sees his fowls bathing in his pond, should cry out of them as the causes of foul weather.
Ver. 8. And Moses and Aaron were brought, &c.] Something the tyrant would seem to yield to his counsellors, and not to deal by them as the Persian monarchs, who were wont to advise with their peers: but if any of them delivered that which was contrary to the king’s mind, flagris caedebantur; they were whipped: which is a punishment also usually inflicted at this day by the great Turk, even upon the greatest Bashaws of the court, upon the least displeasure. Keckerman. Turk. Hist.
Ver. 9. For we must hold a feast.] [See Trapp on “Ex 5:1”]
Ver. 10. Let the Lord be so with you.] In cursing them, he unwittingly blessed them. (Exodus 12:30,31 13:21,22) Cursing men are cursed men. But God’s people fare the better for being cursed. “Let them curse, but do thou bless,” (Psalms 109:28) is not more a prayer than a prophecy.
Ver. 11. Not so,] q.d., I will watch you for that what should children do sacrificing? Them I will retain, as pledges of your return.
Ver. 12. Even all that the hail hath left.] How easily can God straiten, yea, starve us all, if he but send forth his foraging armies! (Joel 1:6)
Ver. 13. An east wind.] The proper and ordinary office whereof is to purge the air.
Ver. 14. And the locusts went up.] As a formidable army. See a graphical description of a like plague threatened in Joel 2:4-11.
Ver. 15. So that the land was darkened.] So many of them flying together, as a cloud. The like was seen in Poland and Silesia in 1575 and 1542. Bucholc., Chronol.
Ver. 16. I have sinned against the Lord.] A fair confession, but forced and extorted. Thus the toad, if beaten on the belly, will vomit up his venom, and the malefactor on the rack will utter all. But as water heated, if taken off the fire will soon return to its natural coldness, yea, become colder after heating than before; so hypocrites’ heats are not kindly, from the Spirit, but violent, from the outward fire of God’s judgments: therefore when that is out, these are gone. Aristot., Meteor., i. 12.
Ver. 17. Now therefore forgive.] Moses must forgive his sin: God is not in all his thoughts. David cries, Peccavi; Pharaoh, Perii: David, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned”; Pharaoh cries to Moses to pardon his sin. Man may forgive the trespass, but God only the transgression.
Ver. 18. And he went out.] The wisdom from above is “gentle, easy to be intreated,” ready to every good work. (James 3:17) The devils are called Shegnirim, rough and rugged.
Ver. 19. A mighty strong west wind.] Rupertus calls the winds mundi scopas, the besoms wherewith God sweeps his great house of this world. Like as his spiritual house—the hearts of his people—he sweeps off all foul lusts, those hellish locusts, with that rushing mighty wind spoken of in Acts 2:2.
Ver. 20. But the Lord hardened.] [See Trapp on “Ex 10:1”]
Ver. 21. Stretch out thine hand.] Here was no warning. See Exodus 8:16. As good, the more unexpected, is the more welcome; so evil, the more sudden, the more terrible.
Ver. 22. Thick darkness.] It was thick indeed, that might be felt: so thick and foggy were the vapours that caused it. ψηλαφητον ακοτος.— Sept.
Ver. 23. They saw not one another.] That they might know the worth of light, by the want of it. One being asked whether light was pleasant, answered, τυφλου το ερωτμηα, That is a blind man’s question. Little do we prize this excellent creature.
Ver. 24. Called unto Moses,] viz., When the darkness was over: though some think that, even during the darkness, Pharaoh—such was his madhess—raged against God, and menaced Moses.
Ver. 25. Thou must give us also sacrifices.] God gave Noah of every clean beast seven, for sacrifice likely, but of every unclean two only. (Genesis 7:2)
Ver. 26. Not a hoof.] God’s law must be kept as the apple of our eye. (Proverbs 7:2) A dispensatory conscience is an evil conscience. Repentance makes clean work: as the flood drowned all, even Noah’s friends also.
Ver. 28. Get thee from me.] Evermore when God’s messengers are abandoned, destruction is at next door by. “I know that the Lord hath a purpose to destroy thee.” (2 Chronicles 25:16 36:16)
Ver. 29. Thou hast spoken well,] q.d., When I see thee next, do thy pleasure by me. This was an act of faith in him, whereby he “feared not the wrath of the king.” (Hebrews 11:27) So when Valens, the Arian Emperor, threatened Basil with bonds and banishment, Pueris illa terriculamenta proponat, said he; Let him threaten boys with those tortures. The emperor may take away my life, but not my faith; my head, but not my crown. εζθε γενοιτο μοι τουτο.