Exodus 10

Exodus 10:1-20

Exodus 10:1-20. 8°. A Locust Swarm (Exodus 10:1-11 J; Exodus 10:12-13 a, “Egypt,” E; Exodus 10:13 b J; Exodus 10:14 a E; Exodus 10:14 b “and rested” to Exodus 10:15 a “darkened,” J; Exodus 10:15 b E to “left”; Exodus 10:15 c – Exodus 10:19 J; Exodus 10:20 E).—The opening paragraph has been expanded in the Deuteronomic style (cf. Deuteronomy 4:9; Deuteronomy 6:7 with Exodus 10:2). Christian instinct avoids such a conception as Yahweh “mocking the Egyptians” (so correctly Exodus 10:2 mg., cf. Psalms 2:4). The most notable description of a plague of locusts is in Joel (Joel 2*, cf.

Joel in CB). They are not very common in Egypt; striking cases have been reported by modern travellers. It is a traveller who wrote, “Nothing escapes them, from the leaves of the forest to the herbs on the plain.” Morier reported from Persia, “They were found in every corner, stuck to our clothes and infested our food.” The mere threat alarmed the courtiers, and even Pharaoh tried a fresh concession, that “the men” only should go (Exodus 10:10); but Moses had issued the ultimatum that the whole nation must “keep Yahweh’s festival “(Exodus 10:9). The mention of Moses’s rod comes from E; and the references to the natural causes, the E. wind or sirocco bringing, the W. wind removing the locusts, are from J. When it is said (Exodus 10:15 a) that “the land was darkened,” it is meant that they formed a continuous dark layer all over the ground. In 1865 near Jaffa several miles were covered inches deep.

When an army of locusts invades a locality, the end is usually that it is blown into the sea (as in Exodus 10:19) or the desert.

Exodus 10:21-29

Exodus 10:21-29. 9°. The Palpable Darkness (Exodus 10:21-23 E. Exodus 10:24-26 J, Exodus 10:27 E, Exodus 10:28 f. J).—The wonder again lay in the coincidence, that of time: sandstorms producing darkness as thick as a London fog have often been experienced in Egypt, the sand and heat being only too painfully “felt.” Pharaoh’s new concession, that entire families might go, but not the cattle, was rejected by Moses: “there shall not a hoof be left behind” (Exodus 10:26). The demand that the Pharaoh should contribute animals for “sacrifices” (i.e. peace offerings) and “burnt-offerings” is not now noted in the sequel as fulfilled. In sacrificial contexts the word “do,” in Heb. as in Gr., Latin, and Ass., is equivalent to “offer.” Exodus 10:29 J finds its immediate sequel in Exodus 11:5-8 J, the look of contradiction being due to the insertion of Exo 11:1-3, from E, following on Exodus 10:27 E.