April 12
Daily Bible Illustrations (Morning)Gnats and Beetles
The third plague which the continued obduracy of Pharaoh brought upon the land was of gnats—for such seems to be the true meaning of the word which the authorized version renders, by “lice.” It, however, suffices to know that some small and noxious insect was intended. Aaron, in this case, was directed to take his rod and “smite the dust of the land;” and forthwith “all the dust of the land became gnats throughout the land of Egypt.” The terrible nature of this immense production of gnats can only be truly appreciated by those who know the degree in which the ordinary presence of these creatures tends, in the East, to embitter life. But another reason than this probably dictated the choice of this form of infliction. We find that even the magicians were baffled by it, and were obliged to acknowledge the hand of God in it; and it was probably to constrain this result, that this minute instrument of torture was fixed upon. It is very striking that the acknowledgment, not extorted by the bloodlike waters, nor by the visitation of frogs, was constrained by a creature so small and insignificant. But not in this instance only has God, in the dispensations of his providence, made use of the things that are despised to bring down the pride of the high and honorable. It was such a visitation as, from the nature of things, the Egyptian magicians were unable to simulate. We can ourselves detect where their difficulty lay; and the fact of their failure, in the first case that presented real difficulty, clearly shows that all their doings were tricks and contrivances, and not, as some have fancied, real miracles wrought by the aid of demons.
On this occasion, for the first time, we do not read of any summons being sent to the wise men, or of any kind of warning being given to them, so that now they had no longer the advantage of preparation in carrying on their frauds. Further, the size of the insect, which, if they were to proceed as before, in an imitation of Aaron’s work, they were to appear to produce, in some space cleared for the purpose, was such that, to discern it, the eye of the spectator would have to be brought close to the scene of their operations, increasing the difficulty of deluding the sense. Under these circumstances, after an attempt designed to sustain the appearance of confidence, on their part, in the arts they professed, the wise men were fain to give up the contest, and to aver that there was superhuman power at work. “This,” said they, “is the finger of God,”—or perhaps, more correctly, “of the gods,”—for the word is plural, and the use of it by polytheists gives it here a plural signification. After this admission they never afterwards ventured to renew the contest, and were probably glad that they were thus released from the necessity of exposing their credit to great danger, and their arts to detection, in the continuance of the struggle.
In the next plague the distinctness became more pointed, so as to show that it was not only the work of the “gods,” but of the very God of the Hebrews, in whose name Moses and Aaron acted and spoke. This was a most important circumstance, leaving the obduracy of the king altogether without excuse. It mattered comparatively little by what agent this important distinction was evinced. And, in fact, this is more uncertain than with respect to any of the other plagues, and will never perhaps be satisfactorily determined. The word is, in our authorized version, translated “swarms of flies,” the word flies being in italics to show that it is not in the original. In the description of this plague by the Psalmist, the same Hebrew word (Arob) is translated “divers sorts of flies”—Psalms 78:45. The word is generally supposed to signify a mixture of some kind or other. By the Jewish writers it is generally supposed to denote “a mixed multitude of noisome creatures,” or a swarm of different wild beasts. That they were not flies, seems to be clear from the passage just referred to in the Psalms, in which they are said to have “devoured” the Egyptians—which term seems unsuited to flies; while in the very text which denounces and describes the judgment, the ground is said to be full of them—or covered by them—a term certainly inapplicable to flying insects. It appears, however, from the manner in which the visitation described in Exodus 8:21-22, that some particular species of creature must be designated; and, upon the whole, although no certainty is attainable, we retain the impression which we long ago had occasion to express,
The exhibition of these venerated vermin as their tormentors—invading them in their most private retreats, and covering the public ways, so abundant that “the land was corrupted” by their immense numbers—must have been a painful and humiliating one to the Egyptians, who had no choice but to crush under foot, to sweep away from their houses and streets, and to regard with loathing, in the aggregate, creatures that they separately adored. It may be feared, indeed, that this had little salutary effect upon them. But the Lord thus won for his great name glory over the Egyptians and their idols; and the results which they witnessed could not fail to strengthen the faith of the Israelites in the God of their fathers, and to teach them that there were none with him, nor any like him. This must, in after time, have been impressed upon all their recollections by these marvellous transactions; and as there is reason to apprehend that they had contracted, during their long stay in Egypt, some reverence for the idols of that country, and too much intimacy with its system of worship, the immediate lesson to be taught them, through the humiliation of the Egyptians and their gods, was of very great importance.