seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 8:16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” 17 They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. 18 But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not.
Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, 19 the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.
Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, 19 the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.
First frogs and now gnats. The magicians couldn't make the gnats. That makes sense.... who can concentrate with millions of gnats flying around and landing on you constantly. Actually some translations say it was lice rather than gnats. Still, can you imagine the magicians trying to figure out how to produce lice with everyone itching all around them? That's annoying!
The blueletterbible.org is using lice rather than gnats but the commentary still stands.
This plague comes unannounced. This time God does not show Pharaoh the mercy of a warning and an invitation to repentance.
We must never think God is unfair when He does not show mercy. If someone is totally fair, they would never show mercy.
Struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice on man and beast: This plague struck at the heart of all Egyptian worship, especially at their priests. The Egyptian priesthood was extremely scrupulous about hygiene and ritual cleansing and an infestation of lice made them unable to worship their gods.
The plague of lice was also upon every beast. The gods of Egypt would not receive the sacrifice of lice-infested animals, so this stopped their sacrificial system.
The easy English commentary refers to gnats but says it must have been mosquitoes.
Those ‘gnats’ were probably the insects called ‘mosquitoes’. Such insects develop in enormous numbers in pools of water. And there were pools everywhere after the River Nile’s annual flood. Mosquitoes and gnats are a nuisance when they fly up from the water. They look like a large black cloud. They sting people and they cause pain and illness. ‘Dust’ and ‘cloud’ are ways to describe their great numbers. God promised Abraham that his family would increase. They would be as many as the ‘dust of the earth’ (Genesis 13:16).
The men who used magic could not copy that plague. So they told Pharaoh that God had made the plague of gnats.
The men who used magic could not copy that plague. So they told Pharaoh that God had made the plague of gnats.
I found this commentary at religionfacts.com
The third plague of the 10 plagues that the God of the Israelites sent as judgment upon Egypt, through Aaron, was gnats (or lice), as recorded in the book of Exodus. In this plague, all the dust of Egypt becomes a swarm of gnats/lice. The Egyptian god this plague insulted was Seth (an earth god) and perhaps others as well.
It is impossible to determine what particular troublesome insect pest of Egypt is meant by the third plague, whether body-lice or mosquitoes or sandflies or ticks or fleas. Those who have experience of these pests in Egypt are quite ready to accept any of them as adequate for the plague. Lice seem rather to be ruled out, unless different kinds of lice were sent, as there is no one kind that torments both man and beast.
Perhaps the plague was not removed at all.
The Egyptians are disposed to think it was not! Certainly that season of the year spent in Egypt, not in a dahabiyeh on the Nile, but in a native village, will furnish very satisfying evidence that stinging and biting insects are a very real plague in Egypt yet.
It is impossible to determine what particular troublesome insect pest of Egypt is meant by the third plague, whether body-lice or mosquitoes or sandflies or ticks or fleas. Those who have experience of these pests in Egypt are quite ready to accept any of them as adequate for the plague. Lice seem rather to be ruled out, unless different kinds of lice were sent, as there is no one kind that torments both man and beast.
Perhaps the plague was not removed at all.
The Egyptians are disposed to think it was not! Certainly that season of the year spent in Egypt, not in a dahabiyeh on the Nile, but in a native village, will furnish very satisfying evidence that stinging and biting insects are a very real plague in Egypt yet.
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