1. And the Lord said. Moses passes on to another plague, whereby God took vengeance on the treachery and obstinacy of the wicked king; viz., that He gave over the remaining produce of the year, which He had spared, to be eaten and devoured by locusts.

3. And Moses and Aaron came in. Moses now relates how, at God’s command, he tried whether Pharaoh’s heart, after so many experiments, would be bent to obedience out of fear of the new punishment which impended.

4. Else, if thou refuse. Moses denounces the extreme dearth and famine of the land of Egypt, because the locusts will suddenly arise, altogether to consume the remaining produce of the year; for half of it had already been destroyed by the hail.

7. And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him. We have seen, a little above, that they were obstinate in common with their king; nor can it be doubted that by their servile flattery they had blinded him more and more; but now, conquered by their calamities, and fearing something still worse, they seek to…

8. And Moses and Aaron were brought again. It is probable that, when the wrath of the king was appeased, some of the company were hastily dispatched to bring back Moses in that same hour, lest the calamity denounced by him should happen on the morrow.

10. Let the Lord be so with you. I am surprised that this passage, so clear in itself, should be violently wrested by the interpreters. Some thus expound it, – “I would that God may not otherwise favor you, than as I am determined to let you go;” while others think that it was spoken deceitfully,…

11. Not so. He pretends to give them what they had asked at first, and thus accuses them of changeableness, because they do not persevere in the same determination.

12. And the Lord said unto Moses. Since Pharaoh was not induced to obey by the announcement of the punishment, its execution is here related. And first, Moses is commanded to stretch out his hand to bring in the locusts, in right of the authority with which God had invested him; for the stretching…

16. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste. This haste arose from anxiety and fear, because it was a time of extremity, and the enormity of the evil admitted no delay.

18. And he went out. We have stated why the holy Prophet went out from the king to pray, viz., because he was not worthy that the sacred name of God should be invoked in his presence.

21. And the Lord said unto Moses. God here inflicts the punishment without denouncing it; because Pharaoh had deceitfully broken his promise of being obedient to His word.

22. And Moses stretched forth his hand. By this darkness God not only wished to reprove the blindness of Pharaoh’s mind, but in every way to convince him how senseless and mad he was in his resistance.

24. And Pharaoh called unto Moses. We gather that he was greatly alarmed by this infliction; because of his own accord he again calls to him (as before) the men who were so troublesome to him, and the authors of such sore calamities, that he may treat with them of their departure.

25. And Moses said. Moses no less severely repudiates all exceptions, than as if he authoritatively demanded of the king what God had enjoined. And assuredly, by this austere and abrupt manner of speaking he evidenced his courage, whereby he might humble the arrogance and audacity of the impious…

27. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. A probable conjecture may be elicited front hence, that at the coming of Moses some light shone forth, so that the darkness was not so thick; because Pharaoh would never have dared to boast himself so proudly without being confident of impunity; but his…

28. And Pharaoh said unto him. This ebullition of passion, in the midst of such sore calamities, is a proof of the violent assaults by which Satan precipitates the wicked, when they are given over to a reprobate mind.