Exodus 8:14

Exo 8:14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.

Ver. 14. And the land stank.] As once this land also did by those unclean frogs that came out of the Pope’s mouth. {Rev 16:3} But England is now no more a babe, said King Henry VIII, in his protestation against the Pope: {a} there is no man here but now he knows that they do foolishly that give gold for lead, &c. Surely, except God take away our right wits, not only the Pope’s authority shall be driven out for ever, but his name also shall shortly be forgotten in England, &c. Thus he, and much more to like purpose. God hath promised to take away the unclean spirit out of the land. {Zec 13:2} Fiat, fiat. Surely the society of ungodly men, whether Papists or atheists, is unsavoury and tedious, like the slime and filth that is congealed, when frogs and toads and other vermin join together.

{a} Act. and Mon., fol. 990.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 14. They gathered them together upon heaps] The killing of the frogs was a mitigation of the punishment; but the leaving them to rot in the land was a continual proof that such a plague had taken place, and that the displeasure of the Lord still continued.

The conjecture of Calmet is at least rational: he supposes that the plague of flies originated from the plague of frogs; that the former deposited their ova in the putrid masses, and that from these the innumerable swarms afterwards mentioned were hatched. In vindication of this supposition it may be observed, that God never works a miracle when the end can be accomplished by merely natural means; and in the operations of Divine providence we always find that the greatest number of effects possible are accomplished by the fewest causes. As therefore the natural means for this fourth plague had been miraculously provided by the second, the Divine Being had a right to use the instruments which he had already prepared.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. gathered] better, piled: cf. Hab_1:10 (‘heapeth up’).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite,.... From his affliction, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; the plague was removed, and he found himself and his people at ease: or there was a "breathing" (c); before he and his people were so oppressed, that they could scarce breathe, but now being delivered from the judgment on them with which they were straitened, were enlarged and at liberty, and in easy circumstances: he hardened his heart; See Gill on Exo 7:14.

and hearkened not unto them; to Moses and Aaron, to let the children of Israel go, as they had required, and he had promised:

as the Lord had said; had foretold that he would not hearken to them, nor let Israel go as yet.

(c) "respiratio", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Corrupted. This helped to produce the ensuing plague of flies, &c. (Calmet) --- The Egyptians might then recollect the putrid carcasses of the children, whom they had drowned. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Doubtless they cast them into their rivers, or pits, &c., though that be not here mentioned. God would not instantly and wholly take them away, both to convince them of the truth of the miracle, and to make them more sensible of this judgment, and more fearful of bringing another upon themselves.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. And they gathered them together upon heaps — Literally, Heaps, heaps; vast heaps, or a multitude of heaps.

And the land stank — The stench of their great god Pthah went up to heaven, even from his own magnificent temple courts. The putrid corpses were piled upon his altars.

The author of the Book of Wisdom, who was probably an Egyptian Jew, says that God in these plagues “tormented them with their own abominations;” and as “they worshipped serpents void of reason and vile beasts,” he “sent a multitude of unreasonable beasts upon them in vengeance.” — Wis_11:15.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They gathered them together upon heaps. Literally "heaps upon heaps." And the land stank. Even when the relief came, it was not entire relief. The putrefaction of the dead bodies filled the whole land with a fetid odour.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

להוציא את הכנים TO BRING FORTH GNATS — to create them and to bring them forth from some other place (not from dust but to turn some other material into gnats).

ולא יכלו BUT THEY COULD NOT — for the demon (through whose agency this was to be done) is powerless in the case of a creature smaller than a barley corn) (Sanhedrin 67b). Therefore they had to admit,

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND THE MAGICIANS DID SO WITH THEIR SECRET ARTS TO BRING FORTH GNATS. The purport of the expression, and the magicians did so, [when it immediately says afterwards, but they could not], is that they hit the dust of the earth and incanted the demons and performed their secret arts, as they used to do at other times, in order to bring forth the gnats, but they could not. It is possible that the expression, and the magicians did so, teaches that they did indeed do the correct things which do bring forth the gnats, but they were not successful this time, [for G-d thwarted their plans]. The learned magicians knew what they could do and they had tried to do so at other times [and succeeded. Hence they tried to do it now, but they failed “because it was now the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, to remove that power from them henceforth],”. See my Kithvei Haramban, I, p. 146.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.