Exodus 8:21

Exo 8:21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms [of flies] upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms [of flies], and also the ground whereon they [are].

Ver. 21. Shall be full of swarms of flies.] Of all the ten plagues this was the most troublesome; for that they never suffered men to rest: so worldly cares; nocte ac die non dabunt requiem, as those tyrants in Jer 16:1-21.

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.

Exo 8:21. Swarms of flies — The original word, ערב, means properly a mixture, or multitude of noisome creatures. And some understand by it, swarms of venomous insects and noxious animals, as serpents, scorpions, &c. See the margin. The Septuagint renders it κυνομυια, the dog-fly, flies these which stick fast in the skin, lance it with a sharp proboscis, and suck the blood. Bochart and several others approve of this translation, the rather because this insect was peculiarly offensive to dogs, animals held in religious veneration by the Egyptians. But no doubt, insects of various kinds are included, not only flies, but gnats, wasps, hornets, and those probably more pernicious than the common ones were.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, a multitude of venomous beasts as serpents, etc.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The FOURTH plague - FLIES

Verse 21. Swarms of flies upon thee] It is not easy to ascertain the precise meaning of the original word הערב hearob; as the word comes from ערב arab, he mingled, it may be supposed to express a multitude of various sorts of insects. And if the conjecture be admitted that the putrid frogs became the occasion of this plague, (different insects laying their eggs in the bodies of those dead animals, which would soon be hatched, see on Ex 8:14), then the supposition that a multitude of different hinds of insects is meant, will seem the more probable. Though the plague of the locusts was miraculous, yet God both brought it and removed it by natural means; see Ex 10:13-19.

Bochart, who has treated this subject with his usual learning and ability, follows the Septuagint, explaining the original by κυνομυια, the dog-fly; which must be particularly hateful to the Egyptians, because they held dogs in the highest veneration, and worshipped Anubis under the form of a dog. In a case of this kind the authority of the Septuagint is very high, as they translated the Pentateuch in the very place where these plagues happened. But as the Egyptians are well known to have paid religious veneration to all kinds of animals and monsters, whence the poet: -

Omnigenumque deum monstra, et latrator Anubis,

I am inclined to favour the literal construction of the word: for as ערב ereb, Ex 12:38, expresses that mixed multitude of different kinds of people who accompanied the Israelites in their departure from Egypt; so here the same term being used, it may have been designed to express a multitude of different kinds of insects, such as flies, wasps, hornets, c., &c. The ancient Jewish interpreters suppose that all kinds of beasts and reptiles are intended, such as wolves, lions, bears, serpents, &c. Mr. Bate thinks the raven is meant, because the original is so understood in other places and thus he translates it in his literal version of the Pentateuch: but the meaning already given is the most likely. As to the objection against this opinion drawn from Ex 8:31, there remained not one, it can have very little weight, when it is considered that this may as well be spoken of one of any of the different kinds, as of an individual of one species.

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

21. swarms of flies] Heb. ‘ârôb,—except here and in the sequel, only Psa_78:45; Psa_105:31 (in allusions to this plague). ‘Arôb might mean a mixture (cf. ‘çreb, Exo Exo_12:38, a ‘mixed multitude’), and so possibly a swarm (AV. rightly kept ‘of flies’ in italics); but some definite insect is evidently meant; and it is best to suppose that the word, whatever its etymology may be1[122], denotes some particularly irritating kind of fly, LXX. κυνόμυια, or dog-fly: in Psa_78:45 the ‘ârôb is said to have ‘eaten,’ or devoured, the Egyptians. Flies are a common pest in Egypt; swarms are often brought up by the S. wind, settling everywhere, filling the houses, irritating men and animals alike, and often carrying with them the germs of contagious diseases, especially ophthalmia, diphtheria, and (one kind) malignant pustules (Post in DB. ii. 25). In Isa_7:18 the ‘fly’ (the ordinary word) is a symbol for the Egyptian armies. The ‘dog-fly’ is described by Philo (Vit M. p. 101), who lived in Egypt, as a biting insect, attacking its victim with the force of a dart, and not desisting till it had had its fill of blood and flesh.

[122] The meaning ‘the sucker’ (Ges.), from an isolated sense, to ‘eat,’ of the Arab. ‘araba (which generally has very different meanings: Lane, Arab. Lex. p. 1991). is very uncertain.

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.

And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell,.... Distinguish it from other parts of the land of Egypt:

that no swarms of flies shall be there; which was a very wonderful thing, and so the word may be rendered. "I will marvellously sever or separate" (o), and so the Targum of Jonathan, "I will do wonders or miracles in that day": as they were to make such a difference in one part of the country from another, and so near as Goshen was to the place where Pharaoh lived, and to bound and limit such sort of creatures as flies, which move swiftly from place to place, and particularly to keep the land of Goshen clear of them; when, as Bishop Patrick observes, it was a country that abounded with cattle, whose dung is apt to breed flies:

to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth; he is God over all the earth, and rules as a King in the midst of it, and does whatsoever he pleases in it; see Psa 74:12 and in the midst of the land of Goshen where his people dwelt, and over whom he was King in a peculiar manner, and took a peculiar care of them, to protect and defend them; and which must the more vex and distress the Egyptians, when they saw the Israelites clear of those plagues they were afflicted with.

(o) "faciamque mirabilem", V. L. "miraculose agam", Fagius; "marvellously sever", Ainsworth.

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

Swarms of flies - Generally, supposed to be the dog-fly, which at certain seasons is described as a plague far worse than mosquitos. Others, however, adopt the opinion that the insects were a species of beetle, which was reverenced by the Egyptians as a symbol of life, of reproductive or creative power. The sun-god, as creator, bore the name Chepera, and is represented in the form, or with the head, of a beetle.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Flies. Hebrew earob. Septuagint, "dog-flies." Some include under this plague all sorts of wild beasts. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] ii. 13; Wisdom xi. 9, 16, 18.) Insects are very troublesome, and the pagans honoured Jupiter with the title of Apomuios, because he delivered them from flies. Beelzebub, "the god-fly," got his name for the same reason, 4 Kings i. 1. (Calmet)

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).

Swarms of flies; Heb. a mixture of insects or flies, as appears from Psa 78:45, which were of various kinds, as bees, wasps, gnats, hornets, &c, infinite in their numbers, and doubtless larger and more venomous and pernicious than the common ones were.

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

21. Swarms of flies — The precise nature of this plague is doubtful. The word used, ערב, occurs only in this place and in the two psalms where this judgment is described, so that we get no aid in interpretation from parallel passages. The rendering of the Septuagint is dog-fly, an insect which in Egypt gives great annoyance to man and beast; and as the authority of that version is very high on Egyptian subjects, this is the most usual interpretation. These insects are described as coming in immense swarms, and settling in black masses on whatever part of the person of the traveller is exposed. Stuart Poole considers it to have been the domestic fly, which is now the most troublesome insect in Egypt. Hengstenberg quotes a traveller as saying: “Men and beasts are cruelly tormented by them. You can form no conception of their fury when they want to settle on any part of your body. You may drive them away, but they settle again immediately, and their obstinacy wearies out the most patient man.” The distress arising from ophthalmia, now so common in Egypt, is much aggravated by the swarms of flies. Others, as Adam Clarke, Wordsworth, Kurtz, following a Jewish tradition, consider this plague to have been swarms of all kinds of noxious insects, and the author of the Book of Wisdom seems to have supposed that there were beasts also. (Wis_11:15-16, etc.) Swarming creatures of some kind, probably of various species of insects, so afflicted Pharaoh that he yielded more than ever before, and consented to allow the Israelites to go into the wilderness and sacrifice. Further than this we cannot yet affirm.

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

Swarms of flies is an unfortunate translation of a single substantive in the singular number, accompanied by the article. A mixture, etc., is nearly as bad. The writer must mean some one definite species of animal, which he called "the "arob. " On the probable identification of the animal, see the Introductory paragraph to this Chapter. And also the ground. The "arob, like the frogs, was to plague them both inside their houses and outside, but especially inside.

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

Flies - Or insects of various kinds; not only flies, but gnats, wasps, hornets; and those probably more pernicious than the common ones were.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

זבחו לאלהיכם בארץ SACRIFICE TO YOUR GOD IN THE LAND, in the place where you are, and do not go into the wilderness.

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.