Exodus 10:6

And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) They shall fill thy houses.—“They shall run to and fro in the city,” says the prophet Joel; “they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows, like a thief.” Modern travellers bear abundant witness to the same effect; as Burckhardt: “They overwhelm the province of Nedjd sometimes to such a degree that, having destroyed the harvest, they penetrate by thousands into the private dwellings, and devour whatsoever they can find, even the leather of the water vessels” (Notes, vol. ii., p. 90). And Morier: “They entered the inmost recesses of the houses, were found in every corner, stuck to our clothes, and infected our food” (Second Journey, p. 100). Kalisch is quite correct when he says: “Sometimes they penetrate into the houses; they fly into the mouths of the inmates; they throw themselves on the food; they gnaw leather, and even wood” (Commentary, p. 123).

Which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen.—Only one notice of locusts has been found in the native records.

He turned himself, and went out.—It seems to be meant that Moses did not on this occasion wait to see what effect his menace would have on Pharaoh. He “knew that Pharaoh would not yet fear the Lord” (Exodus 9:30).

Benson Commentary

Exodus 10:6. They shall fill the houses of all the Egyptians — Dr. Shaw says, the locusts he saw in Barbary, in the year 1724, “climbed, as they marched forward, over every tree or wall that was in their way; they entered into our very houses and bed-chambers, like so many thieves.” — See Encycl. Brit. on the term Gryllus, p. 162, 3d edit.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-11 The plagues of Egypt show the sinfulness of sin. They warn the children of men not to strive with their Maker. Pharaoh had pretended to humble himself; but no account was made of it, for he was not sincere therein. The plague of locusts is threatened. This should be much worse than any of that kind which had ever been known. Pharaoh's attendants persuade him to come to terms with Moses. Hereupon Pharaoh will allow the men to go, falsely pretending that this was all they desired. He swears that they shall not remove their little ones. Satan does all he can to hinder those that serve God themselves, from bringing their children to serve him. He is a sworn enemy to early piety. Whatever would put us from engaging our children in God's service, we have reason to suspect Satan in it. Nor should the young forget that the Lord's counsel is, Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth; but Satan's counsel is, to keep children in a state of slavery to sin and to the world. Mark that the great foe of man wishes to retain him by the ties of affection, as Pharaoh would have taken hostages from the Israelites for their return, by holding their wives and children in captivity. Satan is willing to share our duty and our service with the Saviour, because the Saviour will not accept those terms.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Fill thy houses - The terraces, courts, and even the inner apartments are said to be filled in a moment by a locust storm. Compare Joel 2:9.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. to-morrow will I bring the locusts—Moses was commissioned to renew the request, so often made and denied, with an assurance that an unfavorable answer would be followed on the morrow by an invasion of locusts. This species of insect resembles a large, spotted, red and black, double-winged grasshopper, about three inches or less in length, with the two hind legs working like hinged springs of immense strength and elasticity. Perhaps no more terrible scourge was ever brought on a land than those voracious insects, which fly in such countless numbers as to darken the land which they infest; and on whatever place they alight, they convert it into a waste and barren desert, stripping the ground of its verdure, the trees of their leaves and bark, and producing in a few hours a degree of desolation which it requires the lapse of years to repair.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Such for number, or shape, or mischievous effects, as were never seen before.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

They shall fill thy houses,.... The king's palace and all the offices of it:

and the houses of thy servants; the palaces of his nobles and courtiers:

and the houses of all the Egyptians; of all the common people, not only in the metropolis, but in all the cities and towns in the kingdom; and so Dr. Shaw (c) says, the locusts he saw in Barbary, in the years 1724 and 1725, climbed as they advanced over every tree or wall that was in their way; nay, they entered into our very houses and bedchambers, he says, like so many thieves:

which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers, have seen since the day they were upon the earth unto this day; for size, for numbers, and for the mischief they should do; for though they have sometimes appeared in great numbers, and have covered a large spot of ground where they have settled, and devoured all green things, yet never as to cover a whole country at once, and so large an one as Egypt, and destroy all green things in it; at least, never such a thing had been seen or known in Egypt before since it was a nation, though it was a country sometimes visited by locusts; for Pliny (d) says, that in the country of Cyreniaca, which was near Egypt, see Acts 2:10 there was a law made for the diminishing of them, and keeping them under, to be observed three times a year, first by breaking their eggs, then destroying their young, and when they were grown up:

and he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh; as soon as Moses had delivered his message, perceiving anger in Pharaoh's countenance, and concluding from hence and some gestures of his that he should not succeed, and perhaps might be bid to go away, though it is not recorded; or "he looked and went out from him" (e), in honour to the king, as R. Jeshuah observes, he went backward with his face to the king; he did not turn his back upon him, but went out with his face to him; and which as it was and is the manner in the eastern countries, so it is with us at this day, to go from the presence of the king, not with the back, but with the face turned toward him, so long as he is to be seen.

(c) Travels, p. 187, Edit. 2.((d) Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. 11. c. 29.) (e) "et respexit", Pagninus, "et respiciens exivit", &c. Tigurine version.

Geneva Study Bible

And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. thy houses shall be filled, &c.] Cf. Morier, describing an invasion in Persia (ibid. p. 89), ‘They entered the inmost recesses of the houses, were found in every corner, stuck to our clothes, and infested our food.’

And he turned] i.e. Moses, though Aaron also, according to v. 3, had gone in. See the note on vv. 1b, 2, at the end.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - They shall fill thy houses. Compare Joel 2:9. The witness of modern travellers is to the same effect. Morier says "They entered the inmost recesses of the houses, were found in every corner, stuck to our clothes, and infested our food" (Second Journey, p. 100). Burckhardt observes - "They overwhelm the province of Nedjd sometimes to such a degree that, having destroyed the harvest, they penetrate by thousands into the private dwellings, and devour whatsoever they can find, even the leather of the water vessels" (Notes, vol. 2. p. 90). An older traveller, Beauplan, writes as follows: - "In June 1646, at Novgorod, it was prodigious to behold them, because they were hatched there that spring, and being as yet scarce able to fly, the ground was all covered, and the air so full of them that I could not eat in my chamber without a candle, all the houses being full of them, even the stables, barns, chambers, garrets, and cellars. I caused cannon-powder and sulphur to be burnt to expel them, but all to no purpose; for when the door Was opened, an infinite number came in, and the others went fluttering about; and it was a troublesome thing, when a man went abroad, to be hit on the face by those creatures, on the nose, eyes, or cheeks, so that there was no opening one's mouth but some would get in. Yet all this was nothing; for when we were to eat they gave us no respite; and when we went to cut a piece of meat, we cut a locust with it, and when a man opened his mouth to put in a morsel, he was sure to chew one of them." Oriental houses, it is to be borne in mind, have no better protection than lattice-work in the windows, so that locusts have free access to the apartments, even when the doers are shut. Which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen. Inroads of locusts are not common in Egypt. Only one reference has been found to them in the native records. When they occur, they are as destructive as elsewhere. Denon witnessed one in the early part of the present century. Two others were witnessed by Carsten Niebuhr and Forskal in 1761 and 1762 (Description de l'Arabie, p. 148); and another by Tisehendorf comparatively recently. The meaning in the text is probably that no such visitation as that now sent had been seen previously, not that Egypt had been hitherto free from the scourge. He turned himself and went out. Moses did not wait to learn what effect his announcement would have. He" knew "that Pharaoh would not fear the Lord. (See Exodus 9:30.) Exodus 10:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

To punish this obstinate refusal, Jehovah would bring locusts in such dreadful swarms as Egypt had never known before, which would eat up all the plants left by the hail, and even fill the houses. "They will cover the eye of the earth." This expression, which is peculiar to the Pentateuch, and only occurs again in Exodus 10:15 and Numbers 22:5, Numbers 22:11, is based upon the ancient and truly poetic idea, that the earth, with its covering of plants, looks up to man. To substitute the rendering "surface" for the "eye," is to destroy the real meaning of the figure; "face" is better. It was in the swarms that actually hid the ground that the fearful character of the plague consisted, as the swarms of locusts consume everything green. "The residue of the escape" is still further explained as "that which remaineth unto you from the hail," viz., the spelt and wheat, and all the vegetables that were left (Exodus 10:12 and Exodus 10:15). For "all the trees that sprout" (Exodus 10:5), we find in Exodus 10:15, "all the tree-fruits and everything green upon the trees."