Exodus 8:5

And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:1-15 Pharaoh is plagued with frogs; their vast numbers made them sore plagues to the Egyptians. God could have plagued Egypt with lions, or bears, or wolves, or with birds of prey, but he chose to do it by these despicable creatures. God, when he pleases, can arm the smallest parts of the creation against us. He thereby humbled Pharaoh. They should neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep in quiet; but wherever they were, they should be troubled by the frogs. God's curse upon a man will pursue him wherever he goes, and lie heavy upon him whatever he does. Pharaoh gave way under this plague. He promises that he will let the people go. Those who bid defiance to God and prayer, first or last, will be made to see their need of both. But when Pharaoh saw there was respite, he hardened his heart. Till the heart is renewed by the grace of God, the thoughts made by affliction do not abide; the convictions wear off, and the promises that were given are forgotten. Till the state of the air is changed, what thaws in the sun will freeze again in the shade.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Into thine house - This appears to have been special to the plague, as such. It was especially the visitation which would be felt by the scrupulously-clean Egyptians.

Kneadingtroughs - Not dough, as in the margin. See Exodus 12:34.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5, 6. Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, &c. The miracle consisted in the reptiles leaving their marshes at the very time he commanded them.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The Lord spake unto Moses, by inward instinct or suggestion to his mind; for He was now in the king’s presence.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... By a secret impulse upon his mind, for he was now in the presence of Pharaoh, who had refused to let Israel go:

say unto Aaron, stretch forth thy hand with thy rod; for Aaron carried the rod, and he was the minister of Moses, who was appointed a god to him; and be was to speak and to do whatever he ordered him from the Lord:

over the streams, over the rivers and over the ponds; the seven streams of the river of Nile, and over the canals cut out of it, and over all places where there was a collection of water for any use for man or beast:

and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt; out of the streams, rivers, and ponds, immediately.

Geneva Study Bible

And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. Say unto Aaron] See on Exodus 7:19.

with thy rod] The rod which in P Aaron habitually carries (Exodus 7:9; Exodus 7:19, Exodus 8:16-17).

the streams] the Nile-canals, as Exodus 7:19. In J the frogs are to come up only out of the Nile (v. 3); in P they come up out of the other waters in Egypt as well (cf. v. 6).

5–7. The arrival of the frogs is described in an extract from P. As elsewhere in P (p. 55), the wonder is brought about by Aaron with is rod.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Over the streams... rivers... ponds. See the comment on Exodus 7:19. Exodus 8:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The plague of Frogs, or the second plague, also proceeded from the Nile, and had its natural origin in the putridity of the slimy Nile water, whereby the marsh waters especially became filled with thousands of frogs. צפרדּע is the small Nile frog, the Dofda of the Egyptians, called rana Mosaica or Nilotica by Seetzen, which appears in large numbers as soon as the waters recede. These frogs (הצּפרדּע in Exodus 8:6, used collectively) became a penal miracle from the fact that they came out of the water in unparalleled numbers, in consequence of the stretching out of Aaron's staff over the waters of the Nile, as had been foretold to the king, and that they not only penetrated into the houses and inner rooms ("bed-chamber"), and crept into the domestic utensils, the beds (מטּה), the ovens, and the kneading-troughs (not the "dough" as Luther renders it), but even got upon the men themselves.