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2. But when God saw that he was ungrateful, and upon the ceasing of this calamity would not grow wiser, he sent another plague upon the Egyptians: - An innumerable multitude of frogs consumed the fruit of the ground; the river was also full of them, insomuch that those who drew water had it spoiled by the blood of these animals, as they died in, and were destroyed by, the water1; and the country was full of filthy slime, as they were born, and as they died: they also spoiled their vessels in their houses which they used, and were found among what they eat and what they drank, and came in great numbers upon their beds. There was also an ungrateful smell, and a stink arose from them, as they were born, and as they died therein2. Now, when the Egyptians were under the oppression of these miseries, the king ordered Moses to take the Hebrews with him, and be gone. Upon which the whole multitude of the frogs vanished away; and both the land and the river returned to their former natures. But as soon as Pharaoh saw the land freed from this plague, he forgot the cause of it, and retained the Hebrews; and, as though he had a mind to try the nature of more such judgments, he would not yet suffer Moses and his people to depart, having granted that liberty rather out of fear than out of any good consideration. (25)

 

 

 

3. Accordingly, God punished his falseness with another plague, added to the former; for there arose out of the bodies of the Egyptians an innumerable quantity of lice3, by which, wicked as they were, they miserably perished, as not able to destroy this sort of vermin either with washes or with ointments4. At which terrible judgment the king of Egypt was in disorder, upon the fear into which he reasoned himself, lest his people should be destroyed, and that the manner of this death was also reproachful5, so that he was forced in part to recover himself from his wicked temper to a sounder mind, for he gave leave for the Hebrews themselves to depart. But when the plague thereupon ceased, he thought it proper to require that they should leave their children and wives behind them, as pledges of their return6; whereby he provoked God to be more vehemently angry at him, as if he thought to impose on his providence, and as if it were only Moses, and not God, who punished the Egyptians for the sake of the Hebrews7: for he filled that country full of various sorts of pestilential creatures, with their various properties, such indeed as had never come into the sight of men before, by whose means the men perished themselves, and the land was destitute of husbandmen for its cultivation; but if any thing escaped destruction from them, it was killed by a distemper which the men underwent also.8

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1 The graphic detail that the drinking water was polluted by the juice of the frogs dying and decaying in the water is Josephus’ addition.

 

2 In Exod. 8:13 the stench of frogs dying is found when Moses puts an end to the plague of the frogs. Josephus omits the fact (Exod. 8:3) that the Egyptian magicians likewise brought up frogs throughout Egypt.

 

3 Hebrew (Exod. 8:12) כנם, “lice,” followed by Psalm 105:31 and the rabbinic tradition (Midrash Exod. Rabbah 10.2, 6-7; 15.10; LXX σκνῖφες, “gnats,” followed by Philo (De Vita Mosis 1.19.107). Josephus here omits the manner (Exod. 8:12) in which this plague was brought about, namely by having Aaron smite the dust of the earth with his staff.

 

4 The statement that the Egyptians were unable to destroy the lice with baths or drugs is Josephus’ addition. Josephus omits the fact (Exod. 8:14-15) that the Egyptian magicians were unable to produce lice and acknowledged that the plague was a sign of God.   

 

5 After the plague of lice, it is fear of the destruction of his people, according to Josephus’ addition here, that leads Pharaoh to listen to reason (σωφρονεῖν). Again, this creates a certain amount of sympathy for Pharaoh.

 

6 In Exod. 10:10-11 it is before the plague of the locusts that Pharaoh agrees to allow the Israelites to go but insists that they leave their children behind.    

 

7 The fact that Pharaoh refuses to understand the import of the plagues, commanded as they are, in Josephus’ version, by God Himself (Ant. 2.302, 309), thus puts the blame squarely on his shoulders. Here, after the plague of the lice, Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron and grants them permission to offer sacrifices to God (Exod. 8:21); but in Josephus’ version Pharaoh makes this offer to the “Hebrews,” with no mention of Aaron (or Moses) in particular.

 

8 The sentiment that whatever escaped the destruction of the wild beasts was destroyed by other means is Josephus’ addition.

 

(25) Of this judicial hardening the hearts and blinding the eyes of wicked men, or infatuating them, as a just punishment for their other willful sins, to their own destruction, see the note on Antiq. B. VII. ch. 9. sect. 6.