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Exodus 9:1-7/2.14.3
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
Exodus 9:8-35/2.14.4
4. But when Pharaoh did not even then yield to the will of God, but, while he gave leave to the husbands to take their wives with them, yet insisted that the children should be left behind, God presently resolved to punish his wickedness with several sorts of calamities, and those worse than the foregoing, which yet had so generally afflicted them9; for their bodies had terrible boils10, breaking forth with blains, while they were already inwardly consumed; and a great part of the Egyptians perished in this manner11. But when the king was not brought to reason by this plague, (Verse 23) hail12 was sent down from heaven; and such hail it was, as the climate of Egypt had never suffered before, nor was it like to that which falls in other climates in winter time, (26) but was larger than that which falls in the middle of spring to those that dwell in the northern and north-western regions13. This hail broke down their boughs laden14 with fruit.15 After this a tribe of locusts consumed the seed which was not hurt by the hail; so that to the Egyptians all hopes of the future fruits of the ground were entirely lost.
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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.
9 In the instance of two other plagues, the sixth (boils) (Exod. 9:8) and the eighth (locusts) (Exod. 10:3), Aaron and Moses appear jointly before Pharaoh, though it is Moses himself who performs the miracle; in Josephus the roles of Moses and Aaron are totally eliminated ( Ant. 2.304, 306). At this point Josephus totally omits the plague of the disease of the cattle (Exod. 9:3-7).
10 Josephus here omits the biblical statement (Exod. 9:10) describing the manner in which Moses and Aaron were able to produce this plague, namely by taking the soot of the furnace, standing before Pharaoh, and throwing it heavenward.
11 The statements that the intestines of the Egyptians wasted away and that the majority of the Egyptians perished in this manner are Josephus’ additions.
12 Exod. 9:23 speaks of thunder and hail.
13 The statement that the hail was larger than that which is found in the polar regions is Josephus’ addition.
14 This refers to the vernal equinox and is Josephus’ addition.
15 Josephus does not mention that flax and barley were smitten but that the wheat and the millet were not (Exod. 9:31-32). He does not mention (Exod. 9:26) that there was no hail in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. Realizing that Pharaoh’s confessions of guilt after the plague of the hail (Exod. 9:27-30) and the plague of the locusts (Exod. 10:16) were insincere and would certainly not redound to his credit, Josephus omits this completely. Here, after the plagues of hail (Exod. 9:27) and locusts (Exod. 10:16), Pharaoh summons both Moses and Aaron, but in Josephus he does not do so. Josephus omits the biblical statement (Exod. 10:11) in which Pharaoh agrees to allow the men to go but not the children. (26) As to this winter or spring hail near Egypt and Judea, see the like on thunder and lightning there, in the note on Antiq. B. VI. ch. 5. sect. 6. Here is note on 6.5.6 "Mr. Reland observes here, and proves elsewhere in his note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 1. sect. 6, that although thunder and lightning with us usually happen in summer, yet in Palestine and Syria they are chiefly confined to winter. Josephus takes notice of the same thing again, War, B. IV. ch. 4. sect. 5."
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