The Fourth Plague.
I. THE SUPERSTITION OF EGYPT IS MADE ITS SCOURGE.
1. The land was covered with the sacred beetle. It swarmed upon the ground and in their homes. No movement was possible without crushing or treading under foot the insect they adored. When God overthrows idolatries the very reverence with which the idols have been regarded deepens the chastisement. When the covetous sink under the loss of wealth, they themselves have given its weight to the blow which crushes them.
2. The land was destroyed by it. No prayer or propitiation served to avert the judgment. A land is ever corrupted by its idolatry. With the knowledge and worship of the true God, purity and righteousness and truth are put far from it. The soul is marred and wasted by covetousness.
II. THE SEPARATION BETWEEN GOSHEN AND EGYPT.
1. Hitherto there had been no separation. Up to a certain point the just and the unjust suffer in common.
2. Beyond this, God shields his loved ones. They are alike visited by sorrow, etc.; but while there is darkness and the ministration of death in the abodes of the unrepentant, there is light and the ministration of life in the dwellings of the righteous.
III. THE REJECTED COMPROMISE. Nothing less than God's demand can be accepted. If we are to go free and to obtain the inheritance, we must make no compromise with the world or with sin; we must offer to God the full unfettered worship he demands. There must be full and complete separation between Egypt and Israel, the Church and the world, else it will be impossible to present before God the sacrifices he asks for. A Church unseparated from the world will be a worldly Church.
IV. PHARAOH'S BROKEN FAITH. We have no reason to doubt that he was sincere when he made the promise (Exodus 8:28). How many vows sincerely made in trouble are forgotten in the ease they sought to purchase! Under the pressure of affliction men are ready to sacrifice much to which, when God's hand is removed, they cling as to their life.—U.