Exodus8:20–32

The ʻârôb in the Psalter — Egypt’s plague preached back as praise (Exodus 8 ↔ Psalm 78:45; Psalm 105:31) verbal / quotation — confirmed

The word for this plague, עָרֹב (H6157, ʻârôb), is almost unique to it. Outside Exodus 8 it appears only in two Psalms that recount the exodus — Cambridge names them at this very verse, and the Verifier confirms the lexeme runs to just seven occurrences in the whole Old Testament. Psalm 78:45 says the ʻârôb “devoured them,” and shares with Exodus 8:24 the ruin-verb שָׁחַת (H7843); Psalm 105:31 says God “spoke, and the ʻârôb came.” The plague Egypt suffered became Israel’s hymn: the same swarm that ruined a land is sung as the proof of God’s saving hand.

Exodus 8:21 · Exodus 8:24 · Psalm 78:45 · Psalm 105:31

basis: shared near-unique lexeme H6157 ʻârôb ‘swarm/dog-fly’ — only 7 vv in the OT, all in this plague tradition (per Verifier; confirmed by Cambridge at Ex 8:21). Ex 8:24 ↔ Ps 78:45 additionally share the ruin-verb H7843 šāḥaṯ (135 vv). Both Psalms recount this event; no quotation formula, but the lexical link is verbal and the word is rare.

The dividing line called a redemption (Exodus 8:23 ↔ Isaiah 50:2; Psalm 111:9; Psalm 130:7) verbal / quotation — confirmed

The noun פְדֻת (H6304, pᵉḏuṯ, “redemption / ransom”) is one of the rarest words in the unit — the Verifier counts only four occurrences in the entire Old Testament, and Cambridge independently lists the same three parallels. In Isaiah 50:2 God asks whether His hand “is shortened, that it cannot redeem” (with shared שׂוּם, H7760, ‘set/make’, as here); Psalm 111:9 declares “He sent redemption to His people”; Psalm 130:7 promises “with Him is plenteous redemption.” The same word that elsewhere names God ransoming His people here names the line He sets between Israel and Egypt — the severance is itself called salvation.

Exodus 8:23 · Isaiah 50:2 · Psalm 111:9 · Psalm 130:7

basis: shared rare lexeme H6304 pᵉdûwth ‘redemption’ — only 4 vv in the OT (Ex 8:23; Isa 50:2; Ps 111:9; 130:7), per Verifier and Cambridge. Ex 8:23 ↔ Isa 50:2 additionally share H7760 sûwm ‘set/make’. No NT quotation; the verbal link rests on the near-unique noun.

‘Entreat for me’ — the intercession-verb across the plague cycle (Exodus 8:28–30 ↔ Exodus 10:17; Genesis 25:21) structural / thematic — confirmed

Pharaoh’s plea, “הַעְתִּירוּ (H6279) for me” (8:28), uses the prayer-verb עָתַר that threads the whole negotiation: Moses promises to entreat (8:29) and does (8:30). The Verifier counts it a moderately rare word (19 vv), and it recurs at Pharaoh’s later half-surrender after the locusts — “forgive my sin … and entreat the LORD” (Exodus 10:17), where it again pairs with his signature רַק (H7535, ‘only’). The same root names Isaac’s entreaty for his barren wife (Genesis 25:21) — prayer that prevails. The thread is a motif of intercession, not a quotation: a hardened king repeatedly begs the prayer of the man he will not obey.

Exodus 8:28 · Exodus 8:29 · Exodus 8:30 · Exodus 10:17 · Genesis 25:21

basis: shared lexeme H6279 ʻâthar ‘entreat / pray’ (19 vv) per Verifier; Ex 8:28 ↔ Ex 10:17 also share H7535 raq ‘only’, marking the recurring qualified-surrender pattern. The link is a thematic motif (intercession amid the plagues), not a quotation.

The hardened heart, by Pharaoh’s own hand — and called ‘heavy’ (Exodus 8:32 ↔ Exodus 8:15; Exodus 9:34) structural / thematic — confirmed

“Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also” (8:32) repeats his act of 8:15 — Keil & Delitzsch and Cambridge both make the link, and the Hebrew uses the active Hiphil וַיַּכְבֵּד (H3513, ‘he made his heart heavy’): Pharaoh hardens his own heart here, not God. The same root כבד named the ‘heavy’ swarm (8:24, H3515). The pattern — relief granted, heart re-hardened — recurs verbatim after the hail (Exodus 9:34, ‘he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart’). The thread tracks human responsibility within the larger drama of divine hardening.

Exodus 8:32 · Exodus 8:15 · Exodus 9:34

basis: shared root כבד H3513 kāḇaḏ ‘make heavy / harden’ recurring across the self-hardening notices (8:15, 8:32, 9:34), with the wordplay on H3515 kāḇēḏ ‘heavy [swarm]’ (8:24). The connection is the cycle’s repeated self-hardening pattern (Keil, Cambridge), not a quotation.

Beelzebub, ‘lord of flies’ — Benson’s figural reach from the plague to the NT (Exodus 8:21–24 ↔ Matthew 12:24) flagged — verify source

Benson, commenting on the swarm, makes a striking aside: “The prince of the power of the air has gloried in being Beel-zebub, the god of flies; but here it is proved that even in that he is a pretender … for even with swarms of flies God fights against his kingdom and prevails.” The reading links the fly-plague to the New Testament name Beelzebul / Beelzebub (Matthew 12:24; cf. 2 Kings 1:2), ‘lord of flies.’ This is a cross-Testament, Hebrew↔Greek figural connection — no shared Strong’s lexeme is possible — and it is one commentator’s typological flourish, not an established citation. Flagged for what it is: an old and evocative reading whose provenance is homiletical, not exegetical.

Exodus 8:21 · Exodus 8:24 · Matthew 12:24 · 2 Kings 1:2

basis: cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): no shared Strong’s lexeme is possible, so this cannot be a verbal link. The connection is Joseph Benson’s figural pun on Beelzebub ‘lord of flies’; neither Matthew 12:24 nor 2 Kings 1:2 cites Exodus 8. Provenance: one PD commentator’s homiletical typology, not a recorded quotation.

The mediator who goes out and entreats, and the plague departs at his word ancient/widely-held

Moses stands between Pharaoh’s wrath and the people’s relief: the king who will not pray begs the prophet to pray for him (8:28), and Moses “went out from Pharaoh and entreated the LORD” (8:30), so that God acts “according to the word of Moses” (8:31). The pattern of an intercessor whose word God honors, who bears the plea of the very people who oppose him, is taken up in the New Testament as the office of the one Mediator who “ever lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25; 1 Timothy 2:5). The reading that Moses’ intercession prefigures Christ’s is ancient and widely held.

Exodus 8:28 · Exodus 8:30 · Exodus 8:31

The redemption set between — the dividing line that is itself salvation novel

God promises to “set a redemption (פְדֻת, H6304) between My people and thy people” (8:23). The exemption of Goshen is not earned by Israel but established by God, and the word for the boundary is the word for ransom. The line that separates the people of God from the world is, in the end, not their merit but His redemption — the very logic the New Testament applies to Christ, “who gave Himself as a ransom” (Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6; Titus 2:14, ‘to redeem us’). To read the Goshen-line christologically — the saved set apart by a redemption they did not buy — extends the plain sense of the rare Hebrew noun; the specific christological application here is offered as a novel reading to be tested, not claimed as the consensus of the fathers.

Exodus 8:22 · Exodus 8:23