earth; blood, and
fire, and vapour of smoke._"

The mercy bestowed upon the Congregation of God is accompanied by the
judgment upon her enemies. Since the Congregation has again become the
object of His favour, especially in consequence of the Holy Spirit
being poured out upon her, it cannot be but that He will protect her
against the persecution of the world, and avenge her upon it. In vers.
3 and 4, the _precursors_ of the judgment (_before_ cometh, ver. 4) are
described, and in chap. iv. throughout, the judgment itself. There is
here an allusion to an event of former times, and which is now to be
repeated on a larger scale, viz., the plagues inflicted upon Egypt in
consequence of the same law. The prophet had specially in view the
passage, Deut. vi. 22: "And the Lord gave signs and wonders, great and
sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household before our
eyes."--The wonders are divided [Pg 339] into those which are in
heaven, and those which are on earth; then those which are on earth are
in this verse designated individually; and afterwards, in ver. 4, those
which are in heaven. With regard to the former, many interpreters (the
last of whom is _Credner_) understand by the "blood," bloody defeats of
the enemies of Israel; by "fire and smoke," their towns and habitations
consumed by fire. But this interpretation cannot be entertained. The
very designation by [Hebrew: mvptiM] indicates that we have here to
think of extraordinary phenomena of nature, the symbolical language of
which is interpreted by the evil conscience, which recognises in them
the precursors of coming judgment. This is confirmed also by the more
particular statement of the signs in heaven, in ver. 4; for the signs
on earth must certainly be of the same class as these. It is confirmed
likewise by a comparison with the type of former times, which we have
pointed out; for it is from this, that the blood is directly taken. The
first plague is thus announced in Exod. vii. 17: "Behold, I smite with
the rod in mine hand upon the waters in the river, and they are turned
into blood." _Jalkut Simeoni_ (in _Schoettgen_, p. 210) remarks: "The
Lord brought blood upon the enemies in Egypt: thus also shall it be in
future times; for it is written, I will give wonders, blood and fire."
The same is the case as respects the fire. Exod. ix. 24: "And there
came hail, and _fire mingled_ with the hail." It is more natural to
suppose that the prophet borrowed