על חיי משה, ספר א י״טOn the Life of Moses, Book I 19
א׳
1[106] But, having thus obtained a short breathing-space from punishment, and, like athletes in the arena, rallied their forces, only to gain fresh strength for evil-doing, they quickly returned to their familiar wickedness, forgetful of the evils which they had suffered so long.
ב׳
2[107] Then God stayed from using water to afflict them, and used the earth instead; but appointed the same minister of chastisement, who once more, when bidden, struck the ground with his staff, when a stream of gnats poured forth, and spread like a cloud over the whole extent of Egypt.
ג׳
3[108] Now the gnat is a very small creature, but exceedingly troublesome, for it not only causes mischief to the surface of the body, and produces an unpleasant and very noxious itching, but it forces its way inside through the nostrils and ears, and also flies into and damages the pupils of the eyes, if one does not take precautions. And what precautions would be possible against such a stream, especially when it is a chastisement sent by God?
ד׳
4[109] Someone perhaps may ask why He punished the land through such petty and insignificant creatures, and refrained from using bears and lions and panthers and the other kinds of savage beasts which feed on human flesh; and, if not these, at any rate the asps of Egypt, whose bites are such as to cause immediate death.
ה׳
5[110] If such a person really does not know the answer, let him learn it: first, God wished to admonish the inhabitants of the land rather than to destroy them, for had He wished to annihilate them altogether He would not have taken animals to co-operate in His visitation, but calamities sent direct from heaven—pestilence and famine.
ו׳
6[111] And after this the inquirer should be taught a further lesson, and one that is needed throughout life. What is this? When men make war, they look round to find the most powerful auxiliaries to fight beside them, and so compensate for their own weakness; but God, the highest and greatest power, needs no one. But if, at any time, He wills to use any as instruments for His vengeance, He does not choose the strongest and the greatest, of whose might He takes no account, but provides the slightest and the smallest with irresistible and invincible powers, and through them wreaks vengeance on the evil-doers. So it was in this case.
ז׳
7[112] For what is slighter than a gnat? Yet so great was its power that all Egypt lost heart, and was forced to cry aloud: “This is the finger of God”; for as for His hand not all the habitable world from end to end could stand against it, or rather not even the whole universe.