The Message Of Moses About The Hail,
THE SEVENTH PLAGUE
Exodus 9:13-21
13Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, 14or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. 17You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. 18Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. 19Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.'"
20Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. 21But those who ignored the word of the LORD left their slaves and livestock in the field.
COMMENTARY
The sixth plague had no effect at all upon the hard heart of the Pharaoh, who cared nothing for the physical sufferings of his subjects and was not afflicted by the malady. Moses was therefore ordered to appear before him again and warn him of imminent and yet more terrible catastrophes. The long message (vers. 13-19) is without any previous counterpart and contains material calculated to make an impression even upon the most callous persons. First, there is an announcement that God is about to send "all his plagues" upon the king and people (ver. 14); then a solemn warning that a plague might have been sent which would have swept both king and people from the face of the earth (ver. 15); and finally (ver. 18) an announcement of the actual judgment immediately looming, which is to be a hailstorm of severity never previously known in Egypt, and seldom experienced elsewhere. Pharaoh is also told that the whole intention of his having been permitted by God to continue in existence is the glory about to accrue to his name from the demonstration of his power in the deliverance of his people (ver. 16). A particular feature of the plague is the forewarning (ver. 19) whereby those who believed the words of Moses, were allowed to escape a great part of the harmful effects of the storm. It is a great indication of the impression made by the previous plagues that the warning was acted upon by a considerable number of the Egyptians, who saved their cattle and slaves (ver. 20). The damage caused by the plague was very significant. The flax and barley crops, which were the most advanced, underwent destruction. Men and beasts were injured by the hail stones, which might have been - as hail stones sometimes are – sharp, jagged pieces of ice, and some were even killed by the hail (see Joshua 10:11) or by the lightning which accompanied it. Even trees were damaged by the storm's force, which destroyed the shrubbery and broke the branches—verse 13. - Rise early. Compare Exodus 7:15 and Exodus 8:20. The practice of the Egyptian kings to rise early and proceed at once to the dispatch of business is noted by Herodotus (2:173). It is a general practice of Asian monarchs. Moreover, say unto him. The same message is constantly echoed in the same words as a token of God's unchangingness. See Exodus 8:1-20; Exodus 9:1; Exodus 10:3; etc.
As the plagues had so far entirely failed to alter the unyielding heart of Pharaoh under the will of the Almighty God, the horrors of that judgment, which would unfailingly originate with him, were placed before him in three more plagues, which were far more awful than any that had preceded them. These were to be preparatory to the last decisive blow, evidenced by the great solemnity they revealed to the hardened king (Exodus 9:13-16). Jehovah was about to "send all His blows at the heart of Pharaoh and against his servants and his people" (Exodus 9:14). This does not mean "against thy person," for it is not used against people, and even the latter is not a paraphrase for "person;" but the blows were to go to the king's heart, "It proclaims that they will be plagues that will not only attack the head and arms, but penetrate the very heart, and inflict a mortal wound." From the plural "blows," it is evident that this threat referred not only to the seventh plague but to all the other plagues, through which Jehovah was about to announce to the king that "there was none like Him in all the earth, " that is to say, not one of the gods whom the heathen worshipped was like Him, the only true God. For, in order to show this, Jehovah had not smitten Pharaoh and his people right away with pestilence and cut them off from the earth but had set him up to make him see, that is, discern or feel His power, and to glorify His name in all the earth (Exodus 9:15, Exodus 9:16). In Exodus 9:15, the words "I have stretched out," is to be taken as the conditional clause: "If I had now stretched out My hand and smitten thee...thou wouldest have been cut off." This forms the antithesis to smitten and means to cause to stand or continue, as in 1 Kings 15:4 and 2 Chronicles 9:8. "Causing to stand" presumes creation. In this first sense, the Apostle Paul has rendered it "cometh" in Romans 9:17, by the intent of his argument, for the reason that "God thereby appeared still more decidedly as absolutely determining all that was done by Pharaoh" (Philippi on Romans 9:17). The reason why God had not destroyed Pharaoh at once was twofold: (1) that Pharaoh himself might experience (to cause to see, i.e., to experience) the might of Jehovah, by which he was compelled more than once to give glory to Jehovah (Exodus 9:27; Exodus 10:16-17; Exodus 12:31); and (2) that the name of Jehovah might be declared throughout all the earth. As both the rebellion of the natural man against the word and will of God, and the hostility of the world-power to the Lord and His people, were concentrated in Pharaoh, so there were established in the judgments suspended over him the patience and grace of the living God, quite as much as His holiness, justice, and omnipotence, as a warning to unrepentant sinners, and support to the faith of the godly, in a way that should be typical for all times and circumstances of the kingdom of God in conflict with the ungodly world. The report of this magnificent example of Jehovah spread at once among all the surrounding nations (cf. Exodus 15:14.) and traveled not only to the Arabians but to the Greeks and Romans also, and eventually with the Gospel of Christ to all the nations of the earth ( Romans 9:17).
The Plague of Hail
This plague was unique
Some have suggested that natural events caused the plagues. They preach that the Nile became red because algae flowed down the mountains. The algae forced the frogs onto the land. The death of the frogs brought the flies. The flies bit the livestock, transferring the disease anthrax, which eventually affected the human population with boils. These naturalistic interpretations of the plagues cannot reasonably account for the plague of hail. Moses, the author of Exodus, notes that this hailstorm was like no other. Egypt had never undergone such a grievous hail storm before.
Therefore, at this time tomorrow, I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. (vs. 18)
Two things put this plague in the realm of the miraculous. First, Egypt receives little rain. Cairo receives only about 2 inches of rainfall annually. South of Cairo, throughout most of Egypt, rain is rare. The announcement of this plague to Pharaoh would be akin to God's announcement of a flood in Noah's day.
Second, this plague discriminated. Hail fell on all of Egypt except the place where the Israelites lived. If rain were to fall in Egypt, it would have fallen in Goshen (near modern-day Cairo). For a storm of this magnitude to appear throughout Egypt but not in Goshen is remarkable in its own rite. This plague not only included a grievous hail but also provided a force shield for God's chosen people.
The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.(v 26)
This plague was an attack on the gods and religious system of Egypt
In at least two different ways, this plague attacked the belief system of the Egyptians. First, this plague attacked a goddess who controlled cosmological events, the sky goddess. Second, this plague affected the worship system of Egypt. The god's Isis and Seth had responsibilities related to the crops. Crops, such as flax, which provided linen for the priests' garments throughout the land, were destroyed by this plague.
This plague devastated an already crippled economy
In the Plague of Livestock, we saw that the plague had already wiped out most of the cattle of Egypt, thereby forcing the Egyptians to obtain cattle from other countries. Inscriptions on certain Pharaohs' tombs record their efforts to improve their livestock. Entire herds were brought in from the south and Lybia. On at least two occasions, Syrian cattle were sent to Egypt. The hail would have destroyed much of the cattle they recently secured.
Due to the relatively steady climate, the Egyptians had some harvesting and planting going on. However, this plague was timed so that it brought devastation to two key crops at harvest time.
The flax and barley were destroyed since the barley had headed, and the flax was in bloom. (v 31)
Flax and barley supplied clothes and food.
Application
This plague expresses the patience of God. He was not using the plagues as an unmerciful punishment for the Egyptians. He wanted repentance.
Let my people go, so that they may worship me, 14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. (Ex 9:13–16).
God said in the most vivid language that He was patient and could have "wiped them off the earth by now." Not only does the word "wipe" mean to destroy. It means to "erase any memory of them." Why so strong?
The Egyptians made it a practice to rewrite their history. Hatshepsut was a daughter of a pharaoh. She eventually became a pharaoh herself. This was highly controversial as it was a place reserved for men. After her death, her stepson, Thutmosis III, became Pharaoh and made it one of his campaigns to erase every inscription about Hatshepsut. He was so successful that it was not until 1903 AD that Hatshepsut was discovered.
Unlike the Egyptians, God's patience is recorded in history. Why? Because the plagues are not about destroying the Egyptians. The plagues are designed to demonstrate God. He is and always has been the Sovereign. Unlike the magicians who could no longer stand before Moses, God stands Pharaoh up and shows great patience and restraint. God is being glorified and set in complete contrast to Pharaoh and the rest of the gods of Egypt.
