Behold, to-morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since its foundation until now.
God gives Pharaoh a full day's notice of the seventh plague. The hail will be worse than any Egypt has known since it became a nation. Why announce a judgment instead of just sending it? What is that one day for?
The threat follows a charge: Pharaoh is still setting himself up against God's people. One writer explains the line just before the hail is named:
Then came a rebuke. The words should be read like this: God had stretched out His hand, yet Pharaoh was not cut off. God spared him, so that either by humbling himself or by rejecting God's warning, he might be the means of making God's Name great. "You are still exalting yourself against my people" — like a dam holding back the waters.
Another writer draws out the reason Pharaoh is still alive — and the way Moses spoke to him.
And why was he preserved in life? It was to show him God's power, and that God's name might be declared throughout all the earth (15-16). Never before had a Pharaoh been so addressed, we may be sure. Courtiers might flatter and cringe before the king. Moses and Aaron did neither.
"About this time tomorrow" was not a vague threat. Pharaoh had watched this pattern play out before.
Moses had said "tomorrow" for the swarms of flies (8:23). The next day they came. He had said "tomorrow" for the cattle plague. The next day came, and the cattle plague appeared (9:5). He had said "tomorrow" for the hail (9:18). On the next day the Lord rained hail on the land. Each time, God sent the plague He had foretold. It did not delay a single day. Just one night came between the warning and the plague each time.
God announced this storm before He sent it. What came showed how far His power reached.
The storm was terrifying. It thundered; it hailed; and the lightning fire ran along the ground. There was hail, and fire mixed with hail, such as no one had ever seen. The One who had power over the waters, the dust, and even over people's bodies had power over the air as well. The God of the Hebrews was almighty.
The announcement is not only a sentence. It hands the Egyptians something to do about it.
God threatens a very heavy hail to fall on man and beast; it would kill everything left out in the open field... God dealt with Pharaoh in this way so that he might know Jehovah and His power. He also acted so that what Jehovah did would make His name known throughout the earth... It was loving and gracious advice God gave through Moses (verse 19). No doubt there were many Egyptians who believed and escaped. The unbelieving suffered. Divine mercy still lingered.
The warning split Pharaoh's own court in two. The dividing line was how each man treated God's word.
Some among Pharaoh's servants feared the Word of the Lord and took the warning to heart. Of course their animals were safe. Others had no respect for God's Word, and they suffered the consequences.
One writer points back to this storm when he describes a judgment yet to come.
The seventh plague in Egypt was one of "hail and fire," a tempest without parallel in the history of that most ancient of kingdoms (Ex. 9:18-25). The coming judgment announced in Revelation will be of a more terrible character, more ruinous and widespread.
One writer finds the same order — warning first, judgment after — at the city of Sodom, where a man named Lot lived.
Before God judges He always warns; and have not you, my friend, had many a warning note falling on your ear? Look at the grace of God in this chapter. The angels find their way to Sodom. They are, if I may say so, evangelists to the house of Lot. They announce what is coming, and they point out a place of safety.
- Pride — Pharaoh kept lifting himself up against God. God left him alive on purpose: to show His power and spread His name through all the earth.
- Notice — every "tomorrow" Moses announced arrived on time. One night stood between the warning and the storm.
- Shelter — the threat came with instructions for escape. Commentators call that real mercy: many Egyptians believed and escaped.
- Divide — the same word split Pharaoh's servants. Those who feared it kept their animals safe. Those who ignored it lost them.
- Preview — a storm without equal in Egypt's history points ahead to a judgment more terrible and more widespread.
And now send, [and] secure thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field all the men and the cattle that are found in the field, and are not brought home -- on them the hail shall come down, and they shall die.
Egypt has already suffered six plagues, and now Moses announces a hailstorm worse than anything the land has known. Yet God tells Pharaoh how to keep his people and animals alive — so why does judgment come with an escape route?
The instruction to bring livestock in from the field is not a taunt. It is help, offered to the very court that had been resisting God.
It was loving and gracious advice that God gave through Moses (verse 19). No doubt there were many Egyptians who believed and escaped. The unbelieving suffered. Divine mercy still lingered.
The same writer suggests where those believers ended up when Israel finally left Egypt:
Those Egyptians who believed the divine warning must have belonged to the mixed multitude that went out with Israel (chapter 12:38).
This verse puts people in the same sentence as the animals. Until now, no plague had taken human life. The danger is real, but it turns on one thing: shelter.
It was the merciful One whose message Moses delivered. He would spare the lives of His creatures, even the least of the cattle, if only they were sheltered from the coming judgment. The hail touched no living creature that was housed (19-21). Up to now we have not read of human life taken by any of the plagues. Now there was that risk, but only if people despised or denied shelter (20-21).
The warning went out to everyone in Pharaoh's household, and it split them. What divided them was not what they heard but what they did with it.
Some of the court believed and took the advice to house their cattle and their servants. Others despised the counsel and lost everything.
An obvious difficulty sits in this verse. The fifth plague killed "all the livestock of the Egyptians" (verse 6) — so what animals are left to rescue here? Commentators differ. One looks again at that word "all":
The answer may be that the word "all" in verse 6 is not meant to be absolute, but is used in a general sense. Or else the Egyptians may have brought in other livestock after the fifth plague.
Another starts with the word for cattle, and then with where the animals were kept:
A word here about the cattle. We learn from 9:3, and also from Genesis 47:16-17, that the Hebrew word covered far more than people would suppose from the language we use today. We suggest the explanation may lie in a difference between two kinds of cattle. Some were left out in the field day and night. Others were housed at times in stalls or other places prepared for them. Exodus 9:3 mentions only cattle in the field, and says nothing about any refuge provided for them at the homesteads. Verse 19, however, shows that cattle could be kept in shelters — a difference that may throw light on the matter. The disease killed all the cattle turned out for grazing. The hail would strike any cattle that had shelters, if they were not brought back to them.
Why hail, and not some other weapon? Because no one can mistake where it comes from. One writer, commenting on hail elsewhere in Scripture, looks back to this chapter:
Hail is a symbol of sharp, crushing judgment, sent straight from heaven. It comes so plainly from heaven that no one can put it down to anyone but God. We believe that history records storms of exceptional violence in which stones weighing a pound, or even a little more, fell with terrible effect, similar to what Exodus 9 records.
- Warned. God announced the hail before it fell, and told Egypt how to survive it. Judgment came with an escape route.
- Sheltered. The escape was simple: bring what you value indoors. The hail touched nothing that was under a roof.
- Divided. One warning reached the whole court and split it. Some believed and housed their people and animals. Others despised the counsel and lost everything.
- Rescued. The Egyptians who believed escaped. Some may have been among the mixed multitude that later walked out of Egypt with Israel.
- Unmistakable. Hail falls from the sky, so no one can put it down to chance. That is why the warning before it was such mercy.
He that feared the word of Jehovah among the bondmen of Pharaoh made his bondmen and his cattle flee into the houses.
The hail was the seventh plague. God announced it a day ahead, and the announcement told people how to survive it. What happened next split Pharaoh's own court in two. Some of his officials acted on what God said. Others ignored it. The only difference between them was what each man did with a word he had heard.
Moses announced judgment. But the message also carried a way out. One writer finds the mercy of God in that offer, down to the care it takes over farm animals.
It was the merciful One whose message Moses delivered — One who would spare the lives of His creatures, even the lowliest of the cattle, if only they were sheltered from the coming judgment. The hail touched no living creature that was under shelter (19-21). Up to this point we have not read of human life taken by any of the plagues. Now there was that risk, but only if a man despised or refused shelter (20-21).
The verse does not say these men feared the hail. It says they feared the word. That fear showed itself in what they did: they moved their servants and animals indoors before the storm came.
Some among Pharaoh's servants feared the word of the Lord and heeded the warning. Of course their animals were safe. But others had no respect for God's word, and they suffered the consequences.
Pharaoh could not claim he did not know. The people closest to him kept telling him the truth. One writer strings together the moments when that happened. This verse is the second.
The Lord always acts for His own glory, for His own name. Yet the king of Egypt was responsible, and his own people and the surrounding nations were witnesses of it. First, the magicians told Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19). Second, in this verse, those among Pharaoh's servants who feared the word of the LORD hurried their slaves and their livestock into the houses (Exodus 9:20). Third, Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God" (Exodus 10:7). This is evidence enough that the judgments were having their effect on people of every class.
Where did these men end up? Commentators can only infer. One suggests that some of them later walked out of Egypt with Israel.
No doubt there were many Egyptians who believed and escaped. The unbelieving suffered. Divine mercy was still lingering. Those Egyptians who believed the divine warning must have belonged to the mixed multitude that went out with Israel (chapter 12:38).
Readers often stop here with a question. An earlier plague killed the livestock of Egypt, so how were there any left to rescue? One writer faces it head on.
A difficulty may arise when we compare Exodus 9:6 with verse 19. If all the cattle died in the plague, what was left of them for the hail to endanger? We may be quite sure that Moses knew what he was writing... We would suggest here that the explanation may lie in a difference. Some cattle were left out in the field day and night. Others were housed at times in stalls or other places prepared for them. In verse 19 we learn that people could provide shelters for their cattle. The disease killed all the cattle turned out for grazing. The hail would attack any cattle that had shelters, if they were not brought back to them.
Here God offers Egyptians a way out of a plague. One writer notes that a later plague came with no such offer.
Moses told Pharaoh and his princes about the blow that would fall on them. This time he did not offer any of them a chance of escaping it, as he had in the earlier plague of the hail.
The same pattern still holds. One writer applies it directly to the reader.
But we are warned so that we may escape. For there is a way of escape. "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life" (John 5:24).
- Word — God sent a word ahead of the hail; everything in this verse turns on what each man did with it.
- Fear — they feared the word itself, not just the weather. That fear moved servants and livestock indoors before any cloud appeared.
- Shelter — the hail touched nothing under a roof. The warning came with the remedy attached.
- Witness — the men who obeyed served in Pharaoh's own house. He had no excuse left.
- Escape — God warns so that people may escape. The warning does nothing for anyone who will not act on it.
But he that did not regard the word of Jehovah left his bondmen and his cattle in the field.
God warned Egypt before the hail fell. He named the danger and He named the way to survive it: bring people and livestock under cover. This verse records the men who heard that and left everything standing in the open.
This plague came with a way out. The warning was more than a threat. It told people what to do to stay alive, and it was not only for the palace.
There was also something new for the Egyptians here. God gave a warning, so any of the common people who paid attention to the word of the Lord had the chance to act, and that action would save them from the worst of it. The hail storm was so violent that any person or animal left out in it would die.
The same words reached the whole of Pharaoh's court. They did not get the same response.
Some of the court believed, and took the advice to bring their cattle and their servants under cover. Others despised the counsel, and lost everything.
Leaving the servants and animals outside looks like carelessness. One writer gives it a sharper name.
The warning came in time. So the Egyptians could protect their cattle and their servants from the terrible storm that was coming. Some took the warning and did as God directed through Moses. Those who neglected the warning suffered the consequences of their unbelief.
An earlier plague had already killed Egypt's cattle. So how could there be livestock left in the field for the hail to strike? One writer suggests an answer.
Some feel a difficulty when they compare Exodus 9:6 with verse 19. If all the cattle died of the disease, what was left of them to be put in danger by the hail? We suggest the explanation may lie in the difference between cattle left out in the field day and night, and cattle kept at times in stalls or other places prepared for them. The disease attacked and killed all the cattle turned out to graze. The hail would strike any cattle that had shelters, if they were not brought back to them.
The warning in verse 19 was advice, not just an ultimatum. One writer follows the Egyptians who took it beyond the storm.
It was loving and gracious advice that God gave through Moses (verse 19). No doubt there were many Egyptians who believed and escaped. The unbelieving suffered. Divine mercy still lingered. The Egyptians who believed God's warning must have belonged to the mixed multitude that went out with Israel.
The "mixed multitude" means the non-Israelites who walked out of Egypt with Israel.
The form of this judgment is not random. One writer links it to the contempt that brought it on.
If the earth away from God becomes a scene of corruption and ruin, heaven will frown on it too. In the plague of hail we see the result of despising God. Hail is rain chilled into ice. The very mercies of heaven, when despised, are changed into pitiless judgment.
One writer sets Egypt's position beside ours. God has warned people now of a judgment still to come.
People today stand where the Egyptians stood before that fourteenth day of Nisan. They are warned of the coming judgment, so the way of escape is alike as well. The blood of the lamb alone brought deliverance then; the blood of God's Lamb brings deliverance now… And greater interests are at stake now than then. Losing your firstborn is a heavy blow. The everlasting ruin of your soul is a far more terrible disaster.
- Warned. Before the hail, God named the danger and the one action that would save life. This was new in these plagues, and it was open to ordinary Egyptians, not just the palace.
- Divided. The same warning reached the whole court. Some believed it and brought their people in. Others despised the counsel and lost everything.
- Unbelief. What ruined them was not ignorance. They had the word and did nothing with it, and they suffered the consequences of their unbelief.
- Mercy. Even inside judgment God's mercy lingered. The Egyptians who believed escaped. They may well be among the mixed multitude who later walked out of Egypt with Israel.
- Today. Mercies despised turn into pitiless judgment; hail is only rain chilled into ice. People now stand warned as Egypt did. The shelter offered is the blood of God's Lamb, and the soul itself is at stake.
And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward the heavens, that there may be hail throughout the land of Egypt, upon men, and upon cattle, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Egypt.
Egypt has already felt God's hand in its river, its dust, its cattle and its people's bodies. Now God tells Moses to reach toward the sky. This time the blow falls from above. The command names what it will hit: man, beast and every plant. Three questions follow. Why from heaven? Why so total? And why announce it at all?
Judgment has already worked through the earth. Now it comes from above, and one writer shows the logic in that — what usually falls as blessing falls as ice.
If the earth away from God turns into a scene of corruption and desolation like this, heaven will also frown upon it. In the plague of hail we see the result of this despising of God. Hail is rain chilled into ice. The very mercies of heaven, once despised, turn into pitiless judgment.
The command raises a well-known puzzle. Earlier in this chapter a disease killed Egypt's cattle. So what beasts remain for the hail to strike? One commentator refuses to treat this as a slip in the record.
We may be quite sure that Moses knew what he was writing. He would not commit a blunder that left his account in a contradiction an ordinary schoolboy could spot... We suggest here that the explanation may lie in a difference. Some cattle stayed out in the field day and night. Others had stalls or other places prepared for them... The disease attacked and killed all the cattle turned out for grazing. The hail would attack any cattle that had shelters, if they were not brought back to them.
Moses' hand carries the rod that has run through the whole contest with Egypt. It began by swallowing the magicians' rods, and it reappears in plague after plague.
It first swallowed up the rods of Egypt. That showed no strength could stand before God's strength. It gave Egypt notice that it was hard to kick against the goads (Ex. 7:12). But Egypt would not learn that lesson. Then the rod brings the plagues of blood, of frogs, and of lice. At last the magicians admit that they could not measure their strength against the Lord's (Ex. 8:19). It is then used in the plagues of hail (Ex. 9:23), locusts (Ex. 10:13), and darkness (Ex. 10:22).
God sends His warning before the storm arrives, and the warning doubles as instructions. Anyone who believed it could still get out from under it.
It was loving and gracious advice that God gave through Moses (verse 19). No doubt there were many Egyptians who believed and escaped. The unbelieving suffered. Divine mercy still lingered.
That mercy reaches a long way down. The same message that threatens man and beast also offers to spare both.
The message Moses delivered came from the merciful One. He would spare the lives of His creatures, even the lowliest of the cattle, if only they were sheltered from the coming judgment. The hail touched no living creature that was under shelter (19-21). Up to this point we have not read of human life taken by any of the plagues. Now there was that risk, but only for those who despised or refused shelter (20-21).
The command covers the whole country, yet the land where Israel lived stayed dry.
At its appointed time the storm burst. Fire and hail fell on the ground and destroyed trees and plants, and man and beast caught out in its violence. Only in Goshen, "the land of flowers," did nature smile. There the people heard the sound of the storm, but no wrath from heaven fell. The wall of partition separating Israel from Egypt rose right up to the sky.
Hail turns up again later in Scripture. One writer reads it as more than weather — a picture of judgment still ahead.
The hail is frozen drops of rain. Those gentle showers that water the earth so it may bring forth its fruit now turn into death-dealing wrath! For a Christ-rejecting world there is stored up "wrath against the day of wrath," of which the hail is a figure (Ex. 9:22; Hag. 2:17; Ps. 18:12; Rev. 16:21).
- Heaven strikes. God has used the elements one by one. Now the sky, the usual source of rain, becomes the instrument of judgment.
- Heaven warns. God announces the blow before it falls. The warning is loving and gracious advice, not just a threat.
- Heaven shelters. The offer runs all the way down to the lowest animal: the hail touched nothing under cover.
- Heaven divides. The storm covered all Egypt, yet stopped at Goshen — a dividing wall that reached to the sky.
- Heaven forecasts. Hail appears again in Scripture as a figure of wrath still stored up. This day in Egypt is a preview, not a one-off.
And Moses stretched out his staff toward the heavens, and Jehovah gave thunder and hail; and the fire ran along the ground; and Jehovah rained hail on the land of Egypt.
Egypt's seventh plague breaks the moment the staff goes up. Thunder, hail, and fire fall together. Two questions run through the commentators here: who controls the sky, and why God announced this blow before He sent it.
Earlier plagues struck the water, the dust, and people's bodies. This one struck the air.
It thundered; it hailed; and the lightning fire ran along the ground. There was hail, and fire mixed with hail, such as no one had ever seen. He who had power over the waters, the dust, and even over people's bodies, had power over the air as well. The God of the Hebrews was all-powerful. Man and beast must bow under His hand.
One writer sets this plague in a sequence. The ground was already corrupted; now the sky turns against Egypt too.
If the earth away from God is turned into a scene of corruption and ruin, then heaven will frown on it too. In the plague of hail we see the result of this despising of God. Hail is rain chilled into ice. Despise the mercies of heaven, and they turn into pitiless judgment.
The Hebrew behind "thunder" is not only a weather word. It names the storm after God Himself.
The terrible hail came with thunder and with fire (lightning) that ran along the ground. In Hebrew these are called "the voices of God." The storm is a picture of God's wrath in judgment. Revelation mentions hail again and again, and calls it "the plague of hail" (Rev. 8:7, 11:19, 16:21).
God warned Egypt before Moses lifted the staff. The gap between the threat and the storm was itself a kindness.
The advice God gave through Moses was loving and gracious (verse 19). No doubt many Egyptians believed and escaped. The unbelieving suffered. God's mercy still lingered. The Egyptians who believed His warning must have been part of the mixed crowd that went out with Israel (chapter 12:38).
The shelter covered animals as well as people, and it worked without exception.
The message Moses delivered came from the merciful One. He would spare the lives of His creatures, even the lowliest of the cattle, if only they had shelter from the coming blow. Not one living creature under cover was touched by the hail. Until now we have not read of any human life taken by the plagues. Now that risk was there, but only if shelter was despised or refused.
The storm covered the whole land, yet it stopped at a border. Israel heard it without feeling it.
At its appointed time the storm burst. Fire and hail fell on the ground. The storm destroyed the trees and plants, and the people and animals caught out in its violence. Only in Goshen, "the land of flowers," nature smiled. There, though the sound of the storm was heard, no wrath from heaven fell. The wall of partition separating Israel from Egypt rose right up to the sky.
Pharaoh's fright produced words of repentance. Moses saw through them, yet still prayed — and the way the storm ended said as much as the way it began.
Moses, however, was not fooled by this fresh show of repentance and piety. He told Pharaoh outright that he knew he would not keep his promise. Yet he went out and prayed for him, spreading his hands out to the Lord, and the storm stopped as suddenly as it began. In how it started and in how it ended, it proved itself to be an act of God.
One writer reads the first trumpet of Revelation against this scene. He treats its hail and fire as figures drawn from Egypt.
Elsewhere hail is a symbol of sweeping desolation… Fire is another well-known symbol of judgment. The plagues of Egypt supply many of these figures, and there the two come together: "the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth." In Revelation the hail and fire are "mingled with blood," showing that the judgments they stand for destroy life.
- Warning. God announced the blow through Moses before He sent it, so no one in Egypt was struck unwarned.
- Shelter. Anyone who believed the word brought servants and cattle inside. Nothing under cover was struck.
- Storm. Rain chilled into ice. Heaven's ordinary kindness became judgment on a land that despised God.
- Separation. Goshen heard the thunder but felt nothing; the dividing line between Israel and Egypt ran up to the sky.
- Shadow. The storm began and stopped at God's word, and Revelation's trumpets pick up its imagery again.
And there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there had been none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
A storm of hail with fire flashing inside it hit Egypt — worse than anything in its history. Three questions follow: what was God showing by taking hold of the sky, why warn Pharaoh first, and why did the blow leave him unchanged?
The fire in this storm was lightning. The noise that came with it carried a name of its own.
With the terrible hail came fire (lightning) that ran along the ground, and thunder. The Hebrew calls these "the voices of God." The storm is a picture of God's wrath in judgment. Revelation mentions hail again and again, and calls it "the plague of hail" (Rev. 8:7, 11:19, 16:21).
God had already shown His power over the water, the dust, and people's own bodies. The sky was what remained. Even at its worst, this storm stopped short of total ruin.
He who had power over the waters, the dust, and even over people's bodies, had power over the air as well. The God of the Hebrews was all-powerful. Man and beast must bow under His hand. "The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field" (9:25). The land had never known such a storm before, and nothing since has matched it. Yet God showed mercy. The hail struck the flax and the barley — those crops, we conclude, were ruined for that year — but the wheat and the rye escaped, because they had not yet come up. So these crops would give food for the year. The note about the crops tells us the season when the hail came — the early spring — for the barley had formed ears and the flax was in bloom.
God announced this blow a day ahead and told Egypt how to escape it. Commentators call that warning an act of kindness.
The advice God gave through Moses was loving and gracious (verse 19). No doubt many Egyptians believed and escaped. Those who did not believe suffered. God's mercy still lingered. The Egyptians who believed His warning must have belonged to the mixed crowd that went out with Israel (chapter 12:38).
Up to this point no plague had cost a human life. The shelter God named covered animals as well as people.
The message Moses delivered came from the merciful One. He would spare the lives of His creatures, even the lowest of the cattle, if only they had shelter from the coming judgment. The hail touched no living creature that was under cover (19-21). Until now we have not read of any plague taking a human life. Now that risk was real, but only if someone scorned the shelter or withheld it (20-21).
Israel lived in Goshen, and the storm stopped at its border.
At its appointed time the storm burst. Fire and hail fell on the ground. The storm destroyed trees and plants, and the people and animals left out in its fury. Only in Goshen, "the land of flowers," nature smiled. There the sound of the storm reached them, but no wrath from heaven fell. The wall that separated Israel from Egypt rose right up to the sky.
Pharaoh admitted his sin and asked for the thunder to stop — then went back on every word once it did.
The king staggered under the blow and again begged for relief. He even confessed that he had sinned and that the Lord was righteous. Once more he promised to let the people go, if only there would be no more mighty thunder and hail. (Ex. 9:27-28.) This brings Pharaoh's sin to light. He sees his guilt and admits it, yet he keeps on in his evil course — his open war against the Lord.
The record was not left for Egypt alone. One writer sees in these blows a preview of a far wider judgment.
This witness stands even in our own day, and people will remember it until the day of grace gives way to the age of judgment. Then God will act in righteous judgment and wrath, not with Egypt only but with the whole earth, as Revelation 6 - 11, 15, 16 pictures. Of that coming day of judgment the plagues of Egypt were a small sample.
- Warned — God gave a full day's notice and named the way out. The storm came, but not by surprise.
- Sheltered — every person and animal under a roof lived. The loss fell where people ignored the warning.
- Separated — Goshen heard the storm but felt nothing. The line between Israel and Egypt rose right up to the sky.
- Spared — the later crops still stood after the worst storm Egypt had seen, so the year would still have food.
- Sample — the fire and thunder bear the name "the voices of God." The whole plague is a small sample of the judgment Revelation describes for the whole earth.
And the hail smote throughout the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both men and cattle; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field.
The seventh plague ends with a damage report. Two questions follow from it. How complete was the ruin, and who came through it standing?
One writer notes that God's power now reached the sky, and Egypt had no record of such a storm.
It thundered; it hailed; and the lightning fire ran along the ground. There was hail, and fire mixed with hail, and no one had ever seen anything like it. He who had power over the waters, the dust, and even over people's bodies, had power over the sky as well. The God of the Hebrews was all-powerful. Man and beast must bow under His hand... The land had never known such a storm before, and nothing since has matched it.
The verse does not simply list property damage. What the hail struck was the ordinary food supply of both people and animals.
Hail is the symbol of wrath (Ex. 9:18–33; Ex. 10:5–15; Ps. 78:47; Ps. 105:32; Ps. 148:8; Isa. 28:2, 17; Hag. 2:17)... Trees and grass are the simplest and most natural means of life for man and beast: for trees see Gen. 1:29; Gen. 2:9; Deut. 20:19; for grass, Gen. 1:11-12; Deut. 11:15; Ps. 104:14 and Ps. 106:20.
One writer starts from what hail is made of.
Hail is rain chilled into ice. The very mercies of heaven despised are changed into pitiless judgment (Ex. 9:13, etc.).
Another writer follows the same thought, and names the one thing the storm did not subdue.
The hail does not speak of God simply withdrawing. It speaks of that withdrawal becoming a pitiless storm of judgment, and it subdues everything — except, sadly, the heart of man. His pain admits the power that is making him suffer, yet his heart stays hard and unrepentant. So that heart becomes the witness to the wrath it has brought down on itself, and the proof that the wrath is just.
The next two verses put limits on the word "every." They also fix the time of year.
The hail wrecked the crops and destroyed even the trees of the field. Verses 31 and 32 tell us exactly what was growing, and that shows us the time of year. It must have been late February or early March. In Egypt at that time the barley has formed its ears and the flax is in blossom, but the wheat and the rye are not yet standing in the stalk.
Stuart draws mercy out of the same detail.
Yet mercy was shown. The hail struck the flax and the barley — those crops, we conclude, were spoiled for that year — but the wheat and the rye were unharmed, because they had not yet come up. So these crops would still give food for the year.
"All the land of Egypt" stopped at a border. One writer describes what that line meant for Israel.
At the appointed time the storm burst. Fire and hail fell on the ground. It destroyed trees and plants, and every person and animal left out in its violence. Only in Goshen, "the land of flowers," did nature smile. The people there heard the sound of the storm, but no wrath from heaven fell. The wall that separated Israel from Egypt rose right up to the sky.
The hail struck what was left in the field. Egypt had a day's warning, and some people acted on it.
But God kindly warned Pharaoh that animals left outside would be killed. Some of Pharaoh's servants feared the Word of the Lord and took the warning, and of course their animals were safe. Others had no respect for God's Word, and they suffered the consequences.
The storm moved Pharaoh, but the change did not last.
Note Pharaoh's confession, which shows that this plague had made a deep impression on him (verse 27). Pharaoh used the name of "Jehovah" and the name of God (Elohim). "Entreat Jehovah that there be no more voices of God" (literal rendering). What a desperately wicked thing the human heart is. He sinned more after this than before.
- Warning — the ruin fell only on what was left in the open. God gave a day's notice, so anyone who feared His word could take shelter.
- Wrath — hail is rain frozen to ice. Heaven's kindness, once despised, comes back as judgment.
- Reach — the storm claimed the herbs and trees, the plain means of life for people and animals alike.
- Restraint — the wheat and rye had not come up yet, so a harvest survived. Goshen never felt a stone.
- Result — the hail subdued the whole land, but not one heart. Pharaoh confessed, then sinned worse than before.
Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Pharaoh sent, and called Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned this time Jehovah is the righteous [one], but I and my people are the wicked [ones].
The thunder and hail have crushed Egypt, and Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aaron to admit that he has sinned. His words are true, yet the chapter ends with him as hard as ever — which raises the question of what a confession is worth.
Every word Pharaoh said was true. What was missing was intent:
This terrible blow so alarmed Pharaoh that he called for Moses and Aaron (v. 27). He told them, "This time I have sinned," and admitted that the Lord is righteous and that he and his people are wicked. He need not have said this at all, though it was true. But he should have meant it when he promised to let Israel go if God stopped the plague (v. 28).
The confession came wrapped in a bargain, and Moses saw through it:
The blow was so terrible that it frightened Pharaoh. As verse 27 shows, he was ready to make some confession of wrongdoing, and to promise to let the people go, if only this dreadful scourge would stop. Moses, however, was not deceived by this fresh profession of repentance and piety.
Pharaoh is not an ignorant man who needs information. He states his own guilt and keeps going:
So the wickedness of Pharaoh is brought to light. He sees and admits his guilt, and yet keeps on in his evil course — his open hostility to the Lord. Despite his confession, as soon as the Lord answered Moses' plea, he went back to his hardened ways.
Two lists run through Scripture, and the same sentence stands at the head of both:
Many people in Scripture take the place of saying, "I have sinned." It is very striking that not all of them get cleansing. David (2 Samuel 12:13), Nehemiah (Nehemiah 9:33), Job (Job 40:4; 42:6), Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5; 64:6), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14:7, 20), Daniel (Daniel 9:5), Micah (Micah 7:9), the prodigal son (Luke 15:21), and the thief on the cross (Luke 23:41) all took the place of sinners. They all got cleansing or blessing. But look at Pharaoh (Exodus 9:27; 10:16), Balaam (Numbers 22:34), Achan (Joshua 7:20), Saul (1 Samuel 15:24; 26:21), Shimei (2 Samuel 19:20), and Judas (Matthew 27:4). These all confess they have sinned, yet they perish… There was no hatred of the sin. There was no desire to turn from it and give it up.
Take one name from each list, and the difference shows:
Others have said the same, but to no purpose. God reads the heart, and He knows a person's motive. Pharaoh could say, "This time I have sinned" (Ex. 9:27), when the thunder and hail alarmed him and he wanted them gone. Yet he had not repented. He sinned still more and hardened his heart once the mighty thunderings had stopped. He confessed the same a second time, when the locusts had destroyed every plant the hail had spared. But his only aim was to get rid of that plague (Ex. 10:16-17)… David's case was very different. He was not thinking of his standing before other people, or how to save it. He saw and confessed what his guilt was before God.
The test is not the admission but what happens to the sin afterwards:
Pharaoh is the classic example of the sinner who defies God, yet is quite ready to act humble if that helps him escape the punishment he deserves. We must remember this word: "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy" (Prov. 28:13). Under chastisement Pharaoh did not mind doing a little bit of confessing, but he had no idea of forsaking his self-willed way.
Pharaoh's heart grew harder not only under the blow but under the relief he begged for:
When each blow stops, it shows that God is willing to withdraw His hand from judgment, and that judgment is strange work to Him. Pharaoh hardens his heart not only by refusing to bow under the plagues. He hardens it by keeping on in his course after God answered his cry and lifted the plague. So neither God's severity in sending the plague, nor His goodness in lifting it, has any effect on a man whose heart is set on doing evil.
- Alarm. The storm frightened Pharaoh into speech; the confession came out of the hail, not out of his heart.
- Accurate. Every word he said was true, which is why true words alone prove nothing about a man's heart.
- Motive. He wanted the thunder stopped, not his sin dealt with — and Moses was not deceived.
- Test. The line runs between confessing and forsaking. The same three words brought David and the thief blessing, but left Pharaoh, Saul and Judas where they were.
- Aftermath. When the relief came, the heart hardened again — so neither God's blow nor God's kindness moves a will fixed on evil.
Intreat Jehovah that it may be enough, that there be no more thunder of God and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer!
Hail and fire have broken Egypt, and Pharaoh begs Moses and Aaron to stop the storm — offering again the release he has already promised and taken back. It sounds like surrender, but can a man admit his sin, call God righteous, and stay unchanged?
The thunder Pharaoh wanted silenced has a name in the Hebrew text.
The terrible hail came with fire (lightning) that ran along the ground, and with thunder. Hebrew calls these "the voices of God." The storm is a picture of God's wrath in judgment. Revelation mentions hail again and again, calling it "the plague of hail" (Rev. 8:7, 11:19, 16:21). The plagues of Egypt will come again on this earth during the great tribulation. Pharaoh used the name "Jehovah" and the name of God (Elohim). "Plead with Jehovah that there be no more voices of God" (literal rendering). What a desperately wicked thing the human heart is. He sinned more after this than before.
Pharaoh said the right words. God still read his heart.
Others have said the same thing, yet to no purpose; for God reads the heart, and He knows the motive of the creature. Pharaoh could say, "I have sinned this time" (Ex. 9:27). He was alarmed by the thunder and hail and wanted them removed. Yet he had not repented: once the mighty thunderings had stopped, he sinned still more and hardened his heart.
Nobody made Pharaoh say any of this.
This terrible affliction alarmed Pharaoh so much that he called for Moses and Aaron (v. 27). He told them, "I have sinned this time," and admitted that the Lord is righteous and that he and his people are wicked. He need not have said this at all, though it was true. But he should have meant it when he promised to let Israel go if the plague stopped (v. 28).
Writers describe the same split in the man: guilt openly owned, and the course of life unchanged.
He even confessed that he had sinned, and that the Lord was righteous, and once more promised that he would let the people go, provided there might be no more mighty thunderings and hail. (Ex. 9:27-28.) The iniquity of Pharaoh is thus brought to light. He sees and admits his guilt, and yet keeps on in his evil course — his open opposition to the Lord.
The request "plead with the LORD" was granted, though the man making it had already been told he would not keep his word.
Moses, however, was not deceived by this fresh show of repentance and piety. He told him plainly that he knew he would not keep his promise. Yet he went out as an intercessor and spread his hands out to the Lord, and the plague stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Both in its coming and in its stopping it proved itself to be an act of God.
Why would God answer a plea He knows is hollow?
It is beautiful to notice God's tender ways of grace, even with a hardened sinner. If there is even the slightest turning of heart to Him, He is ready to hear — even though He knows the turning is not real. That is a striking testimony that He does not want the sinner to die.
Pharaoh's cry was aimed at the hail, not at his heart.
I appeal to experience. Does a person who looks back at his own mind not know that he came to an inward state of hatred of sin, self-judgment and confession of sins, with humbling and self-loathing? In a word, was repentance not produced in his soul? It may have come through the terrors of the law, with fear and dread; yet, if real, it always came with some drawing to God as good, some love of holiness, some sense of responsibility in grace whatever the terror. For mere terror of consequences is not repentance at all.
Relief is the real test, and not for Pharaoh only.
When sober, man has to admit that God's judgment on him is just. But that does not make him love God. On the contrary, it hardens his heart... And when relief comes, if the patience of God has prolonged the day of salvation, it only finds the sinner's heart harder and further from God. "Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil." (Ecc. 8:11.)
- Voices. Hebrew calls the thunder "the voices of God." Pharaoh asked for God's voice to stop.
- Confession. Every word he said was true. But God reads the heart, and fear is not repentance.
- Bargain. Nobody asked Pharaoh for this promise. He offered it himself, so he should have meant it.
- Answer. Moses prayed for him anyway, and God heard. He does not want the sinner to die.
- Relief. The storm stopped, and that was the real test. A heart that only feared punishment came out harder than the hail found it.
And Moses said to him, When I go out of the city, I will spread out my hands to Jehovah the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail; that thou mayest know that the earth is Jehovah's.
Pharaoh has just admitted his guilt and begged for the thunder and hail to stop. Moses answers with a promise and a reason. He will pray, the storm will end — and the king will learn who owns the land he rules.
Moses agrees to pray, even though he has just told the king he will not keep his word:
The plague was so terrifying that Pharaoh took fright. He was ready to make some confession of wrongdoing, as verse 27 shows, and to promise to let the people go, if only this dreadful scourge might stop. Moses, however, was not fooled by this fresh show of repentance and piety. He told him he knew he would not keep his promise. Yet he went out to pray for him and spread his hands out to the Lord. The plague stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Both in its start and in its ending, it proved itself to be an act of God.
A storm that stops the moment a man lifts his hands is no accident of weather.
Moses does not only say he will pray. He says where — outside the city walls:
He went so far, in the power of his God, that he would not even pray inside the walls of the idol-worshipping city. He lifted up his hands only once he was outside it, and at once the storm stopped. Then, just as had been foretold, Pharaoh and his court hardened their hearts.
Egypt treated the powers of nature as gods. One writer quotes this summary of what the plagues proved:
The plagues of Egypt are built on the natural features Egypt already has. So what makes them unheard of and extraordinary is not so much the plagues themselves. It is their force, their reach, and how fast they follow one another the moment Moses gives the command. They are therefore both natural and supernatural. That leaves both faith and unbelief free to choose — and in Pharaoh, unbelief won. They are also fitted to convince the Egyptians that Jehovah is not just the national God of the Israelites. He is a God above all gods, and He holds in His hand all the powers of nature too — the powers Egypt was used to treating as gods.
Israel's God is not one local god bargaining with another. The ground under Pharaoh's throne belongs to Him.
Pharaoh had said at the start that he did not know the Lord. One writer traces where that refusal leaves him:
Pharaoh said he did not know the Lord, but Pharaoh must know Him (Ex. 5:2; Ex. 9:14). If Pharaoh would disown Him in goodness, he must know Him in righteousness. He was now about to show His judgments openly, and "the Lord is known by the judgment He carries out."
The storm stopped, exactly as Moses had promised. Then Pharaoh's heart closed again:
He sees and admits his guilt, and yet keeps on in his evil course — his open opposition to the Lord. Despite his confession, the moment the Lord answered the prayer of Moses, he went back to his hardened ways. None of this surprised God. He lifted His hand at the prayer of Moses on behalf of the Egyptian king. God is never impatient, even in the face of open rebellion. He waits for His own time, bearing with the wickedness of men in patience and grace.
The verse looks past Egypt. One writer, pointing to this verse among others, shows where all of this leads:
The Lord gains glory out of the violence and wickedness of man (Ex. 9:14, 16, 29). Then He overrules it all. In the end He gathers around Himself a happy and worshipping people, and holds the whole earth in godly subjection to His sceptre as King of kings.
- Confession. Pharaoh admits his sin under pressure. A confession that only wants the pain to stop leaves the heart unchanged.
- Intercession. Moses prays for a man he has already said will break his word. He prays outside the city, clear of its idols.
- Cessation. The storm's sudden stop, like its start, marks it out as God's own act.
- Knowledge. God's aim throughout is that Pharaoh should know Him. Refuse to know Him in goodness, and you will know Him in judgment.
- Ownership. The powers Egypt worshipped are in one hand. God is working toward the day when the whole earth bows to Him.
But as to thee and thy bondmen, I know that ye do not yet fear Jehovah Elohim.
Pharaoh has just admitted his sin. Moses answers with a blunt verdict: the king and his officials still do not fear God. Here the plague story draws the line between being frightened and being changed.
Moses does not doubt that Pharaoh is shaken. The hail and thunder drove the king to call the storm the voice of God and to send for the man he had defied. What Moses denies is that any of this is yet fear of God. One writer sets the scene, with Moses turning his eyes from the king to the officials standing around him. He uses an older translation, where "the LORD God" reads "Jehovah Elohim":
Pharaoh said the strange thunderings were the very "voices of God." He shrank back, and asked Moses to pray for him. He admitted he had sinned — an astounding descent from his throne of pride. Moses promised deliverance, but added, "As for you" — and we may well imagine him looking round at the court — "and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear Jehovah Elohim." He is the Sole and Only and Everlasting One, the Maker of All!
Pharaoh had said the right words. He admitted his sin. But the words settled nothing, because God looks at the motive behind them. One writer measures this confession by what came after it:
Others have said "I have sinned" too, and it came to nothing; for God reads the heart, and He knows the motive of the creature. Pharaoh could say, "This time I have sinned," when the thunder and hail alarmed him and he wanted them stopped. Yet he had not repented. Once the mighty thunderings had ceased, he sinned still more and hardened his heart.
What Moses does next is the surprise. He says the promise will fail, then goes out and prays for the man who will break it.
Moses, however, was not deceived by this fresh claim of repentance and piety. He told the king straight out that he knew he would not keep his promise. Yet he went out as an intercessor and spread his hands out to the Lord. The visitation stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Both in its coming and in its going, it proved itself to be an act of God.
That pattern runs right through God's dealings with this king. God answers the plea even when it is hollow:
It is beautiful to notice God's tender ways of grace, even with a hardened sinner. If there is the slightest turning of heart towards Him, He is ready to hear — even though He knows it is not real. This is a striking testimony that He does not want the sinner to die. Indeed, He does not wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9.)
Moses said "not yet," and what follows proves him right. The very mercy he prayed for gave Pharaoh his chance to go back on his word.
The seventh plague (Ex. 9:13-35) was hail with thunder and consuming fire. It drew from Pharaoh the confession of his sin and a promise to let the people go. He broke that promise as soon as Jehovah heard the intercession of Moses.
Pharaoh's first words in this whole contest were that he did not know the Lord. Moses now tells him he still does not fear Him. One writer shows where that leaves him:
Pharaoh said he did not know the Lord, but Pharaoh must know Him (Ex. 5:2; Ex. 9:14). If Pharaoh would disown Him in goodness, he must know Him in righteousness. He was now about to make His judgments plain, and "the LORD is known by the judgment He executes." As His holy prophet says to Him, "When Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness." God would have Egypt know Him in grace. But if Egypt refuses that lesson, she must know Him in the uplifted hand of power.
- Known — Pharaoh's opening boast was that he did not know the Lord; Moses' verdict here is that he still does not fear Him. Nothing had changed.
- Frightened — He owned his sin. But God reads motive, not wording. His aim was to stop the storm, not to stop sinning.
- Seen through — Moses was not taken in. He said in advance that Pharaoh would break his promise, and Pharaoh broke it as soon as the hail stopped.
- Answered anyway — Moses prayed all the same, and the plague stopped. God hears the faintest turning of heart, even when He knows it is not real.
- Either way — God makes Himself known. Refuse to know Him in goodness, and you will know Him in righteousness. Fear that comes only from the hail is not yet the fear of the Lord.
And the flax and the barley were smitten; for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.
The account of the seventh plague pauses for a farmer's note: which crops the hail destroyed, and which it missed. It looks like a small detail. Commentators read it as a date-stamp on the whole story, and as a window into how God measures His judgments.
The verse turns on the growing season. Barley and flax were already far along; wheat was still underground. The same pattern held in Canaan — in the weeks that would later open Israel's year.
Barley ripened early, well ahead of wheat, in Canaan as in Egypt (Ex. 9:31-32). In the sheltered valleys of Bethlehem, barley would usually be ripe and ready for the reaper in the first weeks of Nisan (March–April), the month that was made the first month of the sacred year for the new-born nation of Israel (see Ex. 12:2).
Because crops ripen on a fixed calendar, the state of the fields tells us when the storm fell. "In the ear" means the barley had already headed; the older word "bolled" for the flax means it was in flower.
Verses 31 and 32 give clear information. It shows us that the time of year must have been late February or early March. In Egypt at that season the barley is in the ear and the flax in blossom (or, bolled), while the wheat and the rye are not yet in the stalk.
Commentators differ on the exact month, but not on the method. Another writer sets it a few weeks earlier and points out how close the deliverance now was.
Because the flax and barley crops are named, we can fix the date of this plague. It was late in January or early in February. The end was near. There were only four weeks more, and Israel would be free.
Of everything the hail flattened, the flax was the costliest loss. Yet the blow changed nothing in the king.
Under this seventh plague Egypt must have lost nearly all its glory and been brought very low. Most of its livestock was destroyed, its trees broken, its barley and flax ruined — and the flax was a very valuable crop. But as soon as the punishment stopped, Pharaoh went back to his stubborn defiance, and so did his servants. All this should press home on our hearts that what is born of the flesh is still flesh, no matter how it is treated, and that the mind of the flesh is enmity against God.
The hail took the crops that were ripe and left the ones still under the ground. So the loss, huge as it was, had a limit.
Yet mercy was shown. The flax and the barley were struck — those crops, we conclude, were spoiled for that year — but the wheat and the rye were unharmed, because they had not yet come up. So there would still be food for the year from these crops. This note about the crops shows the season when the hail came — the early spring — for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled, that is, in bloom.
The wheat's escape was a reprieve, not an exemption. When Pharaoh kept refusing, the next plague targeted the very crops the hail had missed.
Even in those days people knew locusts as a serious plague, and the warning made plain how much worse this one would be: it would destroy all that was left in the land. The wheat and rye escaped before, but they would not escape this. The trees of the field had been broken by the hail, yet they were still in leaf; now they would be stripped bare. Only one way of escape was named: Pharaoh must humble himself before the Lord and let Israel go.
- Ripeness — the hail took the barley and flax because they had already headed and flowered. The wheat lived because it had not yet come up.
- Clock — those crop stages date the storm to the early part of the year. Writers place it between late January and early March. Israel's freedom was only weeks away.
- Cost — Egypt lost its livestock, its trees, its barley and its valuable flax, and its glory with them. Yet Pharaoh hardened again the moment the sky cleared.
- Restraint — the later crops stood untouched, so food would still come that year. The judgment fell hard, but not to the last grain.
- Limit — the locusts came to finish what the hail spared. One way out remained: humble yourself before the Lord and let the people go.
But the wheat and the spelt were not smitten; for they were not come out into ear.
After the hail flattened Egypt, the account stops for a farmer's note: the later grain was still underground, so the storm missed it. That small detail tells us when the plague fell and how far God let it go.
The two ruined crops and the two spared ones work like a calendar. One writer reads the timing from the state of the fields:
Verses 31 and 32 give clear information. It shows us that the time of year must have been late February or early March. That is when the barley in Egypt is in the ear and the flax in blossom, while the wheat and the rye are not yet in the stalk.
Another writer places it a few weeks earlier. Commentators differ on the month, but both read the season from the crops — and that season shows how close the end was:
The account names the flax and barley crops, so we can fix the date of this judgment. It was late in January or early in February. The end was near. There were only four weeks more, and Israel would be free.
One writer points to details like this when answering critics who denied that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible:
A number of words used here have their roots in the Egyptian language, not Hebrew. There are also references to Egyptian customs and geographical details that only people familiar with Egypt would know, and they come in without one word of explanation... The unbelieving "Higher Critics" insisted that Moses never wrote the Pentateuch. They said it was the work of Ezra, or of someone else about his time — a "pious fraud"... But Ezra, or anyone else coming from Babylon, would never have had this close knowledge of Egyptian words and customs from a thousand years before. And if he had obtained that knowledge by some miracle, he would have had to add explanations to make it clear to the readers of his day.
The storm struck every plant and broke every tree. Even so, it stopped short of starving the country. (Older translations call the second spared grain "rye"; the ESV calls it "emmer".)
The land had never known such a storm before, and nothing since has equalled it. Yet mercy showed itself. The hail struck the flax and the barley — those crops, we conclude, were spoiled for that year. But the wheat and the rye came through unharmed, because they had not sprung up. So these crops would give food for the year.
Hail is not a foreign weapon. It is the rain a farmer prays for, arriving in a form that destroys him:
If the earth away from God is turned into a scene of corruption and ruin, heaven will frown on it too. In the plague of hail we see the result of this despising of God. Hail is rain chilled into ice. The very mercies of heaven, when despised, become pitiless judgment.
The spared wheat was not a promise. It was a stay of execution, and the next plague would finish what the hail began:
Even in those days people knew locusts as a serious plague. The warning made plain that what was coming would be worse still: it would destroy all that was left in the land. The wheat and rye escaped before, but they would not escape this. The hail had broken the trees of the field, yet they were still in leaf; now they would be stripped bare. Only one way of escape was open: Pharaoh must humble himself before the Lord and let Israel go.
Egypt lost its wealth and still kept a harvest to live on. The king's answer to both was the same:
Under this seventh plague Egypt must have lost nearly all its glory and sunk very low. Most of its livestock destroyed, its trees broken, barley and flax ruined — and flax in particular was a very valuable crop. But as soon as the punishment stopped, Pharaoh went back to his stubborn defiance, and so did his servants. How all this should drive home into our hearts that what is born of the flesh is still flesh, whatever treatment it goes through.
- Spared — the wheat and later grain survived only because they were still under the soil. The blow fell on what was already above ground.
- Dated — the state of the flax and barley pins the storm to early spring, only weeks before Israel went free. Writers differ over the exact month.
- Measured — Egypt had never seen ruin like it, yet mercy left a crop to feed the country through the year.
- Warned — hail is rain turned to ice, heaven's own gift becoming judgment on those who despise it.
- Wasted — the locusts would take what the hail left, because Pharaoh refused the one way out: letting the people go.
And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to Jehovah; and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not [any more] poured on the earth.
Pharaoh has just confessed his sin and begged for the thunder to stop, and Moses goes outside the city to pray. Three things carry the meaning here: the gesture he makes, the place he chooses, and the speed of the answer.
Moses' posture carries a settled meaning across Scripture:
In Scripture, spreading out the hands is the confession of weakness and the attitude of prayer. With his lifted hands Moses secured the victory of Israel over the Amalekites (Ex. 17), who are a figure of the flesh.
Moses holds no power of his own over the storm. His open hands admit it and ask God to lift it.
Moses did not pray where he stood. Leaving the city first was deliberate:
He went so far in the power of his God that he would not even pray inside the walls of the idol-worshipping city. He lifted up his hands when he was outside it, and at once the storm stopped. Then, exactly as predicted, Pharaoh and his court hardened their hearts.
There was a second reason. Moses had already told Pharaoh when the plague would stop:
On the basis of his promise, however, Moses agreed to ask the Lord to remove the plague. It would stop the moment Moses left the city, showing that the earth is the Lord's (v. 29). Yet Moses adds that he knew Pharaoh and his servants would go on being rebellious (v. 30).
A storm that fades on its own proves nothing. This one stopped the moment Moses prayed:
Moses, however, was not deceived by this fresh show of repentance and piety. He told him plainly that he knew he would not keep his promise. Yet he went out as an intercessor and spread his hands out to the Lord, and the visitation stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Both in its arrival and in its ending it proved itself to be an act of God.
Moses prayed for a man he knew was lying. The prayer went up anyway.
The thunder that stopped had a name of its own, and a meaning far beyond Egypt's weather:
The terrible hail came with fire (lightning) that ran along the ground, and with thunderings. In Hebrew these are called "the voices of God." The tempest is the type of God's wrath in judgment. Hail is mentioned repeatedly in Revelation, where it is called "the plague of hail" (Rev. 8:7, 11:19, 16:21)... What a desperately wicked thing the human heart is. He sinned more after this than before.
Pharaoh had asked for these voices of God to stop. When they stopped, he stopped listening.
The relief Moses won brought Pharaoh's guilt into the open:
The king staggered under the blow, and again begged for relief. He even confessed that he had sinned, and that the Lord was righteous. Once more he promised he would let the people go, if only there would be no more mighty thunderings and hail... He sees and admits his guilt, and yet keeps on in his evil course — his open opposition to the Lord. For despite his confession, he went back to his hardened ways as soon as the Lord answered the prayer of Moses.
Another writer puts the same sequence in a single line, tying the breaking of the promise directly to the moment the prayer was heard:
The seventh plague (Ex. 9:13-35), hail with thunder and consuming fire, drew from Pharaoh the confession of his sin and a promise to let the people go, broken by him as soon as Jehovah heard the intercession of Moses.
- Weakness. In Scripture, spread-out hands confess weakness and mean prayer. Moses stopped the storm by asking God, not by any power of his own.
- Separation. Moses would not pray inside a city full of idols. He carried his prayer outside the walls first.
- Signature. The storm stopped at the exact moment Moses had named. Its start and its end both bore God's mark — the earth is His.
- Sincerity. Moses had told Pharaoh to his face that he would break his word. He prayed for him anyway.
- Stubbornness. Relief did not soften Pharaoh. The moment the thunder stopped, he went back to his hardened ways and sinned more than before. God knew he would, and lifted His hand anyway — mercy received is not the same as a heart changed.
And Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had ceased, and he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he, and his bondmen.
The storm stops, and within a sentence Pharaoh is worse than he was during it. Relief arrives, and the confession of verse 27 dissolves with it. Two hard questions follow. What is an apology worth when fear forces it out? And whose hand does the hardening?
Pharaoh had said the words. One commentator shows what they were worth once the danger passed:
Pharaoh could say, "I have sinned this time" (Ex. 9:27). He was alarmed by the thunder and hail, and he wanted them taken away. Yet he had not repented. He sinned even more and hardened his heart once the mighty thunderings had stopped.
The trigger was not a new temptation. It was the silence after the storm.
Moses promised the king relief. He also told him what he already knew about him and his court:
He admitted he had sinned — an astounding fall from his throne of pride. Moses promised relief, but added, "But as for you" — and we may well picture him looking round at the court — "and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God" (Ex. 9:30), the Sole and Only and Everlasting One, the Maker of All!
Kindness, not cruelty, set him off. One commentator turns this into a general rule about God's patience:
God's judgment is against everyone who goes on doing evil. The only remedy is turning to God, whose goodness keeps inviting people to repentance. Yet His patience so often makes men despise the riches of that goodness... With Pharaoh, what hardened his heart was nothing other than God's forbearing mercy (Ex. 8:15; Ex. 9:34). So the revolt of man's will against his Maker turns what should be for good into evil, again and again.
Here Pharaoh hardens his own heart. Elsewhere Scripture says the Lord hardened it. Commentators hold both together, and insist on the order:
As to the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, notice that this never happened before Pharaoh's open unbelief. God never forced a man to be an unbeliever. Unbelief, at the start, is never the result of God's judicial hardening. Is there no such thing as hardening, then? ... Yes, there is. It is just as wrong to think God hardens a person the first time He sends a testimony as it is to deny that He hardens a person who has refused that testimony.
Another writer points to the arrogance that came first:
It is true that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. But He did so only after Pharaoh had shown extreme and incredible arrogance by saying, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice…?" (Ex. 5:2) — and only after Pharaoh had hardened his own heart again and again.
The verse says it was not the king alone. One writer traces how the record builds, and where the court comes into it:
Three different words in the original Hebrew are translated "harden" when Scripture speaks of the king. Seven times it says, "He hardened his own heart," or "His heart hardened itself"... After this sevenfold stubbornness, and not till then, it says, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart." It says this four times, and on the last occasion the judgment includes the hearts of Pharaoh's servants... A definite and deliberate stubbornness marks Pharaoh's spirit, along with a determined rejection of the divine warnings, growing deeper and deeper.
Pharaoh's "I have sinned" puts him on a list. Scripture has two such lists, and the words are not what separates them:
It is very remarkable that many men in Scripture take the place of saying, "I have sinned," yet not all of them get cleansing. David... Daniel... the prodigal son, and the thief on the cross: these all took the place of sinners and all got cleansing or blessing. But look at Pharaoh (Exodus 9:27; 10:16), Balaam, Achan, Saul, Shimei, and Judas. These all confess they have sinned, yet they perish... There was no hatred of the sin. There was no desire to turn from it and give it up.
- Relief — The hail stopping was the mercy Pharaoh asked for; the moment it came, he sinned more than before.
- Refusal — His "I have sinned" was fear of consequences, not hatred of sin, so it died with the thunder.
- Reversal — God's patience invites repentance; a rebel will turns it into an excuse to harden.
- Reach — The hardening did not stay with the king; his servants shared it, and shared the judgment.
- Ruin — Pharaoh's own hardening came first, and God's judicial hardening followed. God never makes a man an unbeliever. He seals the man who has already refused Him.
And the heart of Pharaoh was stubborn, neither would he let the children of Israel go, as Jehovah had spoken by Moses.
Exodus 9 ends the plague of hail exactly where it began: the king unmoved and Israel still in Egypt. The verse raises two hard questions. How can a man admit his sin out loud and change nothing? And how did his stubbornness still fit what God had already said?
The hail drew words of surrender out of Pharaoh. They lasted only as long as the storm.
Next came the seventh plague (Ex. 9:13-35), hail with thunder and consuming fire. It drew from Pharaoh a confession of his sin and a promise to let the people go. He broke that promise as soon as the Lord heard Moses pray for him.
Pharaoh's earlier words, "This time I have sinned," were true words. The motive behind them made them worthless. Others have said the same words with no repentance behind them.
God reads the heart, and He knows the motive of the creature. Pharaoh could say, "This time I have sinned" (Ex. 9:27). The thunder and hail alarmed him, and he wanted them removed. Yet he had not repented. He sinned still more and hardened his heart once the mighty thunderings had stopped… Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned," but he gave away the state of his heart when he added, "Yet honour me now before the elders of my people and before Israel" (1 Sam. 15:30)… In none of these cases was there real repentance. In David's case how different. He was not thinking of his character before men, and how that could be saved. He saw and confessed what his guilt was before God.
The same pattern shows up in anyone who dodges the pain and stays unchanged:
Nature can take warnings and guard its course to escape the worst of judgment. Yet it never softens in the least into true repentance. This is just another form of selfishness. It saves itself. It takes enough interest in God's past ways to learn how it can go on ignoring and despising Him with the least danger to itself.
Moses said out loud what would happen, before he ever prayed for the hail to stop.
On the basis of his promise, however, Moses agreed to ask the Lord to remove the plague. Yet Moses adds that he knew Pharaoh and his servants would go on being rebellious (v. 30).
His own confession is what exposes him:
The iniquity of Pharaoh is thus brought to light. He sees and admits his guilt, and yet keeps on in his evil course — his open opposition to the Lord. Despite his confession, as soon as the Lord answered Moses' prayer, he went back to his hardened ways. But again and again Scripture reminds us that this was no surprise to God. All this happened "just as the Lord had spoken through Moses" (v. 35). He saw the end from the beginning. Yet He removed His hand when Moses pleaded for the Egyptian king. God is never impatient, even in the face of open rebellion. He waits His own time, bearing with the wickedness and ungodliness of men in long-suffering and grace.
Scripture says both things. Pharaoh hardened himself, and the Lord hardened him. The order matters.
It is indeed true that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. But He did so only after Pharaoh had shown extreme and unbelievable arrogance by saying, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice…?" (Ex. 5:2). He did so only after Pharaoh had hardened his own heart again and again. In fact the Spirit uses two different words in the original language, and says no less than seven times that Pharaoh hardened his heart (Ex. 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7). Only after that does Scripture say that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh (Ex. 9:12).
So what did God's hardening consist of?
If a man resists the light of God's testimony, God hands him over to blindness and hardness of heart as His judgment. God leaves him to himself. Then Satan comes in and carries him headlong to ruin. Pharaoh had plenty of light. It showed him the wild folly of trying to hold back the people God had commanded him to let go. But the real disposition of his heart was to act against God, and therefore God left him to himself.
- Relief: When the hail stopped, every good intention stopped with it. Pharaoh's promise lasted as long as his pain, and no longer.
- Words: "This time I have sinned" was true and useless. God reads the motive, not the sentence.
- Contrast: David confessed his guilt before God. Saul and Pharaoh confessed to save face or to stop the pain. Only the first is repentance.
- Order: Pharaoh hardened his own heart seven times before Scripture says that God hardened it. God leaves a man to himself only after that man refuses the light.
- Word: The verse ends by tying the failure back to what God had said through Moses. Pharaoh's rebellion was no surprise to God, who still waited in patience.