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.