How could there be livestock in Exodus 9:20 when all of Egypt's livestock had been destroyed by the plague in Exodus 9:6?

But more. God tells him that his life was wholly in divine hands. He might cut him off, but He had not. God, of whom Meneptah had been in utter ignorance, controlled his destiny. Like Belshazzar at a later period, he is told of the One whom as a creature he should obey. 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. As servants of God, the true God, they comported themselves; and faithfully did Moses deliver the divine message, in language not of an inferior, nor even of an equal. It was the language of One who claimed to be above all, who had raised up Pharaoh and who had absolute power over every living thing. It was the language of God, the one true God, addressing His creature, and that a disobedient worm of the dust really, though he might regard himself as an autocrat in rule. Moreover, it was the merciful One, whose message Moses delivered, who would spare the lives of His creatures, and even of the meanest of the cattle, if only they were sheltered from the coming visitation. None who were housed of any living creature was touched by the hail (19-21). Hitherto we have not read of human life taken by any of the plagues. Now there was the risk of that, but only if shelter was despised or denied (20-21).

A word here about the cattle. We learn from 9:3, as also from Gen. 47:16-17, that the Hebrew word comprehended far more than what would be supposed in the language of our day. Then a difficulty may be felt comparing Ex. 9:6 with verse 19. For if all the cattle died by the murrain, what was there of them left to be endangered by the hail? We may be quite sure that Moses knew what he was writing, and would not commit a blunder, involving his account in a contradiction which an ordinary school-boy might detect. He was writing by the Spirit of God, as eye-witness of that which he related, and guided carefully by the Holy Ghost. How, then, shall we reconcile the accounts? Attempts have been made to do it, as the difficulty has presented itself. We would here suggest that the explanation may be in the difference between cattle left out day and night in the field, and cattle housed at times in stalls or other places prepared for them. In 9:3 there is only mention of cattle being in the field, and no idea is there expressed of any refuge provided for them in homesteads. In verse 19, however, we learn that cattle could be provided for in shelters — a distinction this is which may throw light on the matter. The murrain attacked and killed all cattle turned out for grazing. The hail would attack any cattle which had shelters, if not brought back to them. Any one acquainted with farming operations will understand how such a distinction could be made.

Forewarned, the Egyptians could preserve such cattle and their servants from the awful storm that was impending. Some availed themselves of the warning, and acted as God, by Moses, directed. Those who neglected the warning suffered the consequences of their unbelief. Terrific was the storm. It thundered; it hailed; and the lightning fire ran along the ground. There was hail, and fire mingled with hail, the like of which had never been witnessed. He who had power over the waters, the dust, and even over men's persons, had power over the atmosphere as well. The God of the Hebrews was omnipotent. Man and beast must bow under His hand. "The hail" (we quote the record of an eye-witness) "smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field" (9:25). Never before in the land had such a storm been known; never since has it been equalled. Yet mercy was displayed. For while the flax and the barley were smitten — those crops, we conclude, spoiled for that year — the wheat and the rye were unharmed, for they had not sprung up. Hence there would be food for the year from these crops. This notice about the crops indicates the season when the hail came — the early spring — for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled, i.e., in bloom. In Egypt was awful desolation, as every herb of the field was smitten and every tree bore the mark of the hail. In Goshen, however, there reigned security and serenity. What a difference! Pharaoh was thoroughly frightened. The thunder terrified him. Moses and Aaron were summoned to entreat the Lord. He who had sent the storm, Pharaoh knew, could alone quell it. Now a confession came from the king. I have sinned, and my people likewise, so averred the awe-stricken monarch. Compliance, too, with the summons was unconditionally promised. Moses went out and entreated God. He feared not the hail, nor was terrified by the thunder. The storm quickly ceased. Pharaoh's good resolutions died away; he relapsed into obstinacy. Fresh plagues must therefore be sent. Israel must be delivered, and Pharaoh must let them go.

PLAGUE # 5 - LIVESTOCK DISEASED (vv. 1-7).

Again the Lord requires Moses to repeat his demand to Pharaoh to let the people go. This time He warns that if Pharaoh refuses, He will send a very severe pestilence on all the livestock of Egypt, a disease that would issue in death, and that Israel would be immune from it. There is a pointed lesson in this that the selfish greed of man eventually destroys those things that are necessary to serve his interests. For instance, men resort to strikes, civil rights riots, etc. in demanding what they call their own rights, but they always become the losers.

Verse 6 tells us that “all the livestock of Egypt died.” Yet verse 19 indicates there were cattle in Egypt at the time of the seventh plague. The answer may be that the word “all” in verse 6 is not intended to be absolute, but used in a general sense, or else other livestock could have been brought in after the fifth plague. Pharaoh sent an inquiry to find that none of the livestock of the Israelites were affected, but in spite of this he hardened his heart against the Lord.

Sceptics have raised a difficulty as to cattle being slain by the hail seeing they had been smitten under the fifth plague. They overlook perhaps that the fifth was upon all "which is in the field" (Ex. 9:3), so there may have been a good number not in the field. And further the cattle of the Israelites were wholly untouched, and there was nothing to prevent the Egyptians, in the two or three weeks that probably elapsed between the fifth and seventh plagues, seizing many of them for their own use.

Since Pharaoh continued to exalt himself against God' people, and therefore against God Himself, he is told that the next day God would sent an extremely heavy hail such as Egypt had never before experienced (v. 18). But he is graciously warned that animals left outside would be killed. Some among Pharaoh's servants feared the Word of the Lord and heeded the warning, and of course their animals were safe, but others had no respect for God's Word and suffered the consequences. (vv. 20-21).

When Moses acted on God's Word, stretching forth his hand toward heaven, the hail was accompanied by thunder and lightning, the fire running along on the ground, an infliction that affected the land of Egypt more severely than anything previously known, damaging all vegetation and breaking trees as well as killing livestock and people who remained outside. Again the land of Goshen was spared, so that Israel did not suffer at all from the hail.

The seventh plague is ushered in by a solemn warning and more lengthy address to Pharaoh. A very grievous hail is threatened to fall upon man and beast; the hail was to kill all found in the open field. Note verse 16 and compare with Romans 9:17. God dealt with Pharaoh in this way that he might know Jehovah and His power and that through what Jehovah did His name might be made known throughout the earth. Jehovah's holiness, omnipotence, justice, as well as His patience and longsuffering are revealed in these judgments, foreshadowing all future judgments to come for this earth. The report of what Jehovah had done in Egypt spread soon to other nations, and inspired a holy awe (Exodus 15:14-16). It was a 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. Those of the Egyptians who believed the divine warning must have belonged to the mixed multitudes which went out with Israel (chapter 12:38).

Verse 26 tells us that in this seventh plague the land of Goshen was again exempted. But there was also a new feature as regards the Egyptians in that, warning being given, there was an opportunity for any of the common people, who regarded the word of the Lord, to take action which would save them from the worst of it. The violence of the hail storm was so great that man or beast exposed to it would die. The crops were wrecked and even trees of the field destroyed. Verses 31 and 32 give explicit information, which shows us that the time of year must have been late February or early March, for then in Egypt the barley is in the ear and the flax in blossom (or, bolled), but the wheat and the rye not yet in the stalk.

The Lord ever acts for His own glory or name. "For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout the earth." (Rom. 9:17.) Yet the king of Egypt was responsible, even his own people and the surrounding nations being witnesses. First we have Exodus 8:19; "Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God." Secondly, (Ex. 9:20), "He that feared the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses." Thirdly (Ex. 10:7), "Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God." Fourthly (Ex. 11:3), "Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people."

Next, the plague falls upon those animals needed for the service of man (Ex. 9:1, etc.), while the boils breaking out from the dust of the furnace show that God will leave man to his own corruption if he persists in his rebellion (Ex. 9:8, etc.). If the earth away from God is thus turned into a scene of corruption and desolation, heaven also will frown upon it, and 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 despised are changed into pitiless judgment (Ex. 9:13, etc.).

The hail had destroyed the cattle which were not sheltered from it. The next plague of locusts devours the growth of the fields (Ex. 10:1, etc.). The last plague, before the final stroke, points to the withdrawal of God and leaving man to himself (Ex. 10:21, etc,). God is light; and where the heart refuses the light, it is left to its own darkness, a premonition of that outer darkness which shall mark the eternal banishment of man from the source of light and blessing.

MURRAIN OF BEASTS. It fell upon the cattle, horses, asses, camels, and sheep, that were in the fields, and all that were attacked died. Of the cattle of the children of Israel none were stricken. Pharaoh sent to certify this, and one would have thought that, finding they were all safe, it would have convinced him that it was the Almighty he was fighting against. But he would not let Israel go.

Moses, again commissioned, presented himself before Pharaoh. "Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let My people go, that they may serve Me" (9:1). The God of the Hebrews was persistent. He would take no denial. The slaves of Pharaoh, of Israel's race, had One who espoused their cause. True, no invasion from beyond Egyptian territory threatened the security of the land. But a power did threaten afresh the peace of it, a power which Pharaoh had experienced, and which all the might of his armed hosts could not deal with, nor so much as touch. And, further, that power could smite in various ways unthought of by the monarch, and unexpected by his people. But God, the God of the Hebrews, was, and is, slow to anger. Hence with the fresh summons to let His people go there was the warning as to the penalty for disobeying it. "If thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, behold the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain" (2, 3). No rest was allowed the Egyptians from the inflictions of plagues, so swiftly they came, though with warnings at times of that which was impending. It was so in this case. The murrain threatened on one day worked havoc as foretold, but on the next. Pharaoh awoke to find doubtless that the plague had begun. Animals used in commerce as camels, asses, and horses, and wealth in agricultural possessions, as oxen and sheep, fell victims to the grievous visitation. All that were in the fields died. The animals had not sinned. They suffered for Pharaoh's disobedience. Now no human life was threatened or endangered, animals died all round, herds and flocks in the fields perished. Many an Egyptian, it may be, rich in his cattle of one kind or another on the one day, found himself stripped indeed, as he saw his animals dead and dying around him. We read the statement in Ex. 9:6; but how difficult for us to realise what the infliction was. It must have been experienced fully to understand it. Imagine flocks of sheep lying dead, and the carcases of herds of cattle encumbering the ground. No Egyptian god had ever been credited with working such havoc. The One true God, however, had a right to deal with His creatures as He willed. Who could say to Him, what doest Thou? But, again, discrimination as to the area of the plague would be perceived. No ox, no horse, no ass, no sheep, no camel fell a victim in the land of Goshen. The byres, the stables, the cattle-yards and sheep-folds were as full there as ever they had been. And Pharaoh sending to enquire, was certified of this. The God of the Hebrews sent the murrain into the land of Egypt; the God of the Hebrews protected Goshen from its presence.