Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Exodus 9:13-35
The Seventh Plague - The Plague of Great Hail Such as Had Never Been in Egypt (Exodus 9:13).
We now come to the third series of plagues which this time come as judgments from the heavens, the great hail and mighty thunderstorm, the huge cloud of locusts, and finally the plague of thick darkness. All are portents from the heavens. All bring darkness of one kind or another. It is a dark time for Egypt.
Pharaoh was now approached again and this time the warning is more severe. Disease has been rife and the cattle have been decimated but he is still unyielding. Now the attack is to be made on what cattle remain, on any man foolish enough to remain in the fields and on the crops of Egypt which had as yet not been largely affected. The food supply of Egypt was thus to be the next target, and death would visit the Egyptians, and other Egyptians would have to stand by helplessly and watch. And the judgment would come from the heavens.
While no mention is made of the Nile this seventh warning is to be given early in the morning. This links this opening plague of the third series with the opening plagues of the first two series and evidences the unity of the narrative (Exodus 7:15; Exodus 8:20).
a Early in the morning Moses is to stand before Pharaoh and tell him that Yahweh says, ‘Let my people go that they may serve Me.' (Exodus 9:13)
b If he does not then his very heart will be affected, and his grand officials and his people so that he will know that there is none like Yahweh on earth, for he intends to send ‘all my plagues' on them (Exodus 9:14).
c Let him remember that Yahweh could have put out His hand and smitten him and his people with pestilence, and he would have been cut off from the earth (Exodus 9:15).
d Indeed he has been raised up for this very purpose so as to reveal Yahweh's power, and so that His name might be declared throughout all the earth (Exodus 9:16).
e And yet he still exalts himself against Yahweh's people and will not let them go (Exodus 9:17).
f On the morrow Yahweh intends to cause hailstorms such as have never been before in Egypt since the world began (Exodus 9:18).
g And he warns him (and his people) that they must bring all their cattle, with themselves, into shelter, for the hailstorm will be such that all out in the open will die (Exodus 9:19).
h Those who feared Yahweh among Pharaoh's officials brought their beasts and their servants indoors (Exodus 9:20).
h Those who did not regard Yahweh left them in the open field (Exodus 9:21).
g Yahweh tells Moses to stretch forth his hand towards heaven so that there would be hailstorms throughout the land of Egypt on both man and beast out in the open (Exodus 9:22).
f And Moses did so and there was thunder and hail, and lightning striking and running along the ground, hail and fire mingled with hail, very grievous such as had not been in Egypt since they were a nation (Exodus 9:23).
e And the hail smote all that was outside in the open throughout the land of Egypt, man and beast, vegetation and trees, only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail (Exodus 9:25).
d Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron and admits that he has erred, that Yahweh is righteous and that his people are wicked. He has had enough. Let them entreat Yahweh that there be no more of this thundering and hail and he will let them go and they need remain no longer (Exodus 9:28).
c Moses declares that once he has left the city he will spread out his hands before Yahweh and there will be no more thunder and hail so that Pharaoh will know that the earth is Yahweh's. Yet he knows that Pharaoh and his officials will not yet fear Yahweh God. And the flax and barley which were growing were smitten but the wheat and spelt which had not yet sprouted were untouched (Exodus 9:31).
b And Moses left the city and spread out his hands to Yahweh, and the thunders and hail ceased and the rain ceased pouring down. And when Pharaoh saw this he sinned even more and hardened his heart, he and his officials (Exodus 9:33).
a And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, nor would he let the children of Israel go, as Yahweh had spoken by Moses.
Note the contrasts. In ‘a' Yahweh calls on Pharaoh to let His people go, in the parallel Pharaoh refuses to do so. In ‘b' if he does not let Yahweh's people go his ‘heart' will be affected, and his officials and people, in the parallel Pharaoh hardened his heart and his officials did so also. In ‘c' Yahweh could smite them with pestilence (which can include pestilence which affects crops and vegetation - see 1 Kings 8:37), and cut them off from the earth, in the parallel He will yet spare them by stopping the thunder and hail, but they still do not fear God, (and are still therefore liable to be cut off) while the barley and flax are smitten, although the wheat and spelt are spared, for He is still deferring final judgment. In ‘d' Pharaoh has been raised up so as to reveal Yahweh's power and so that His name might be declared throughout all the earth, while in the parallel Pharaoh is seen as having admitted his error and failure to obey Yahweh along with all his people, and is yielding to His will. In ‘e' he is still exalting himself against Yahweh's people while in the parallel Yahweh's people are spared while Egypt is punished. Yahweh is exalting Himself against Egypt. In ‘f' Yahweh will send such hailstorms as have not been seen in Egypt since the world began, while in the parallel such hailstorms came, hailstorms such as had not been seen in Egypt since it was a nation. Two superlative ideas are compared. In ‘g' Yahweh warns that all cattle must be brought into shelter while in the parallel all those not in shelter are to be subjected to the hailstorms. In ‘h' we have the contrast between the Egyptians who feared Yahweh, heeded His words and kept their cattle in shelter, while in the parallel are those who did not do so.
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says Yahweh the God of the Hebrews. Let my people go that they may serve me. For I will this time send my plagues on your heart and on your servants and on your people that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.'
It is probably intended to be significant that Pharaoh no longer goes down to the Nile in the morning (compare Exodus 7:15; Exodus 8:20). He does not want to have any part of the insects and diseases that affect his land. But the forthcoming plagues were to affect him (‘on your heart') as no previous plague has done.
Note that this is a new phase. Aaron now slips into the background, although still there to assist Moses (Exodus 10:3; Exodus 10:8; Exodus 10:16), and from now on it is out and out confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh. The contest is ‘hotting up'.
“I will send my plagues.” God has in mind that there are a number of plagues yet to come. From this point of view we are to see these last plagues as together, for God and Moses know that Pharaoh will not listen and that the plagues are therefore inevitable (see Exodus 9:30).
“On your heart.” This might refer to the heart of Pharaoh as affected by what he saw around him and what was happening to his people (as the parallel might suggest with its mentioning of the hardening of his heart), or it may have in mind that Egypt was Pharaoh's ‘heart'. What is said refers first to the fact that the devastation wrought will hit Egypt as nothing before has done. It has been his heart, his innermost being, which has firmly resisted Yahweh and been hardened. Now it is to be severely attacked. It will be deeply affected (compare Psalms 107:12) by what is to come. First Egypt's very food supply and means of mummification (the flax) will be destroyed, and in a sense these are Pharaoh's heart. But his heart will be even more deeply affected when the locusts and the thick darkness blot out the sun, and the sun god Re is seen to be helpless, for he was closely connected with Re. But finally he will be most deeply affected of all when ‘the firstborn of Pharaoh in the land of Egypt' dies. Then and only then will his heart yield.
“On your servants and on your people.” The difference between the high officials and bureaucrats and the common people continues to be emphasised.
“That you may know that there is none like me.” Once Yahweh has finished what He is doing, His uniqueness will stand out unreservedly. The gods of Egypt will have been proved to be powerless against Yahweh. Note how Moses refuses even to give them credence.
“For now I could have put out my hand and smitten you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth, but, indeed, this is the reason I have made you to stand in order to show you my power and so that my name may be declared through all the earth. Do you as yet exalt yourself against my people so that you will not let them go? Behold tomorrow, about this time, I will cause it to rain a very severe hail such as has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now.”
Yahweh points out that He is being merciful. Had He wished He could have destroyed both Pharaoh and his people totally with pestilence and disease. The word can also include pestilence on crops and vegetation (1 Kings 8:37). He had the power of life and death. But the reason He has not done so is in order to demonstrate His power so that the whole world may know of it. And now because Pharaoh still exalts himself He is about to send a great hail unlike anything seen before in Egypt since its very beginning which will destroy all men and beasts in the open field and all crops and vegetation.
“So that my name might be declared.” And this is so that His name, that is His very self, might be made manifest to the nations. The knowing and declaring of His name is a theme of the first part of Exodus (3:13-16; 5:2; 6:3, 7; 7:5, 17; 8:10; 9:14; 10:2). By what happened in Egypt He would get great glory. Even Pharaoh's repentance (Exodus 9:27), brief though it was, would bring great glory to his name, and his final repentance (and his turning back from it) even greater glory.
“Tomorrow, about this time.” This is to make Pharaoh realise that it comes at Yahweh's behest and under His control, and also to give an opportunity to anyone who will listen to protect what remains of the livestock.
“Now therefore send your instructions, hurriedly bring in your cattle and all that you have in the field, for on every man and beast who will be found in the field and will not be brought home, the hail will come down on them and they shall die.”
The words were being spoken before Pharaoh's high officials. Both he and they could hear if they wished. And they had due warning. If they did not want their cattle and servants to die they must bring them to shelter. Now all were being faced up to the question as to whether they would believe the word of Yahweh.
‘He who heard the word of Yahweh among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses, and he who did not take any notice of the word of Yahweh left his servants and his cattle in the field.'
Yahweh was now seeking to sow dissension among the high officials in Egypt and making them take sides. Some took notice of His words and sheltered their servants and cattle, others ignored Him and did not do so, and it was to their cost. This was His prophetic and powerful word, the ‘dabar Yahweh'. Some of those who heard it recognised that the very speaking of the divine ‘word' would be effective in bringing it about and brought everything in to shelter. They recognised that word and action went together.
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand towards heaven that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on all vegetation throughout the land of Egypt.” And Moses stretched out his staff towards heaven, and Yahweh sent thunder and hail, and lightning (fire) ran down to the earth. And Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and lightning mingled with hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.”
It is now Moses himself who acts publicly and stretches out his staff towards heaven. Nut the sky god is clearly powerless and Yahweh takes control. He sends down huge hail in a massive hailstorm accompanied by fierce lightning covering large parts of Egypt. Indeed it was so severe that Egypt as a nation had never known its like. It must have been awesome to behold.
‘And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the open countryside, both man and beast, and the hail smote all vegetation and broke every tree in the countryside. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.'
The devastation was clearly dreadful. The hailstones were so large that they killed both men and animals, and the vegetation, and especially the flax and barley which was ripening in the fields, was destroyed. Trees were pulverised and broken. Looking for parallels is clearly difficult for we are told that nothing like it had ever been seen before, but even in our own day huge hailstones have been known which could kill a man. What caused it geographically speaking we can only surmise but the very fact of the previous plagues demonstrates that the weather patterns at the time were unusually severe.
“Only in the land of Goshen --”. Severe though it might be, God was in control of the hail. His people, many of whom would have been required still to work in the fields, were safely delivered.
The storms would not necessarily hit everywhere at the same time. Places further afield from Pharaoh's palace would be hit later, possibly giving time for the warning that was given to Pharaoh's officials to reach them.
‘And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned. Yahweh is righteous and I and the people are wicked. Entreat Yahweh, for there have been enough of these voices of God (or ‘mighty thunderings') and hail, and I will let you go and you shall stay no longer.”
The dreadful devastation and awfulness of the storms fell on Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 9:14). He was deeply moved and for a short time conscious of sin and wrongdoing. He recognised that he and his people had been in the wrong in their treatment of the children of Israel. (Such flights of conscience sometimes strike the most evil of men). They could have been more reasonable and let them worship their God. But like most men he was unwilling to take all the blame on himself, and so he included his people who had suffered for his vanity.
“Pharaoh sent and called.” Previously it was ‘Pharaoh called.' Possibly in mind is the advice in Exodus 9:19 to send a message for the cattle to be brought to shelter. He now ‘sends', but he sends too late and for the wrong reason. Had he ‘believed' and sent then, and acted in accordance with that belief, many lives would have been saved. But now he has come to a form of belief and sends for Moses and Aaron. His call is not to be seen as peremptory.
“Yahweh is righteous and I and the people are wicked.” He accepts that Yahweh is in the right. All He had asked was the reasonable worship of His people. Thus Pharaoh admits that he was wrong for failing to allow it. But he sees the people of Egypt as incorporated in himself. They had after all agreed with his decision. Thus they must share joint responsibility.
“These voices of God.” In view of the context we cannot exclude this thought. It was not just the mighty thunderings Pharaoh was thinking of (which have not been previously mentioned), but the thunderings which spoke to him and his people as divine voices, as a mighty voice from Yahweh. They, and the devastation that accompanied them, had totally unnerved him.
‘And Moses said to him, “As soon as I am gone from the city I will spread abroad my hands to Yahweh. The thunderings will cease, neither will there be any more hail, in order that you may know that the earth is Yahweh's. But as for you and you servants, I know that you will not fear Yahweh, God.”
Moses was not deceived. He knew what was really in Pharaoh's heart. But he will stop the devastation because he knows that there is yet more to come. It is the final confrontation, and now directly between Moses and Pharaoh.
“As soon as I am gone from the city.” Moses and Aaron clearly did not live within the city. They appeared and disappeared to the great fear of the populace. They probably mainly lived among their own people. This may include the thought that while he is in the wicked city (for cities are regularly seen in the Old Testament as centres of wickedness) he will not act. He must be in God's clean air.
“The thunderings will cease.” To us the hail would have been more frightening, but to Pharaoh the thunderings were the voice of Yahweh and to be feared the most.
“I will spread abroad my hands.” Pharaoh was to know that Moses was in control.
“That you may know that the earth is Yahweh” s.' Pharaoh needed to learn also that Yahweh was over all. That Moses acted under His authority and power.
“As for you and your servants.” Moses has in mind that the high official were listening. They too needed to make up their minds.
“Yahweh, God. ” He was drawing attention to the fact that the gods of Egypt had been powerless to help them. It is Yahweh Who is ‘God'. (There is no definite article in Hebrew before God but the idea is clearly there that Yahweh is uniquely God).
‘And the flax and the barley were smitten, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the spelt were not smitten for they had not begun to grow.'
This note demonstrates the writer's knowledge of Egyptian agriculture. The flax and barley always preceded the wheat and spelt. They were devastated by the storms and the hail. The flax was needed in providing the material for mummification and for the priests' garments. But this year there would be none. As is brought out in the analysis above this was the part of the partial pestilence which came as a warning of what could be (see Exodus 9:15).
“Spelt”. A wheat-like product. The wheat and the spelt had been spared, but only to await the locusts.
‘And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands to Yahweh, and the thunders and hail ceased and the rain was no longer poured on the earth.'
At Moses' visible plea to Yahweh (Pharaoh no doubt had his spies out) the dreadful storms and hail ceased throughout Egypt. We are now informed that there had been hail, lightning, thunder and dreadful rainstorms. But the hail was the most deadly and the constant thunder the most unnerving.
Perhaps Moses waited until he was out of the city because he suspected that otherwise Pharaoh planned to kill him, for he probably discerned that Pharaoh was in two minds, and in a state of extreme tension. Had he stayed in the city his life might well have been forfeit.
‘And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased he sinned yet more, and hardened (made heavy) his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was made strong and he did not let the children of Israel go just as Yahweh had spoken by Moses.'
Once more Pharaoh revealed his obstinacy and his contempt of his promises. He had admitted that he was in the wrong (Exodus 9:27), and now he added to his wrong, ‘he sinned yet more'. He broke his treaty with Yahweh. He hardened (made heavy) his heart. And this time the court officials were included. They too hardened their hearts. All were being given the opportunity to recognise and acknowledge Yahweh but with one accord they turned against Him. Their hearts could have been turned towards Him but instead they rejected Him. Pharaoh's heart has truly been affected (see Exodus 9:14).
There is a constant pattern to the final statements which follow each plague, even though there is a little variation. ‘He did not listen to them as Yahweh had said' (Exodus 7:13; Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:15; Exodus 8:19), ‘he did not let the people go' (Exodus 8:32; Exodus 9:7), ‘he did not listen to them as Yahweh had spoken to Moses' (Exodus 9:12), ‘he did not let the children of Israel go as Yahweh had spoken by Moses (Exodus 9:35), ‘he did not let the children of Israel go' (Exodus 10:20), ‘he would not let them go' (Exodus 10:27), ‘he would not let the children of Israel go' (Exodus 11:10). The first four are ‘did not listen to them', the last four are ‘did not let them go (with variations)', separated by ‘did not let them go' (twice) and ‘did not listen to them'. It is thus emphasised that over and over again he did not listen, and that he did not let them go. He had been given every opportunity and had refused.
Compare also the very different pattern of the two different words translated ‘harden' (meaning ‘made strong' and ‘heavy'). ‘Pharaoh's heart was made strong' (Exodus 7:13; Exodus 7:22), ‘he made heavy his heart' (Exodus 8:15), ‘Pharaoh's heart was made strong (Exodus 8:19), ‘Pharaoh made heavy his heart' (Exodus 8:32), ‘Pharaoh's heart was heavy' (Exodus 9:7), ‘Yahweh made strong Pharaoh's heart' (Exodus 9:12), ‘he made heavy his heart' and ‘Pharaoh's heart was made strong' (Exodus 9:34), ‘Yahweh made strong Pharaoh's heart' (Exodus 10:20; Exodus 10:27; Exodus 11:10). Here the pattern alternates to begin with, reverses and alternates and then solidifies. Made strong (twice), made heavy, made strong, made heavy, was heavy, made strong, made heavy, made strong (four times). It is a totally different pattern, and his heart is made strong to resist Yahweh twice as much as it is made heavy.
Thus the two connected patterns do not fit together. They are two different patterns which are part of the whole weave, revealing unity of authorship.
Note that the ‘making heavy' of the heart is never directly imputed to Yahweh, while the ‘making strong' of the heart always is. (‘Made strong Pharaoh's/his heart' also occurs in Exodus 7:3; Exodus 10:1 compare Exodus 4:21. ‘Pharaoh's heart is heavy' in Exodus 7:14). Yahweh strengthens the hardening, He does not make it happen.