Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Exodus 9:8-12
The Sixth Plague - The Plague of Boils (Exodus 9:8).
Like the third plague in the first series this plague follows immediately after the previous one in the second series without warning.
a Yahweh directs Moses and Aaron to sprinkle towards heaven ashes from a furnace. The ashes will become small dust and produce blisters and sores on both man and beast (Exodus 9:9).
b And Moses and Aaron do as they are commanded with the result that it became the cause of sores and blisters on both man and beast (Exodus 9:10).
b Even the magicians were affected. They could not remain their to provide their support to Pharaoh and stand before Moses because of the boils. Like all of Egypt they were affected by them (Exodus 9:11).
a And Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had spoken to Moses (Exodus 9:12).
In this terse description of the sixth plague the stark facts are briefly laid out. In ‘a', on the one hand is Yahweh, powerful and effective, on the other in the parallel is Pharaoh, obstinate and truculent, for just as Yahweh's will is being done with regard to the dust, so is it being done in the life of Pharaoh. Furthermore there is in ‘b' the contrast between Moses and Aaron and the magicians of Egypt, Moses and Aaron triumphant in obedience, the magicians of Egypt having to go away and hide.
‘And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes of the furnace and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh, and it will become small dust over all the land of Egypt and will be a sore breaking out with blisters on man and on beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” And they took ashes of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it up towards heaven and it became a sore breaking out in blisters on man and on beast.'
Ashes from a furnace are to be taken before Pharaoh and Moses then sprinkles it into the heavens. As elsewhere with the sprinkling of blood (compare Exodus 24:6; Exodus 24:8) this is an application of the significance of what is being sprinkled. The fires of the furnace of Egypt which have been afflicting Yahweh's people (Deuteronomy 4:20) will now be applied to the Egyptians. The result will be sores and blisters on both men and cattle throughout Egypt.
And Moses and Aaron do as they are commanded and the whole of Egypt is affected by sores and blisters. Unlike the magicians Moses and Aaron do not have to go away and hide.
Diseases of the skin were common in Egypt and the ‘sore of Egypt' was a byword (Deuteronomy 28:27). But this broke out all over Egypt in a mass epidemic with disfiguring and unpleasant blisters. Goshen is not said to be excluded from this and it may have resulted from the ticks, fleas and other insects in Exodus 8:16. It was seemingly not deadly but very unpleasant. (Although Exodus 9:11 may be seen as suggesting that only the Egyptians were affected).
“Ashes (or soot) of the furnace.” Both words are rare, the former being found only here. In Genesis 19:28 and Exodus 19:18 reference is made to smoke going up from a ‘furnace', as a sign of judgment and of the awesomeness of God's presence, and that is probably the idea here. The soot from the side of the kiln in which the furnace would burn was thrown upwards to depict the ash-filled smoke of the furnace as a symbol of judgment from Yahweh, and its effects were seen throughout Egypt.
In Deuteronomy 4:20 Egypt is likened to an iron furnace. The way they treated others would now rebound on them.
Furthermore the furnaces would provide the tools for the slaves and stood as a witness to the building works of the Pharaohs. Thus this was a solemn act that connected the plagues directly with the treatment of God's people. The very equipment which had been the source of such misery to the Israelites, would now be the source of misery to all Egypt.
“Toward the heaven.” What is to happen is to be seen as from Yahweh.
‘And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the sores, for the sores were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.'
Clearly the magicians had previously been present when the judgments were in progress so that they might counter them as best they might, even though their efforts had been of little use. Now their absence was cause for comment. As priests as well as magicians the disease would be particularly obnoxious to them. They had a great concern for ritual cleanliness. The practise of many of them was to bathe themselves at least four times a day, and to shave their whole bodies every second day. They wore only linen in their efforts to keep themselves ceremonially pure. But now they would be ceremonially unclean, and thus they could not stand before Moses in the presence of the Pharaoh. They would feel this even more than the boils.
And in contrast with these magician priests, covered in boils, were Moses and Aaron, standing there free from boils, an evidence of their total control over all that was happening. If anything could reveal the powerlessness of these magician priests it was this.
“On all the Egyptians.” Again a generality showing that it was widespread in each district and countrywide. It may or may not have excluded non-Egyptians (‘Egyptians' may be a general term referring to all who lived there who were not Israelites). Perhaps Egyptians were particularly vulnerable to it.
‘And Yahweh hardened (made strong) the heart of Pharaoh and he did not listen to them, just as Yahweh had said to Moses.'
Pharaoh's resistance continued. He had become almost unmoveable. It may be that he had not been infected by the insects for he lived in semi-exclusion in a great palace and possibly did not tend to walk around on the ground outside, especially at times like these.