_A.M. 2513. B.C. 1491._
In this chapter we have an account of three more plagues.
(1,) _ Murrain among the cattle, Exodus 9:1._
(2,) _ Biles upon man and beast, Exodus 9:8._
(3,) Hail, with thunder and lightning. 1, Warning is given of this
plague, Exodus 9:13; Exodus 9:2, It is inflicted, to the... [ Continue Reading ]
The hand of the Lord - Immediately, without the stretching out of
Aaron's hand; _is upon the cattle_ Many of which, some of _all kinds_,
should die by a sort of pestilence. The hand of God is to be
acknowledged even in the sickness and death of cattle, or other damage
sustained in them; for a _sparr... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall nothing die of the children's of Israel_ This was the greater
miracle, because the Israelites and the Egyptians were mingled
together in the land of Goshen; so that their cattle breathed the same
air, and drank the same water. By which it appeared that this
pestilence was not natural, but pro... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord appointed a set time_ This appointing of a set or particular
time, both for bringing on the plagues and removing them, and that at
as short a distance as the nature of the appointment would admit, and
the leaving it once, at least, to Pharaoh himself to fix it, seems to
have been intended... [ Continue Reading ]
_All the cattle of Egypt died_ All that were in the field, Exodus 9:3;
or a great number of every kind, so that the Egyptians saw that even
the animals which they worshipped as gods could not save themselves.
Bishop Warburton, in his _Divine Legation of Moses_, has given it as
his opinion, that, in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pharaoh sent_ It seems as if Pharaoh, notwithstanding all he had
seen, could not conceive that such a distinction could be made between
cattle feeding together in the same or similar pastures, that those of
the Egyptians alone should be stricken, while those of the Israelites
were not affected; and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take you handfuls of the ashes of the furnace_ Sometimes God shows
men their sin in their punishment. They had oppressed Israel in the
furnaces, and now the ashes of the furnace are made as much a terror
to them as ever their task masters had been to the Israelites. “The
matter of this plague,” say... [ Continue Reading ]
_The magicians could not stand before Moses_ We do not read of any
attempt they made to vie with Moses in miracles since the plague of
the lice. But it would seem from this passage that they still
continued about Pharaoh, and endeavoured to settle him in his
resolution not to let Israel go: persuadi... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart_ Before he had _hardened his
own heart_, and resisted the grace of God; and now God justly gave him
up to his own heart's lusts, to strong delusions, permitting Satan to
blind and harden him. Wilful hardness is generally punished with
judicial hardness. Let us... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will at this time send all my plagues_ Either these verses relate
to what was to happen some time afterward, namely, the slaying of the
firstborn, or the latter verse is to be read as follows, a translation
which is equally agreeable to the Hebrew: “For now I had stretched
out my hand, to smite t... [ Continue Reading ]
_For this cause have I raised thee up_ A most dreadful message Moses
is here ordered to deliver to him, whether he will hear, or whether he
will forbear. He must tell him that he is _marked_ for _ruin:_ that he
now stands as the butt at which God would shoot all the arrows of his
wrath. _For this ca... [ Continue Reading ]
_As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people?_ Against me, acting
for my people. God takes what is done for or against his people as
done for or against himself. _Behold, tomorro_ w The time is precisely
marked, that it might not be said to have fallen out by chance.
Besides, God hereby demonstra... [ Continue Reading ]
_Send now therefore and gather thy cattle_ This warning God gives to
mitigate the severity of the judgment, to show his justice in
punishing so wicked and obstinate a people as would not hearken either
to his words or former works, and especially to make a difference
between the penitent and the inc... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh_ By
this time it appears that these terrible judgments had not been
executed entirely in vain. A few, at least, were hereby brought to
stand in awe of God and perhaps truly to turn to him. Such persons,
believing the discoveries whic... [ Continue Reading ]
_Upon man_ Upon those men that presumed to continue in the field after
this admonition. _The Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt_ This
was the more extraordinary, as rain seldom falls in Egypt, and in some
parts of the country is scarcely known at all. And snow and hail are
still more rare, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fire mingled with hail_ Which strange mixture much increased the
miracle. The Hebrew is, fire _infolding_ or _catching itself among the
hail;_ “One flash of lightning,” says Ainsworth, “taking hold on
another, and so the flames, infolding themselves, increased and burned
more terribly.” The same He... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every herb of the field: every tree_ That is, most of them, or herbs
and trees of all sorts, as appears from Exodus 10:12; Exodus 10:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the land of Goshen there was no hail_ It seems the Egyptians that
dwelt there were spared for the sake of their neighbours the
Israelites; which great obligation probably made them the more ready
to give them their jewels, Exodus 12:35.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pharaoh said, I have sinned; the Lord is righteous_ These,
professions were only produced by his fears: his heart was still
untouched with any true veneration for, or humiliation before, the God
of Israel, or with compunction and sorrow for his own obstinacy.... [ Continue Reading ]
_That the earth is the Lord's_ That is, the whole world, the heavens
and the earth. This is one great point that the Scriptures are
intended to establish, that the whole universe, and all creatures
therein, belong to the Lord, and are under his government. This truth,
the foundation of all religion,... [ Continue Reading ]
_The flax and barley were smitten_ Which were not so necessary for
human life as the wheat and rye. Thus God sends smaller judgments
before the greater. _The flax was bolled_ Grown into a stalk.... [ Continue Reading ]
_They were not grown up_ Were _hidden_, or _dark_, as the margin reads
it; or _late_, as many interpreters render the expression. This kind
of corn, coming later up, was now tender, and hidden, either under
ground, or in the herb, whereby it was secured both from the fire, by
its greenness and moist... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moses went out of the city_ Not only for privacy in his communication
with God, but to show that he durst venture abroad into the field,
notwithstanding the _hail and lightning_, knowing that every hail-
stone had its direction from God. _And spread abroad his hands unto
the Lord_ An outward expres... [ Continue Reading ]