When I exegete a book, I tend to get very bogged down in the details and so, I decided to develop a series of a few short lessons on various books of the Bible, where I attempt to simply deal with the primary points of each verse without getting too bogged down in detail. Each lesson is 4–5 pages long and designed to be read at one sitting. Although it is always nice to have a Bible open when studying this, I have, in almost all cases, included the relevant Scripture within the study.

I anticipate that the study of the book of Exodus will be considerably shorter than the book of Genesis.

As these lessons are completed in real time, only the first two set of links are to be found.

This is the final lesson on the plague of boils, which is the 6^th plague. The record of this plague is only 5 verses long:

Exodus 9:8–9 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt."

These are the directions which were given by God.

Exodus 9:10 So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast.

V. 10 describes the actual judgment.

Only 3 verses (vv. 10–12) are given to the actual plague itself.

Exodus 9:11a And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils,...

Despite all that has happened, despite the religious illusionists being unable to stand, they and Pharaoh continue to express negative volition towards God and what God requires.

Along these same lines, you may have seen a creationist and an evolutionist debate one another; or a believer debate an atheist; and sometimes—particularly if these men are debating for the very first time, the atheist (or evolutionist) will present an argument; and it will be completely destroyed by the believer (or the creationist). Does the evolutionist/unbeliever suddenly give up and say, “You know, you have completely taken me down with those points”? Of course not. He does what he can do to regain his footing and in order to debate another day. He listens carefully to the arguments, tries to remember them, and tries to think of a way to counter them for the next time they meet.

People believe what they choose to believe. Now they may debate and argue with you about their point of view, but for the most part, you have already chosen to believe what you believe and they have chosen to believe what they believe. Now, many times, these beliefs have come as a result of constant reenforcement from your parents or from going to school (which increasingly presents a monolithic point of view today). Quite often, these viewpoints are developed and solidified while we are young up to some point in time in our teens or 20's. It is quite common nowadays for a young person to be raised as a liberal atheist, and to not ever hear an opposing view for 20+ years.

When I was young, my first exposure to a conservative point of view from a political standpoint was my 2^nd or 3^rd semester of college, from Dr. Gottlieb Baer, a political science teacher. He was fascinating and interesting man, but he was often teaching things from a point of view that was conservative, very different from how I was brought up. Now, in my first 17 or 18 years, I had received history teaching which was not completely and totally biased one way or the other, and I had heard William F. Buckley debate liberals on public television, and I found that quite interesting as well, as he seemed to always debate better and make better points than his opponents (I observed this, even as a liberal). But apart from Buckley and Dr. Baer, I had never heard another point of view clearly espoused. I was brought up a liberal, but I did not have that pounded into me nor was this point of view reenforced from every side. From time to time, I heard a neutral point of view; from time to time, I heard conservative thinking—but rarely.

However, when I began learning Bible doctrine from R. B. Thieme, Jr., around age 21 or 22, he did not back-pedal or sugarcoat any of what he taught. He taught Bible doctrine, along with the laws of divine establishment, which are quite conservative (the laws of divine establishment are laws which come from God and are applicable to mankind as a whole). For many decades after that, because I was raised a liberal, I became more of an independent who leaned right.

Now, over time, I changed my thinking primarily as a response to the teaching of Bible doctrine. No one necessarily argued me into thinking one way or another. However, most people do not have the clear teaching of Bible doctrine in their lives, and so, they often think however they have been trained to think from a young age.

There were also some important decisions which I made along the way to changing my own mind. At some point, early on, I clearly and intentionally accepted the Bible as authoritative. That was the biggest change in my thinking. This may seem like a basic thing, but not all believers believe the Scriptures. A believer of my acquaintance never accepted the Old Testament as accurate, but she did accept the New Testament (I believe today, she does not even accept the NT as authoritative). Another believer of my acquaintance does not accept the Bible as the infallible, and when asked a theological question, will like respond with the opinion of a theologian than with a set of Scriptures.

Now, if you want to continue thinking a certain way, the internet provides countless websites that you can go to in order to bolster your point of view or to find memes galore which support your way of thinking. In fact, young people today are so unfamiliar with different viewpoints that, they think debate is posting memes which support their point of view, followed by vociferous name calling. It rarely occurs to them to listen and consider what is being said to them from an opposing viewpoint and to consider what others say to them.

I went off on this tangent because there are many witnesses to Moses and Aaron; and everyone in Egypt (apart from the Hebrews) are affected by each and every plague. They are witnessing things which no one has ever seen before. Pharaoh has it confirmed to him over and over that his religious illusionists cannot match the power of Moses and Aaron’s God. Yet, does anyone in Egypt change their mind? Very few. People have free will, and some refuse to depart from the way that they were raised. Based upon what we read here, it is clear that Moses and Aaron represent the Greater God, and that there is no response from the religious illusionists of Pharaoh.

Let me give you another example which would clearly present the power of free will. Many of us have seen presidential debates. Let’s just say that a debate occurs and candidate A just destroys candidate B. Let’s say that everyone in the media agrees that A was sharper, faster, provided, the better arguments, etc., etc. Then election day comes. Does candidate A get 80% of the vote? Of course not! In a blow-out election, he might get 55–60% of the vote, despite the terrible performance of candidate B on the debate stage. No matter what, candidate B is going to get 40% of the vote and probably more.

Application: Today, we have a former vice president running for the office of president; and he appeared to be the media darling for many, many months. Then he opened his mouth, and remark after remark revealed him to be a doddering confused old man. You would not want him to be your Lyft driver, let alone, president of the United States. Yet, if he became the democrat candidate, I can guarantee that he would still get 40% of the vote, despite him being far from the top of his game.

My point is, the people of Egypt are witnessing the awesome power of the True God, and yet, they do not side with the God of Israel. They do not come to the conclusion that Moses and Aaron have a God who is God over all Egypt. The Hebrew people have, for the most part, already come to that conclusion. But the key in all of this is free will. Despite what people see and hear, they have the ability to override that with their own free will and their own set of opinions.

Exodus 9:11a And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils,...

The religious illusionists are neutralized by this plague. If called upon to stand when Pharaoh enters the room, they were unable to.

Exodus 9:11b ...for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

These boils and blisters had broken out on everyone in Egypt. No doubt, some had boils on their feet, making it very painful to stand or walk. Yet, we will read of no large group of Egyptians bowing down to the God of the Hebrews. They have their beliefs, and, for the most part, they have not abandoned these beliefs.

Exodus 9:11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

Pharaoh has a point of view about the God of the Hebrews and he is not about to change his mind on that topic. His magicians being able to somewhat duplicate what Moses and Aaron did was comforting, but even when they were no longer able to do this and here, they are out of the picture, Pharaoh was still able to resist the God of Moses and Aaron. His negative volition is the result of his free will; and he continues to exercise negative volition toward the God of the Hebrews.

Pharaoh resisted Moses, even though his entire country had these boils on them, making each moment painful. But not painful enough to change their loyalties (insofar as we know).

This should help us to understand just how negative that negative volition can be. You may pray and pray that someone you know feels great pain and distress until they can no longer resist God, but, it is clear in real life that, even under the greatest of pressures, man is able to resist God. In some cases, the best outcome is cursing God before one dies (sadly enough).

Exodus 9:12a But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh;...

God hardening the heart of Pharaoh has always been a very difficult concept, because it sounds too much like, Pharaoh is about to give in and do what God has demanded him to do; and then God comes along and makes Pharaoh change his mind and act against God. I believe that we may rest assured, in human affairs, that God allows us our own volition. He allows us to act as we choose to act. Obviously, since each one of us is our own worst enemy, that may seem to be a bad idea; but we have to accept some immutable facts: (1) we have free will. (2) God will sometimes act to guide us or to influence us in our choices, but He allows our free will to still act. You certainly have friends and loved ones who, from time to time, have given you a piece of their mind, and sometimes, this affects what we think and do. It does not mean that they have control of our volition; it just means that they have an influence in our lives; and God also has an influence in our lives. Many people are subject to group think. That is, if the people around them almost universally think “X”, they, at some point, choose to believe “X.” (3) Primarily, God’s influence over us is through His Word. We choose to listen or not to listen to His Word being taught; and then we choose whether to believe it or not; and then we choose whether to let this teaching impact our lives from day to day. Certainly, it is possible to believe passages and Scriptures and doctrines, and yet to still act in opposition to them from time to time. We do have free will and a sin nature. (4) What God does not do is reach into our souls and take negative volition and turn it positive or vice versa. God allows for His sovereignty and our free will to coexist—at least for a time. There will be a time when our free will is brought into line with God’s sovereignty. This does not occur because God forces His thinking upon all mankind, but because believers will choose in eternity future to think like God thinks.

God is not taking Pharaoh, whom He has finally worn down to a pliable state, and making him negative again. God is giving Pharaoh the strength to go on, yet allowing him to act using his own free will.

As you get older, you will, at various times, sit on the deathbed of a loved one, realizing that this is your last contact with this person. He or she may have rebuffed you on numerous occasions when you presented the gospel to them; and at this final time, their strength to rebuff you is gone. You present the gospel to them, unopposed, because they are too weak to oppose you. Now, maybe they listen; but maybe they are still on negative signals. If they had more strength, they might say to you, “Now just shut the hell up about the Jesus stuff.” God has given Pharaoh, a beaten down man, the strength to continue to allow his volition to operate. God has not turned Pharaoh’s compliance into opposition; God has not taken Pharaoh’s positive volition and turned it into negative volition; God has given Pharaoh enough strength to continue to express his negative volition.

You might have asked yourself throughout this ordeal, why are the Egyptians suffering when it is Pharaoh's negative volition which is calling the shots? Everyone has free will and these Egyptians were with Hebrews day after day. Some people and nations accept the Hebrews and treat them fairly. Others take advantage of them and other nations and peoples persecute them. Any Egyptian could have at any time joined in with the Hebrews. In fact, apparently, some of them did (Exodus 12:38 Num. 11:4).

The pain inflicted by these judgments evangelized some Egyptians. They all had free will and they could have thrown themselves at God's mercy, begging for forgiveness for their ghastly treatment of the Hebrews (either their direct actions or the consent to what Pharaoh did to the Hebrews). Many of them had become very antisemitic and God judges antisemitism. In addition, some people can only be evangelized under great pain and stress. This is my own personal experience. I realized that many of my own personal decisions in life were leading to pain and heartache, and that there was this option that God seemed to be offering: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. At age 21, I took that option, and that changed everything.

It appears that a small percentage of the Egyptians may have given in to the God of the Hebrews; but most of them continued to reject Him. Therefore, most of Egypt continued to be judged.

Exodus 9:12a But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh;...

With this verse, we have a slight change. In this verse, God strengthens the heart of Pharaoh. Let me suggest that, at this point, Pharaoh is so overwhelmed, that he has little or no personal strength remaining. He is not even strong enough to oppose Moses, even though he, no doubt, hates Moses for all that has happened. God gives Pharaoh the strength which he lacks. However, God does not reach in to Pharaoh’s soul and change Pharaoh’s volition.

The same verb is used as we find throughout most of this section of Exodus: châzaq (חָזַק) [pronounced khaw-ZAHK], which means, to make strong, to strengthen. Strong’s #2388 BDB #304. Pharaoh is not thinking, “Maybe I should let them go and get them out of my hair”; but God reaches in and changes his mind. What appears to be taking place is, God is simply giving Pharaoh strength or resolve to act in accordance with his own will. If the magicians are covered with boils, then it stands to reason that Pharaoh is as well. Physical pain can wear down many people to a point where they are compliant, but their compliancy is simply due to the pain; not due to a change in their volition.

Exodus 9:12b ...and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

Pharaoh has the strength now to oppose Moses and Aaron. He has the ability to express his negative volition. He is a beaten down man, but God has given him the strength to go on. He expresses negative volition towards the words of Moses and Aaron, but this should not come as a surprise to either man, as God told them this is the response that Pharaoh would give.

What occurred here evangelized the entire world for centuries, so it is highly likely that a few Egyptians also believed in Jesus Christ and joined the Hebrews. However, most of them, mirroring Pharaoh's scarred heart and negative volition, based upon prejudice, did not. Most continued to hate the Hebrews and they continued to receive the discipline due to them. Actually, discipline is a misnomer—unbelievers, in general, are not disciplined by God, but they are judged by God in their unbelief.

Exodus 9:12 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

We are not given any additional information in the narrative. What did Pharaoh say and do after his heart is hardened? Obviously, he said no to Moses; no to God’s demand. But this particular narrative is not taken any further. At this point, we move on to the next plague.

The Seventh Plague: Hail

Interestingly enough, the text for the 7^th plague is far more extensive than for the previous plagues. Whereas, 7 verses describe the 5^th plague and 5 verses are given to the 6^th plague, 22 verses are used for the 7^th plague. Even so, not every detail will be given. Vv. 13–19 are God speaking to Moses, telling him what he will say to Pharaoh. So, like many of the previous judgments, we don’t really go from God’s instructions to Moses; to Moses going to Pharaoh; to Moses speaking to Pharaoh; which is then followed by the actual execution of the judgment. We go from God speaking to Moses, telling him what he will say and what is going to happen right to the judgment itself (which plague is covered in 7 verses). The remainder of this chapter is all about Pharaoh relenting, the plague being stopped, and then Pharaoh’s heart is hardened once again.

Throughout these few chapters, the author Moses presents a nice compact approach to the plague narrative; it keeps the action moving along. This plague alone could have easily been 40–50 verses long (instead of 23 verses), but without providing us with any more information than this chapter already does.

Furthermore, if we follow the text carefully, it is going to be clear that, not only are some important passages missing, but, the text is not all in a neat chronological order. Now, anyone can read this text and be happy with the flow of the narrative—and they may not even be aware that some key pieces are missing and that there are some verses out of order. That is the brilliance of the Mosaic narrative, which is very readable, and few will find it in the least bit confusing or difficult to understand—despite the fact that he jumps from God’s orders right into the midst of the plague at times, without skipping a beat. If you simply read the text of the plagues, you may not even notice that large portions of narrative are actually missing. Again, Moses’ genius as a writer, as guided by the Holy Spirit.

Now, as an aside, the words which Moses used were his own, they came from his vocabulary; and the way that he remembered these plagues came from his memory. What is not taking place is automatic writing or the Holy Spirit entering into Moses and taking over his hand and body as he writes. The Holy Spirit is the Author of Scripture; but the human author is as well.

Exodus 9:13a Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning...

God speaks to Moses and tells him to rise up early in the morning. This will begin the final set of 4 plagues, which will be considerably significant.

In some of the previous plagues, God would tell Moses where Pharaoh would be at some specific time, and tell Moses to go run him down at that time and at that place. In this plague, that aspect is ignored (maybe Pharaoh is out for his morning swim/bath; maybe he is sitting at his favorite coffee house—wherever Pharaoh would be, God would know this and probably was quite specific about this detail with Moses.

Exodus 9:13b ...and stand before Pharaoh,...

Obviously, God must speak to the representative of nation Egypt, and that is Pharaoh. This must be done whether Pharaoh wants this confrontation or not. I would think it pretty obvious that Pharaoh desires no more meetings with Moses and Aaron. However, some of these meetings are called for by Pharaoh, who wants a judgment lifted.

We do not know exactly how the plague of the boils (plague #6) ended. Moses seemed to stop writing about it and moved on into the next plague. Notice how all of this transitions:

Exodus 9:11–13b And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh,... (NKJV)

Do you see that clever play on words? The magicians could not stand before Moses... and then God tell Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh...” However, these words for stand are actually synonyms; they are not the same word.

Interestingly enough, this is the first time, in the plague sequence, when we use this particular word for take a stand. There is probably a double-meaning to be taken from this verb: (1) in the most common way, Moses is to find a place to be where Pharaoh would be, and to be there, standing before Pharaoh. (2) But, less literally, Moses is taking a strong stand against Pharaoh, introducing plagues which will affect him most personally—even more than the plagues which had come before.

Obviously, there are some important details which are left out—can Moses just walk into the palace the speak to Pharaoh? Can he ask for and get an audience with Pharaoh? Does Moses know where Pharaoh will be? The way I understand this is, Moses knows enough about the comings and goings of Pharaoh, to place himself right where he expects Pharaoh to be. Or, in the alternative, God tells Moses exactly where to find Pharaoh (I think the latter case is suggested by the previous plagues).

Exodus 9:13c ...and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews:...

This is what Moses will say to Pharaoh. He will speak in God’s Name. God is identified by His proper name and by a description, the God of the Hebrews.

Most often, in Scripture, is it not God speaking directly to a group or to an individual, but instead, His representative speaks to someone (or to a group) on behalf of Him. God never comes directly to Pharaoh in a vision or a dream, speaking to him or warning him. God works through representatives.

This has continued up even to this day, when many pastors today speak for God by using His Word. The pastor-teacher who knows the Word of God and teaches that, he speaks for God today. God is not going to speak to you personally. You will not hear the audible voice of God, and, contrary to popular opinion, you are not going to hear the still, small voice of God telling you what to do (quick, make a sharp right turn, straight up ahead!). However, if you know the Word of God, then you will be guided by that and the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Anyone who tells you that they are getting direct messages from God and acting accordingly—that person is a nutball, and should be avoided—I don’t care how nice or charismatic he seems. However, in the era of unfolding revelation (from the beginning of man to around a.d. 90), God only spoke directly to a relatively small number of men. We are not in that era. How do I know this? Simple. No more Scripture is being written. We have the complete and total Word of God. John, in the final chapter of the final book of the Bible gives us this solemn warning: I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Rev. 22:18–19, ESV) What a good pastor-teacher attempts to do today is, understand Scripture, understand the theology presented by Scripture, and then convey that information to his congregation—as much as they can take in and as much as he is able to teach.

Back to the narrative. God is speaking to Moses, telling him exactly what he must say to Pharaoh.

Exodus 9:13d ...Let My people go, that they may serve Me,... (I have changed the formatting of the NKJV here)

Again, the demand, “Send My people out to serve Me.” God is still speaking to Moses in the narrative, but He is telling Moses exactly what to say to Pharaoh.

The message to Pharaoh is simple and concise. There are no negotiations to be done. God has given Pharaoh a straightforward mandate of what is expected of him. At each plague, God goes to Pharaoh, through the persons of Moses and Aaron, and He tells Pharaoh quite simply to release His people, the Hebrews. Then God allows Pharaoh his free will to react in whatever way he chooses.

Exodus 9:13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let My people go, that they may serve Me,... (Everything in italics is what Moses will say to Pharaoh)

We do not generally know how Moses came to God in Egypt; or in what manner God appeared to Moses. During these plagues, we begin with God’s communication to Moses as a given. God’s demand has been consistent. He speaks through Moses to Pharaoh, “Thus says Y^ehowah, God of the Hebrews, ‘Send My people out.’ ”

Now, later in the book of Exodus, Moses will go to a specific tent to commune with God (which tent appears to be a pre-Tabernacle—although there is nothing necessarily ornate about this particular tent). We do not know exactly how this pre-Tabernacle tent came to be nor do we know at what point Moses began to enter into that tent. I would suggest to you that this is the manner in which Moses speaks with God.

God added, ‘...that they serve Me...’ With these words, God is setting up an important contrast. Up to this point in time, the Hebrew people have been serving Pharaoh; but they are God’s people; therefore, they ought to be serving Him. The Hebrew people are in a relationship with the Revealed God; not with Pharaoh.

Given all of these plagues, we have no idea what is going on with regards to Israel’s slavery. It seems likely that they are not even showing up for work, given all that is happening in Egypt. It would seem that everything is in a holding pattern, as there are no normal daily activities which can occur during most of these plagues. The people of Egypt merely try to get through each deay of a plague.

Exodus 9:14a ...for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart,...

The word heart actually refers to the thinking of Pharaoh; and what God does is going to affect Pharaoh more personally than the previous plagues.

The particular plagues to come are going to be monumental. They will tell people that, sometimes it does not matter what God does—negative volition is negative volition. Some will continue to resist God, no matter what.

Application: You may think that with just the proper rational argument that you can sway a person who has negative volition towards God; or that if God suddenly appeared to that person, that they would believe. But negative volition is stronger than either of those things.

Exodus 9:14b ...and on your servants and on your people,...

The judgments will be against the servants of Pharaoh. Pharaoh will be personally affected and all those around him will be similarly affected.

These judgments which will be against the people of Egypt, called Pharaoh’s people here. The citizens of Egypt are not let out of this judgment.

Exodus 9:14c ...that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth.

The end result of these judgments will be that all Israel will recognize that there is no one like God in all the earth. Many other nations and individuals will come to the same conclusion.

Here, God states His intentions to Pharaoh; these plagues are sent throughout the entire land of Egypt and placed upon all of the Pharaoh's subjects, as well as all of those under his direct command in the palace. This reveals that Y^ehowah, the God of the Jewish people, is a God like none other. He is the true God, the only God; the God Who created the universe; the God with power beyond imagination. The other gods worshipped by the Egyptians and other heathen are fronts for demons. Demons, in their strength and emotional needs, desire our worship and allegiance and were heavily involved with the Egyptians.

Throughout the centuries, men have assumed that their gods were superior or at least equal to the gods in other lands; much like today some in the United States feel that Krishna or Buddha are equivalent to the God (Jesus Christ) that we worship here in America. Nothing could be further from the truth. Krishna and Buddha are demon-fronts. Satan is the author of religion, religious promoting the idea that doing good impresses God (the exact nature of this doing varies from religion to religion). Satan is behind these gods which are associated with certain nations and cultures. It does not matter how widespread the religion is or how many adherents it has. There is but one God and He came to earth and took His place beside us in the form of a man and He took upon Himself the punishment for all of the sins that we have ever committed and that we ever will commit. Krishna did not die on behalf of our sins—Krishna is not our savior and is not our mediator. He is not qualified to be this. Same deal with Buddha. These are men fronting for Satan. These men, along with all other religious deities, are not localized names for the same God. Both of these religious proponents and their gods are false.

These signs, done by God, will be unlike anything which has ever been brought against a king or his nation. Only the True God is able to do this.

Exodus 9:14 ...for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth.

The reference to Pharaoh’s servants, I believe, would apply to those in the palace who either work for him or are slaves to him. The idea is, there would be greater personal damage to those in the palace.

I would think, up to this point, what God has done to Pharaoh is unlike anything which has been done against Egypt by any one or any being. God promises to keep this pressure up, to the point of even Pharaoh acknowledging what God has done.

In our narrative, God is still speaking to Moses, telling Moses exactly what to say to Pharaoh:

Exodus 9:13–14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let My people go, that they may serve Me, for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. (Everything in italics is what Moses is to say to Pharaoh)

Moses message to Pharaoh would be that there is an intensification now, which Pharaoh himself will feel. What Moses says and does, along with the resultant plagues, will affect Pharaoh’s thought processes even more than they had before. The God of the Hebrews is going to weigh heavily on Pharaoh’s mind.

It appears that, at this point, it will become more personal; God will reach out to touch Pharaoh more directly with these final 4 plagues.

Exodus 9:15a Now if I had stretched out My hand...

At this point, in these 2 verses, God will explain that He could have completely destroyed all of the people of Egypt—without any effort.

Essentially, what God will say to Pharaoh is, “I have been giving you warnings of My great power; but I did not have to do that.”

Exodus 9:15b ...and struck you and your people with pestilence,...

Previously, I have spoken of alternative approaches that God could have taken in order to bring His people out of Egypt. Here, God Himself is giving an alternative approach which He could have used. He could have struck Pharaoh and all of his people with sickness of some sort. He could have killed them or he could have simply immobilized them. God has this kind of power.

God is saying, “If I wanted to, this could have been a simple, one-step process. You all get sick, and My people walk out. You would be helpless to resist.”

Exodus 9:15c ...then you would have been cut off from the earth.

God is giving Pharaoh an alternative to what He has done. “I could have struck you and your people with pestilence and wiped you all out—just like that!”

God indicates that this whole thing could have been a single strike, had He simply wanted to remove Egypt from existence. God could have snapped His fingers and all of Egypt would have died.

Exodus 9:15 Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth.

God could have chosen to simply kill all of the Egyptians and the Hebrews would have been able to simply leave Egypt without a fight. God is certainly able to do that. In fact, that requires far less efford than what He has expended so far. However, God’s purpose was not solely to move the Hebrews from point A to point B. They were to be His representatives and God had to let the world know that. God evangelized the world through this revelation of power in Egypt. By these acts, God revealed Himself to the world. God showed the world that He alone is God and besides Him there is no other. There are no localized gods and there is no other God but the God of the Hebrews. No local god of any nation had ever done what God was doing in Egypt.

Pharaoh was not created by God to do evil that God might be glorified. In some translations, it sounds as though God raised up Pharaoh for this purpose. God allows Pharaoh the use of his free will and God's plan functions even by making use of Pharaoh's free will. We saw this in our study of Jacob in Genesis. He certainly made a lot of wrong choices in his life; and when he worked for Laban, Laban also made a lot of wrong choices. God was able to make nation Israel from Jacob, despite he and Laban butting heads so many times and resorting to bad behavior as a result. Jacob made so many bad decisions in his life, and yet God made the people of Israel from Jacob.

Later in the book of Gensis, we studied the sons of Jacob, and they also made a lot of wrong choices (except for Joseph, who primarily made good choices). Yet nation Israel rose up through these men, thsee very imperfect sons of Jacob.

No matter what man does, whether choosing right or wrong, God’s plan moves ahead. God’s plan is not slowed down; it never grinds to a halt because of negative volition on the part of man.

God is never frustrated. He does not throw His hands into the air, exclaiming, “I wanted you all to listen to Me and do what I said; and you are not!” Despite man’s considerable shortcomings—even those men who belong to God—God is able to bring His plan forward.

Exodus 9:15 Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth.

God says (again, He is telling Moses what to say to Pharaoh), “You know, I could have easily killed all of you with sickness; and you would all be dead right now.” If God killed all of Egypt, then the people of Israel could simply walk out of Egypt and into Canaan.

What God did and what God is capable of doing can be seen from several points of view. God could have, but did not, wipe out all of the Egyptians in whatever manner He chose—by a mass sickness, as He suggests here. This would not have fulfilled God’s plans for Israel (or for Egypt). They need to march out of Egypt as a whole. However, we need to ask this question: If suddenly, every Egyptian died, what would motivate the Hebrew people to leave Egypt?

Bear in mind that the Hebrew people have lived in Egypt now for 400 years. This is their home. They have no reason to just pick up and leave if all of Egypt had died. Egypt would be theirs, but God did not plan for Israel to rise up and take control of Egypt.

Another problem would be, the people of Israel needed more encouragement in order to believe Moses and Aaron. Remember the first time that they went to Pharaoh and made their demands? Pharaoh increased their responsibilities as slaves and the people and elders all turned against Moses and Aaron.

This was the reason that we studied a chapter of the first request was given to Pharaoh; where that chapter seemed to focus on human viewpoint rather than divine viewpoint. Despite all that the sons of Israel suffered by living in Egypt, at the first sign of opposition, the people turned against Moses and Aaron.

The people of Israel could be convinced, but it would take a few miracles/acts of power to achieve that.

Nut — Egyptian Goddess of the Sky (a graphic); from Hub Pages; accessed April 25, 2018. There are easier-to-see representations; but I believe that this was drawn/carved/painted by the ancient Egyptians themselves.

Exodus 9:16a But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up,...

God here is addressing Pharaoh through Moses. “You are not Pharaoh because of a series a clever things which you did to attain this position. You are Pharaoh because I placed you here with this power,” God is saying. “You have a purpose, which is the fulfillment of My purpose. You will fulfill My purpose for you, no matter how negative you are towards Me.”

The verb used here is not one for raised up but it is the 1^st person singular, Hiphil perfect with a 2^nd masculine singular suffix of ʿâmad (עָמַד) [pronounced ģaw-MAHD], which means to take ones stand, to stand. The Hiphil stem is causative and the perfect tense means that this is a completed action insofar as God is concerned, even though these actions and interactions are ongoing. Since God knows the end from the beginning, in God’s eyes, the actions of Pharaoh all conform to God’s plan.

The causative stem and also be used in a permissive way, and that is how it is used here. God has permitted Pharaoh to take a stand. Not only has He permitted Pharaoh to have a great position of power, but God has also given Pharaoh the strength to oppose Him whenever his own strength was lacking. Sometimes, when I cover these verses one at a time, we lose the forest through the trees. There is a contrast which was set up here by this particular verb. This verse is in contrast to v. 15. God has allowed Pharaoh to remain, instead of causing him and Egypt to disappear quickly and quietly from the earth.

Exodus 9:16b ...that I may show My power in you,...

Show(n) is the Hiphil infinitive construct of râʾâh (רָאָה) [pronounced raw-AWH], which means, to cause to see, to cause to look; to show; to cause to see [with pleasure]; to cause to know, to cause to learn; to cause to experience [evil or good].

Even though the translation is quite difficult, the general idea is not. God raised up Pharaoh; God established Pharaoh; and Pharaoh, through his negative volition, revealed God’s great power. That was His purpose. God uses the wrath of man to praise Him.

Exodus 9:16a-b But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you,...

It is God Who raised up Pharaoh; and the purpose was to show off His power to Egypt and to all the surrounding nations. As a result, many Egyptians would believe in the Revealed God (spoken of in this chapter as, they feared Him).

Had God merely wiped out all the Egyptians with disease, there is no demonstration of power there. People would not be saying, “The God of the Hebrews made all of Egypt ill.”

Exodus 9:16c ...and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

God’s Person and reputation are made known throughout the world because of what He did in Egypt. God uses Pharaoh in order to interact with Moses and Aaron and accomplish His mission.

This is what God says to Pharaoh, speaking through Moses:

Exodus 9:16 But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

Here, God plainly states His purpose. It is not simply to free the Hebrews, because that could have been done quietly by inflicting the Egyptians and the Pharaoh with some disease so that they would all die (or become immobilized). Had this been God’s approach, the Hebrews would not even have to leave Egypt; Egypt would belong to them. However, that was not God's plan or purpose. This is why God had to continually give Pharaoh the strength to oppose him. In the doctrine, the Hardness of Pharaoh's Heart (HTML) (PDF) (WPD), I gave the analogy of the boxer. Pharaoh has been sent to the canvas several times and, although he wants to fight back; he despises his opponent (this will be clear at the end of Exodus 10), yet his own strength will not allow him to go on. Therefore, God has given him the strength to stand up again and to fight.

Another point, which is made in several places throughout Scripture: there is a certain exclusivity when it comes to God. There is no such thing as worshiping just any God. There was not an equivalent god among the gods of the Egyptians. There is but one God, and during this period of time, it was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is not some choice of deities and one cannot find enough similarities between the God of the Universe and some other God worshipped by a particular nation to say that they are the same God. "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." There is one mediator between God and man; the man Christ Jesus. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man comes to the Father but by Me." These are quotes from the New Testament, Acts 4:12 1Tim. 2:5 John 14:6. Exodus 9:14d reads, "There is none like Me in all the earth."

There is clearly a universality of God; however, this is not just any God—this is the God of the universe, Christ Jesus. It does not matter if you are brought up Roman Catholic, Mormon, Hindu or Orthodox Jew; there is but one God in the universe and you do not have a choice to worship whoever you feel like or whoever your parents taught you to worship. We are not given the freedom or the tolerance to worship a god that we have made in our own image; or a god which just happens to suit us best; or the god of our culture. When you worship the god who is made in your image or the god that is most convenient, and you are, in essence, worshiping yourself. Who we worship is not an option when it comes to eternal salvation. Even sincerity is not an excuse: there is but one God in this universe, the God of all mankind, our Creator, Jesus Christ, the God of Israel.

Exodus 9:16 But indeed for this purpose I [God] have raised you [Pharaoh] up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

In that era, what happened in Egypt would allow the Hebrew people to move about relatively undisturbed for 40 years in the desert-wilderness. These events would cause many to believe in their God.

One of the things which we have studied previously is, God takes man’s free will; man’s actions, good and bad; and works with that in His plan. God disciplines believers who make bad decisions; God gives grace to the grace oriented; and He works all of this together in the realm of His Own Sovereign will. That is, what God wants to happen, happens. At the same time, God allows for the fact of free will, both human and angelic. His plan takes into consideration good and bad choices. God’s plan takes into consideration good and bad decisions made by believers and unbelievers alike.

Over and over, we study situations and circumstances where God’s will clearly overrides everything; and God is able to work His will despite that sinful things that we do.

We spent some time in Romans 9 and studied it in relationship to our overall study. We will now return to Exodus 9:

Exodus 9:13–14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let My people go, that they may serve Me, for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth.

God is telling Moses what to do and what to say. We may assume that Moses and Aaron do exactly what God tells them to do—they go before Pharaoh and speak these words.

Exodus 9:15 Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth.

These are God’s words directly to Pharaoh.

God has a variety of options when it comes to His people being enslaved in Egypt. He could have easily wiped out all of Egypt; but that would not have fulfilled His purposes. God’s plan is more complex than move the Hebrew people from Egypt to Canaan. God’s plan includes a consideration of the free will of every Hebrew and of of every person in Egypt. It is because their volition is important to God that God acts in Egypt in the way that He does. God allows for all of these things to play out without Him stepping in and altering a single free will decision made by anyone. Everyone living in Egypt will see first hand the power of God and the impotence of the Egyptian gods. God will allow every person in Egypt to make a free will choice for or against Him.

God provides both carrots and sticks, you might say; but just because He works to encourage us to believe in Him, that does not mean that we will.

Application: Over the past few years, President Trump has interacted with Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea. The intent was to use carrots and sticks to get Kim to give up his nuclear weapons and his weapons testing. Just because Trump wills for Kim to give up his nuclear weapons and just because Trump applies maximum pressure, both positive and negative, does not mean that Kim will give in to Trump’s plan.

Whereas, it is quite obvious that Trump cannot change Kim’s free will; it is less obvious that God chooses not to change our free will. God’s plan is robust enough to allow us to use our free will, which results in many of us doing some really bad and stupid things.

Exodus 9:16 But indeed for this purpose I [God] have raised you [Pharaoh] up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

God uses the negative volition of Pharaoh to glorify Himself. That is, so that men would look to the God of the Hebrews in order to be saved. Every son of Jacob will believe in the God of his fathers; and most Egyptians will reject their God.

Exodus 9:17a As yet you exalt yourself against My people...

This is how God used the negative volition of Pharaoh to praise Him. Pharaoh continued to act against God’s people; he opposed God’s people and exalted himself against them.

Pharaoh himself, in opposing God, was making himself out to be God, exalting himself over the Hebrews. But Pharaoh is not the true authority over the Hebrew people; God is. All peoples are ultimately subject to God’s authority; and every single person is responsible for his own free will decisions.

Exodus 9:17b ...in that you will not let them go.

Pharaoh is acting as if he gets the final say in how God’s people will be treated; and so, Pharaoh refused to send God’s people out of Egypt. Pharaoh believes that he has the power to determine what will happen to the Hebrew people, but he does not.

Exodus 9:17 As yet you [Pharaoh] exalt yourself against My people in that you will not let them go.

Pharaoh, in his negative volition, attempts to stand up against God. Pharaoh believes that he has some power; that he has some real say in the matter. When it comes to God’s plan, it just goes right on, no matter what. Even if Pharaoh intends to resist God to the end, God’s plan has made provision for that. God’s plan is able to incorporate the decision of every single person on this earth, positive or negative.

The Voice provides an outstanding translation here:

Eternal One (to Moses): For by now I could have easily raised my hand and struck you and your people with a disease so lethal that you would be erased entirely from the earth. But I have kept you in power for a reason, to show you My greater power and to see that My name and reputation spread through all the earth. [Romans 9:17] But you still try to dominate My people and refuse to release them from the land.

God is telling Pharaoh, “I could have squashed you like a bug in the first plague. I could have wiped you and all of Egypt out without any difficulty. But I chose not to do this, because that would not suit My purposes here.” God used Pharaoh’s hard-heartedness—his negative volition—to accomplish God’s greater purposes in all the earth, to exalt Himself as the True God, the God of the Hebrew people. Secondarily, the people of Jacob will choose to follow Moses out of Egypt and, eventually, into Canaan.

All of the surrounding nations would know about the God of the Hebrews, and they would know this because of the negative volition of Pharaoh.

Now God describes the next plague, the 7^th one; God’s 7^th plague would be hail.

Exodus 9:18a Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down,...

For the next plague, God could cause hail to fall as has never happened before.

Isis was the god of the atmosphere in Egypt, who sent rain down to Egypt's crops, whom the Egyptians prayed to that the Nile not be flooded (yet it needed to have enough water for them to use in their crops). The God of the Universe controls the weather and at best, Isis is a figment of the Egyptian mentality; at worst, Isis a demon-front.

Exodus 9:18b ...such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now.

There has never been hail like this in Egypt before. Generally speaking, Egypt received less rain than most of the lands in that region (although, I believe that they received more rain then than they do now).

Exodus 9:18c ...since its founding until now.

In the entire history of Egypt, nothing like this hail has been seen before.

God tells Moses what God will do to Egypt and then what God expects from Pharaoh.

Not too much further into this chapter, the text will cut from God speaking to Moses to Moses being in front of Pharaoh. This sudden jump will be without any intervening verbiage. It reminds me of the way some movies are cut. God in the opening says to Moses, "And this is what I want you to say to Pharaoh..." and there is an sudden cut to Moses and Pharaoh where Moses is saying these exact words to God. The way that this is done in the text is quite subtle.

We are never given percentages, but each plague destroys a portion of what everyone owns. Every single Egyptian is affected by every plague; and when their possessions are affected, it may be half of what they own—or most of what they own—which is affected by each plague. At this point in our narrative, there are still cattle left, even after the judgments which have taken place so far.

Exodus 9:18 Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now.

God’s next judgment is, He will send hail upon the land, and a hail storm such as Egypt had never seen before.

Remember that, a part of God’s warning to Pharaoh is, this particular disaster (and all of those which follow) are going to affect Pharaoh personally. My understanding is, with Pharaoh’s resources, he could mitigate previous plagues to some degree. From this point forward, Pharaoh will be affected as much as anyone else (that is my interpretation of what God said).

Exodus 9:19a Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field,...

We continually find the verb to send [for] in a variety of forms in this chapter. Pharaoh refuses to send the people of Israel out, so there are a number of things which God tells him (or others in Egypt) to send. Pharaoh and the people of Egypt, who want to preserve what cattle they have remaining, must send for these animals and anything which belongs to them out in the field.

It ought to be obvious, given his negative volition so far, that Pharaoh personally is not going to heed this warning. However, this does not mean that no Egyptian will heed it. Let me suggest that, God is fair. Therefore, those who would respond to this warning will hear about it. As discussed earlier, Pharaoh has many aides, underlings and slaves with him; and some of them—insofar as we can tell—no doubt take these warnings very seriously. These might noise abroad what is going on and what the warning is. God will certainly allow for those who fear Him the chance to obey Him.

Exodus 9:19b ...for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home;...

Animals and people out in the field were to be gathered up and brought into whatever covered shelter was available.

The men and beasts are both described as those who are found in the field and those who are not withdrawn into shelter. This is a pleonasm (or, a redundancy)—it is used to call attention to the subject under discussion. When the same thing is described with a positive and a negative, yet, for all intents a purposes, the author has just said the same thing twice, then he is intensifying what is said or repeating for emphasis. As a teacher, I often have to repeat the same concept. So that I don't get too bored and so that my students can understand things from a different viewpoint, I will often state the same concept two or three times in a row, but using different words. This helps them to fix what I am saying in their minds.

Exodus 9:19c ...and they shall die.’”

This is the NKJV, and they have moved the phrase for the hail shall come down. There is nothing wrong with them doing that in a translation. However, properly, the final phrase is, ...hail will come down on them and they will die.’ ”

For those animals and people who remain out in the field, they would be struck by hail and they would die.

This is a marvelous test. God has just caused the Egyptian people to suffer a great many losses, which affected a lot of the populace and now he is going to give them a chance to make a choice—will they listen to God or will they remain hard-hearted?

You may wonder, weren’t all of the animals killed off in the 5^th plague? Specifically, the 5^th plague, which was against the livestock of Egypt in particular, was directed against the livestock in the field—the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. So, there may have been animals which were kept in shelters which were not affected by the first plague against them. Secondly, sometimes when we find the word all, it refers to the vast majority of something—in this case, the plague killed off the vast majority of the livestock in the field. Thirdly, there may be some groups of animals which were not affected by the 5^th plague: wild animals (which would be used as food); cattle and, possibly, sheep and goats (although they may have been included in the phrase herds and flocks). In other words, there were additional animals to be killed, both domesticated and wild, which God would kill with the hail and lightning.

Some Egyptians may have heard and heeded this warning from God and took their livestock into whatever kind of shelters that they had for them. Those would have survived. It is possible that some Egyptians became believers as a result of this.

This is an end of a quote within a quote within a quote. All of this began back in v. 13 with God speaking to Moses. All of this is God speaking. The Niobi Study Bible has: And the LORD said unto Moses, "Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him,... Everything from this point forward, to v. 19, is God speaking to Moses. Then we have God telling Moses what to say: And the LORD said unto Moses, "Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him, `Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews... So the quote within the quote will be what Moses is to say to Pharaoh. Finally, v. 13 begins with Moses telling Pharaoh what God is saying to him: And the LORD said unto Moses, "Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him, `Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: Let My people go, that they may serve Me. A quote within a quote within a quote is fairly common in the Bible (more so than in other literature). The reason for this is, God almost always works through intermediaries. Moses is His intermediary, and Moses will speak to Pharaoh; God will speak to Pharaoh, but only through Moses.

Exodus 9:19 Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home; and they shall die.’”

This is whatever livestock which they still have that is alive; God is giving the Egyptians a very important option here: if they believe the words of God, then they can preserve their livestock. Just as Goshen has been spared these plagues, they could turn their home into a safe home, simply by bringing their remaining livestock into shelter. Also, at this point since most of their livestock was killed off by the 5^th plague, they will have enough room in their barns/shelters to preserve all of their remaining livestock.

Let me remind you of what God said to Pharaoh: Exodus 9:14a ...for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart,...

What does Pharaoh have in his heart? Volition! God is giving Pharaoh the chance to make a choice here. Pharaoh could order all of Egypt to bring their livestock under shelter, but he does not. Every man or animal left out would die. The hail would be that bad as to kill anyone out in it.

Therefore, this is a personal warning made to Pharaoh; as well as a general warning to all those who own cattle throughout Egypt. All of Egypt has a choice. They know in advance what the plague would be. 6 times, Moses and Aaron have told the people about the plagues, but, this time, anyone who chooses to can choose to protect his people and his remaining livestock.

Exodus 9:20 He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses.

This is the first indication that there is some positive volition among the Egyptians.

The servants of Pharaoh could refer to his literal servants; but we might better understand this to mean anyone associated with Egypt. In other words, Egyptians and anyone else in Egypt. All Egypt knew what was going on; and some began to believe the Word of God. I believe that these who heeded God’s Word here were believers. They chose to believe God’s Word. They had faced and had been devastated by 6 plagues. This time, God provided them a way out; God gave them a way to express positive volition towards Him and His Word. Now, this does not make them great believers; but it does make them believers, nonetheless. For salvation, faith in the Revealed God is all that is required.

Therefore, God spared the livestock of some Egyptians. All they had to do was obey the Word of God.

Exodus 9:20 He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses.

The word servants can certainly refer to anyone who works for Pharaoh, either as an appointed position or as a slave; but, I suspect that this can refer to Pharaoh’s subjects (that is, citizens of Egypt) as well. Even though Pharaoh did not respect the Word of the Lord, some people in the palace and outside of the palace did. I am going to assume that word got out to those who would respond to the message of the God of the Hebrews.

The term God's Word has always had a double meaning. God is the embodiment of truth and, as such, the Son of God, the visible member of the trinity, Jesus Christ, is called the living Word (John 1:1–3, 12). The written Word of God is that which was spoken by God to man from which we are to learn from and be guided by forever (and to clarify a point, this word does not need to be spoken audibly; so Moses writing narrative and Moses recording the actual words of God is all the Word of God).

Exodus 9:20 He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses.

The word for fear means fear/respect. This allows for the fact that some Egyptians were evangelized by what had happened. So now God will make a distinction between those who fear and respect God's living and written Word and those who do not; in other words, we have Gentile salvation here at the outset of the Jewish nation. In fact, because of the relationship between God and His people the Hebrews, we have Gentile salvation. This was the intention of God in raising up a nation of His own people. The Hebrews were responsible to represent God on earth to man, just as Moses represented God to Pharaoh on earth. This is all a shadow of things to come where the Son of God will represent to man His Father in the heavens.

God the Son is able to represent us before God the Father because He died in our stead for the sins which we have committed (and which we continue to commit).

There are servants who feared God; they heard His Word and they understood it to be a serious warning; and it appears that some Egyptians (we have no idea just how many) began to take the God of the Israelites seriously. When Moses made a pronouncement, Pharaoh and the people of Egypt did not just blow it off as some crazy man pontificating. They heard and respected God’s words—no doubt based upon the plagues that were warned about and brought to bear before—and they decide to not ignore these warnings from God.

The response to the Word of God is an individual choice, a matter of volition. You can have influence over some people—close relatives and children in particular—but people still make their own choices. People make a choice who to allow themselves to be influenced by.

Application: When people watch the news on television (or wherever they get their news from), they generally trust the person or people they choose to listen to. Now, this may be developed over a period of time, or it may begin with the first few times you listen to a news source. In any case, you, the listener, make that choice.

Application: The same thing is true when it comes to going to a particular church or listening to a particular pastor. That you choose to continue to hear them as a matter of volition.

Exodus 9:20 He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses.

The last phrase in this verse is ’el (אֶל) [pronounced el] and it is a preposition of direction and it means into. This is followed by a definite article and the nominative masculine plural of bayith (בַּיִת) [pronounced bay-YITH] and it means houses. So the Egyptians, having seen the power of God, are not mercilessly crushed due to Pharaoh's obstinance—they have been offered salvation through faith in the Revealed God (Who is Jesus Christ) and deliverance through obedience to the Revealed God.

Let’s say that during one of these plagues, an Egyptian finds out that these plagues have been affecting Egyptians but not the sons of Israel—what might you do for your family in these circumstances? Ideally speaking, an Egyptian would try to align himself with a Hebrew family; or seek shelter with a Hebrew family. Does that not seem logical, if the God of the Hebrews brings plagues upon Egypt, but these same plagues do not cause any harm to the sons of Jacob? Although this may have occurred, we don’t have any record of it.

Exodus 9:21a But he who did not regard the word of the Lord....

The Bible does not give us any percentages or even suggest or imply any percentages of those who feared the Word of God as over against those who did not. I would guess that those who feared God were small in number, but significant, because every person is significant to God.

We may reasonably assume that what God had to say was quickly broadcast throughout the land by word of mouth (Apple not quite having developed the iphone at this time); and this pronouncement by Moses was spread quickly throughout the land. The people of Egypt now took sides. Given that they were probably spread out, I don’t think that there were political battles going on; but each man made a decision for his family and his family’s resources (that is, their livestock), and some brought their servants and livestock into safety and others left them out there, in defiance of the Hebrew’s God.

As an aside, during the time of Joseph, all of the livestock became the property of Pharaoh. We do not know if this continued or was still a fact at this point. My guess is, all that remained of this ancient status was the 20% tax which Joseph levied on the people (you may recall that Joseph did not provide this grain for free, but charged for it).

We are in the midst of the plague of hail. God told Moses what to expect and He provided a way through this plague for the Egyptians. As a result, the people of Egypt took divergent paths. When God warned them (through Moses) to bring their animals inside, some did and some did not.

One of the new wrinkles mentioned in this plague is, some Egyptians would take what God says seriously. They would act in accordance with the warning. If that has occurred before, we are unaware of it. This may help to explain why more time is given over to the revelation of this plague.

Exodus 9:20 He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses.

This refers back to the Egyptians who took seriously the word of the Lord. What we have here is the masculine singular, Qal active participle (with the definite article) of yârêʾ (יָרְא) [pronounced yaw-RAY]. The form of the verb means, the one who fears, the one who is afraid; the one exhibiting fear-respect, the one having reverence [a reverential respect]. Strong’s #3372 BDB #431. This is a verb which acts a descriptive noun. This verbal noun describes those who obeyed the Word of God. They feared God; and they respected Him. Therefore, they preserved their servants and their animal stock.

V. 20 is about the Egyptians who believed God (servants of Pharaoh being the citizens of Egypt). V. 21 speaks of those who defied the Living God.

Exodus 9:21a But he who did not regard the word of the Lord....

In this verse and the previous we have a common grammatical difference between those who believe in Jesus Christ and those who do not. This is all but lost to us in the translations, even though the translations often make an attempt to translate this difference. We have two kinds of Egyptians, those who are fearing the Word of Yahweh (the Qal active participle of yârê’) and those who are not setting their heart upon the Word of God (the Qal active participle of sûwm and the direct object lêb). Therein is not the contrast; the contrast is in their actions which follow.

In v. 20, those who keep fearing God's Word cause their slaves to flee [to shelter]. The verb is the Hiphil perfect of nûwç (נוּס) [pronounced noos] and their slaves are caused (Hiphil stem) to flee—perfect tense, completed action. Salvation and the results of salvation are a completed process. Once we believe in Jesus Christ, no matter what we do, we cannot lose the salvation which God provided for us on the cross by judging His Son our stead.

Those who did not regard the word of Y^ehowah (literally, did not set his heart on the word of Y^ehowah), did something else...

Exodus 9:21b ...left his servants and his livestock in the field.

The one who does not apply is heart to God's Word (which is a different set of words, but again, a Qal active participle) follows his unbelief with action: the Qal imperfect of ʿâzab (עָזַב) [pronounced ģaw-ZA^BV] and it means to leave, to forsake, to desert. The imperfect tense means that they continued to forsake their slaves and cattle out in the field.

They did not place their hearts on the Word of God; so they did not take these words spoken by Moses seriously. There are many atheist groups of different sorts throughout the world, and most of them ignore what is in the Bible. Some actively repudiate it. Some make fun of it. When something seems like it makes sense (for instance, the Ten Commandments), they say, “Well mankind came up with these basic rules long, long before Moses did.” Or, “Any thinking human could have come up with a similar set of over-arching principles.” But, they didn’t. These fundamental laws were laid down by God—and these commandments are clearly seen as separate from their many applications (which we will study). These fundamental commands for interaction with God and for the interaction of men cannot be found so succinctly stated anywhere else, except as spoken by the Lord, as recorded in the Bible (yes, I am fully aware of the Code of Hammurabi).

As an aside, the Code of Hammurabi is a set of 282 laws (34 of which have been lost to history). #2 on this list of laws is: If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser. Is that somehow supposed to be comparable to the Ten Commandments?

Primarily, what these laws of Hammurabi have in common with the Mosaic Law (including the full list of commandments) is, they are ancient and they are laws for a society. No doubt there are some similarities between these sets of laws (for instance, stealing and murder are both presented as wrong things in both sets of laws).

Exodus 9:21b ...left his servants and his livestock in the field.

When we oppose God's Word, when we do not apply God's Word, when we do not set our hearts upon God's Word, our actions have very negative consequences. It was cruel for many Egyptians to leave their slaves and their cattle out in the field, thereby causing them to be killed by the hail. Their negative volition resulted in a continuous action (imperfect tense) of the deaths of their possessions. It is not that they had no regard for their slaves—at the very worst, their slaves were valuable property to them. But their negative volition toward God's Word automatically causes people to do things which can be quite cruel. What I mean is, they did not leave their slaves and cattle out in the field with the intention of killing them; that was simply the promised result of not heeding God's Word. It had the exact same effect upon the slaves and the cattle had they done this with the intention of having them be killed.

The exact same thing happens today. Let me give you a clear example. An unbelieving parent will not take his child to church. This unbelieving parent might feel a strong love for his child, but the result of this unbelief is, the child will never hear God's Word at an early age that he might never have the chance to believe unto salvation and, as a result, spend eternity in the lake of fire. This parent has, in effect, deserted his own child out in the field before a terrible hail storm. It is not intentional cruelty—no parent when they realize that absolute horror of the lake of fire would ever want their children to spend eternity there, but their actions can have that same result.

These signs and wonders that we have been studying have evangelized the entire world, and there were some in Egypt who were also evangelized. It was be easy to spot those who have trusted in Y^ehowah and fear Y^ehowah—they will be the ones who still have live servants and cattle. To heed the warning of Moses required some trust—that trust being placed in the God of Moses.

Egypt is known for having very little rainfall. The coast of Egypt receives the most rain, which averages approximately eight inches a year; and you don't have to go very far inland before that drops to less than two inches per year. Not only is God telling them that there will be a storm, but it will be a deadly hail storm; an extremely rare event. This is such an unusual event, so out of the ordinary (as some perhaps have never even seen a hail storm in their entire lives), that it requires some serious trust in God's Word to perform the action which protects their slaves and their cattle. On the other hand, these Egyptians have just been subjected to six plagues, unlike anything that the people of Egypt have ever seen before. So they had objective proof that Moses is a man to be heeded.

Exodus 9:21 But he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field.

There is judgment for the unbeliever; particularly those who defied that Lord. There are two ways we should understand the use of the word servants here. Back in v. 20, it refers to citizens of Egypt; but in v. 21, it refers to the literal servants of the servants (citizens) of Egypt. There were likely people who had servants who saw to their livestock and lived outside most of the time (or all of the time). If they were left out in this hail storm, they would die.

There are people who, when they hear and understand the Word of God, will choose to do the exact opposite; or choose to act in opposition to His Word. This is how negative volition works.

Exodus 9:22a Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven,...”

Few people appreciate the theatrics of God, apart from Cecil B. Demille, who made every effort to duplicate these theatrics on the big screen, without attempting to add too much of his own point of view or without attempting to exaggerate the occurrences of the chapters.

This is certainly going to take place with Pharaoh watching (an assumption that I am making here); but the idea was to associate Moses, an emissary from God, with the judgments that he has warned Pharaoh about.

Moses is not causing any of these miracles to occur. That is God’s domain. He is simply pointing to where everyone should look—and before a crowd of people (even a small crowd), this is a very theatric gesture that Moses makes.

Exodus 9:22a Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven,...”

Like the previous plagues, there is not a complete narrative of all that takes place. There is enough information given so that we know what God wants (for Israel to be sent out), what Pharaoh will not do (release Israel); and that the result will be a judgment on Egypt, which Moses and Aaron have warned about.

Notice that Aaron is not wielding the staff, but Moses. This is all very demonstrative, which was the way to convey what was going on in the ancient world. God wants as many as are within eyeshot to see Moses stretching his staff toward the heavens, which action will precede a hail storm unlike any hail storm in the history of Egypt.

Exodus 9:22b ...that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt—...”

The warning of this hail storm has been issued (vv. 18–19); and now, before whatever Egyptians are there, Moses raises up his staff. Probably to many there, watching Moses, this seemed ridiculous. Hail storms were rare in Egypt; probably lifetime-rare.

God is speaking to Moses about the 7^th plague/judgment, which is hail.

Exodus 9:22a-b Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt—...”

God gives Moses specific instructions of what to do to bring the hailstorm on. Obviously, God brings the hailstorm to Egypt; but there had to be some theatrics attached to it, as Moses was speaking (and acting) for God. Pharaoh and many Egyptians need to see with their own eyes Moses’ actions which precede the hail storm.

There is a reason for all of the theatrics. God just doesn’t do stuff because it seems cool to do; but He makes it clear that He is acting through Moses (and Aaron), so that when they pronounce God’s judgment, people listen, and some of them do what God asks of them. People are clearly able to identify God’s man on the ground.

Exodus 9:22c ...on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.”

The end result of Pharaoh refusing to send out the sons of Israel will be the great hail storm upon all Egypt. Whatever is left out in the open will be destroyed by this great hail.

One minor note of interest: there does not appear to be a warning about the plants (but what could be done?). When the hail comes down, it not only killed both men and animals, and it would have destroyed all of the crops as well. This is the first mention of that.

Exodus 9:22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt—on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.”

Moses speaks the Word of God as he raises up his staff towards heaven (it is not clear whether Aaron speaks or has a role at this point). Moses does whatever God has told him to do in order to point to the sign that he warned the Egyptians about.

This hail would come down on anyone and anything which was not covered. The hail would be so devastating as to destroy everything out in the open. Furthermore, the storm would be quite extensive—throughout all the land of Egypt. That would be a massively large hailstorm.

So, a warning has been issue to the Egyptians and some obeyed that warning and some did not. Now let’s view the individual steps of v. 23:

Exodus 9:23a And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven;...

God told Moses to stretch out his hand towards the skies, but Moses stretches out his rod against the heavens. I do not think that this is an act of disobedience, but Moses understanding what God wants—all of this is quite theatric, and that draws in his audience and sets up a connection between what he does and what God causes to happen.

Moses is not acting as if this is his power; he is making known that this is from God; that this is a judgment from God.

Exodus 9:23b ...and the Lord sent thunder and hail,...

Moses, God’s chosen spokesman, stretches out his rod towards the heavens, and, as a result, God brought down thunder and hail from the skies.

At this point, with Moses lifting up his staff towards the sky, it would make sense for the thunder to begin. Moses has to get to shelter; Pharaoh needs to get to shelter; so I would assume that the storm began, with a lot of thunder, and some smaller balls of hail beginning to come down. Everyone who watched Moses would have immediately ran for cover.

Although technically, there could have been time between Moses lifting up his staff towards the sky and the hail falling, I would suggest that is not what happened. Obviously, everyone there needed enough time to run for shelter; and that amount of time was certainly given (10 minutes, perhaps?).

Exodus 9:23c ...and fire darted to the ground.

Fire—which I assume is lightning—is also brought down upon the earth. There certainly are storms with thunder, lightning and hail—often very severe storms.

The wording here is interesting. Moses was one of the most intelligent men who has ever lived; and one who had the proper training in all fields to develop this intelligence. However, it is possible that he did have a word for lightning. The word which is used here is the common word for fire, found several times throughout the Bible. This hail storm with lightning was such a rare occurrence in Egypt that it is possible that they did not have a special word for it. Moses, being raised Egyptian and then living out in the desert, had no reason to know a word for lightning.

Likewise, the Hebrew word which I have translated thunderings is the nominative masculine plural of qôl (קֹל) [pronounced kole], which means a voice, a sound. It is used of the human voice, of human speaking, of praises and outcries to God. There was not a specific word in the Hebrew for thunderings, as this was not an occurrence which was described very often. Therefore, Moses borrowed this word and used it in context to mean thunder.

Exodus 9:23a-c And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground.

Logically, the thunder would begin right after Moses raises up his staff and gives the warning. It is even possible that some non-deadly hail fell. The way I see this playing out is, after Moses raises up the staff (which is after he gives the warning), there is thunder which carries on—perhaps for an entire day. There may be some hail storms, but nothing which is deadly. There is lightning from the sky. Time is given for people to find out what has happened, and for people to respond or resist to God’s warnings.

Let me suggest further that, had this storm simply occurred, many people would have brought their slaves and their livestock under shelter, but there is the added dimension that Moses has said, “You must do this or God will destroy those who are left outside.” So it is quite possible that there were Egyptians, who would have normally paid attention to the storm signs, but chose not to, because Moses warned them that his God would bring this to pass.

Exodus 9:23d And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt.

Hail pours down on the land of Egypt just like it is rain. My guess would be, few people have ever experienced hail like this—perhaps no one since then?

Baseball-sized hail does exist; but the idea of a hailstorm in Egypt seems rather farfetched.

Exodus 9:23 And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt.

If you carefully read v. 23, it may become apparent exactly how this series of events played out. First Moses stretched out his rod towards head, and God produced thunder, hail and lighting. However, none of it is deadly. Time is given to the people of Egypt to respond to Moses’ warnings. Then, Y^ehowah rained down hail on the land of Egypt. This second reference to hail is to the deadly hail which God sent. So God sent a terrific hailstorm to Egypt, where there was thunder and hail and lightning. But this was not deadly. However, then there came the deadly hail—it fell from the sky just like rain. It was intense and it happened all over Egypt.

I want you to reread v. 23 and see if you notice anything unusual about this verse. My guess is, you did not see it; so let me tell you what stands out: Moses is not speaking. In pretty much every judgment, Moses tells Pharaoh what God wants, and then he tells Pharaoh what is going to happen; and then Moses uses his staff in some way to begin the next plague.

Why isn’t Moses speaking? He does not have to. He already issued a warning to Pharaoh. He already said, “You have 24 hours to secure your animals and servants because God is about to bring on a hailstorm like you have never seen before.”

So, with v. 23, Moses returns to Pharaoh, or, more likely, stands out in front of the palace of Pharaoh, and lifts up his staff to the heavens. He does not have to say anything because he has already issued the warning, a day (or whatever) earlier.

Exodus 9:24a So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail,...

We have in these two verses what appears to be a lot of repetition, with hail, fire (lightning) and thunder; but I think the idea of the repetition indicates first the beginning of the storm, which is safe to be in; followed by a very intense and destructive storm—which storm is deadly.

The second verb is a bit more difficult than most. It is the Hithpael participle, feminine singular construct of the verb lâqach (לָקַח) [pronounced law-KAHK] generally means to take. However, it is only found twice in the Hithpael—here and Ezek. 1:4, both in connection with lightning during a storm. Many translators opt for a meaning far removed from the common root word and believe it to mean flashing continually, or words to that effect. Some have been able to construct a meaning true to its original meaning. Many translators translate this words as catching a hold of itself; that is, the lightening flashes and it is immediately followed by another burst of lightning; as though one came down, but on the way, grabbed another bolt of lightning, which in turn grabbed another bolt of lightning before it completely left heaven.

My assumption here is, the fire being spoken of is lightning. There are storms and there are storms. I have personally seen hail on a few occasions—nothing too large or dangerous—but my understanding is, such hailstorms exist and some of them come with lightning and thunder.

Texas-sized hail (photos); from facebook field with hail; hand holding hailstones; accessed April 10, 2019. This is apparently golf ball-sized hail. That in itself could be quite destructive.

In order to destroy trees and kill animals, the hailstones sent by God had to be considerably larger than this golf ball-sized hail.

Exodus 9:24b ...so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

Recall that Moses was privy to the historical records in the land of Egypt—his studies in the palace as a young man likely included some meteorological matters. He was being groomed to rule over the land of Egypt. His duties as the king over Egypt would deal day in and out with crop production, animal husbandry, flood control and building projects. All of these areas are dependent upon the weather. So Moses knew something about the weather in Egypt—he knew, for instance, how many inches per years it rained in the various areas; he knew how often storms and rains came to Egypt. He knew the worst that could be expected; he knew the likely length of the average storm; he knew how often storms caused the Nile to overflow. And he knew in particular that in the entire time that Egypt had been a nation, keeping copious records of all things including the weather patterns. Moses also knew that there had never been a storm like this in Egypt before.

Exodus 9:24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

What is being described is an horrendous hailstorm with lightning. This is the worst hailstorm in the history of Egypt.

We are in the midst of the plague of hail.

Exodus 9:23–24 And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

This, which, like the previous plague, appears to be a natural occurrence, but one very unusual for that part of the world. Moses spends a great deal of time on this judgment. Of the 3 plagues found in Exodus 9, Moses spends the most time on this one.

Having lived in Texas for quite a number of years, we take terrible storms for granted, although our hail storms are certainly not this destructive. But just as we will gab about a tremendous storm for hours with our co-workers; similarly, Moses cannot get over it and keeps repeating that this was an incredible storm with great bolts of lightning; one which followed another, one right after the other. Even though this is God's inspired Word, it is still written by the man Moses and the ferocity of this storm was one of the most incredible sights that he had ever seen.

Some people are deathly frightened by storms. One of this magnitude would be an awesome spectacle, and one which certainly would capture one’s attention.

Moses is possibly enjoying this storm. He knows why the storm has been conjured up by God; he knows that God is in complete control of the storm—so Moses has the opportunity to sit back and watch it like fireworks on the 4th of July. There are a great many events which, if we were not related to the God of the universe, would be frightening an difficult to endure. However, with little more than normal precautions, a Christian can derive a great deal of pleasure and enjoyment from an intense storm. However, I am not encouraging you to stand out in the middle of a flat field during a lightning storm.

Application: There are a great many circumstances in your life which, for all intents and purposes, feel to you like a massive hail storm coming down on you. So often, you do not see an escape or a solution. But, bear in mind, every storm in life is known by God; and some of them may find their origins in God. We need not fear them.

Application: So that there is no misunderstanding, God gives us free will and He gives us various resources. We apply these things and common sense to what life throws us. So, if there is an evacuation order given for your neighborhood, you do not ignore it because God will protect you. Sometimes, that evacuation order is God protecting you. You may think it is great faith to stay in a home certain to be flooded; but sometimes, that is arrogance more than it is faith. It is okay to consider the circumstances of life and make a decision based upon those circumstances. We live on this earth and we are subject to the various circumstances which are a part of living on earth.

Application: There will be times when you act with common sense and foresight and you suddenly find yourself in desperate straits—God knew about those straits in eternity past and He has a plan for you in those circumstances.

Application: In life, you will find out that, the most important thing for you to know is Bible doctrine. Then, when you are faced with some difficult decisions, you have a divinely constructed framework from which to make those decisions.

Back to our narrative:

Exodus 9:25a And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt,...

The hailstorm, like the other plagues of Egypt, has to occur throughout all of Egypt. This is the only way that all the people know that this is God’s power.

The destructiveness of this hail storm is repeated in a number of different ways, emphasizing just how devastating that it was. Everything which was outside was destroyed by this hailstorm.

Exodus 9:25b ...all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck...

All of the men, all of the animals, and all of the plants were struck down by hail. The men and animals not under shelter were killed and the plants destroyed.

Exodus 9:25c ...[even] every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

The hail is so destructive that it destroyed trees.

In the area in California that I grew up in, pea-sized hail was perhaps the largest that we had (which I personally witnessed). In Texas, I have heard of, but luckily have never seen, golf ball sized hail to larger, which is extremely destructive. Here we are very likely talking about grapefruit-sized hail, one or two of which would knock down and possibly kill a large animal. In terms of plants, the hail was so heavy and so continual that it that it destroyed entire trees.

The use of the word all here means that the greater part is referred to. This figure of speech is called synecdoche [pronounced syn-EK-do-kee] of the genus. A synecdoche is very similar to a metonymy. A metonymy refers to the exchanging of two similar nouns, a synecdoche refers to the exchanging of two similar ideas. There are four basic types of synecdoches: the synecdoche of the genus (where the genus is put in for a species—Exodus 9:25 23:3, 26); the synecdoche of the species (where the species is put in for the genus—Isa. 53:12 Dan. 12:2); the synecdoche of the whole (where the whole is put in for the part—Exodus 20:12 Deut. 29:5 Zech. 5:3); and the synecdoche of the part (where the part is put in for the whole—Gen. 6:12 1Sam. 19:24). Each of these is further subdivided into a half a dozen sub-categories each. The verses quoted will be covered in exegesis as we come to them.

Moses and the Great Storm over Egypt (a graphic); from WordPress; accessed May 5, 2020.

Exodus 9:25 And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

The hailstorm has destroyed everything. Anything out in the open was destroyed or killed. The hail was so strong as to destroy trees. So this had to be baseball sized hail; or possibly larger.

Exodus 9:26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.

There is nothing random here. The Egyptians who have rejected God left their animals and servants out in the fields, and they were destroyed; yet the people in Goshen were not harmed as there was no hailstorm there.

As we saw, there were some Egyptians who listened to these warnings, and they brought their servants and animals in before the storm.

Some people might have a hard time with this, particularly those from huge valleys. In the California area, if it is raining relatively hard in Sacramento, then it will be raining up and down the entire valley for two hundred miles in all directions. However, in Houston, the storms can be quite specific. During a half hour drive to work, I have driven from good weather into a severe storm, back into good weather and then into a severe storm again, all within 15 miles of one another. Here we have a storm which surrounds Goshen, yet does not penetrate God's protection in Goshen. We as Christians are under the same wall of fire that Israel enjoyed here. We are God's chosen people and God protects us and often those around us during the most horrendous of crises.

Having lived in Texas for the past 40+ years, I have seen just how specific storms can be. It is not unknown here for one area to get 50 inches of rain and a community right next to it to get 30 inches of rain in a massive storm (I am thinking of Hurricane Harvey). I have driven down a freeway, where one side of the freeway was being rained upon; and the other side of the freeway was dry. This continued for about a mile of stretch down the freeway.

God did not allow the hailstorm to destroy the people or livestock in Goshen, where the Hebrew people lived. Judgment came only to those who did not believe the God of Moses. Those who trusted the Word of God among the Egyptians brought their livestock and slaves under shelter and thereby preserved them.

This hailstorm was so powerful, even Pharaoh began to rethink his position.

Exodus 9:27a And Pharaoh sent...

When this verb is used, the object is often implied. Here, Pharaoh sends messengers to Moses and Aaron.

We find this verb to send used over and over in this chapter. What God wants is for Pharaoh to send His people out of Egypt. What we have is, Pharaoh is doing a lot of sending, but without sending the people of God out of his land.

Exodus 9:27b ...and called for Moses and Aaron,...

Perhaps there was a break in the storm. When observing the break, Pharaoh sent his messengers out to find Moses and Aaron. We do not always know how Moses and Aaron found Pharaoh each and every time; but we know on some occasions, Pharaoh simply called for them to come to him. He would send out messengers to find and summon them.

This was likely an intermittent storm, as many are. It would storm horrendously for several hours, then there would be respite. It would storm again, then an hour of quiet. During a period of quiet, Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aaron and pours out his soul to them. He confesses that he has been wrong and I think that we could safely conclude that he feels bad because he continually backs the wrong horse (that is, his own negative volition).

Exodus 9:27c ...and said to them, “I have sinned this time.

Once Moses and Aaron arrive, Pharaoh speaks to them. “I have clearly sinned against God this time,” is the gist of what Pharaoh said to them.

Does Pharaoh feel this emotionally or is he just saying these words? I would not be surprised if Pharaoh’s emotions are strong and deep. Remember when Judas took money for betraying Jesus, he realized that he had betrayed an innocent man, and he deeply regretted his action (to the point of committing suicide). That is clearly great emotional regret.

Exodus 9:27d The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked.

Pharaoh recognizes that he has sinned against God; that he has done exactly the opposite of what God has told him to do. The problem is not just with Pharaoh, but with his people. Y^ehowah is righteous; and Pharaoh understands himself to be sinful, corrupt and lawless.

Interestingly enough, whereas God recognized some Egyptians as believing Him (v. 20); Pharaoh does not appear to know this, and he classifies himself and all of his people as being wicked.

I would think that Pharaoh was angry with himself to have been given these warnings about his own livestock—warnings which were given to the people of Egypt through various means—and yet, most of them ignored the warnings. In fact, much of Egypt defied God’s warnings. As a result, most of their cattle were destroyed.

For several days Pharaoh has observed the destruction of a storm as he has never seen before. He has been told time after time that such and such a plague will occur and then the plague occurs. When the Hebrews are specifically singled out as being protected from the plague, he sends his men to verify that. He is sincere, he appears to be repentant, and he is confessing his sins to Moses. He is probably quite distressed right now. But, what Pharaoh has not done yet is to put his faith in Yahweh, the God of Israel. He recognizes that Yahweh is righteous and powerful. There are millions of people, if pressed, would agree that Jesus Christ is (and they would say was) a good man, possibly even a prophet of God. Unfortunately, most of these people will spend eternity in the lake of fire, where the worm does not die (Mark 9:44, 46, 48). One’s faith must be placed in Jesus Christ in order to be saved; and in the era of Moses, one must place his faith in the Revealed God, the God of Israel.

Exodus 9:27 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked.

This hailstorm—unlike any storm ever experienced by the people of Egypt—essentially destroyed the economy of Egypt—even beyond what had happened already. The Pharaoh was able to look out and survey enough of the damage to understand this.

Pharaoh decides that there is no reason to resist the God of Moses and Aaron any further (an emotional decision which he will go back on).

Remember that God had warned that this particular plague (along with the plagues that follow) would strike Pharaoh quite personally. So this hailstorm was particularly destructive to Pharaoh’s holdings (and probably to the livestock of those closest to him).

Now, if I were to make a guess, it would be that Pharaoh had many agricultural holdings, as a result of the actions that Joseph took some 400 years previous. Pharaoh’s land and crops would have been destroyed, along with all of his livestock (and you can bet that he left his livestock and slaves outside, not heeding Moses’ warning).

However, at this point, Pharaoh is backing down—at least temporarily.

God brought a judgment against Egypt.

Exodus 9:25 And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

Everyone and every beast left out in the field in Egypt died, being pummeled by hail.

Exodus 9:26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.

The Hebrew people in Goshen did not have to worry about bringing their animals inside, as there was no hail at all in Goshen.

Exodus 9:27 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked.

Pharaoh is concerned about what he did; and there are many slaves and livestock which have died over the past day or so (however long the hail storm lasted). Here in Texas, we have some pretty big hailstorms; but they tend to last for minutes rather than hours. We have no idea the length of time that this hail storm lasted, but the damage is clear.

Exodus 9:28a Entreat the Lord,...

Pharaoh continues speaking to Moses. He knows that Moses and Aaron are a conduit to the Lord; and he knows that the cursing of his people can only be stopped by going to the God of Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh asks for Moses to intercede for him. He wants the hail to stop permanently.

Exodus 9:28b ...that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough.

There is apparent a respite from the massive hail storm; and that it could all start up again. Pharaoh recognizes that the thundering and hair all comes from the God of Moses and Aaron.

By what Pharaoh says, it sounds as if this is the end of it. He says, “For it is enough.” It certainly appears the Pharaoh sincerely regrets standing against Moses. Pharaoh asks for the God of Moses to end it.

Exodus 9:28c I will let you go,...”

Pharaoh here appears to agree to what God has demanded. “I will send you all out,” he promises. There are no caveats at this point.

The word to release, to send out has a cohortative conjunction, although in some contexts expresses a wish or a desire, here its meaning is that this is being done under compulsion. Pharaoh is saying this apparently because he believes that that he has no other choice.

Exodus 9:28d ...and you shall stay no longer.”

He tells Moses and Aaron, “You no longer will be required to remain here in Egypt.” It would appear to anyone hearing these words that Pharaoh is at the end of his rope and he recognizes God’s great power. It sounds as if Pharaoh suggests a permanent exit from Egypt.

Notice the contrast between this verse and v. 16. In v. 16, God has allowed Pharaoh to take a stand; to remain on earth, rather than to be quietly cut off (the word used was the Hiphil perfect of ‛âmad). Here, Pharaoh used the Qal infinitive construct of the same word. This construction means that this action would be simultaneous with or soon after the action of the main verb (release) and the infinitive, with the lamed prefixed preposition denotes purpose, result, explanation, or (as in this case) an imminent event. If Pharaoh releases the people, then they no longer stand in Egypt. Pharaoh releasing the people carries with it the intent that they no longer stand in Egypt.

Exodus 9:28 Entreat the Lord, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”

This sounds very much as if this storm frightened Pharaoh and that he appears still to be in a state of fear. He calls in Moses and Aaron and asks them to speak to God. He wants this storm ended.

Pharaoh asks for it to stop. He asks Moses and Aaron to speak to God and for these storms to end. Once again, he is a beaten man.

Obviously, there must be some letup in the storm, enough for Pharaoh to get a message to Moses; and the ability of Moses and Aaron to return to wherever Pharaoh is (the palace or wherever) in order to hear him out. It is very likely that all can still hear the thundering; and very possibly, he can even see the hail coming down nearby as well as flashes of lightning. So, it is clear to Pharaoh in the palace that the storm was not going to let up.

Having personally observed some moderately extreme weather, I can testify that, quite often, it can be very specific in where it strikes—so one neighbor can have had great damage, while the person next door might not have any at all.

Exodus 9:27–28 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the Lord, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”

To summarize the past few verses: we see the clear delineation between the sons of Israel and the Egyptians. Hail devastates the land of Egypt, but leaves Goshen untouched.

It also sounds as though the Pharaoh is truly repentant and has regretted his resistence to God. He is using holy language and, very likely, he is using it out of fear. We do not know what is in Pharaoh’s mind. I take him at his word here that he is very concerned about the storm and the destruction. He will say and do anything to make it stop.

Pharaoh appears to be frightened, and he has been sent reeling by the terrific thunder and lightning and hail storm. Few things can be a frightening as a storm of this magnitude; particularly to those who have never seen such a storm before.

In California, where I was raised, we experienced 5-12 inches of rain per year where a storm was a steady day or two of rain; when I later moved to Houston, 50-60 inches of rain each year was the norm and a storm lasting for four hours, would not only deliver the same number of inches of rain as a two-day California storm, but it would be devastating and violent. After one storm in Houston, replete with downburst and wind shear, I recall one street in particular where every other house had a tree on it or in it. Around the corner from where I lived, there was a completely uprooted tree, approximately 70 foot long, laying from end to end on the very peak of a neighbor's two-story house. So, It is easy to understand how such a storm could frighten the Pharaoh of Egypt and fascinate Moses to the point where he repeats over and over again the drama of this storm (in the narrative which he wrote).

Exodus 9:29a So Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord;...

Although I could further break v. 29a into 3 component parts, none of the parts really stands alone. They are all closely related to one another.

Moses again is doing the speaking here. As God wanted, Moses was doing most of the talking with Pharaoh (as he has done in Exodus 8:9–10, 26, 29). Although it is clear the Aaron did the talking before the elders of Israel (Exodus 4:30), and that he apparently spoke directly to Pharaoh in Exodus 5:1, it is not long before God has Aaron using the staff to point towards the signs that God would do (Exodus 7:9–10, 19 8:5–6 etc.). This way, Aaron is not standing there like some 3^rd party with nothing to do. God, out of respect for Moses (and for Aaron), continued to allow Aaron to have a place in all of this.

Pharaoh has indicated great regret in all that he has said and done; and has admitted that he was wrong and that Moses was entirely right. So Moses responds to this. He tells Pharaoh, “I am going to go out of the city and spread out my palms towards Y^ehowah.” This is interesting. Can Pharaoh see this? Will Pharaoh’s eyes follow Moses and will he see this? In any case, where Moses is right now—he is not lifting up his hands to God on behalf of Pharaoh.

There is the possibility that Pharaoh will not see this apart from in the picture painted for him by Moses—and if he cannot see Moses do this, is Moses required to do this? Of course. It is not as if Pharaoh and his inner circle are the only witnesses to the things that Moses does. I would suspect that nearly all the angels of heaven are watching what is going on here. This is really a spectacular series of events.

You have no doubt seen a movie and it builds up to a series of very intense drama (perhaps emotional drama, perhaps a stunning action sequence). This is what is happening for the angels of God, who are watching all of this happen. They observe human history each and every day; but what is happening right here is quite climatic.

Many of use enjoy movies and tv series and now have the ability to see them in our own homes. If you might imagine, God’s angelic creation observes human history very much like we might watch a movie. However, they can place themselves in any point within the action, something that we cannot yet do in a movie.

Exodus 9:29b ...the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail,...

Once Moses appeals to God, the thunder and hail will both stop. The latter portion of this suggests that there will not be hail like this ever again. Moses is still speaking to Pharaoh telling him what was going to happen.

Moses puts a very specific timeline to each plague. The time frame that he gives Pharaoh is the time that it takes for him to go out of the city. Pharaoh knows about how long this will take. When Moses does this, and spreads out his hands, the thunder, lightning and hail will all stop.

No doubt, as Moses is speaking, thunder can still be heard; flashes of lightning may be visible from where they are. There may be the sound of hail striking the palace (if that is where they all are).

Exodus 9:29c ...that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s.

God controls the thunder, lightning and the hail as well. All of this is God’s domain.

Nowhere does Moses seem discouraged, nor does he seem taken in by Pharaoh's continual change of mind. A few weeks previous, Pharaoh promising to allow the Hebrews to leave and then reneging on that promise might have been a problem. By this time, Moses recognizes that God is in control of the universe and that Moses and the Hebrews are under His protection and guidance. Moses has developed a great faith in God during these experiences.

You may think that you would too, if you were faced with signs and wonders as this. However, that is not necessarily true. Aaron was with Moses the entire time, yet we will see him fail big time in the desert. He will participate in idolatry—this is the same Aaron who is an immediate witness to all of these miracles and likely still accompanies Moses to

the palace to speak to Pharaoh. The Hebrews themselves—who see all of the great acts of God with their own eyes—will yet be a grumbling, faithless generation that God will have to kill off via the sin unto death. Their sons and daughters, many of whom did not witness these events, will have the spiritual wherewithal to go into the land take it. This simply tells us that we are not blank slates which are completely controlled by the events which take place in our lives.

Seth — Egyptian God of Storms and Disorder (a graphic); from Wikipedia; accessed April 25, 2018.

No Egyptian god will come forward and deliver Egypt, as their gods are but figments of their imagination. Only God can deliver Egypt from His wrath. God is able to cause this great storm; Seth, the god of storms and disorder, can do nothing to stop God because he is nothing.

So far, Egypt was troubled by the plague of a massive hail storm. Pharaoh appears as though he is ready to give in to Moses.

The plague of hail and fire (The Phillip Medhurst Picture Torah 337); from Wikimedia; accessed May 5, 2020.

Exodus 9:27–28 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the Lord, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”

Exodus 9:29 So Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s.

All of the thunder and hail will cease when Moses calls for that to happen, with the purpose that Pharaoh recognize that God controls these things on earth. The plagues do not simply run their own course and disappear; God starts them up and God ends them. The things that Moses says and does make that clear.

Throughout all of these plagues, God makes it perspicuous, by the actions of Moses (and sometimes Aaron), that He controls each plague from beginning to end. That is why God requires some theatrics from Moses. This always allowed those who saw Moses, tell other people, with great enthusiasm (or with great dismay), “Moses lifts his staff into the air and...” whatever plague promised would then happen. Recall that Moses (or Aaron) did several different things: the staff was brought crashing down on the earth; it was lifted up in a specific direction, ashes were gathered and thrown into the air, etc. So, when a plague’s beginning was described by one who was there, the one telling about always started with, “And Moses...”

Exodus 9:30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear the Lord God.”

This time, Moses recognizes, “You are not there yet. You tell me that we can leave; you plead with me to ask God to remove this judgment; but you are not there yet.” Even though the plague would be devastating and it would clearly do damage to that which belonged to Pharaoh and to his people, Pharaoh would continue to resist God to the end.

Moses has told Pharaoh what he is going to do, but then he adds this: “Listen, I know that you do not honestly fear God at this point; neither do your servants.”

Even I, at this point, wanted to believe Pharaoh; and to think that he is convinced. I want to take him at his word. Moses is less naive than me. However, v. 30 indicates that, despite what Pharaoh is saying, he is not even yet convinced of the power of God; and the same goes for his servants.

Exodus 9:30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear the Lord God.”

Moses has become people-smart. When he was younger, he possibly had it, but remember, he has lived in the desert for forty years with a small circle of family and acquaintances whom he knew quite well. However, since God brought him to Egypt, Moses has gotten to know Pharaoh well enough and he knows God's words well enough to realize that he is being placated. Pharaoh had not really changed his mind about God, Moses and the Hebrews; he was merely trying a new tact.

Moses can see right through him and he tells the Pharaoh as much. Visualize that this conversation is taking place in the midst of the storm, where they can still see and hear it. They may not be physically in the storm, but it can be heard by both men.

In the alternative, Pharaoh may be sincere in the moment, but Moses knows that, as soon as God removes the pressure, Pharaoh will go on back to his old used-to-be. “This sincerity and repentance means very little,” Moses might say, “If you are going to go back on your word as soon as the storm ends.”

What Moses knows is what God has told him. God has clearly indicated that Pharaoh has not yet completely given in. Moses now knows who to believe—no matter what Pharaoh says, Moses knows that God’s words can be trusted.

Next—and this is quite fascinating—Moses gives a few agricultural facts.

Exodus 9:31a Now the flax and the barley were struck,...

What we are being told here is, the Egyptians were very organized in their growing of crops. There are 4 grains spoken of here, and the Egyptians planted them at different times to have them mature at different times of the year. This allowed them to have freshly picked and processed grain throughout much of the year.

However, this year, the flax and barley crops were ruined, because these crops were growing in the field when this storm hit Egypt.

Exodus 9:31b ...for the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud.

The barley being in the head (also translated, ear) means that it was nearly at maturity; and the flax was in the bud, indicating that it had just begun its cycle of producing grain. Because these plants were growing in the fields, they were completely destroyed.

Exodus 9:31 Now the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud.

The flax and barley were completely destroyed by the hail; this year’s crop was gone. So there would be a considerable period of time when there would be no grain for the Egyptians, which could mean starvation for many. Ironically, in their past, Joseph, a Hebrew, has worked out a system of storing this grain so that the people did not starve.

As an aside, remember back to Exodus 5, when we saw the first meeting between Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh? We experienced that meeting from man’s perspective. Pharaoh made a big deal out of withdrawing the straw from his Hebrew slaves, a key ingredient in their making of bricks. These crops—the flax and the barley—all of that straw came from these crops. The grain was preserved and the unused portion was the straw that was used for the bricks. Now, with this great hail, it was all destroyed. The plants would be destroyed before the grain could ripen.

Exodus 9:32a But the wheat and the spelt were not struck,...

There were two other grains grown in Egypt, wheat and spelt. They possibly had not even been planted yet.

Exodus 9:32b ...for they are late crops.

These two crops were planted later than the first two grains. It is possible that they were in the ground; but my guess is, they had not been planted yet; (or, if they had been planted, they may have not germinated yet).

Exodus 9:32 But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are late crops.

The wheat and spelt (whatever that is) could be planted and harvested later. It makes sense that Pharaoh and others considered this. First thing on their minds was, no doubt, food for the country (and themselves, of course).

Apparently, the barley comes in first, then the flax, and after that, the wheat and spelt. These are 4 kinds of grain which may or may not match the names given to them in the English. The Egyptians worked out a timetable on when to plant these various grains. The idea, of course, is to provide there freshest grain for the longest period of time possible; as well as to spread out the work required to grow each grain.

Modern farmers do this all of the time, so that they are harvesting their crops according to when they planted them.

Exodus 9:31–32 Now the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are late crops.

What we read here is an interesting aside. This reveals another area where Moses has great knowledge. Moses was raised up in the palace of Pharaoh, and he would have had a first-rate education. This verse suggests that his knowledge of things agricultural was vast.

I know that corn is in the field and it is planted, it grows, and then it is picked. I know what a corn stalk looks like. I also suspect that there are different kinds of corn which mature more slowly. But that is all that I know about corn or any other vegetable that I eat. Moses, on the other hand, can distinguish the vegetables from their plants, he knows when they ripen, when one is in ear and the others are in flower and when some are just beginning to grow. Moses did not have to even go out to a field to observe this. As training to become the king of Egypt, Moses had an exceptionally wide range of knowledge (something I have previously discussed). He has spent years at the University of Egypt under the very best of private tutors (and, I believe that Moses occasionally had in classes about the people of Israel). Knowledge of the crops would have been central to his study as this was a major part of the economic backbone of Egypt's economy.

Furthermore, this is just one branch of knowledge that he possessed. He was very well-educated in many different fields.

As an aside, Zodhiates Old Testament tells us, that, spelt (or rye) was a wild wheat which, on the one hand was more edible than barley; but on the other, inferior to wheat. Its harvest came after the harvest of the barley and it was difficult to separate it from its chaff. It was from this grain that the Egyptians made their basic bread.

Exodus 9:33a So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh...

What we read here in the NKJV and the Hebrew are somewhat different. This verse begins and so goes Moses... This is followed by 2 prepositions, min (מִן) [pronounced mihn] (Strong's #4480 BDB #577) and ʿîm (עִם) [pronounced ģeem] (Strong’s #5973 BDB #767). Together, these two prepositions mean, from with, beside, from being with, away from, far from, from among, from the possession of, from the custody of, from the house of, from the vicinity of, out of the power of. This is followed by Pharaoh, so this gives us, and so Moses goes out from being with Pharaoh. Then there is another word, ʾêth (אֶח) [pronounced ayth], which is the sign of the direct object. It is usually not translated; but when it is translated, it is rendered, to, toward. Strong's #853 BDB #84. So, despite what your Bible reads, so far, this verse would literally be translated, Moses went out from Pharaoh towards the city.

Moses leaves Pharaoh, but it appears that he walks towards the city and not away from it.

Also, I am not really certain exactly what city we are speaking of. However, it is quite normal for the city of Pharaoh to be the capitol city. It sounds as though Pharaoh’s palace was not in the middle of the city, but on the outskirts (again, I am assuming that this is where Moses and Pharaoh met during the storm).

Exodus 9:33b ...and spread out his hands to the Lord;...

Moses walks towards the city so that people there will observe his actions. I would suppose that Moses is a reasonably well-known figure in Egyptian society by this time. So, when he stretches out his hands toward Y^ehowah, this would be observed by the people there.

The Jewish people were very demonstrative, and part of the reason for this is, sometimes information was conveyed from a distance. For instance, Moses might hold up his staff towards the heavens. Now, people can see this from a distance further away that people can hear Moses.

Exodus 9:33c ...then the thunder and the hail ceased,...

Now, quite obviously, Moses and Aaron are not being harmed by the thunder and hail. There may have even been a respite in the hail or there may simply be no hail around where Moses and Aaron stood. However, when Moses raises up his hands, then all of the thunder, lightning and hail stop. Let me suggest again that this is very theatric and that the cessation would have been sudden.

Exodus 9:33d ...and the rain was not poured on the earth.

There are several ways to understand this: (1) it had not rained at all during this particular plague; or (2) it had rained, but that was not the destructive part of the storm, and, therefore, not really discussed; or (3) this speaks of the hail raining down. I think that (2) is the correct understanding here, as hail is mentioned separately.

Egypt was struck by a hail storm as it had never seen before; and this hailstorm killed any living thing left out in the field; and destroyed Egypt’s crops.

Exodus 9:33 So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth.

Normally, I do not quibble with the NKJV translation. However, here, I would instead translate this...

Exodus 9:33 Moses went out from Pharaoh towards the city. He stretched out his hands towards Jehovah and, as a result, the thunder and hail ceased. No rain has been poured out on the earth. (Kukis paraphrase)

The way that I read and understand this is, Moses has gone to a more public setting in order to raise up his hands to God (which is the reason why I previously went into detail about the Hebrew at this point). Moses would be seen by many to petition God; with the result that the inclement weather suddenly stopped.

I find it interesting that Moses and Aaron are always before Pharaoh, in one place or another, when they bring on the plague; but they seem to go quite a distance away in order for the plague to be removed. I can only guess as to why that is. My first conjecture is, Moses and Aaron cannot do this in the palace, as that would have been considered to be a corrupted structure, from which God would not hear Moses. Or, perhaps some credit would have been given to the itinerant religious illusionists that Pharaoh kept on hand. Or, perhaps Goshen was close and Moses needed to commune with God from Goshen? In this case, right now, it appears as though Moses acts in or near the city (I have assumed it to be the capitol city of Egypt). This would place the palace on the outskirts of the city (assuming that this particular meeting took place in the palace, which seems logical).

Just as Moses had promised, he spread out his hands towards heaven, and the thunder and hail ceased. I believe that the intent was for many in Egypt to see this. Obviously, this horrendous storm would not have been on Moses and Aaron, no matter where they were; and it is possible that they brought with them the only calm in that storm. Therefore, people could still hear the thunder and see the lightning; but it was clear that deadly hailstones were not coming down where Moses and Aaron were. Making a few logical assumptions like this would suggest that, as Moses walked nearer to the city, that the calm of the storm remained with him and around him; and people came out to see what was going on, when they found themselves in the midst of this calm as well. They would have seen Moses raise up his arms towards the heavens, and for the storm all around them to completely and suddenly cease. Moses was clearly connected to the beginning of each plague; but here, he is seen by many as the one who ends the plague (obviously, Moses does not end any plague; I am simply speaking of what people could see).

Moses called upon God to end the storm; and God did. From the safety of his palace, Pharaoh could no longer hear the storm; but it left behind utter devastation.

Moses knows the drill. He simply appeals to Y^ehowah and God removes the plague of the storm forever from the land of Egypt. We know what will happen next: Pharaoh will renege on his promise to Moses.

Although we are not told this here, angels are also observing every move that Moses makes and watching this incredible drama of God's deliverance of the Hebrews. In like fashion, the angels also watch the unfolding of the drama of our lives; they see our spiritual successes and our many failures. Our lives are very instructive to the angels (elect and fallen).

At this point, we have come to the end of the 7^th plague. Moses has just reached out to God to remove it (v. 33).

Exodus 9:34a And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased,...

Ceased is in the perfect tense. The storms have stopped pretty much for good throughout all Egypt.

Pharaoh, like everyone, could hear and then see that the rain, hail and thunder had all ceased. Logically, Pharaoh remained in his palace during the storm until he could hear that it stopped.

Pharaoh also sees a pattern. He notices that when he talks to Moses, the plague is removed and it is never reinstated (I am assuming that he can see that pattern). He was upset and sincere-sounding at first, but now, in retrospect, he realizes that Moses had requested that God stop the storm forever and Y^ehowah has. So Pharaoh will now revert back to his negative volition.

Exodus 9:34b ...he sinned yet more;...

Pharaoh sins again; he returns to the exercise of his negative volition. Pharaoh has no personal character; he does not stand by his word. He sins and hardens his heart; and his servants follow suit. Likely there was even a discussion among themselves after the storm had abated and they decided to go back on their word.

Just as before, when the pressure was removed, Pharaoh went back to his old way of thinking, which was to sin against God. For every plague so far, when the plague was removed, Pharaoh turned against God once again, taking back whatever he had promised.

Exodus 9:34c ...and he hardened his heart, he and his servants.

We do not have a clear subject here; and it is possible that some understand God to be the subject. However, Pharaoh is spoken of here twice as the subject of the verbs. Pharaoh saw...and he sinned again clearly refer to Pharaoh. Therefore, we would understand Pharaoh to be the one to harden his own heart.

To harden is the Hiphil (causative) imperfect of kâbêd (כָבֵד) [pronounced kaw^b-VADE], which means, to make heavy, to be oppressive; make dull, make unresponsive. Strong's #3513 BDB #457.

Pharaoh had a cabinet of advisors. Although we do not know the exact inner dynamic between Pharaoh and his cabinet (nor do we need to), it appears that Pharaoh and his advisors were in agreement with him. They are not going to heed the words of God; they are not going to send the people of Israel out of Egypt. The heart of Pharaoh is hardened and his servants agree with him, making hard (dull, unresponsive) their hearts as well.

Whether some discussion between Pharaoh and his servants takes place or not, we don’t know.

Exodus 9:34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Back in v. 28, Pharaoh appeared to be a beaten and broken man. He could not resist what God required; but, as soon as the pressure was off, he strengthened his resolve against Moses and against God. Furthermore, this was not just Pharaoh, but those who were with him also strengthened themselves against God. It appears that they encouraged one another (which would explain why Pharaoh’s servants are mentioned here).

Perhaps the interaction was something like this: “It’s over, we have survived that storm.” “Yeah, and we’re stronger for it.” “What more can Moses do?” “Nothing, I say.” “Our crops will come back—stronger than ever.” (Obviously, I am speculating here.)

They refused to respect or even recognize God’s power. The hearts of those working in the palace were hardened as well.

The servants of Pharaoh are mentioned nearly two dozen times while these plagues are taking place, but this is the first time God the Holy Spirit records the fact that their hearts are hardened. It is quite likely that they had been siding with Pharaoh all along, but their volition is not mentioned until now. Again, I believe what is being implied is, Pharaoh and his servants encouraged one another to go against God.

Exodus 9:35a So the heart of Pharaoh was hard;...

Pharaoh hardens his own heart here. This simply means that he strengthens his negative volition against God. The verb here is different from the verb in v. 34. It is the Qal imperfect of châzaq (חָזַק) [pronounced khaw-ZAHK], which means, to be strong, to be firm, to strengthen. Strong’s #2388 BDB #304.

Let’s just take a moment and examine the heart:

Pharaoh’s Heart Through the Plagues (a graphic); from Slide Player; accessed May 5, 2020. Bear in mind that there are primarily two different words translated harden in every one of these cases; and that these words are not translated harden apart from this section of the book of Exodus.

I hate to have a 3 week lesson, but this is quite intense and it will take time for it to gel in your thinking.

Exodus 9:33 Moses went out from Pharaoh towards the city. He stretched out his palms to Y^ehowah and (as a result) the thunder and the hail ceased. No rain had been poured on the earth. (Kukis mostly literal translation)

For whatever reason, Moses did not remove a plague while standing before Pharaoh; but the plagues were begun when Moses and Aaron stood before Pharaoh (which event did not always take place in the royal palace).

What Moses does here is theatric and no doubt seen by many people. The inclimate weather came to a sudden end and Moses is seen by the people as the one bringing that to pass (God always works through intermediaries).

Exodus 9:34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart, he and his servants. (NKJV)

We like to think that man, when faced with what must be true, would give in and say, “I believe.” But this is not what happened. Pharaoh, when the inclimate weather was gone, hardened his heart; and so did his servants.

Politics is a wonderful illustration of this. People of one party look at the presidential candidate for the other party (I write this in 2020) and see a plethora of negative aspects. Sometimes, we wonder, why can’t the other side see these things as clearly as I can? Yet, those of the other party can reasonably wonder the exact same thing about us. And, many times, it is not about fundamental moral issues that the voter cannot get over. For instance, I have heard many people speak about Donald Trump’s adulteries, as if this is the greatest betrayal of all. However, one of the most beloved presidents of the Democrat party is Bill Clinton, who had multiple affairs, before, during and (likely) after his presidency. Republicans are supposed to be known for fiscal conservatism, but a balanced budget was delivered up by Bill Clinton (credit also Dick Morris and Newt Gingrich); whereas, President Trump signed a series of irresponsible spending bills that would have made any tax and spend democrat proud. Finding examples of hypocrisy from both parties is perhaps the easiest thing in the world; and yet, if Charley Brown has always voted Democrat, then he is probably going to vote Democrat again in 2020, despite all of the undemocratic things which have already taken place in the Democrat party (and will take place before the election). And if Lucy Van Pelt has always voted Republican, then it is equally likely that she will continue to vote Republican, even though the amount of spending to take place under a President Trump has been breathtaking. That spending is anything but conservative.

Exodus 9:35a So the heart of Pharaoh was hard;...

Here we see the actual mechanics of the "hardening" of Pharaoh's heart. When Pharaoh's heart is made dull [and heavy}, this is what we understand as the hardening of his heart. This is a synonym for scar tissue. This is a build-up of negative volition toward God and God's plan. The strengthening of his heart is the power and fortitude to carry out its desires and wishes. It is Pharaoh who has sinned and has made himself negative toward God. God has both provided him the opportunity to express this negative volition and, on occasion, the strength when necessary to express this negative volition. Pharaoh’s negative volition is a constant; however, he is not always able to express it. When the pressure is too great, Pharaoh relents.

The physical heart is a muscle and muscles are built up and made stronger by using them. For instance, if you are a jogger, you strengthen your heart by jogging. Heart-pumping exercise builds up the strength of the heart; just as Pharaoh’s negative volition is built up and strengthen by using it.

To understand the building up of negative volition, consider some of the various addictions of man: alcohol, drugs, pornography, various sexual addictions. The first time a person takes a drug, he probably enjoys the experience and wants to repeat it. However, the 5^th time or the 10^th time or the 50^th time that he uses that drug, they are addicted (psychologically and/or physically). They need to have that drug as an integral part of their lives at some point, even it is a drug that they say they can stop taking anytime that they want to. (I recall speaking with a drug user about this, and he told me, “I can stop anytime that I want to.” “Why don’t you stop?” I asked him. “Because I don’t want to.”) The same is true of the exercise of negative volition against God. When it is used over and over again, it is strengthened.

Illustration: Another way to view this is, consider the previous presidential election which took place; or, if there is an election coming up, consider it. Very unpleasant revelations have come out concerning one or both candidates. Sometimes, these revelations are very similar to those revealed about a previous candidate from the other party.

Illustration: In 2016, a candidate was thought to have committed a very unsavory act—something which he himself appeared to admit to privately (I do not believe that any accuser came forth). A very big deal was made out of this and he was given many unpleasant nicknames based upon this act. In 2020, the presidential candidate for the other party finds himself accused of doing the exact same thing, by a very credible accuser. These people who cried out fervently about the first candidate are strangely mute regarding their own candidate. They have simply dug themselves in deeper support of their own candidate (not everyone but a considerable number).

Illustration: Politics is such a wonderful illustration. There was a Supreme Court candidate up for confirmation, and he had an accuser of really terrible things which he allegedly had done 30 or 40 years previous. People of the opposite party (those who opposed this man’s nomination) began using the slogan, believe all women. Then, two years later, their own candidate is facing accusations from a woman who appears to be far, far more credible than the accuser of the Supreme Court nominee. Suddenly, that slogan believe all women has disappeared from their basic set of mantras.

I have given these as they stand out to me; but members of both parties are quite guilty of so many things. But supporters of one party just build up tremendous opposition to the other party, and nothing is going to change their minds. This is where Pharaoh was; he could be beat down by any given plague/judgment; but once that plague was gone, he would strengthen himself against God and build up scar tissue against God. Think of Pharaoh as a die hard supporter of one political party, and God being the presidential candidate for the other political party. There is no convincing Pharaoh of God’s power, justice or love.

Pharaoh had some specific negative ideas about the God of the Hebrew people (he would have been aware of this God for much of his life). No doubt, he believed their God to be weak because, the Hebrew people are slaves and the Egyptian people are their rulers. Now, at this point in time, the mistaken notion that the God of the Hebrews is weak—that has been clearly disproven. Pharaoh has witnessed the power of the Revealed God over and over again; and yet, he continues to resist the God of Moses.

The context of what we have been studying is the judgment of hail, which God brought down upon the Pharaoh and people of Egypt. At Pharaoh’s insistence, this plague was removed, Pharaoh promising to let the people go—but, as soon as the plague was removed, Pharaoh withdrew his promise.

Exodus 9:35a is what led us on the examination of scar tissue of the soul. It reads as follows:

Exodus 9:35a So the heart of Pharaoh was hard;...

Having now presented the doctrine of scar tissue, I think that we can understand the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart in two ways (which is based upon there being two different verbs used, one of which is incorrectly translated, to harden): (1) God strengthened Pharaoh’s heart in this way: God allowed Pharaoh enough strength to continue to exercise his negative volition (but God did not make Pharaoh negative towards God). Whereas, some men in the same position would have been beaten down and completely defeated; God gave Pharaoh the strength to carry on. (2) Pharaoh, as he continued to act negatively towards God, continues to build up scar tissue on his soul. Each negative response to God was built upon previous negative responses, allowing Pharaoh to build up a progressively stronger negative volition responses towards God.

A few chapters from now, Pharaoh will allow the children of Israel to go; but he has them followed. At the first sign of perceived trouble, Pharaoh gathers an army to go after them. This is despite all that has happened; despite all the havoc that has been brought down upon Egypt. Pharaoh will chase down the people of Israel, traveling with what remains of his army, and he will go after Israel with the intent of destroying them—not to bring them back as slaves. This is how negative he is towards the people of God. What he wants to do is exactly the opposite of divine viewpoint.

At this point in the narrative(at the end of Exodus 9), God had brought a hail storm upon Egypt as had never been experienced before. Pharaoh begged for the storm to be stopped and agreed to let the children of Israel go (v. 28). But, as soon as the storm was stopped...

Exodus 9:35b ...neither would he let the children of Israel go,...

Much of the conversation between Pharaoh and Moses is not given to us. We have enough of it to know that Pharaoh called to Moses, asked for him to entreat the Lord. Pharaoh even said the Lord is righteous and he and his people are wicked. And, most importantly, he promised to let the people go (vv. 27–28). But, when the storm was ended, Pharaoh goes back on his word.

Because Pharaoh had built up scar tissue on his soul, he rejected the demands of God.

Exodus 9:35c ...as the Lord had spoken by Moses.

More literally, Exodus 9:35c reads: ...just as Y^ehowah has said by the hand of Moses.

This chapter ends on an interesting Hebrewism: ...as Yahweh spoke by the hand of Moses. The Pharaoh was not deaf so that Moses had to give him hand signals. We use our hands to work and to express ourselves. There are some people who would find it very difficult to speak if you tied their hands behind their back.

This is an interesting way to put it. Y^ehowah is not speaking by the mouth of Moses, but by his hand (this is found in the Hebrew of v. 35, but not often translated). The idea is, Moses spoke with more than words to Pharaoh. The things which happened at Moses’ hand testified to his representing the power of God. God worked through Moses and expressed Himself through Moses. Furthermore, God often used the gestures of Moses throughout (such as lifting up his staff, or slamming it against the ground). That is the significance of this phrase.

Exodus 9:35 So the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses [lit., by the hand of Moses].

Pharaoh had promised the children of Israel that they could go; and now his resolve is strong enough to resist that. Despite giving his word, now he would not let the children of Israel go. Again, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened (strengthened); meaning that his resolve against God—his negative volition—was strong. His heart had become dull or obstinate towards God, indicating scar tissue. In some way or another, he makes it known that the children of Israel are not going anywhere.

Pharaoh knows that two crops of grain have been taken out for this season; but there are two more grains still to come in. So, apparently, he places his faith in the grain still to grow. He keeps thinking that the God of Moses can do no more—that he has reached the end of His power (at least, I am assuming that this is what he is thinking).

The completes the 7^th plague, with 3 plagues remaining. This completes Exodus 9, but there are still several chapters to go before Israel actually leaves Egypt.

A Review of Exodus 9, using the Urim Thummim Version, and subheadings from the Niobi Study Bible:

The Fifth Plague: Livestock Diseased

Exodus 9:1 Then YHWH spoke to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, This is what YHWH Elohim of the Hebrews declares, Let My people go that they may serve Me.

Each plague scenario is presented is separate from the others, but there was likely an overlap not ever noted in the text. When Pharaoh refused to send the people of God out after the 4^th plague (Exodus 8:32), it is highly unlikely the Moses and Aaron stood there before Pharaoh, dumbfounded, and exited quickly saying, “Well, then, we have to speak to our God to find out what to do next.” I believe that, most of the time, Moses and Aaron walked into the refusal of Pharaoh with a loaded gun (I am speaking metaphorically). When Pharaoh refused to let the Hebrew people go, then Moses let fly with the next judgment. I don’t believe that he needed to regroup, go back to God and then ask God what to do next.

We do not know what interaction exactly takes place between Pharaoh and Moses when Pharaoh refuses to let the people go, but Moses appears to be ready with God’s next judgment.

The narrative is abbreviated. We will go from God speaking to Moses to God taking action against Egypt. The transitions are almost seamless.

Exodus 9:2–3 For if you refuse to let them go, and will continue to hold them, the hand of YHWH is on your livestock that is in the field, on the horses, donkeys, camels, oxen, and upon the sheep, there will be a very grievous plague of disease.

In our narrative, God is speaking to Moses and Aaron, telling them what to do next. However, we may reasonably assume that Moses and Aaron stand before Pharaoh, and Moses speaks these words.

Pharaoh is warned that all of the animals in the field will succumb to a great plague.

Exodus 9:4 But YHWH will make a division between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and there will nothing die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.

This same plague would not kill off the livestock belonging to the people of Israel. However, any animal belonging to an Egyptian out in the field would die of this plague.

Exodus 9:5 YHWH appointed a set time declaring, Tomorrow YHWH will perform this thing in the land.

As was often the case, God would give Pharaoh some time to consider his actions. For a period of approximately 24 hours, Pharaoh could call Moses back and say, “Listen, there is no reason for this next plague. Start packing and move out.” But he did not.

Exodus 9:6 And YHWH took this action the following day and all the livestock of Egypt died, but of the livestock belonging to the children of Israel, not one perished.

You will take note of how we seamlessly moved from God speaking to Moses (vv. 1–5) to God taking action (which means Moses spoke the words of God to Pharaoh and Pharaoh was unmoved).

Plague of Diseased Livestock - Patagonia (a graphic) from Fox Studios India; accessed May 20, 2020. This brief trailer appears to feature diseased livestock from Patagonia, South America. The 20 second trailer features what appears to be real footage of livestock succumbing to a plague.

Exodus 9:7 And Pharaoh sent, and found there was not one of the livestock of the Israelites dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people go.

When it happened, Pharaoh sent his servants to make sure that the livestock in Goshen was unharmed, just as Moses said—and that turned out to be true. Nevertheless, he chose not to let the people of God go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils

Exodus 9:8 Then YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes from the kiln and let Moses sprinkle it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh.

Throughout these confrontations, Moses and Aaron were always quite theatric in what they did, which was at the direction of God. We do not know if Pharaoh refused Moses and Aaron face to face and they already had ashes in their hands. Or perhaps they had set those ashes in a small heap outside of the palace. Or, they may have exited the palace, gone to a nearby kiln, and then did this. Whatever the events were, I believe that Moses and Aaron knew that Pharaoh would refuse them; and they knew what the next step was. I believe that in most cases (perhaps every time), Moses and Aaron were ready with the next plague. I believe that Moses was ready to pronounce the next judgment of God as soon as Pharaoh said, “No, I have changed my mind; your people cannot go!”

So Moses and Aaron take these ashes and throw them up into the air:

Exodus 9:9 Then it will become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and will be an inflammation breaking forth with blisters upon man and upon beast throughout all the land of Egypt.

Like the narrative of the last plague, it begins with God speaking to Moses and Aaron (vv. 8–9) and immediately transitions into Moses and Aaron going into action (v. 10).

Exodus 9:10 Then they took ashes from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh and Moses sprinkled it up toward the sky, and it became an inflammation breaking forth with blisters upon man and upon beast.

The theatrics before the plague and the plague itself all take place out of doors. Although nothing is said about who is there (besides Moses, Aaron and Pharaoh), we may reasonably assume that there was a crowd of Egyptians of an undetermined size, which likely included Pharaoh’s cabinet.

Unwittingly, they all became the first ones infected. Both the breaking out of the blisters and the communication of what took place probably spread throughout Egypt, the explanation following close behind the outbreak itself.

The Plague of Boils (a graphic); from The Exodus Story; accessed May 20, 2020.

Exodus 9:11 But the diviners could not stand before Moses because of the inflammation, for the inflammation was on all the diviners, and on all the Egyptians as well.

The religious illusionists have not been mentioned for quite awhile, but they are mentioned here (suggesting that they were a part of the regular palace crowd with Pharaoh). However, at this point, they cannot stand before Pharaoh. Whether this means that they did not go into the palace, or they went in, but could not stand up in respect, we don’t know. But, they could not stand.

As a young child, I accidentally stepped into a hole where a recent fire had been, and my entire foot was suddenly encased in burning hot coals. 2^nd and 3^rd degree burns suddenly appeared all over my foot. I had blisters on that foot—perhaps a dozen or two dozen—which were very large boils filled with pus. There was no way that I could walk on that foot. Although the religious illusionists had boils all over their body for a different reason, the end result was the same. Their religious authority was inferior to the power of God.

Despite these boils, rendering most of Egypt immobile for a time, Pharaoh’s heart was still filled with negative volition towards God. Did Pharaoh plead with Moses to take these boils away? Were they removed by God? I would assume so. However, that is not a part of the written narrative. We close out this judgment with the following words:

Exodus 9:12 YHWH hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he would not listen to them as YHWH had spoken to Moses.

In all of this, God gave Pharaoh strength to resist, and Pharaoh resisted. The negative volition was there; but Pharaoh’s inner resolve was waning.

The Seventh Plague: Hail

Exodus 9:13 YHWH spoke to Moses, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, This is what YHWH Elohim of the Hebrews declares, Let My people go that they may serve Me.

For each plague, Moses and Aaron and sent to stand before Pharaoh and give him the two alternatives—let the people of God go or face the next plague.

Exodus 9:14 For this time I am sending all my plagues onto you and on your slaves, and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the land.

Had Moses come before Pharaoh and only a single plague occurred, this would have been amazing, but easily forgotten. However, God will bring 10 judgments upon Egypt, so that His power is clearly unrivaled. There is no god of Egypt that can stand against the God of Moses. Furthermore, all of Egypt is exposed to this narrative and to these judgments.

Exodus 9:15 For now I will stretch out My hand that I may strike you and your people with pestilence; and you will be cut off from the land.

Moses and Aaron tell Pharaoh that God could have brought a single plague of pestilence against the Egyptians, killing almost all of them; and Moses could have easily led the people out. Them being cut off from the land indicates that God could have killed them all, in one single act. However, God was looking to accomplish more than the simple extrication of Israel from Egypt.

Exodus 9:16 But indeed for this I have caused you to stand, so as to show you my power, and for the sake of declaring my Name in all the land.

God has allowed Pharaoh to continue to stand—to show his continued negative volition towards God; and that nations all around Egypt would be aware that this is taking place. Now, we may wonder, how do they know? There are no television cameras, no on-the-spot live coverage of these events. Egypt was the most powerful country in the world at this time (or one of them); and they likely had an army which collected tribute (or destroyed those who refused). They would have traded goods. But if any of this was going on, it was on a greatly reduced scale. Traders may be aware of these things and have a great desire to get out of Egypt at this time.

Just as word got around Egypt, so that all of the people of Egypt knew what was going on; so word got out about Egypt to all of the countries in their periphery.

Egypt was seen in that era as the strongest country in the region, and all of the neighboring countries would know that Egypt was being destroyed by the God of the Israelites.

Exodus 9:17 Are you not still exalting yourself against My people so that you will not let them go?

God, through Moses, asks, “Are you still standing against Me?”

Now, how is Pharaoh able to still stand against God? God continues to give him strength and Pharaoh continues to build up more scar tissue on his soul. Rejecting God’s demands has become habitual for Pharaoh.

Exodus 9:18 Mark tomorrow about this time, for I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail such as has never been in Egypt, even from the day of its being founded even until now.

Again, 24 hours is given for the Pharaoh and his people to think about what is going to happen and to reconsider their negative volition. I believe that information regarding Moses’ words also were circulated during this 24 hour period of time.

Exodus 9:19 Dispatch instructions now and gather your livestock, and all that you have in the field, for upon every man and beast that will be found in the field that will not be brought home, this hail will fall on them and they will die.

God allows the people—despite the negative volition of Pharaoh—to save their own livestock. “Tell everyone to bring their people and animals inside; otherwise, they will die in this hail storm.”

Exodus 9:20 Then he that feared the Word of YHWH among the slaves of Pharaoh made his slaves and his livestock take refuge into the shelters.

At this point, there is some scattered positive volition in Egypt; and some Egyptians protectively bring their slaves inside. They have heard of Moses’ warnings, followed by the judgments of God and this has occurred six times already.

We have somewhat of a play on words here—the slaves of Pharaoh are to make their slaves (and livestock) come under shelter.

It is my assumption that, because God is just, every person who potentially would heed this warning received the information needed to act during the 24 hours before the plague was enacted.

Exodus 9:21 But he that regarded not the Word of YHWH left his slaves and his livestock in the open field.

I would think that most people ignored this warning.

Exodus 9:22 YHWH spoke to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward the skies that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt upon man and beast, and upon every green plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.

There was more to this plague than Moses and Aaron going into Pharaoh and warning him, “24 hours from now, that hail is coming down!”

Moses was going to act, stretching out his hand towards the heavens (while holding his staff). It is likely that this took place in a very public area.

Again, we seamlessly move from God speaking to Moses (vv. 13–22) to Moses acting as per God’s directives (v. 23).

Exodus 9:23 Then Moses stretched out his staff toward the skies and YHWH sent thunder and hail, and ball lightening ran along the ground, and YHWH rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

There appear to be theatrics associated with nearly every plague. Moses lifted up his staff towards the heavens, and God rained down a great hailstorm on the land.

Exodus 9:24 And there was hail and fire catching itself in the midst of the hail, very grievous, such as has never been in all the land of Egypt since it has become a nation.

The hail storm was the most horrendous storm in all Egyptian history. I suspect that no hail storm has been this strong.

The Seventh Plague—A Hailstorm (a graphic); from Reformed Fellowship; accessed May 20, 2020.

Exodus 9:25 The hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt, all that was in the field of both man and beast, and the hail beat down every green plant of the field, and broke every tree in the open field.

Everything out in the field—man, beast or crops—were destroyed.

Exodus 9:26 Only in the land of Goshen where the children of Israel lived, was there no hail.

Like many of the previous plagues, the people of Israel, who live in Goshen, are unaffected.

Exodus 9:27 Then Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and confessed to them, I have sinned this time, YHWH is righteous and I and my people are wicked.

Pharaoh—apparently in the midst of the storm—called for Moses and Aaron, confessing his sins to God.

It is possible that Pharaoh’s confession of sin was what he believed Moses wanted to hear.

There was apparently enough break in the storm, in a very specific area, so that Pharaoh could reach Moses by messenger. Likely, Moses would have been in Goshen, where the storm was not. Somehow, a messenger from Pharaoh was able to reach Moses.

Exodus 9:28 Make supplication to YHWH and it will be enough so there will not be anymore thunderings of Elohim with the hail, I must let you go and you will not be delayed again.

Pharaoh decides that he has had enough. He asks Moses to petition his God to end the storm. He promises that he will not delay the people of God from going out to worship their God.

Exodus 9:29 Then Moses replied to him, As soon as I am gone out of the city I will raise my hands to YHWH and the thunder and hail shall stop, then you will know that the land belongs to YHWH.

Moses tells Pharaoh exactly what he is going to do. There was a problem with the translation here; I believe that Moses went forth towards the city (most translations did not translate it this way).

Exodus 9:30 But as for you and your slaves I know that you will still not fear YHWH Elohim.

Moses tells Pharaoh, “I know that you still do not fear God.” I don’t think that Moses simply said this, but that God, on many occasions, told Moses that Pharaoh would change his mind again. Moses believes God; he does not believe Pharaoh.

Exodus 9:31–32 So the flax and the barley were destroyed, for the barley was budding and the flax had already bloomed. But the wheat and the spelt were not destroyed for they were late crops.

The knowledge that Moses reveals here indicates that he was a man of many disciplines.

Exodus 9:33 Then Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and he raised up his hands to YHWH, and the thunders and hail stopped and the rain ceased pouring on the land.

Moses did exit the palace, going out from Pharaoh (literally, Moses goes out from with Pharaoh towards the city). However, I should note I might be the only person who sees it this way. Nevertheless, in many good translation, I find the addition of a few words necessary to give this sense. For instance, Young, who provides a very literal translation, has this: And Moses goes out from Pharaoh, from the city,... The second from is not there, which Young himself indicates by italicizing it. What is there, before the word city, is the direct object, which can also be translated to, towards. This slight disagreement does not appear to change anything overall, apart from where Moses is when he petitions God to stop the hail storm. I rather like the visual of Moses, at the edge of the big city, calling upon God to end the storm, and then the storm ends. I can see many people peering out of their homes to this familiar figure, watching his every move.

Exodus 9:34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail and the thunders had stopped, he sinned still more by hardening his heart, both he and his slaves.

Even though God, through Moses, held up His end of the bargain, Pharaoh did not. What he said and what he promised meant nothing. His personal entourage was with him on this.

Exodus 9:35 Then the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the children of Israel go as YHWH had spoken by Moses.

At this point, we noted that there are two very different words translated to harden in vv. 34 & 35. In v. 34, Pharaoh makes his own heart heavy and dull. In v. 35, his heart is strengthened.

With chapter 10—next lesson—we will begin the plague of the locusts, which is the 8^th plague, followed by the 9^th plague, the plague of thick darkness. There are 10 plagues in all.

Exodus 10 contains the eighth and ninth plagues: the plague of the locusts, which receives a great deal of coverage; and the far more interesting curse of darkness, where darkness will cover the land. Despite the unusual nature of the ninth plague, Moses will only devote 9 verses to it.

The chapter divisions seem to be nearly arbitrary. It seems like, once enough verses have been accumulated, a new chapter is begun. The 8^th and 9^th plagues will be found in this chapter. There is nothing which naturally separates the 7^th and 8^th plagues, to place them in separate chapters. However, the 10^th plague (which is threatened in Exodus 11) needs to be considered apart from the others.

Chapter 10 begins with what could have been a problem for some. However, we have covered the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, so we can breeze through this translation. This chapter begins by God saying that "I have hardened [made heavy or dull] Pharaoh's heart." and this corresponds to our concept of scar tissue, which we have studied extensively. However, what has occurred is that God has given Pharaoh the opportunity to express his negative volition as well as the strength to do so. God has made it possible for Pharaoh to completely reveal his negative volition. By expressing his negative volition so many times, Pharaoh further built up scar tissue on his own soul. This is not too different from building up muscles on your arms. The more weight that you lift and the more often that you lift it, the stronger and larger your muscles will become.

So, to some, it may appear that God has caused Pharaoh to be negative toward His plan and that Pharaoh is nothing but a pawn which God will sacrifice for the benefit of many others who would believe in Him. However, we know that God is not the author of sin; He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to the point of a changed mental attitude (2Peter 3:9b). So we cannot misinterpret what is being said here.

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

So now we come to the eighth plague, but God prefaces it by speaking of Pharaoh’s hardened heart.

Exodus 10:1a Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh;...

At this point, we begin the 8^th plague, the plague of the locusts. Recall that Pharaoh was willing to let the people go at the last plague (the plague of hail); but once the hail and thunder of the previous chapter stopped, he changed his mind, hardening his own heart.

God tells Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh...” Even though Moses and Aaron had been going in to speak to Pharaoh, you may recall on several occasions in the previous chapter, Moses spoke directly to Pharaoh, something he originally considered himself incapable of.

God knows that Moses will go back to Pharaoh with Aaron; but God’s orders are for Moses in particular, as He uses the 2^nd person masculine singular, Qal imperative.

You may notice that, God does not rub it in. He does not sit Moses down and say, “Look, you have spoken to the Pharaoh face to face; you were able to deal directly with him. Did I not tell you that you could do this in the first place?” God simply allows for the decisions of Moses, Aaron and Pharaoh to all play out.

Previously, when the Bible spoke of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart, God merely strengthened his heart, giving him the strength and power to resist God. But here, we have a different word, which does not mean to strengthen, but means, to make dull, to harden. It is my opinion that we can reject the idea that God steps in and changes Pharaoh’s mind. Why do we know this? Back in Exodus 9:34–35 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses. (ESV) So, if Pharaoh hardened his heart back at the end of the previous chapter, then we cannot, at the beginning of this chapter, understand that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, in the sense of changing his mind Pharaoh did not first want to send the Hebrews out of Egypt, but God sneaked into his heart and changed it. Pharaoh already made that decision, and God is not changing it.

So, how do we understand this? The Hiphil perfect tense is used here, which is the causative stem which views the action of the verb as a completed event; or the action or the verb is not considered a future or a progressive event. So, we should understand that, in eternity past, God placed this act into the divine decrees. His causing this to happen does not mean that God stepped into Pharaoh’s volition and turned it from positive to negative; but that God’s plan called for Pharaoh to turn negative towards God—but it is Pharaoh who actually made the decision from his own volition. God simply worked within the boundaries of Pharaoh’s free will choices.

All of this falls within the divine decrees because God will now explain why He did all of this (10 judgments against Egypt, instead of simply destroying every Egyptian and letting the people of Israel walk out of Egypt—which they would not have done, by the way). This is the focus of what God tells Moses.

Exodus 10:1b ...for I have hardened his heart...

The Hebrew word used here is the Hiphil perfect of kâbad (כָּבַד) [pronounced kaw-BAD] and it means to make heavy, to burden, to weigh down. The Hiphil is the causative stem; however, in the Hebrew, the Hiphil does not necessarily refer to compulsion but also is a permissive stem. The perfect tense refers to God's decrees from eternity past to allow Pharaoh to make these choices against Himself; and to bolster Pharaoh up when his strength begins to wain. God also gave a similar strength of conviction to those under Pharaoh. What Pharaoh needs in his time of trouble to give him the strength to continue to defy God is some yes-men who will agree with Pharaoh's opposition to the Lord. This had been determined In eternity past, so that the lands throughout the middle east and eastern world could be evangelized, God saw to it that Pharaoh would surround himself with loyal yes-men, who would agree heartily with his every decision and applaud, when necessary, these decisions (however, there will be some disagreeable things said by those under Pharaoh near the very end).

Pharaoh’s negative volition is strictly his responsibility; however, God has taken his negative volition and has used it for His Own ends. This is what God has caused.

To set up an analogy, perhaps you as a parent have tried to convince a skeptical young son (say, age 12–16) about something he would probably enjoy doing. Now, his immediate reaction to anything is, “I don’t wanna do that.” So with enthusiasm and some reasoning, you convince him. You are working with his negative volition and you are working around his negative volition. This analogy is different inasmuch as, the end game, is to change your son’s negative volition to positive; but you work things out within the confines of his personality (another approach is, “Dammit, kid, this is what you are going to do!”). God is working His will within the confines of the Pharaoh’s negative volition.

Another analogy: in sports, you occasionally look at the weaknesses of your opponent (s) and determine how to take advantage of that. Your plan is to beat the other team; and you will take advantage of one player’s weakness in order to make your plan work. Mohammed Ali often trained specifically for each fighter, and designed a strategy which took advantage of whatever weakness that fighter might have (Ali would also train for the other fighter’s strengths). God is simply using Pharaoh’s negative volition to God’s Own advantage.

Exodus 10:1c ...[for I have hardened]...the hearts of his servants,...

The same verb from v. 1b applies to this phrase, because we find the untranslated sign of the direct object. So, whatever verb applied ot the previous sign of the direct object applies here as well. All of the commentary of that portion of v. 1b belongs here as well.

Exodus 10:1b-c ...for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants,...

Pharaoh is not the only person operating on negative signals; his cabinet—his servants—have also changed their minds as well. Very often, people with negative volition support one another. When a person has rejected God as a part of his reality, then he often will seek out others who have done the same. There are web pages and fb pages dedicated to such things, where people who choose not to believe in God gather with others of the same persuasion and encourage one another not to.

Exodus 10:1d ...that I may show these signs of Mine before him,...

Why is this a part of the divine decrees? So that God can place His signs in their midst. Everything that God does, Pharaoh and his cabinet are acutely aware of. At no point should we understand this to mean that God changed their volition; but that they are completely responsible for their own volition.

This verb is followed by l^emaʿan (לְמַעַן) [pronounced l^e-MAH-ģahn], a word denoting purpose or intent. This could be translated for the sake of, on account of, to the intent of, or in order that. It is also quite reasonable to render this word and its preposition with a simple that. The following verb reveals God's purpose here: the Qal infinitive (with the 1^st person singular suffix) of shîyth (שִית) [pronounced sheeth] which normally means to set, to place, to put. Even though, strictly speaking, God is not the subject of this verb, it is often translated this way (in fact, even Benner’s mechanical translation renders this (so) that I can set down these, my signs, within him). More literally, this could be rendered with the intent of My placing these, My signs in his midst. Although the final set of words, in his midst can refer to one’s inner being (compare with Exodus 9:14's words upon your heart); it can also refer to one’s inner circle—in this particular case, Pharaoh and his cabinet (called his servants). This is the second passage where Pharaoh and his inner circle of associates are said to be particularly affected by these judgments of God, but without specifying exactly how (see Exodus 9:14).

The fact that Pharaoh’s cabinet is mentioned here is quite important; and there will be more references to these men during this narrative. These plagues have hit Egypt so hard that even some of Pharaoh’s servants will attempt to set him straight in this chapter: Then 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. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?" (Exodus 10:7).

In eternity past, God determined a vast number of things in order to evangelize the earth. He saw to it that a Pharaoh would ascend to the throne of Egypt who was particularly negative toward God's plan. God surrounded that Pharaoh with yes-men (most of the time). When Pharaoh became weak from opposing God, God gave him more strength to continue in his opposition to God.

Exodus 10:1 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him,...

An important point often left out of a study of these chapters of Exodus: any time that God drastically changes His program (that is, a new dispensation is begun or a new portion of a dispensation is begun); God accompanies this change with a great many signs and wonders. Because our knowledge of things Biblical is sorely lacking, many people think that there are great and tremendous miracles found on every page of God's Word because they know a few stories about Moses, David and the first advent of our Lord. When it comes to great signs and wonders and miracles, there have actually been very few of them in the past several thousand years; most of them came to introduce a new wrinkle in God's plan. Here, God was beginning nation Israel and was identifying the Hebrews as His people. Therefore, He needed to do something spectacular to the entire world would know that God's hand was with the Hebrews. As a result of this, men from all over the world realized that God was with the Hebrews, that God had given them the land of Palestine, and that anyone who opposed the Hebrews would find themselves up against unsurmountable odds.

Exodus 10:1 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him,...

This statement is interesting. It appears that Pharaoh hardened his own heart in Gen. 9:34. It reads: But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. (ESV) However, for the exact same experience, God says, “I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants.” This is slightly more difficult to sort out. Now, we could certainly understand he (as in he strengthened) to mean He, referring to God. However, generally speaking, when a subject is not specified, usually there are clues as to whom that pronoun refers to, and the nearest noun and verb are when Pharaoh saw...he sinned yet again and he hardened his heart... Obviously, the subject of sinned has to be Pharaoh, as his title is right there; and God does not sin. Logically and linguistically, Pharaoh is the subject of, he hardened his heart.

Now, if Pharaoh observes that the hailstorm has stopped, and then he sins, which sin is hardening his heart, then God cannot be blamed for this. We cannot understand God to have come in and switched his volition, because then Pharaoh would be committing a sin against his own will. That makes little sense to say that Pharaoh sinned, and yet, at the same time, indicate that God hardened his heart which makes Pharaoh sin against God. This both defies logic and grammar.

Since God does this, this forces us to understand that Pharaoh strengthens his own negative volition against God, but, at the same time, God has a hand in this process as well. How exactly does God figure into Pharaoh’s negative volition?

We have the same verb in the Hiphil imperfect in Exodus 9:34; and the Hiphil perfect in Exodus 10:1. Pharaoh is the subject in Exodus 9:34; God in Exodus 10:1. The difference in tenses simply means, it is a process for Pharaoh, but God speaks of it as a completed action. As a matter of some interest, there is a slightly different verb used in Exodus 9:35. Nevertheless, it still means to strengthen; and the Qal imperfect is used in v. 35.

We might understand this very much like we understand election—we have free will in our lives and make free will choices, either for or against Christ. God, with His perfect foreknowledge, makes that a part of His plan. God knew what we would do, and He incorporates it as a part of His perfect plan. Recall that God chose Pharaoh to be a part of His plan. God knew exactly what Pharaoh would do. God uses the powerful negative volition of Pharaoh in order to further His Own plan.

Application: Now, we can sin until the cows come home, and God’s plan will include your sins and their effects as a part of His plan. However, in time, He will also discipline you for those sins. On the other hand, if you are in fellowship and act according to doctrine, we may receive blessing in time and blessing in eternity.

In v. 2, we see how God uses Pharaoh’s negative volition to further His plan.

Exodus 10:2a ...and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son...”

God is speaking to Moses, so you and your refer to Moses. God is speaking to Moses about what is happening here in Egypt—God’s great signs and the negative volition of Pharaoh—this is to be told to Moses’ sons and to their sons.

Moses here is a metonym for every father among the Hebrews. God is not speaking to Moses in specific, but to all fathers among the Hebrews. They are to tell their sons; and their sons are to tell their own sons.

Therefore, even though the grammar is directed towards Moses, speaking specifically of his sons and his sons’ sons, this is really directed towards the next several generations of Israelites. It is personalized with Moses, but its application is to the next generation coming up and the generation after that, and, for many generations after that.

Exodus 10:2a ...and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son...

God has also done all of this so that Moses will tell these things to his sons and to his grandchildren (along with the rest of the Hebrews). What God is doing here is unique in human history.

If you have studied the book of Genesis, you will recall that God isolated the people of Jacob (they did not, for instance, intermarry with any random family). God also isolated them from the Canaanites, whose horrendous sins would result in their own destruction.

At the same time, God protected and prospered the Hebrew people, moving them to Egypt. In Egypt, they were isolated, protected and prospered (despite being made slaves). All of this information is a part of what a Hebrew father tells his sons.

Exodus 10:2b ...the mighty things I have done in Egypt,...

God accomplished His full and complete purpose in the land of Egypt with His people. As we have studied, some of His people were hard-headed and needed guidance and discipline (or, guidance through discipline). We have seen those of the Hebrew family who completely rebelled against God’s plan here or there. Nevertheless, regardless of Moses’ faithfulness and the disobedience of many in Gen-X (those who are adults when they leave Egypt), what God wanted to happen, happened. What God decreed took place, despite having people who disobeyed Him.

Pharaoh did not slow down God’s plan; Pharaoh’s negative volition was God’s plan. The grumbling Hebrew adults who left Egypt were a difficult generation for God. In the both Testaments, we read, I loathed that generation. Yet, God brought all Israel out of Egypt, He gave them the Law, and He took them into the land of promise for them to take it. Everything which God had planned for Israel took place, despite the scar tissue of Pharaoh and the negative volition of Gen X (= the adults who left Egypt in the exodus).

Exodus 10:2a-b ...and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt,...”

What God is telling Moses here is continued even until today.

The final judgment of God against Egypt will be the death of the firstborn, which can be avoided by participating in the Passover. For a very long time, parents have taught the Passover story to their children; and they have told them all that happened. I would suggest to you that, at the first, the entire narrative was read (probably memorized and spoken aloud), one generation teaching the next. However, at some point—we don’t know when—the narrative was compressed. These chapters of Exodus probably would take 1–2 hours to read aloud. Having observed one Seder (admittedly, on television), it appears to be much more common today for the person giving the Seder to do a very abbreviated version of the Biblical text (it appeared to be a personal summation done by one of the characters). Ideally speaking, those attending the Seder are aware of the entire Exodus narrative.

There are multiple witnesses to various events in Scripture. We have the Scriptures themselves, but then we have the actions of the Hebrew people as well in their obedience to the Scriptures.

Exodus 10:2c ...and My signs which I have done among them,...

V.2 continues with the prepositional purpose clause from v. 1 (lamed + ma‛an). And I was expecting the same construction and the same verb used in v. 1 repeated here, but there is another word which means to place, to set and it is the word sûwm (שׂוּם) [pronounced soom]. This time the verb is in the Qal perfect, 1^st person singular, meaning that God is the subject of this verb (since God is speaking at this point in the narrative).

The signs here are the judgments or the plagues done by God in Egypt among the people.

Exodus 10:2d ...that you may know that I am the Lord.”

This next phrase is the 2^nd person singular, Qal perfect of yâda‛ (יָדַע) [pronounced yaw-DAHĢ], a verb which means to know, to see. Strong’s #3045 BDB #393.

The end result is, all of Egypt and all of the people of Israel would know Who God is. They would understand His relationship to Israel. They would understand His great power, against which Egypt was powerless.

God clearly points out His purpose here, as He did previously in Exodus 9:15–16; these signs will evangelize the world and they evangelized Israel as well. Various people in other national entities around the world would hear about the God of the Hebrews Who defeated the Egyptians, and they would exercise faith in the Revealed God.

Exodus 10:2d ...that you may know that I am the Lord.”

One of the few advantages of the KJV, besides being an excellent but dated translation, is that they distinguish between the singular and plural second person. We simply use the word you to represent both the singular and the plural. The south has tried to clear up this little problem, adding the descriptor all to the plural sense of you, however, this has never caught on outside of the south. V. 2 begins with you in the singular. Each individual Jew (represented here by Moses, as God is speaking directly to Moses) will tell his son in the future about the exodus and the great signs and wonders which God performed. However, at the end of v. 2, when God says "...that you may know...", you is in the plural—speaking to all of Israel. The significance of this is emphasis. When we move from the singular to the plural, it is a way of the speaker, in this case our Lord, grabbing us by the collar and shaking us. It is a way to grab one's attention linguistically.

Exodus 10:2 ...and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you [all] may know that I am the Lord.”

These judgments are to be told to the next generation and the generation after that. At that point in time, there was no widely distributed Bible; at best, Moses had documents which had been added to over the years at the writing of Exodus, which could have occurred at this time and could have occurred during the 40 years wandering in the desert. Moses did not write the first books of the Bible (the books of Job and Genesis probably predated Moses; and we do not know if these books were in written form at this time; if they were, there would have been very few copies). Furthermore, the primary method of passing on spiritual information is the oral tradition of a father teaching his son about Y^ehowah, the God of Israel and he in turn will teach his son. There were various events which took place to act as training aids, such as the bones of Joseph, to give parents the opportunity to express to their children what has occurred up until their slavery in Egypt. Whose bones are those? Why are we carrying them? This allowed for the parents to tell their children who Joseph was and what he did; and how Israel ended up in Egypt.

Application: We as parents should do the same; we should teach our children about Who Jesus Christ is and why He came to earth in the form of a man. There is no substitute for parental training, starting at a very early age. So many parents teach their children about Santa Claus; and too few teach them about Jesus.

The exodus, the carving out of one people out of a nation, the judgments—all of this is a unique event in human history. Nothing like this has ever happened before or since. Furthermore, these things took place in Egypt, one of the strongest nations in the ancient world. Fully armed military forces from most countries would not be able to take on the people of Egypt; and certainly not an army of weaponless slaves. But God, on the other hand, can bring any nation down.

Application: This is why the believer should not worry about Russia, China, Iran or North Korea. We should be concerned with our own nation, and we show this concern by growing spiritually. No matter what the circumstances, the believer cannot lose by growing spiritually.

Exodus 10:2 ...and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you [all] may know that I am the Lord.”

As we will find out, the most solemn and important worship cycle for the Hebrew people will be the Passover, which is closely tied to God’s great works in Egypt.

There are theological experts who claim that the books of Moses were written long after the time of Moses. If nation Israel did not practice the Passover from the beginning—which celebration included a recounting of this historical narrative that we are studying—at what point did Israel begin to celebrate it?

Based upon what we read in the Scriptures, the feast days of Israel are very well-defined and practiced from the beginning. How could these feast days—which are based upon historical events—all of a sudden appear as celebrations in Israel’s culture hundreds of years later, but without the corresponding historical events? After all, logically, if a celebration is based upon an historical event, this would mostly like mean that the traditions would have begun soon after the actual historical events. It is very illogical to believe that these historical events never occurred, yet, somehow, someone fooled an entire nation, a thousand years later, into keeping a tradition which is not based on anything and had not been kept before. It is also illogical to think that some historical event occurred, but no historical records of it are preserved; and, 1000 years later, someone writes about it. These theories that the books of Moses were written up to 1000 years after the fact are illogical.

This is what we have studied so far:

Exodus 10:1–2 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

There are a lot of traditions which occur in churches which are very influential. Joel Osteen, before he teaches, says a few things about the Bible (“This is my Bible, it says who I am, it says what I have...”). Joel is a very influential pastor in the 20^th and 21^st centuries; but do you think that every church will, at some point in time, repeat the words that he says at the beginning of a sermon? Not going to happen. R. B. Thieme, Jr. and his successor, R. B. Thieme, III read off the same set of verses before a Bible class, and several pastors who came out of that church do the same. Do you think that, at some point in time, every church is going to start reading those verses before giving a sermon? Not going to happen.

My point being, no matter how influential you are, no one is going to pick up a tradition which you started for no other reason than, it seemed to be a good idea. Some will; but most will not. On the other hand, if you have a tradition which is based upon an historic event, then the near universal observation of that tradition (within a nation) is much more likely to occur (like the establishment of national holidays).

The point I am trying to make is, these events that we are studying are either true, partially true, or they are false. Let’s assume that these events did not take place; that the Scriptures are false. Then, how does a culture begin to observe a series of feasts—all of which are tied directly to historical events—but without the historical events actually occurring? This would mean that, in one generation, these things are not celebrated at all (since they never occurred); but, in the next generation, they are celebrated, using Scriptures which speak of the events as occurring, as if they had been observed from the very beginning (several generations would know this to be false). On top of all this, these events are supposed to be taught by one generation to the next. If they never occurred, when does one generation start telling the next generation, knowing that these things did not actually occur? If these events never occurred and if Moses never recorded this information, then a sudden nation-wide observation of these events seems like a lot to have a people swallow.

There are theories developed around the 18^th century which claim that Moses did not write the books of Moses (specifically, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy); and that the final product was written hundreds of years later. This is illogical, because it implies that the historical events and subsequent traditions may have never occurred; yet, somehow, were fabricated hundreds of years later; followed by an obedient population who, suddenly decided to believe Scriptures that had not existed before and to follow traditions which had never been traditions before.

It is well accepted in many seminaries today that Moses did not write the books of Moses, but that they were written by several different men, long after the fact, and then assembled and intertwined at a much later date. And, somehow, these Scriptures, which sort of show up out of nowhere, with both historical incidents and traditions being established in the text of these Scriptures; and somehow, the entire nation of Israel buys into them. Does that sound logical? Do you think that happened?

Let me give a more modern illustration that most of us know about. On occasion, a book or two might be added to the Bible, and actually be received by a very limited number of people (the Mormons added two books to the Bible and they understand these books to be legitimate additions). Yet, even though a small and enthusiastic group of people accept 2 new books into the Bible, the vast majority of Christians will never accept those books. How many churches embrace Doctrines and Covenants or The Book of Mormon? None! Only a small, cultic group has ever accepted these two books. The Mormon cult has grown considerably; but they will always be just a small percentage of people who call themselves Christians; and they will always be a cult.

So how likely would it have been for someone or some group among the Hebrews to suddenly introduce a whole group of books suddenly (the Old Testament is not made up of a single book), and somehow force this upon the Hebrew people? And, at the same time, do you think that this same individual or group was then able to convince the people that there are a complex set of traditions and rites which they need to follow. These traditions and rites are very complex—not difficult to follow if developed as we will study. But to be introduced hundreds of years after the fact; or to be followed, but without any written material or explanation as to what they are doing—that is patently absurd. Traditions which are followed because of historical events are rather difficult to simply fabricate hundreds of years later, based upon fabricated historical events.

I know that I am going on and on about this; but this is what many seminaries teach (possibly most of them). It is claimed to be some sort of a spiritual breakthrough to think that Moses did not write the books of Moses. This is the claim of some Bible critics, that the books of Moses were written much, much later, and are the composite writings of several individuals or groups.

Now, a very charismatic leader might get a small percentage to go along with holy books that suddenly materialize, 1000 years after the fact; but all Israel? Highly unlikely, if not impossible. Furthermore, that charismatic leader would like be known as a man who changed the Hebrew religious culture; but nothing like that appears to have happened. If this actually happened—it did not—then we would know the man’s name responsible for changing Israel’s religious practices.

There are so many weird theories about the Bible, most of which contradict what the Bible says of itself; and such theories are often very illogical when carefully examined and logically followed out.

It makes much more sense that all of this takes place together: the historical event of God’s plagues on Egypt; the writing and preserving of the Scriptures; the celebration of the events; and one generation telling the next generation about what they experienced (and imploring them to do the same with their sons and daughters). (1) People actually witness these events themselves; (2) they tell their children about what they saw; (3) Moses documents these events in Scripture (which Scriptures are not in dispute) and (4) traditions and celebrations look back on these events (3 or 4 witnesses, depending upon how you look at this).

Such traditions are logically established from the very beginning, and they take place every year, and they continue as a tradition from generation to generation. If all of this begins with a tri-fold witness (of the event—or parents telling their children about the event, of the Scriptures and of the celebrations), then Israel’s history and celebrations all make perfect sense. Leaving just one of those witnesses out of the mix makes much less sense. Change the timing of any one of those witnesses, and the worship system of Israel no longer makes logical sense.

What I am saying is, the people of Israel really and truly observed these events; they told their own sons and daughters about the events; Moses wrote down an historical narrative documenting these events (in a timely fashion); and there are traditional observations (or, celebrations) which take place which look back on the historical events. This is what happened. Any other explanation is logically bereft.

Back to our narrative:

Moses, in his recording of this narrative, changes things up again. You may recall in the previous plague that most of the discussion took place within the confines of God speaking to Moses. This time, our narrative places Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh almost from the start (that will begin in v. 3):

Exodus 10:1–2 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

What is quite amazing throughout the book of Genesis is how God can take all of these very imperfect people, who are surrounded by other imperfect people, and still He is able to accomplish His purposes and His plan. Everything was determined in eternity past. This same dynamic continues in the book of Exodus. Moses is not a perfect person; nor are the Egyptians and certainly not the Hebrew people. However, God, even with such imperfection before Him, can work all things out to accomplish His plan and purpose.

Exodus 10:3a So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh...

The first verb, to come, to go, is a masculine singular, Qal imperfect. It looks like it should be a masculine plural, but not the way that the Hebrew is written. The Hebrew literally reads, And so goes in Moses (and Aaron)... There are no parentheses in the Hebrew, but the masculine singular verb followed by the masculine singular noun Moses essentially places Aaron into parentheses. He is there, he goes along with Moses; but Moses has taken the lead in all respects.

God commanded Moses to go before Pharaoh; he takes Aaron along with him. Moses also appears to have completely lost his shyness when it comes to speaking before Pharaoh, as he does all or most of the speaking.

Exodus 10:3b ...and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews:...

The second verb, to say, is the 3^rd person plural, Qal imperfect. So, both men have something to say here. Moses is not standing to the side of Aaron and whispering to him what should be said. Like many Biblical conversations, we are probably getting just the gist of what is being said.

Exodus 10:3a-b So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews:...

As Moses and Aaron had said many times to Pharaoh, they tell him that these are the words of God. These words would have seemed impertinent to be coming directly from Moses.

Exodus 10:3c ...‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?

Pharaoh is refusing to humble himself before God and do what God has ordered him to do. Now, if God reached into his volition and switched it from positive to negative, then these words would make very little sense. His answer would logically be, “Well, as soon as You allow me to obey You, then I will.”

If we understand Pharaoh to be making his own decisions, then these words make perfect sense.

You may ask, how can a man witness so many signs and yet be negative? The simple answer is, Pharaoh has free will and he is negative towards God and towards the Hebrew people. In fact, let me suggest that Pharaoh was concerned about his economy, and that the removal of his slaves, the Hebrew people, would, in his mind, destroy his economy. Quite obviously, his negative volition towards God has destroyed the Egyptian economy. Despite the many signs, Pharaoh misjudged the situation.

Application: There are many events which take place, which are outside of our control. No matter what we say or do, we are unable to bring them under our control. So, what do we do? We just roll with the punches; we go along with it.

Application: Let me give you a current example of this: right now, the United States and the rest of the world is dealing with the COVID19 pandemic; and, even though there is a possible vaccination on the horizon, that is probably 6 months to a year away. As a result, some states which have re-opened (like my state of Texas) and we have seen an increase in numbers testing positive for the virus. As a result, some country official, whom I did not vote for, has issued an order for us to wear masks in public places—or be fined. Now, as an individual, I do not really like this; I don’t care for the face mask. But, what do I do? I wear a face mask in public venues (stores, etc.). That is the current requirement, and we should obey public officials (at least, up to the point where they interfere with evangelism or with Bible teaching). I have my own opinions, but this is outside of my personal control, so I live with it. I may not want to wear a mask, but I do. [Additional restrictions have been added since I wrote those words.]

Application: As a believer, for me to disobey county officials and refuse to wear a mask and defy anyone to tell me different would be to misread the situation—which is what Pharaoh appears to be doing.

Exodus 10:3a-c So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?

They speak here, again, on behalf of the God of the Hebrews, the Creator God, the God of the Universe.

Moses and Aaron simply repeat what God has said to Moses.

Pharaoh has continued to defy God. Every time the pressure is off, Pharaoh strengthens his own heart and turns against God once again. At no time is Pharaoh willing to recognize God for Who He is. When God removes a plague, then Pharaoh’s arrogance emerges. He is still alive, the plague is gone, and he is not going to give in to this God of the Hebrews.

Each and every time, God gives Pharaoh the chance to consider all that has happened and to make the right decision. Each and every time, Pharaoh has the chance to humble himself before God and to submit to Him. Each and every time, Pharaoh rejects God.

Application: How many times have you known what was right, and yet you did just the opposite? I would not want to publically recount the number of times for myself. Such disobedience is negative volition. If you are reading this, you no doubt have a number of correct concepts from Scripture about, say, giving. Not just giving to the church but giving to individuals who are in need (I am not speaking of myself here). How many times have you had the substance, but not the willingness to give it? This is not a weakness that all believers have; nor am I suggesting that you give so much money away, that you have nothing left to live on. I am just speaking of giving as God has prospered you. Have there been times when you have fallen short of that? I know that certainly have.

Exodus 10:3d Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

Moses repeats to Pharaoh what God has demanded on many occasions prior to this: “Send My people out of Egypt so that they may serve Me.”

Serving God means that the people of Israel will offer up animal sacrifices to Him.

In the midst of all these signs, God is very careful to let Pharaoh know that He is the God of the Hebrews. Since so many countries had their own pantheon of gods, God has to distinguish Himself from them and show that He is the true God of the Universe. All of the judgments which God brings against Egypt confirms again and again that He is the True God, the most powerful Being in the universe.

This is what we have studied so far:

Exodus 10:1–2 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

God speaks to Moses about Pharaoh’s hardened heart and the signs which God has done in Egypt to convince them all that He is sovereign.

Exodus 10:3 So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

Moses and Aaron come before Pharaoh and confront him with the words of God.

There is a slight difference in the narrative approach of this, the eighth judgment: only two verses are given over to God speaking to Moses and Aaron; and vv. 3–6 have Moses and Aaron standing before Pharaoh and warning him, repeating what God spoke to them (we are not hearing the same information repeated, but what Moses and Aaron are saying were first spoken by God to them).

They continue with God’s words:

Exodus 10:4a Or else, if you refuse to let My people go,...

Moses and Aaron are speaking to Pharaoh and giving him a warning. We do not know which man said what; but it is clear that Moses appears to be doing most of the speaking before Pharaoh.

God knew that Pharaoh would not send the people out of Egypt; Moses, guided by God, began to realize that Pharaoh would continue to be negative.

Exodus 10:4b ...behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.

The plague or judgment would be locusts. They would descend upon the land the next day after the warning. God allows Pharaoh some time to think about this and to exercise positive volition towards His requirement, if he wanted to stop this judgment. But Pharaoh remained negative.

The locust was known to Egypt, however, never in such huge numbers have they been seen before.

God Sends the Locusts Against Egypt (a graphic); from WordPress; accessed May 5, 2020.

Exodus 10:4 Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.

There are 10 plagues or judgments; the plague of the locusts is #8.

Exodus 10:5a And they shall cover the face of the earth,...

In v. 5, there is some figurative language which is rarely translated literally yet the figure of speech is easily understood. The locust will cover the ‛ayin (עַיִן) [pronounced ĢAH-yim] of the land. ‛Ayim means eyes. Too often this is ignored or translated face.

There is a play on words here, generally lost in the English. The literal translation is, they will cover the eyes of the land; and some understand this to mean, cover the face of the land. It is the next phrase which explain the play on words.

The picture being painted here is, the land of Egypt cannot see out, as it is so covered with locusts.

Exodus 10:5b ...so that no one will be able to see the earth;...

The locusts will cover the face of the land with such thickness, so that the land itself cannot be seen. The land cannot see out; and no one can see the land.

No doubt Egypt has been attacked by mass swarms of locusts before; but never like this before. I have provided some photographs, but none of them really approximate the invasion which we see here.

Exodus 10:5c ...and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail,...

The residue of what is left is actually 3 Hebrew words. The first is the masculine singular construct of yether (יֶתֶר) [pronounced YEH-ther], which means, residue, remainder, remnant, [the] rest [of]; other part; excess. #3499 (#3498) BDB #451. It is affixed to the feminine singular noun pelêyţâh (פֶּלֵיטָה) [pronounced pehl-ay-TAW], which means, escape; deliverance; escaped remnant; who or what has escaped. Strong’s #6413 BDB #812. These two words are then followed by the feminine singular Niphal (passive) participle of shâʾar (שָאַר) [pronounced shaw-AHR], which means, the remaining one, the one that is left over; the leftover, the surviving. Strong’s #7604 BDB #983. Using 3 words to describe what remains, emphasizes that there is not very much remaining.

The hail destroyed all of the men and animals that were left out; and most of the plants and trees. What was not destroyed by the hail would be eaten up by the locusts. Whatever sprouted up would be eaten by the locusts.

A person who would look over the landscape of Egypt would not see any ground or any plants, but just this massive undulating covering of locusts.

All of this is a warning to Pharaoh, given by Moses.

Exodus 10:5d ...and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field.

Some translations have the locust eating up the trees which grow in the field. This leaves us with some confusion—locusts do not generally eat entire trees, to the best of my knowledge (which is quite limited in the realm of locusts). Furthermore, we have just seen a devastating hail storm which likely destroyed the trees of the field. The word which helps to explain this is tsâmach (צָמַח) [pronounced tsaw-MAKH], and this means to sprout up. So, anything sprouting up after the hail was eaten by the locusts.

I grew up in a fairly rural area, so I have, on several occasions, witnessed a field burn down; but, after the first rain, I would see sprouts of various things coming up, including trees.

Some trees survived or partially survived and the locusts would descend upon those trees and eat them up. There would be no foliage remaining in the land.

Throughout this narrative, the word locust is in the singular. The text treats the locusts as though they were a singular organism. It is one miracle and they act in one accord; to ravage the land of Egypt. The language is beautiful; the eye of the land is covered so that the one in the land cannot see out and those above the land cannot see in; and the locusts are so thick as to appear to act against the land as a single entity.

What remains in the land after the hail is sprouts of plants returning from the ground; some of them seedlings, some of them the same plants which had been beaten down by the hail. And the locusts will devour these plants. The locusts devour anything that is attempting to grow from the land.

Exodus 10:5 And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field.

Although the hail destroyed the flax and barley crops, what remained of it in the field and whatever has sprouted would be eaten by the locusts. They also ate the soft seedlings of any trees which were beginning to sprout.

Exodus 10:6a They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians...

It is locusts which would fill up the houses of everyone in Egypt, including Pharaoh and his personal servants (servants also means citizens in this context).

Out in the field, as they observe, it will look as one great undulating locust; eating the entire field. However, when these locusts move indoors, there will be thousands upon thousands of locusts, everywhere the inhabitants look.

There is a lot happening in the Hebrew which we are not really aware of when reading the English. So far, this is what we have in the NKJV (which is typical): Exodus 10:4–6a Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians...

I have bolded the words which are not exactly what they seem. Locusts is actually a singular noun; and the first 3 theys are actually masculine singular verbs (which refer back to locust); and the 4^th they is a masculine plural. Now, given the consistency of the masculine singular verbs referring back to locust; that would suggest that this verb does not. Therefore, how v. 6a should read is: And your houses will be full, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of the Egyptians,... (Green’s Literal translation). Green has it right with his translation, despite that last verb being a Qal stem (the normal form of the verb) as opposed to the Niphal stem (the passive form of the verb). The verb itself is generally understood to be passive in meaning and usage.