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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 9:13 - 9:21
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The Hail Threatened
v. 13. And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let My people go that they may serve Me. The same demand repeated, with maddening emphasIsaiah
v. 14. For I will at this time send all My plagues upon thine heart and upon thy servants and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none like Me in all the earth. The threat in this case is more fearful, and seems to include all the remaining plagues, which were to be directed against the obdurate heart of the king, but were also to affect his servants and all his people, since they all consented to the sins of Pharaoh. The final purpose was to establish the fact that the Lord God of the Hebrews was the one true God in all the earth.
v. 15. For now I will stretch out My hand that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. Pharaoh was even now doomed to death, and if the Lord had so chosen, it would have been an easy matter this to destroy him before this.
v. 16. And, in very deed, for this cause have I raised thee up, God intended to set Pharaoh forth, as it were, as an example before the whole world and for all times, for to show in thee My power, and that My name be declared throughout all the earth. The manner in which the Lord would carry out the punishment upon Pharaoh would reveal His almighty power and cause His name to be extolled throughout the earth. After this general, impressive threat the Lord turns to the specific case in hand.
v. 17. As yet exaltest thou thyself against My people that thou wilt not let them go? There is a bit of terrible sarcasm here, that a puny man should so proudly glorify and exalt himself as to venture to set himself up as a dam against the will of God.
v. 18. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. Since the day that the Egyptians had been organized as a nation such an extremely heavy and devastating hail had not been experienced in the land. Pharaoh was given only twenty-four hours' time for reflection, to save himself and his people from the plague.
v. 19. Send, therefore, now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field, he should put the cattle which had remained after the great pestilence in a safe place, and secure whatever part of the crop could be saved upon such short notice; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. By adopting such measures of precaution as the Lord here advised, the Egyptians would be able to save at least a part of their property in the terrible destruction.
v. 20. He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses;
v. 21. and he that regarded not the word of the Lord, whose heart was not set upon the dire prediction and warning, left his servants and his cattle in the field. So the words of Moses and the plagues that had preceded the present one had at least produced a wholesome fear of the Lord, if they had not worked repentance.