Exodus 9:15

_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._ For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee. This verse, as it stands in our version, contains an apparent contradiction to facts; because neither Pharaoh nor his people were smitten with pestilence, nor was he by any malignant disorder cut off from the earth. And as yet no premonition was given of the fatal catastrophe which in the end was to befall both the king and his subjects. х_ SHAALAACHTIY_ (H7971) is in the past tense, not the future, and by so rendering it, as a subjoined or conditional clause, all ambiguity is removed. 'For had I stretched out my hand and smitten thee and thy people, thou shouldst have been cut off from the earth. But, truly, on this very account have I caused thee to stand - i:e., set thee up (Septuagint, dieteer...

13-21 Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a way of escape from it. God not only distinguished between Egyptians and Israelites, but between some Egyptians and others. If Pharaoh will not yield, and so prevent the judgment itself, yet those that will take warning, may take shelter. Some believed the things which were spoken, and they feared, and housed their servants and cattle, and it was their wisdom. Even among the servants of Pharaoh, some trembled at God's word; and shall not the sons of Israel dread it? But others believed not, and left their cattl...

Verse Exodus 9:15. _FOR NOW I WILL STRETCH OUT MY HAND_] In the Hebrew the verbs are in the _past_ tense, and not in the _future_, as our translation improperly expresses them, by which means a contradiction appears in the text: for neither Pharaoh nor his people _were smitten by a pestilence_, nor was he by any kind of mortality _cut off from the earth_. It is true the _first-born_ were slain by a destroying angel, and Pharaoh himself was drowned in the Red Sea; but these judgments do not appear to be referred to in _this_ place. If the words be translated, as they ought, in the subjunctive mood, or in the _past_ instead of the _future_, this seeming contradiction to facts, as well as all ambiguity, will be avoided: _For if now_ I HAD STRETCHED OUT (שלהתי _shalachti, had set_ _forth_) _my hand, and had smitten thee_ (ואך אותך va...

With the plague of hail begins the last series of plagues, which differ from the former both in their severity and their effects. Each produced a temporary, but real, change in Pharaoh’s feelings. Exodus 9:14 ALL MY PLAGUES - This applies to all the plagues which follow; the effect of each was foreseen and foretold. The words “at this time” point to a rapid and continuous succession of blows. The plagues which precede appear to have been spread over a considerable time; the first message of Moses was delivered after the early harvest of the year before, when the Israelites could gather stubble, i. e. in May and April: the second mission, when the plagues began, was probably toward the end of June, and they went on at intervals until the winter; this plague was in February; see...

EXPOSITION THE SEVENTH PLAGUE. The sixth plague had had no effect at all upon the hard heart of the Pharaoh, who cared nothing for the physical sufferings of his subjects, and apparently was not himself afflicted by the malady. Moses was therefore ordered to appear before him once more, and warn him of further and yet more terrible visitations which were impending. The long message (Exodus 9:13-2) is without any previous parallel, and contains matter calculated to make an impression even upon the most callous of mortals. First there is an announcement that God is about to send "_all_ his plagues" upon king and people (Exodus 9:14); then a solemn warning that a pestilence might have been sent which would have swept both king and people fro

FOR NOW WILL I STRETCH OUT MY HAND, THAT I MAY SMITE THEE AND THY PEOPLE WITH PESTILENCE,.... Which yet we never find was done; for though this by many is referred to the slaying of the firstborn, yet it is not certain that this was done by the pestilence: besides, Pharaoh was not then smitten, nor his people, only their firstborn; wherefore these words are to be rendered, not in the future, but in the imperfect or preterpluperfect tense, thus; "for when now I stretched out my hand, or if now I had stretched out my hand to smite thee and thy people with pestilence" a; that is, at the time when he smote the cattle with the murrain or pestilence, when he could as well have smote him and his people with it; there was no want of power in God to do it, and had he done it, it would have been all over with him and them: AND THOU SHALL BE CUT OFF FROM THE EARTH; or "thou hadst been, or wouldest...

CHAPTER 9 THE FIFTH, SIXTH, AND SEVENTH PLAGUES _ 1. The fifth plague: the grievous murrain (Exodus 9:1)_ 2. The sixth plague: boils (Exodus 9:8) 3. The warning given (Exodus 9:13) 4. The seventh plague: hail (Exodus 9:22) In the demand God calls Himself “the Lord God of the Hebrews” (see also Exodus 9:13 and Exodus 10:3). The fifth plague strikes animal creation. cattle, such as mentioned in the opening of this chapter, formed the most important part

EXODUS 7:14 TO EXODUS 12:36. THE TEN PLAGUES. How deeply this series of events imprinted itself on the mind and heart of the nation is shown by the fulness with which the three sources report them. J 1° 2° 4° 5° 7° 8° 9° 10° E 1° 7° 8° 9° 10° P 1° 2° 3° 6° 10° 1°, river turned to blood; 2°, frogs; 3°, fice (gnats); 4°, flies; 5°, murrain; 6°, boils; 7°, hail; 8°, locusts; 9°, darkness; 10°, death of firstborn. A sound historical judgment will conclude, both from this fact and from the nature of the occurrences mentioned, as well as from the need for _some_ such group of causes to account for the escape of the tribes, that the traditions have a firm foothold in real events. But since not less than four centuries intervened between the events and the earliest of our sources, it is not to b

Exodus 7:14 to Exodus 11:5 _The first nine Plagues_ The narrative of the Plagues, like that of the preceding Chapter s, is composite. The details of the analysis depend partly upon literary criteria, partly upon differences in the representation, which are not isolated, but recurrent, and which moreover _accompany_the literary differences and support the conclusions based upon them, the differences referred to often also agreeing remarkably with corresponding differences in the parts of the preceding narrative, especially in Exodus 3:1 to Exodus 7:13, which have already, upon independent grounds, been assigned to P, J, and E, respectively. N

FOR I WILL AT THIS, &C.— The following translation of these verses, which is agreeable to Houbigant, will supersede all criticism, and render them extremely plain and intelligible: Exodus 9:13. _Let my people go, that they may serve me;_ 14. _Otherwise, I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart, that thou mayest know there is none like me in all the earth._ 15. _For now I could stretch out my hand, and smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shouldest be cut off from the earth:_ 16. _But, in very deed, for this cause have I made thee subsist_ [held thee up, preserved thee], _that I might shew in thee my power,_ &c. See the margin of our Bibles. The verb, which we render _raised up,_ has that sense which the _margin,_ and the version here given, assign. It is agreeable also to most of the ancient versions; and St. Paul's word,...