Exodus 9:18

_BEHOLD, TO MORROW 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._ I will cause it to rain ... The seventh plague which Pharaoh's hardened heart provoked was that of hail-a phenomenon which must have produced the greatest astonishment and consternation in Egypt, as rain and hailstones, accompanied by thunder and lightning were very rare occurrences. SUCH AS HATH NOT BEEN IN EGYPT. In the Delta, or Lower Egypt, where the scene is laid, rain occasionally falls between January and March; hail is not unknown, and thunder sometimes heard. But a storm not only exhibiting all these elements, but so terrific that hailstones fell of immense size, thunder pealed in awful volleys, and lightning swept the ground like fire, was an unexampled calamity....

18._Behold, tomorrow about this time. _God now indicates the kind of punishment which He was prepared to inflict, viz., that He would smite with hail both man and beast, and a part of the crops. It sometimes, indeed, happens that the corn is destroyed by hail, and occasionally that great injury is thus inflicted even on men and beasts; nay, it is regarded as an unusual blessing if ten or fifteen years pass by without such a calamity. But God makes it apparent by certain signs in the judgment, which he has determined to execute, that the hail did not arise from natural causes, but that the atmosphere was manifestly armed by Him for the battle. First, the morrow is fixed; nor is this enough, the hour also is added. But what astronomer or philosopher could thus measure the moments for storms and tempests? Then again, its unusual violence, such as had never been seen before, is appointed. Fo...

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...

_THE_ SEVENTH _PLAGUE - THE_ HAIL. Verse Exodus 9:18. _TO-MORROW ABOUT THIS TIME_] The time of this plague is marked thus circumstantially to show Pharaoh that Jehovah was Lord of heaven and earth, and that the _water_, the _fire_, the _earth_, and the _air_, which were all objects of Egyptian idolatry, were the creatures of his power; and subservient to his will; and that, far from being able to help them, they were now, in the hands of God, instruments of their destruction. _TO RAIN A VERY GRIEVOUS HAIL_] _To rain hail_ may appear to some superficial observers as an unphilosophical mode of expression, but nothing can be more correct. "Drops of rain falling through a cold region of the atmosphere are frozen and converted into hail;" and thus the _hail_ is produ

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

BEHOLD, TOMORROW ABOUT THIS TIME,.... It was now the fourth day of the month Abib, and the fifth when the following was inflicted: I WILL CAUSE IT TO RAIN A VERY GRIEVOUS HAIL; which should fall very thick, and the hailstones be very numerous and heavy, and the storm last long: SUCH AS HATH NOT BEEN IN EGYPT SINCE THE FOUNDATION THEREOF, EVEN UNTIL NOW; not since the earth or land itself was founded, for that was founded when the rest of the world was, and the sense then would be the same as since the foundation of the world; and so the Targum of Jonathan seems to understand it, paraphrasing the words, "from the day that men were made, even until now.'' And a like expression is used of a storm of hail, thunder, and lightning, and earthquakes yet to come, which will be such as has not been since men were upon the earth, with which this plague may be compared,...

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

HAIL. Plague directed against Isis and Osiris. See Exodus 12:12....