Exodus 9:31

_AND THE FLAX AND THE BARLEY WAS SMITTEN: FOR THE BARLEY WAS IN THE EAR, AND THE FLAX WAS BOLLED._ The flax and barley was smitten ... The peculiarities that are mentioned in these cereal products arise from the climate and physical constitution of Egypt. In that country flax and barley are almost ripe when wheat and rye (spelt) are green. And hence, the flax must have been "bolled" - i:e., risen in stalk or podded in February, thus fixing the particular month when the event took place. Barley ripens about a month earlier than wheat. Flax and barley are generally ripe in March, wheat and rye х_ KUCEMET_ (H3698); Septuagint, hee olura, spelt] are ripe in April. That kussemeth cannot be rye is evident from the fact, that this cereal is produced only in northern latitudes, and is unknown in Egypt. This word occurs in two other passages ...

31._And the flax and the barley. _He relates the calamity which the hail inflicted; and shows that a part of the fruits of the earth was destroyed, viz., that which had already grown into stalk; but that the seeds which grow more slowly were spared. For God desired to give a remnant of hope, which might invite the king and his people to repentance, if only their wickedness were curable....

22-35 Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the Lord is righteous; and God must be justified when he speaks, though he speaks in thunder and lightning. Yet his heart was hardened all this while. Moses pleads with God: though he had reason to think Pharaoh would repent of his repentance, and he told him so, yet he promises to be his friend. Moses went out of the city, notwithstanding the hail and lightning which kept Pharaoh and his servants within doors. Peace with God makes men thunder-proof. Pharaoh was frightened by the tremendous judgment; but when tha...

Verse Exodus 9:31. _THE FLAX AND THE BARLEY WAS SMITTEN_] The word פשתה _pishtah, flax_, Mr. Parkhurst thinks, is derived from the root _pashat, to strip_, because the substance which we term _flax_ is properly the _bark_ or _rind_ of the vegetable, pilled or stripped off the stalks. From time immemorial Egypt was celebrated for the production and manufacture of flax: hence the linen and fine linen of Egypt, so often spoken of in ancient authors. _BARLEY_] שערה _seorah_, from שער _saar, to stand on end,_ _to be rough, bristly_, c. hence שער _sear, the hair of the_ _head, and_ _sair, a he-goat_, because of its _shaggy hair_; and hence also _barley_, because of the _rough_ and _prickly beard_ with which the ears are covered and defended. Dr. Pocock has observed that the

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 plague of hail impressed the Pharaoh more than any previous one. It was the first which had inflicted death on men. It was a most striking and terrible manifestation. It was quite unlike anything which the Egyptians had ever experienced before (Exodus 9:18, Exodus 9:24). It was, by manifest miracle, made to fall on the Egyptians only (Exodus 9:26). Pharaoh was therefore more humbled than ever previously. He acknowledged that he "had_ _sinned" (Exodus 9:27); he added a confession that "Jehovah_ _[alone] was righteous, he and his people wicked" (_ibid._)_. _And, as twice before, he expressed his wi

AND THE FLAX AND THE BARLEY WAS SMITTEN,.... With the hail, thunder, and lightning, and were beat down, bruised, broken, and blasted, and destroyed; of the former there were great quantities produced in Egypt, which was famous for linen, much was made there, and there were many that wrought in fine flax, see Isaiah 19:9 and the latter were used not only to feed their cattle, but to make a drink of, as we do, ale and strong beer; and so the Egyptians use it to this day, as Dr. Shaw p says, both to feed their cattle, and after it is dried and parched, to make a fermented, intoxicating liquor, called "bonzah"; probably the same with the barley wine of the ancients, and a species of the "sicar", or strong drink of the Scriptures: FOR THE BARLEY [WAS] IN THE EAR, AND THE FLAX [WAS] BOLLED; or in the stalk, quite grown up, and so the ears of the one were beat off, and the stalks o

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

NOTE THE _ INTROVERSION_ in this verse.. flax. These ripened in middle of February or. barley. early. in March. Israel left early in. barley. April.. flax BOILED. A word of Scandinavian origin, like bulged, i.e. swelled, or ripe. But Hebrew. blossom, i.e. the cap: sules formed. True to the seasons in Egypt to this day....