Exodus 9:34

34._And when Pharaoh saw. _Again, as usual, Pharaoh gathers audacity from the mitigation of his punishment, as security arms the reprobate against God; for as soon as the scourges of God rest for awhile, they cherish the presumption that they will be unpunished, and construe the short truce into an abiding peace. Pharaoh, then, hardens anew his heart, which he seemed to have somewhat changed, as soon as he is delivered from this infliction; as though he had not been warned that others remained behind, nay, that the hand of God was already stretched out against him. Therefore, at the end of the chapter, Moses amplifies the crime when he adds, that this had been foretold (115) “by the hand of Moses.” We have sometimes seen already that the wicked king was hardened, as God had said to Moses; now, more! is expressed, viz., that Moses had been the proclaimer of his indomitable and desperate o...

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 9:34. _HE SINNED YET MORE, AND HARDENED HIS HEART_] These were merely acts of his own; "for who can deny," says Mr. Psalmanazar, "that what God did on Pharaoh was much more proper to _soften_ than to _harden_ his heart; especially when it is observable that it was not till after seeing each miracle, and after the ceasing of each plague, that his heart is said to have been hardened? The verbs here used are in the conjugations _pihel_ and _hiphil_, and often signify a bare _permission_, from which it is plain that the words should have been read, _God suffered the heart_ _of Pharaoh to be hardened_." - Universal Hist., vol. i., p. 494. Note D....

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 WHEN PHARAOH SAW THAT THE RAIN, AND THE HAIL, AND THE THUNDERS WERE CEASED,.... And there was a clear sky and a fine serene heaven, the black clouds were dispersed and gone, and he heard no more the clattering of the hailstones, and the terrible claps of thunder, and saw no more the flashes of lightning, but all was calm and composed: HE SINNED YET MORE, AND HARDENED HIS HEART, HE AND HIS SERVANTS; instead of giving glory to God, who had heard the prayers of Moses and Aaron for them, and had delivered them from their frights and fears, and the terror and horror they were in, and of letting the people of Israel go, see Revelation 16:21....

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

HARDENED HIS HEART—THE HEART OF PHARAOH WAS HARDENED— In ch. Exodus 4:21 the Lord says, _I will harden his heart;_ and in the 1st verse of the next chapter, _I have hardened his heart:_ while in several other places, as well as in the present, this act is attributed to Pharaoh himself; and, certainly, can be understood of God no otherwise, than as his judgments accidentally had this effect upon the heart of Pharaoh. The authors of the Universal History well observe, that the expression of _God's hardening the heart_ can signify no other, than his _suffering_ the heart to continue hardened. "Who can deny," say they, "that what God did to Pharaoh and the Egyptians was much more proper to soften than to harden his heart; especially when it is observable, that it was not till after seeing the miracles, and after the ceasing of the plagues, that _his heart_ is said to have