Exodus 9:7

_AND PHARAOH SENT, AND, BEHOLD, THERE WAS NOT ONE OF THE CATTLE OF THE ISRAELITES DEAD. AND THE HEART OF PHARAOH WAS HARDENED, AND HE DID NOT LET THE PEOPLE GO._ Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one ... The despatch of confidential messengers indicates that he would not give credit to vague reports; and we may conclude that some impression had been made on his mind by that extraordinary exemption, but it was neither a good nor a permanent impression. His pride and obstinacy were in no degree subdued....

7._And Pharaoh sent. _I leave it undecided, whether he then first sent these inspectors; (104) it may be, that, in the blindness of his obstinacy he neglected this, until he was reminded by Moses; for we know how the reprobate shut their eyes against the manifest marks of God’s wrath, and willfully indulge in their errors. Certainly there is no doubt that Pharaoh, whilst he seeks to harden himself in every way, deliberately passed over what it was very useful for him to know; but, since he was informed by Moses of the distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites, he is compelled, whether he will or no, to ascertain from actual inspection, what he would have gladly been in ignorance of. But this was no obscure demonstration of God’s paternal favor towards His chosen people; that the contagion should not have affected that part of Egypt, which was fullest of cattle, though it ravag...

1-7 God will have Israel released, Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. The hand of the Lord at once is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, die by a sort of murrain. This was greatly to the loss of the owners; they had made Israel poor, and now God would make them poor. The hand of God is to be seen, even in the sickness and death of cattle; for a sparrow falls not to the ground without our Father. None of the Israelites' cattle should die; the Lord shall sever. The cattle died. The Egyptians worshipped their cattle. What we make an idol of, it is just with God to remove from us. This proud tyrant and cruel oppressor deserved to be made an example by the just Judge of the universe. None who are punished according to what they deserve, can have any just cause to complain. Hardness of heart denotes that state of mind upon which neither threatenings...

Verse Exodus 9:7. _AND PHARAOH SENT, C._] Finding so many of his own cattle and those of his subjects slain, he sent to see whether the mortality had reached to the cattle of the Israelites, that he might know whether this were a judgment inflicted by their God, and probably designing to replace the lost cattle of the Egyptians with those of the Israelites....

WAS HARDENED - See Exodus 4:21. Pharaoh probably attributed the exemption of the Israelites to natural causes. They were a pastoral race, well acquainted with all that pertained to the care of cattle; and dwelling in a healthy district probably far more than the rest of Lower Egypt....

EXPOSITION THE FIFTH PLAGUE. Hitherto the plagues had been directed rather against the persons of the Egyptians than against their property. Property had perhaps suffered somewhat in the preceding plague, if it was really one of the _Blatta orientalis; _but otherwise the various afflictions had caused nothing but pain and annoyance to the person. Now this was to be changed. Property was to be made to suffer. It remained to be seen whether the Pharaoh would be impressed more deeply by calamities which impoverished his subjects than by those which merely caused them personal annoyance and suffering. The hand of God was first laid upon the carrie, or rather upon the domesticated animals in general (Exodus 9:3). These were made to suffer from a "murrain" or epidemic pestilence, which carried off vast numbers. Such visitatio

AND PHARAOH SENT,.... Messengers to the land of Goshen, to see whether the murrain was upon the cattle of Israel or not, and whether any of them died or not. The Targum of Jonathan is, "he sent to Pelusium to see'' AND INQUIRE ABOUT THIS MATTER; that is, to Raamses, for so that paraphrase calls Raamses in Exodus 1:11 a city built by the Israelites, and where many of them might dwell. This Pharaoh did, not merely out of curiosity, but to know whether the divine prediction was accomplished, and that he might have wherewith to confront it, could he find the murrain was upon any of the cattle of Israel, or any died of it; and if they did not, his view might be to convert them to his own use, and make up his loss, and the loss of his people, in a good measure in this way, and perhaps this may be the reason why he so little regarded this plague: and, be

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 9:1 J. 5°. MURRAIN UPON CATTLE. The word cattle is a wide term, and includes all domestic animals. The camels must have been those of visiting Bedouins, as they were not naturalised in ancient Egypt. Cattle plagues have been rare in Egypt, but there have been several in the last century. One of the most severe was traced to the Nile; and cattle on land far from the river escaped, as did the cattle of Israel in Goshen. All the cattle (Exodus 9:6) may mean all kinds of cattle, for some survived (Exodus 9:19)....

ISRAELITES. Some codices, with Samaritan Pentateuch, The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, and Septuagint, read "sons of Israel". HARDENED. See note on Exodus 4:2....