Exodus-9

Exodus 9

Exodus 9:1-7(ESV)
¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 
²For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, 
³behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 
⁴But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.”’” 
⁵And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” 
⁶And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. 
⁷And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

This account begins with a demand and a warning.  He was to stop holding back people who belonged somewhere else.  By doing so the “hand of the Lord will fall…”  bring a terrible plague upon the livestock of Egypt.    V.4 – A distinction between the livestock of Israel and of Egypt.

Egyptians revered all animals with birds and livestock being on the top of the list.  To have all their livestock killed and the Israelites not would bring a nationwide humiliation.    Wealth was tied into the size of herds people owned in that day.  It would be like bankrupting everyone’s account in the banks that were not Christian. 

V.5 – The Lord declared a time that it would occur in the land.  The plague would not limit itself by political boundaries.

V. 6 – Scripture reads:  “All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel.” died.    We know that when #7 occurs there are animals that are killed by the hail.  Most of these were alive when #5 hit as there wasn’t a lot of time between plagues.  

PROBLEM:  The Hebrew word “kol” is usually translated “all” and can mean “all sorts of” or “From all over” or “All over the place”   .  Thus it might be understood as:  “Egyptian livestock died all over the place.”  “Egyptian livestock died all over the place”….

3605.  כֹּלֹkôl, kole; or (Jer. 33:8)°

כּוֹלkôwl, kole; from 3634; prop. the whole; hence all, any or every (in the sing. only, but often in a plur. sense):—(in) all (manner, [ye]), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, [no-] thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso (-ever).

V.7 – Pharaoh’s Investigates and still refuses to let the people go.  It was reported that all over Egypt the bodies of cows, horses, and other animals were rotting in the sun, except in Goshen.  God spared Israel and devastated Egypt.

Exodus 9:8-12 –  6^th – Boils

Exodus 9:8-12(ESV)
⁸And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 
⁹It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” 
¹⁰So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. 
¹¹And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. 
¹²But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

Moses took soot from the furnace and threw it in the air and festering boils broke out on man and animals. 

If the physicians could not heal themselves (the magicians) than it must come from the power of God. 

Yet Pharaoh hardened his heart against God.

Exodus 9:13-35 –  7^th plague – Hail
Exodus 9:13-19(ESV) – The announcement of the Plague
¹³Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 
¹⁴For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself,^£ and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 
¹⁵For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 
¹⁶But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 
¹⁷You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. 
¹⁸Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 
¹⁹Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”’” 

V. 14-16 – Yahweh is identified along with his people.  There is a call for release and the purpose described. 

An explanation is provided to Pharaoh on why He is doing it.    V.14 “ …. That you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.” 

V.15 “I could have cut you off the earth”    God has gotten his attention.  Now the stage was set that God would take human life as the last four plagues intensified.  That He could have sent at any time a full destructive plague to eliminate the Egyptian population entirely.  Yahweh alone is supreme,  the implication that He is no match for their gods they worship. 

Quote from New American Commentary:

Note that the word “earth” (ʾereṣ) appears in three verses (9:14–16). In all three it surely means “the earth,” that is, the planet, not merely “the [local] land,” as it can also mean in many contexts. This passage is something of a proto-evangelium, a call to the whole world (even though it is addressed specifically to Pharaoh) to appreciate what the plagues ultimately showed, that there is one God in control of all things and that he alone can save. The world needs to recognize that “there is no one like me in all the earth” (v. 14) and that the will of God is “that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” (v. 16).

The irony of God’s upbraiding of Pharaoh in v. 17 is that Pharaoh could not help himself (any longer) and yet well deserved the criticism he received. It was both his natural inclination to keep the Israelites suppressed and localized (cf. 1:9–10) and the attitude subsequently fixed in him by God as a humiliation and punishment. Pharaoh’s behavior mirrors the phenomenon described by Paul in Rom 1:18–32, that of people being fixed by God in the sinful behavior patterns that would eventually bring about their destruction as a punishment for those very behavior patterns. In other words, one of the ways God punishes sin is to allow the sin to continue and therefore to allow it to take its natural, destructive course. Behind this is the biblical truth that people cannot rescue themselves from their own sin; they always need help to break the patterns of sin in their lives. If God withholds that help, they become fixed in those patterns, will see the harmful effects increasingly during their lives, and will die in those sins. Pharaoh had long ago “set [him]self against [God’s] people and [would] not let them go,” and he was still doing the same. God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart—making him remain stubborn—serves as a punishment although the action itself is also a sin.

V.18 “from the day it was founded till now,”   This would be a common expression in the Egyptian culture and generally translated:  “Since/from the founding of Egypt”  as they were proud of their long history and superior to any other.

God was announcing that snce the beginning of time there has not been such an occurrence of a “hailstorm” of this intensity. 

V.19 – “Bring your livestock and everyone you have in the field”     An idiom for ‘outdoors’ or “out-of-doors”  –  This would include in the courtyard as well – or any place that there is not an over-head protection.  (a cave would protect, but a grass roof would not.)   (Today we are told not to be out in a lightning storm, not alone hail of this size.)  Today, we’d come in from a hail storm no matter the size of stones.  They had hail before, but it generally didn’t last long as it does even today.

Exodus 9:20-26 – the warning and its Devastation:

²⁰Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, 
²¹but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.
²²Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.” 
²³Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 
²⁴There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 
²⁵The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. 
²⁶Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

V.20-21  – those who feared the word of the Lord….  Used the word:  et-dabar  (fear the word of) – But those who did not, left their slaves and livestock in the field.

H3373.  יָרֵאyârêʾ, yaw-ray´; from 3372; fearing; mor. reverent:—afraid, fear (-ful).

H1697.  דָבָרdâbâr, daw-bawr´; from 1696; a word; by impl. a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adv. a cause:—act, advice, affair, answer, × any such (thing), + because of, book, business, care, case, cause, certain rate, + chronicles, commandment, × commune (-ication), + concern [-ing], + confer, counsel,

Some had a belief sufficient to know that what Moses (God) spoke it would be carried out. 

Yet the life-long training of the Egyptian ways would have “a mind-set” that told them they need not fear Israel’s God and thus, why miss a day of work?  So what, hailstorms, we’ve had them before and they don’t last long.

READ:  V.22-26 – the devastation…  Death and devastation from Humans, animals, plants and fruit on trees. 

Exodus 9: 27-30  Pharaoh’s action to gain mercy and then his refusal to follow through…

²⁷Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 
²⁸Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” 
²⁹Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. 
³⁰But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” 

Was Pharaoh actually sorry for his sins and recognized the truth of God’s ways

V.30 – Moses states he knows that Pharaoh still didn’t feat the Lord God.

They maybe have moved closer to capitulation to the Israelites’ God in the bargaining process and may have been disposed to grants some serious concessions.

Exodus 9:31-35  – Removal of Plague and Pharaoh’s stand

³¹(The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 
³²But the wheat and the emmer^£ were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) 
³³So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. 
³⁴But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 
³⁵So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

V.31-32 – the barley was in the ear and flax was in bud and therefore destroyed, but the wheat were not struck down as it was late in coming up.

Flax and Barley were harvested in February-March

Wheat & Spelt were harvested in March-April – a full month later

Wheat and spelt shoots were up and growing and were smashed down, but able to recover and continue to grow so they had hope of food. 

V.33-35 – the removal – ALL STOPPED!  – That too was a sign of God in control.

Quote:

). All had happened “just as the Lord had said through Moses.” The “sinful” tendency that had first motivated Egypt to enslave Israel (1:9–14) was being used by God to subjugate not Israel now but Egypt. The alert reader cannot escape the conclusion that Pharaoh and his advisors were simply not in control of their own destinies but were being forced to repeat stupid actions to their own disadvantage as punishments. The wise course of action for them would have been to let the Israelites leave and prevent further divine destruction of their land and possessions. But they were no longer able to take wise courses of action; their inclinations and intellectual capacities were subject to frustration by the only wise God, who was making fools out of them. As he ratcheted up the severity of the plagues, he kept them from responding accordingly. Using their pride, their willfulness, their cultural assumptions, their emotional tendencies, and any and all other characteristics under his control, he simply made them do what would be to their disadvantage: he made them resist yet further.

FYI – Maybe this would be of interest – was sent out as “Todays’ Turning Point” in November, 2014.

Quote from Dr. David Jeremiah

For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.
Proverbs 3:12

Most Bible readers know that the story of Joseph and the family of Jacob moving to Egypt takes up the last major section of Genesis: chapters 37-50. We meet Joseph as a teenager in Genesis 37 and see him buried at the end of his life in Egypt in Genesis 50. The story flows smoothly except for one part: Genesis 38. If you connect the last verse of Genesis 37 with the first verse of Genesis 39, the story flows beautifully. But Genesis 38 has nothing to do with Joseph and appears to be just a snapshot of Jacob’s family in Canaan.   (Read Hebrews 12:1-13)

Since God inspired the writing of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21), we know that Genesis 38 is there for a reason. And the reason is this: It explains why God sent Joseph to Egypt to prepare a place for Jacob’s family to live in isolation from the world. It reveals the serious moral compromises Jacob’s family was making in Canaan that could have ruined the future of Abraham’s descendants. It proves that God loves His people enough to protect and preserve them through drastic measures if needed.

And God loves us that much as well. He loves us enough to do what we may be unwilling to do ourselves to protect our spiritual life.

God loves us too much to allow us to stay the way we are.