The hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle. Exodus 9:1-7 The suffering that comes upon the brute creation in consequence of the sin of man J. S. Exell, M. A. I. THAT WICKED MEN OFTEN ACT IN REFERENCE TO THE CLAIM'S OF GOD IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO PROVOKE HIS JUDGMENTS. II. THAT MEN WHO THUS REJECT THE CLAIM'S OF GOD OFTEN INVOLVE THE BRUTE CREATION IN PAIN AND WOE. III. THAT THE MEN WHO THUS INVOLVE THE BRUTE CREATION IN PAIN AND SUFFERING ARE OFTEN UNMOVED BY THE DEVASTATION THEY OCCASION. "And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened." Lessons: 1. That the retribution of sin does not end with those who occasion it. 2. That the brute world is affected by the conduct of man. 3. That men should endeavour to banish pain from the universe by attention to the commands of heaven. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) Another blow at Egyptian idolatry T. S. Millington. By the former plagues their religious ceremonies had been interrupted and their sacred abominations defiled: but now their chief deities are attacked. In Goshen, where the cattle are but cattle, they remain untouched: "Of the cattle of the children of Israel there died not one" (ver. 6); but in all other parts of the country, where they are reverenced as gods, the plague is upon them, and they die. Osiris, the saviour, cannot save even the brute in which his own soul is supposed to dwell; Apis and Mnevis, the ram of Ammon, the sheep of Sais, and the goat of Mendes, perish together. Hence Moses reminds the Israelites afterwards, "Upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments" ( Numbers 33:4 ); and Jethro, when he had heard from Moses the history of all that God had done in Egypt, confessed, "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods; for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly, He was above them" ( Exodus 18:11 ). ( T. S. Millington. ) Calf-worship in modern times T. S. Millington. There are some traces of this calfworship to be observed even in our own days. The Hindus still pay reverence to the ox as a sacred animal. One particular kind of cattle, having a hump upon the shoulders, is consecrated to Siva, as the Egyptian bull was to Osiris; they are caressed and pampered by the people; they roam at large, and may destroy the most valuable crops with impunity; none dare lay hands upon them; they are everywhere treated with respect. ( T. S. Millington. ) A boil breaking forth with blains. Exodus 9:8-12 Lessons G. Hughes, B. D. 1. Upon former warnings despised, God falls suddenly, on the wicked with vengeance unawares. 2. Though God can plague His enemies without instruments, yet sometimes He will use them. 3. God gives command out of the ashes to bring fiery plagues on the wicked sometimes at His pleasure. 4. Hands full of ashes are to note full measure of vengeance on God's enemies. 5. Signal actions (as here the sprinkling ashes) God sometimes useth for men to see and fear. 6. God can make ashes dust, and dust boils, to plague His enemies. 7. God foretells His servants that His command obeyed shall not be in vain. 8. Man and beast are joined together in plagues when sinners are not warned by smiting beasts alone. 9. God giveth out threatenings of judgment for manner and measure as He will. 10. The botch or blain on Egypt is a memorable plague. God appropriates it (ver. 9). ( G. Hughes, B. D. ) Lessons G. Hughes, B. D. 1. Experience of the devil's helplessness against God will not persuade the wicked to desist from him. 2. God's boil shall come upon these wicked instruments, do the devil what he can against it. 3. All Satan's instruments are vanquished at the appearance of God's plague (ver. 11). 4. The great God observes and judgeth to obduration sinners who harden themselves against His judgments. 5. Obduration from God's giving men up to their own lusts makes them more to stop their ears and turn their hearts from His word. 6. God's foreseeing and foresaying order (or limit) the issues of rebellion in the wicked against Himself (ver. 12). ( G. Hughes, B. D. ) The physical suffering brought upon men by sin J. S. Exell, M. A. I. THAT THERE IS MUCH PHYSICAL SUFFERING BROUGHT UPON MEN BY SIN AND DISOBEDIENCE. Moral considerations are at the basis of health. The body is influenced by the moods of the soul. Piety is restorative. It gives eternal life. II. THAT THE PHYSICAL SUFFERING CONSEQUENT UPON SIN COMES UPON MEN INDEPENDENT OF THEIR SOCIAL POSITION OR OF THEIR SCIENTIFIC ATTAINMENTS. The king, the magicians, and all the people of Egypt were smitten by the pestilence. None were exempt. 1. Hence we see that social position does not exempt men from the physical suffering consequent upon sin. 2. Hence we see that scientific attainment does not exempt men from the physical suffering consequent upon sin. The boils were upon the magicians. III. THAT THE PHYSICAL SUFFERING CONSEQUENT UPON SIN DOES NOT ALWAYS LEAD TO MORAL REFORMATION. Lessons: 1. That God permits suffering to come upon wicked men to reprove and correct their moral character. 2. That the laws of physical manhood are in harmony with true well-being of the soul. 3. That pain should lead us to review the meaning of our lives. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) The insignificant commencement of great calamities J. S. Exell, M. A. I. THAT GREAT CALAMITIES ARE OFTEN INSIGNIFICANT IN THEIR COMMENCEMENT. All causes are potent to great effects. A trivial ailment may work death. A little misunderstanding may break up a Church. A little sin may ruin a soul. II. THAT GREAT CALAMITIES ARE OFTEN MYSTERIOUS IN THEIR INFLICTION. It is astonishing how apparently trivial causes are influential to such great results. Men are at a loss to explain how little sins are so far-reaching in their effects. It must be recognized as the wondrous ordination of God, and as the efficient law of moral life, designed to keep men right. III. THAT GREAT CALAMITIES ARE OFTEN IRREPRESSIBLE IN THEIR PROGRESS. When the judgments of God are abroad in the earth, and when little causes are working out their punitive issue in the lives of men and nations, they cannot be restrained by pride or power. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) The helplessness of wicked men in the hour of Divine retribution J. S. Exell, M. A. I. THEY ARE HELPLESS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT THE ABILITY TO AVERT THE RETRIBUTIONS OF GOD. Sin ever makes men helpless. II. THEY ARE HELPLESS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT THE COURAGE TO ENDURE THE RETRIBUTIONS OF GOD. Sin makes men cowardly. Hell cannot inspire the wicked heart with courage in the hour of trial. III. THEY ARE HELPLESS BECAUSE THEY LACK THOSE MORAL QUALITIES WHICH ALONE CAN AID MEN IN THE HOUR OF RETRIBUTION. Lessons: 1. That though men have experience of Satan's inability to help them in their trouble consequent upon sin, they will not desist from it. 2. That all Satan's instruments are vanquished by the plague of God. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) A type of corrupt souls Prof. Gaussen. Let this incident lead us to think how great will be the anguish and confusion of wicked men and persecutors when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again to earth, and when the light of God shall shine upon them. Then the corruption of their unconverted souls will openly appear, and they will not dare to show themselves before the holy angels, and before the redeemed, who are covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness. Only imagine what would become of any of us if for every evil thought, every wicked word, every falsehood, every slander, every angry word, an ulcer or a boil were to appear on our faces? If it were to happen to us, for example, as to Miriam, the sister of Moses, who, as the punishment of her pride and angry words to her brother, became all at once a leper white as snow, that is to say, covered with a disgusting disease. How horrible we should seem if all the pollutions of our souls were to appear outwardly on our bodies! It is well for us co think occasionally of such things, to examine the sins of our hearts, to humble ourselves before God, and to feel more deeply the need of being washed in the blood of Christ, which "cleanseth from all sin." It is our Lord Jesus Christ alone who can present to Himself His Church (that is, the assembly of His redeemed people) glorious and pure, "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish." ( Prof. Gaussen. ) To show in thee My power. Exodus 9:13-16 The plagues of Egypt J. C. Gray. I. CHARACTERISTICS. 1. Wonders. Filled men with astonishment and awe. 2. Signs. Instructive. Showed the power and anger of Jehovah. "This, the finger," etc. 3. Punitive also. They punished the oppressor, while they opened the doors of the house of bondage. 4. Emblematical of the mission and career of Moses. Thunders of Sinai resounded through them all. 5. Various. Attacked both nature and man; animate and inanimate objects; mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. 6. Numerous. Ten. Indeed more, for there was the undoing as well as the doing. II. PURPOSE. 1. To overthrow the deities of Egypt. Jehovah the only true God — Lord of lords. 2. To punish the oppressor. Those who long years had made the life of Israel bitter, now taste a worse bitterness than they had inflicted. 3. To confound the pride of Pharaoh. Though he was master in the land. Had need to be taught that there was One by whom kings rule. 4. To effect the deliverance of the captives. They gradually paved the way, and ultimately secured this. III. EFFECT. 1. Upon Pharaoh. Hardened his heart. In proportion as he set himself against the manifest will of God. So even the glorious gospel of the blessed God is, to some men, the savour of death unto death. At last even Pharaoh's resistance was broken. 2. Upon the Egyptians. They were gradually subdued, till at length they entreated Pharaoh to let Israel go, as earnestly as ever Moses and Aaron did. 3. Upon Israel. They had dwelt secure while these terrors were abroad. God had hidden them in the chambers of His love and mercy. Their confidence restored. They organize their flight. They see the time is at hand. And at last wait for the final word.Learn — 1. To stand in awe of the great God and sin not. 2. To admire the resources of infinite wisdom and power. 3. To take heed lest the gospel be a source of condemnation. 4. To expect no miracles, but turn to the sure word of prophecy. 5. To rejoice in our great deliverer, Jesus Christ. ( J. C. Gray. ) The Divine name as manifested in the history of a wicked and rebellious soul J. S. Exell, M. A. I. FROM THE HISTORY OF PHARAOH WE SEE THAT IT IS NOT THE WAY OF GOD TO REMOVE A WICKED SOUL BY THE IMMEDIATE STROKE OF POWER. The mercy of the Divine name is declared in the prolonged life of the sinner. II. FROM THE HISTORY OF PHARAOH, WE SEE THAT IT IS THE WAY OF GOD TO SURROUND THE WICKED SOUL BY MANY MINISTRIES OF SALVATION. III. FROM THE HISTORY OF PHARAOH, WE SEE THAT IT IS THE WAY OF GOD TO FOLLOW THE WICKED SOUL WITH CONTINUED JUDGMENTS. The sorrows of the wicked are not fortuitous or casual, but divinely arranged and continuous. Hence in the life of the sinner is seen the power of the Divine hand. Lessons: 1. That God permits wicked men to live in the universe, notwithstanding the continued rebellion against Him. 2. That a life of sin is a life of judgment. 3. That the sovereignty, mercy, power, and justice of God are seen in His dealings with men. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) God to be recognized in the events of life Christian Age. In listening to a great organ, played by the hand of a master, there is often an undertone that controls the whole piece. Sometimes it is scarcely audible, and a careless listener would miss it altogether. The lighter play goes on, ebbing and flowing, rising and sinking, now softly gliding on the gentler stops, and now swelling out to the full power of the great organ. But amid all the changes and transpositions this undertone may be heard, steadily pursuing its own thought. The careless listener thinks the lighter play the main thing; but he that can appreciate musical ideas, as well as sounds, follows the quiet undertone of the piece, and finds in it the leading thought of the artist. So men see the outward events of life, the actions, the words, the wars, famines, sins; but underneath all God is carrying out His own plans, and compelling all outward things to aid the music He would make in this world. ( Christian Age. ) Why Pharaoh was exalted J. H. Norton, D. D. The words do not mean that the Almighty had created Pharaoh for this purpose; but that He had exalted him to worldly distinction, and preserved him alive, when the pestilence was ready to destroy, that he might serve as a beacon to warn the obstinate and rebellious in after times. It is a fearful thought, that God may allow us to reach positions of influence and authority, towards which our own selfish ambition has drawn us; and all this not for the purpose of imparting a blessing, but really for the manifesting a judgment, or for the display of His omnipotence. ( J. H. Norton, D. D. ) Reprobation N. Emmons, D. D. I. I am to show THAT GOD DID DESTROY PHARAOH. The Deity threatened to cut him off from the earth, which plainly implied something more than barely putting an end to his life, Had He permitted him to die by old age, or by sickness, or even by what is commonly called accident, we should have had no right to conclude from the manner of his dying that he was really destroyed. But there were two circumstances attending his death, which may be justly considered as denoting his destruction. He was cut off in the midst of his wickedness. And another is, that he died by the immediate hand of Divine justice. As God opened the Red Sea in mercy to Israel, so He shut it again in judgment to Pharaoh, whom He had threatened to destroy. II. I am to show THAT GOD RAISED UP PHARAOH TO FIT HIM FOR DESTRUCTION. God worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. He never does anything without a previous design. If He destroyed Pharaoh in the manner which has been represented, there can be no doubt but that He previously intended to destroy him in such a manner. But the Divine declarations supersede the necessity of reasoning upon this head. God made known, from time to time, His purpose of destroying Pharaoh. Now, if we look into the history of God's conduct towards Pharaoh, we shall find that He used all the proper and necessary means to form him a vessel of wrath, and fit him for that miserable end to which he was appointed. 1. He raised him up from nothing into being. He gave him a rational and immortal existence. 2. He raised him up to the throne of Egypt. In this splendid situation he was surrounded with everything that could please his taste, flatter his vanity, and inflame his ambition. And this was a natural and necessary step to prepare him for his final fate. For it is a Divine maxim, that "pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." 3. God not only raised Pharaoh to the pinnacle of human glory, but also removed from him outward restraints. Besides giving him the power of an unlimited monarch, was virtually setting him above all legal influence and control. But besides this, God removed Moses from his presence and kingdom, who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, and thoroughly acquainted with all the arts and intrigues of a court. 4. God endured this vessel of wrath with much long-suffering and forbearance. Instead of treating him according to his deserts, He waited long to be .gracious. He used a variety of means to bring him to repentance. But mercies, as well as judgments, conspired to increase his stupidity and hardness of heart, which prepared him for a more unexpected .and more aggravated doom. 5. God hardened his heart. All other methods, without this, would have failed of fitting him for destruction. It is now time to make it appear, if possible — III. THAT GOD IS TO BE JUSTIFIED IN HIS TREATMENT OF PHARAOH. We must proceed upon the supposition that God did treat him in the manner which has been represented; and especially that He did, among other things, actually harden his heart. 1. That better judges than we can pretend to be, have approved of God's treatment of Pharaoh. We find his own testimony in favour of God and against himself. "Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time; the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked." This Pharaoh said after God had raised him up, after He had taken off restraints from his mind, after He had sent severe judgments upon him, after He had hardened his heart, and after He had told him that He had raised him up to destroy him. By this time Pharaoh was nearly ripened for ruin, and properly prepared to judge whether God had injured him, or whether he had injured God. And he freely acknowledges that he was wicked, and had injured God, and that God was righteous, and had never injured him. 2. The sovereignty and justice of God allowed Him to treat Pharaoh in the manner which has just been described. The Deity had a sovereign right to bring Pharaoh into existence, to give him the powers and faculties of a moral agent, to place him at the head of a kingdom, and to operate upon his heart in the same manner in which He operates upon the hearts of other men. And when Pharaoh, under such circumstances, became extremely haughty, cruel, malevolent and obstinate, He had a right, in point of justice, to cut him off from the earth, and send him to endless perdition. ( N. Emmons, D. D. ) Pharaoh raised up C. S. Robinson, D. D. From all we can find out from a careful comparison of what Moses wrote with what Paul added in his letter ( Romans 9:15-18 ), it would appear that a paraphrase like this might represent the truth: "I selected thee for a strong and illustrious example of human insolence in power, its capabilities for wickedness, and the certainty of its final doom; and this I did in order that I might prove My own supremacy over the creatures of My hand, and thus declare My name in all the ages of the world." 1. Observe here that this king was perfectly intelligent concerning what Jehovah asked of him: "Let My people go, that they may serve Me." That was the demand. Does any one say he could not let them go, if he tried? It was a simple measure of political economy; he would lose an unreckoned number of valuable slaves. So he made up his mind that the conflict must come on; he would not let them go. But there was in the struggle more than mere political economy; from the beginning it is an undenied fact that he knew it was God with whom he was contending; he was bracing himself for a fight which meant life or death. Why, then, did Menephtah take his stand in defiance of all? The real reason must be found in his wish to try his gods against Israel's God; the issue, at first only economic, at last became only spiritual. Those who exercise their sympathy so extensively about this monstrous despot, steeped in conceit and superstition, and who claim that he was treated unfairly and had no chance, ought not to forget that Menephtah was permitted to choose his own forms of contending with Moses. Their weapons were miracles, and the orders of the Hebrew leader were issued in such slow details that for a while the king was able with his magicians to meet the demands of a very respectable rebellion in show. But enough of this. 2. It is more to the point now that we enter on an explanation of this expression about Pharaoh's being" raised up" as an exhibition of God's power and supremacy. For years of injustice in administration of the government, of tyranny in treatment of the Israelite working-people, and of superstitious idolatry in his worship, it is clear that Menephtah had been known and read of all men. Just then it pleased God to teach Israel, His chosen people, a lesson of dependence upon Himself; He determined to show His complete and irresistible supremacy over any one and every one else who was in a position to defy Him. The government of Israel was a theocracy; that is to say, God in person was the King of it, and Moses was the earthly representative before the people. He therefore needed a conspicuous antagonist. Menephtah was chosen. God might have selected the king of the Philistine nation or the Amorite; it is likely both were as bad as Pharaoh. What He did do was to choose this king of Egypt, the descendant of some awful generations of miscreant tyrants — himself as wicked as the worst. This king, Menephtah, the Lord took when he was at the height of his power. He kept him alive; He endured his defiance; He preserved a balance in His mind so that he should not go insane; He gave him an unbroken season of health; He guarded against any useless or unhelpful insurrection in his realm; He patiently bore with his blasphemy. Then, as the conflict grew more malignant, instead of cutting this rebel off in the midst of his daring impiety, God kept giving him more and harder disciplines — all calculated, mind you, to do him good, if he would only accept and improve them to good; thus kindling anew his passions with fresh fuel. The purpose seems to have been just to draw this one man out, to exhaust his tremendous powers and capabilities to the very utmost, so as to have the Hebrews understand that no king, not even at the highest conception of force and tyranny, was or could be a match for the great Jehovah who was their King and their God. In this sense Pharaoh was "raised up," so as to become a recognized sinner for times and races in the unborn future, a shining shame before the world. 3. "As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him; as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him." Menephtah does not stand alone in history, by any means. Cain, Saul, the king of Israel, Sihon, Belshazzar, Judas Iscariot, had a similar trial of human will against the Divine. These men were conspicuous; not all men are as much so; but all have the same human nature. Indeed, most of us are distinctly conscious of being perfectly unconstrained in all of our moral decisions. We should say, each one of us, if the inquiry were raised, that there never was a moment in all this man's career in which if he had turned and repented, he might not have been saved, no matter how far on in his guilt he might have advanced: so it seems now to ourselves. There is a theological doctrine called reprobation; the truth appears to be that at some period in the controversy with a human soul, God does judicially withdraw His Spirit, and then there is a solemn crisis reached for the experience of hardness; it looks as if a man could not repent, could not be saved, beyond that line of defiance and despair. Now, everything the Lord does to save a good man, if done to this reprobate, only makes him worse. How can that be helped? The free will is kept up, and the sovereignty does not yield. There is no defence, so far as can be discovered, against the power of an unrighteous man to make a vicious perversion of God's most generous dealings. 4. There is a reprobation before death. The sentiment is not accurately true as some persons sing it: it is not always sure that "while the lamp holds out to burn, the vilest sinner may return." For in his heart there may be a hardness that will hinder him for ever from coming to ask for a pardon through Jesus Christ, and that is essential. After this point is reached, however, God goes right on doing as He did before. God never does anything to any soul with the intention of hardening it. He never "raises up" any man for the sake of casting him down again into hell. He has a right to choose as much as we have in any case. He chose Moses instead of Menephtah, and Israel instead of Egypt; He had mercy on whom He would have mercy. The ancient Thracian emblem of the Deity was a sun with three of its broadest beams proceeding from it: of these, one rested upon a sea of ice and was melting it; another, on a cliff of rock, and was causing it to flow; the third, on a dead man's body, and was rousing it to life. Now, just imagine each one of these, or any one of these, was so free-willed as to be able, and so spiteful as to wish, to resist, so a new chill went into the ice, and a fresh hardness into the rock, and a deeper corruption sunk into the dead body; would the warmth-giving and life-giving sun be to blame, if it still went on shining as before? ( C. S. Robinson, D. D. ) As yet exaltest thou thyself . Exodus 9:17 A self-exalted man J. S. Exell, M. A. I. THAT A SELF-EXALTED MAN OFTEN TREATS WITH CONTEMPT THE CLAIMS OF DUTY. II. THAT A SELF-EXALTED MAN OFTEN TREATS WITH CONTEMPT THE PEOPLE OF GOD. III. THAT A SELF-EXALTED MAN IS OFTEN HUMILIATED BY THE SAD DISCIPLINE OF LIFE. Self-conceit is self-destruction. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) The plaque of hail threatened J. S. Exell, M. A. I. THAT THERE IS A GREAT AND AWFUL JUDGMENT THREATENED UPON MAN IN THE FUTURE. Time known only to God. Enough that fact is certain. II. THAT THERE IS A SHELTER PROVIDED FROM THE FINAL JUDGMENT OF THE FUTURE. 1. Divinely made known. 2. Mercifully sufficient. 3. Gratefully welcomed. III. THAT ONLY THOSE WHO HEED THE WARNING OF GOD, AND AVAIL THEMSELVES OF THE SHELTER PROVIDED, WILL BE SAFE IN THE FINAL JUDGMENT OF LIFE. IV. THAT MANY, THROUGH UNBELIEF, OR THROUGH NEGLECT OF THE WORD OF GOD, WILL PERISH IN THE FINAL JUDGMENT OF LIFE. Lessons: 1. Believe in the judgment to come. 2. Believe in the mercy of Christ. 3. Flee from the wrath to come. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) Minding what God says W. Saumarez Smith, B. D. The text describes two classes, viz., those that feared the word of the Lord, and those that "set not their hearts " to it. Here is a very distinct parable in history for our use and instruction. We may note — I. THE DIVINE WARNING. 1. It was "the word of Jehovah." It was sent through a specially commissioned messenger. 2. It was sword of mercy. The Lord willeth not the death of a sinner. 3. It was a word of threatening. But the threat was only against those whose wilful disobedience would merit judgment. II. THE DIFFERENT WAYS IN WHICH IT WAS REGARDED. 1. Wholesome fear. This fear was a fruit of faith. A feeble spark of faith, perhaps, but enough to stimulate action. 2. Careless neglect. Proverbs 14:16 , gives well the contrast of the two classes. This "carnal security" a very common source of spiritual danger. III. THE DEFINITE APPLICATION TO OURSELVES. God has sent His word to us, full of mingled promises and warnings, declarations of mercy and judgment. Are we taking heed thereto? By startling events, by secret stirrings of conscience, by the Bible, by His special messengers, "the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God," God speaks. Do we listen? or do we, listless, if not openly scornful, let the utterance be to us as an idle tale? The gospel of Christ, as proclaimed to men, offers a refuge from God's just wrath against sinful man. If we refuse, we shall be worthy of worse punishment than heathen who have never heard, and it shall be more tolerable for them in the day of judgment than for us. Before the hailstorm of judgment come, let us "set our heart to" the word of the Lord; so shall we be safe in the evil day. ( W. Saumarez Smith, B. D. ) The hail shall come down upon them. Exodus 9:18-26 Brought home W. Forsyth, M. A. I. GOD IS THE TRUE HOME OF THE SOUL. Everything the soul needs is to be found in Him: nowhere else. Here is inviolable security, and everlasting peace. II. CHRIST HAS COME TO BRING US HOME TO GOD. III. THE ETERNAL BLESSEDNESS OF ALL WHO ARE BROUGHT HOME TO GOD BY CHRIST. This is seen in two ways. 1. By what is escaped. "The hail." God's judgments. We have all been solemnly warned. The voice of God cries "gather," (ver. 19). If we slight the call, our blood be upon our own heads! ( Hebrews 12:25 ). 2. By what is enjoyed (ver. 26). The security of the children of Israel in Goshen, while the storm raged so terribly all around them, touchingly represents the peace of God's people in time and in eternity ( Isaiah 32:18 ). IV. The subject suggests SOLEMN QUESTIONS. 1. Where art thou? In the field, exposed, and defenceless, or, at home? 2. Dost thou fear God? (ver. 20, 21). True fear leads to obedience. But many are heedless of counsel and warning, and God's judgments are put "out of sight" ( Psalm 10:5 ). 3. What are you doing to bring others home? If we believe in "the wrath to come," we cannot rest in inaction. ( W. Forsyth, M. A. ) Lessons G. Hughes, B. D. 1. Human faith of God's threatenings may make men fear and tremble at God's word. Human it may be called in respect of the principle, though the testimony on which it was grounded were Divine. 2. Such fear may make men careful to shun temporal judgments. 3. Wicked men, through fear, may flee from temporal plagues but not eternal (ver. 20). 4. Among wicked men some may refuse human faith which some embrace. 5. Unbelief will not suffer men to lay any of God's words to heart. 6. Regardless of God's threatenings, maketh men leave them and theirs to vengeance (ver. 21). ( G. Hughes, B. D. ) Lessons G. Hughes, B. D. 1. God's warnings of judgments being not regarded, He quickly gives the word for execution. 2. To encourage faith, God calleth His servants to assist in working vengeance. 3. God makes use of signals to induce judgments sometimes by the hand of His instruments. 4. God's word maketh such signs effectual that they may be feared. 5. God's word creates hail for vengeance, as sometimes in mercy. 6. Man and beast, herbs and all to the utmost extent, are subjected to God's hail at His command (ver. 22). ( G. Hughes, B. D. ) Salutary fears J. S. Exell, M. A. Threatened judgments test men. Some are more susceptible to the presence of God than others. I. THESE MEN FEARED GOD'S THREATENED JUDGMENT. Fear often arises from faith in God's word. Fear is the alarum of the soul. It is often the first emotion in a new life. It often brings in love, "as the needle draws in the thread." II. THEIR FEAR LED TO APPROPRIATE ACTION. They prepared for the coming storm. There is shelter for all in Christ, and in Him alone. III. THEIR FEAR LED TO WELCOME SAFETY. Obedience brought its reward. Men's property would be safer if they had greater respect for the word of God. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) Belief of the word of God J. S. Exell, M. A. 1. Makes men tremble. 2. Makes men wise. 3. Makes men safe. 4. Makes men singular. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) Disregard of God J. S. Exell, M. A. 1. Ruinous. 2. Presumptuous. 3. Foolish. 4. Common. 5. Inexcusable. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) God's command over the elements J. S. Exell, M. A. I. THAT THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE IS GIFTED WITH NUMEROUS AND CONTRARY AGENCIES AND ELEMENTS. 1. The elements of nature called into exercise by this plague were numerous. There was rain, hail, fire and thunder. 2. The elements of nature called into existence by this plague were contrary. The rain was contrary to the fire. There are very opposite elements in the great universe around us; yet all exist in harmony. One element counteracts and yet co-operates with another. The elements of nature blend in one glorious ministry for man; though sin often turns them into messengers of justice. 3. The elements of nature called into existence by this plague were emphatic. When the elements of the material universe are arrayed against man they are emphatic in their message. The thunder speaks in loud voice. It has a message to the soul. There is a moral significance in the storm. II. THAT GOD HAS COMPLETE CONTROL OVER ALL THE ELEMENTS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 1. So that He can commission His servants to use them according to His will. 2. So that He can make them rebuke the sin of man. He can arm the universe against a wicked soul. 3. God can prevent them from working injury to the good. The heathen imagined that divers Gods were over divers things; some ruling the air, some the fire, some the water, some the mountains, and some the plains. But God here demonstrates to the Egyptians His complete authority over the whole of nature. This truth is consoling to the good. III. THAT THE MATERIAL PROSPERITY OF A NATION IS GREATLY DEPENDENT UPON THE ELEMENTS OF NATURE, AND THAT THEREFORE GOD ALONE CAN GIVE TRUE PROSPERITY TO A PEOPLE. 1. The fields and gardens of Egypt were ruined. 2. The flax and barley of Egypt were ruined. Egypt was from early times the granary of the world (Genesis 12:57). And thus we see how the prosperity of a nation is dependent upon the natural government of God in the material world. Let rulers remember this. And let not the people forget it. Sin is a curse to any nation. National righteousness is national prosperity and elevation.Lessons: 1. That the material universe is under the rule of God. 2. That the good are Divin

Benson Commentary Exodus 9:1 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Exodus 9:2 For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, Exodus 9:3 Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. Exodus 9:3 . The hand of the Lord — Immediately, without the stretching out of Aaron’s hand; is upon the cattle — Many of which, some of all kinds, should die by a sort of pestilence. The hand of God is to be acknowledged even in the sickness and death of cattle, or other damage sustained in them; for a sparrow falls not to the ground without our Father. And his providence is to be acknowledged with thankfulness in the life of the cattle, for he preserveth man and beast, Psalm 36:6 . Exodus 9:4 And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel. Exodus 9:4 . Shall nothing die of the children’s of Israel — This was the greater miracle, because the Israelites and the Egyptians were mingled together in the land of Goshen; so that their cattle breathed the same air, and drank the same water. By which it appeared that this pestilence was not natural, but proceeded from the immediate hand of God. Exodus 9:5 And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land. Exodus 9:5 . The Lord appointed a set time — This appointing of a set or particular time, both for bringing on the plagues and removing them, and that at as short a distance as the nature of the appointment would admit, and the leaving it once, at least, to Pharaoh himself to fix it, seems to have been intended to prevent the Egyptians, who were possessed with highly superstitious notions of the influence of the heavenly bodies at particular times, from thinking that Moses took advantage of his knowledge of those times to work his miracles. Exodus 9:6 And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. Exodus 9:6 . All the cattle of Egypt died — All that were in the field, Exodus 9:3 ; or a great number of every kind, so that the Egyptians saw that even the animals which they worshipped as gods could not save themselves. Bishop Warburton, in his Divine Legation of Moses, has given it as his opinion, that, in the early ages, the deities of Egypt were described by hieroglyphics or emblems, in which the pictures or images of beasts, birds, plants, reptiles, and every species of the animal or vegetable creation, were used as symbols or representations of their gods; and that, in process of time, the living animals, or real plants, thus represented, began to be deemed sacred, on account of this circumstance: and he thinks that the animals or plants themselves were not really worshipped till after the time of Moses. We know, however, that the Israelites learned in Egypt to make a god of a calf, from which it seems evident that that animal was worshipped there. But if the bishop’s opinion be right, and animals were not worshipped so early as the time of Moses, they certainly were held in great veneration, as symbols of their gods, and the subjecting them to a pestilence was, in effect, opposing and warring against the deities whom they represented. Not one of the cattle of the Israelites died — The gracious care of God is not only over the persons of those that fear him, but over all that belongs to them. Whatever the poorest Israelite possessed, the Lord was the protector of it, while all that belonged to the king and people of Egypt was exposed to the destructive ravages of those plagues with which divine justice saw fit to punish their idolatries and oppressions of his people. But doth God take care of oxen? Yes, he doth; his providence extends itself to the meanest of his creatures. 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. Exodus 9:7 . Pharaoh sent — It seems as if Pharaoh, notwithstanding all he had seen, could not conceive that such a distinction could be made between cattle feeding together in the same or similar pastures, that those of the Egyptians alone should be stricken, while those of the Israelites were not affected; and therefore he sent expressly to know the truth of it: when behold, (and well might it be said, behold! for it was worthy of both notice and admiration,) there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead — But, notwithstanding this most convincing evidence of the distinguishing favour of God toward his people, such was the unwillingness of Pharaoh to part with the advantage which the service of the Israelites was to him, that he could not bring himself to consent to their departure. Exodus 9:8 And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. Exodus 9:8-10 . Take you handfuls of the ashes of the furnace — Sometimes God shows men their sin in their punishment. They had oppressed Israel in the furnaces, and now the ashes of the furnace are made as much a terror to them as ever their task masters had been to the Israelites. “The matter of this plague,” says Ainsworth, “is from the fire, which also being one of the elements they deified, is here made the instrument of evil to them, and reclaimed by Jehovah to his service, in punishment of its deluded votaries, who worshipped the creature more than the Creator.” A former miracle was from water, and the next from air, to show that God rules in all. It became a bile — A sore, angry swelling, or inflammation; breaking forth with blains — Or blisters, quickly raised; upon man and upon beast — Thus we see that the men themselves were smitten after the cattle, which is agreeable to the method of Providence in punishing, first sending previous afflictions to warn mankind, that they may shun greater evils by timely repentance. This bile is afterward called the botch of Egypt, ( Deuteronomy 28:27 ,) as if it were some new disease, never heard of before, and known ever after by that name. Exodus 9:9 And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. Exodus 9:10 And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast. Exodus 9:11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians. Exodus 9:11 . The magicians could not stand before Moses — We do not read of any attempt they made to vie with Moses in miracles since the plague of the lice. But it would seem from this passage that they still continued about Pharaoh, and endeavoured to settle him in his resolution not to let Israel go: persuading him, perhaps, that although Moses had the better of them for the present, yet they should at last be too hard for him. But now, being on a sudden smitten with these ulcers, in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, they were rendered so contemptible, that they durst not again look either Moses or Pharaoh in the face; for we hear no more of them after this time. To this, it seems, the apostle refers, ( 2 Timothy 3:9 ,) when he says their folly was “manifested unto all men.” Exodus 9:12 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses. Exodus 9:12 . And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart — Before he had hardened his own heart, and resisted the grace of God; and now God justly gave him up to his own heart’s lusts, to strong delusions, permitting Satan to blind and harden him. Wilful hardness is generally punished with judicial hardness. Let us dread this as the sorest judgment a man can be under on this side hell. Exodus 9:13 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Exodus 9:14 For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. Exodus 9:14-15 . I will at this time send all my plagues — Either these verses relate to what was to happen some time afterward, namely, the slaying of the firstborn, or the latter verse is to be read as follows, a translation which is equally agreeable to the Hebrew: “For now I had stretched out my hand, to smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hadst been cut off, &c., but that thou wast preserved” (as follows in the succeeding verse) “that it might be known that there is none like me in all the earth.” All my plagues upon thy heart — Hitherto thou hast not felt my plagues on thy own person; but I will shortly reach and wound it: will give thee a wound that will pierce thy very heart; an irrecoverable and mortal wound. Who can tell the greatness of his wrath, or what a fearful thing it is to fall under the righteous judgment of a holy and offended God? Exodus 9:15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. Exodus 9:16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Exodus 9:16 . For this cause have I raised thee up — A most dreadful message Moses is here ordered to deliver to him, whether he will hear, or whether he will forbear. He must tell him that he is marked for ruin: that he now stands as the butt at which God would shoot all the arrows of his wrath. For this cause I raised thee up — To the throne, at this time; and made thee to stand — The shocks of the plagues hitherto; to show in thee my power — Providence so ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit to deal with, to make it a most signal and memorable instance of the power God has to bring down the proudest of his enemies. It must be observed, that the Hebrew word, here rendered raised up, never signifies to raise, or bring a person or thing into being; but to preserve, support, establish, or make to stand, as in the margin of our Bibles, and as may be seen, 1 Kings 15:4 ; Proverbs 29:4 . And accordingly, the Septuagint translation, the Chaldee, Samaritan, Arabic, and Junius and Tremellius, all render this place, “For this cause thou hast hitherto been preserved,” ?????? ?????? ?????????? , Sept. The meaning therefore of this passage is, not that God brought Pharaoh into being, or made him on purpose, that he might be an example of his severity and vengeance, but that, though Pharaoh had long deserved to be destroyed, yet God had spared him, and made him subsist for a considerable time, to show his power, by the signs and wonders which he wrought in the land of Egypt, and by delivering his people at length, in spite of all the opposition of Pharaoh, with a strong hand and outstretched arm. That my name might be known — My being, and providence, and manifold perfections; my patience in bearing with thee so long, my justice in punishing thee, my power in conquering thee, my wisdom in overruling thy pride, tyranny, cruelty, to thy own destruction and the redemption of my oppressed people, and my faithfulness in accomplishing my promises to them, and my threatenings to thee. Throughout all the earth — Not only in all places, but throughout all ages, while the earth remains. This will infallibly be the event. Exodus 9:17 As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go? Exodus 9:17-18 . As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people? — Against me, acting for my people. God takes what is done for or against his people as done for or against himself. Behold, tomorro w — The time is precisely marked, that it might not be said to have fallen out by chance. Besides, God hereby demonstrates, that there is no part of nature but he commands, — that the fire, hail, thunder, and storm obey his will. Since the foundation thereof — Since it was a kingdom. 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. Exodus 9:19 Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. Exodus 9:19 . Send now therefore and gather thy cattle — This warning God gives to mitigate the severity of the judgment, to show his justice in punishing so wicked and obstinate a people as would not hearken either to his words or former works, and especially to make a difference between the penitent and the incorrigible Egyptians, it being far from God to inflict the same punishment on those who mourn because of any national crime, and those who for their profit or pleasure will continue to do wickedly. Exodus 9:20 He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses: Exodus 9:20 . He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh — By this time it appears that these terrible judgments had not been executed entirely in vain. A few, at least, were hereby brought to stand in awe of God and perhaps truly to turn to him. Such persons, believing the discoveries which he had given of his displeasure at the slavery and oppression of his people, and not concurring in this part of the national crimes, regarded the notice God had given, and saved their servants and the remnant of their cattle. Exodus 9:21 And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field. Exodus 9:22 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. Exodus 9:22-23 . Upon man — Upon those men that presumed to continue in the field after this admonition. The Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt — This was the more extraordinary, as rain seldom falls in Egypt, and in some parts of the country is scarcely known at all. And snow and hail are still more rare, the climate not being so cold as to produce them. Sometimes, however, they do fall, as is implied in the next verse, and is attested by eye-witnesses. Exodus 9:23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. Exodus 9:24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. Exodus 9:24 . Fire mingled with hail — Which strange mixture much increased the miracle. The Hebrew is, fire infolding or catching itself among the hail; “One flash of lightning,” says Ainsworth, “taking hold on another, and so the flames, infolding themselves, increased and burned more terribly.” The same Hebrew word is used Ezekiel 1:4 , and rendered, a fire infolding itself. Exodus 9:25 And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. Exodus 9:25 . Every herb of the field: every tree — That is, most of them, or herbs and trees of all sorts, as appears from Exodus 10:12 ; Exodus 10:15 . Exodus 9:26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were , was there no hail. Exodus 9:26 . In the land of Goshen there was no hail — It seems the Egyptians that dwelt there were spared for the sake of their neighbours the Israelites; which great obligation probably made them the more ready to give them their jewels, Exodus 12:35 . Exodus 9:27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Exodus 9:27 . Pharaoh said, I have sinned; the Lord is righteous — These, professions were only produced by his fears: his heart was still untouched with any true veneration for, or humiliation before, the God of Israel, or with compunction and sorrow for his own obstinacy. Exodus 9:28 Intreat the LORD (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. Exodus 9:29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD'S. Exodus 9:29 . That the earth is the Lord’s — That is, the whole world, the heavens and the earth. This is one great point that the Scriptures are intended to establish, that the whole universe, and all creatures therein, belong to the Lord, and are under his government. This truth, the foundation of all religion, ought to be established in our hearts, that we may put our trust in him, and be resigned to his will, whatever the dispensations of his adorable providence may be; however mysterious and unsearchable, as to the reasons of them, persuaded that they are as wise as they are powerful, and as gracious as they are just and holy, and will assuredly all work for good to those that love him. Exodus 9:30 But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God. Exodus 9:31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. Exodus 9:31 . The flax and barley were smitten — Which were not so necessary for human life as the wheat and rye. Thus God sends smaller judgments before the greater. The flax was bolled — Grown into a stalk. Exodus 9:32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up. Exodus 9:32 . They were not grown up — Were hidden, or dark, as the margin reads it; or late, as many interpreters render the expression. This kind of corn, coming later up, was now tender, and hidden, either under ground, or in the herb, whereby it was secured both from the fire, by its greenness and moisture, and from the hail, by its pliableness and yielding to it: whereas the stalks of barley were more dry and stiff, and therefore more liable to be injured and destroyed by the fire and hail. Exodus 9:33 And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. Exodus 9:33-34 . Moses went out of the city — Not only for privacy in his communication with God, but to show that he durst venture abroad into the field, notwithstanding the hail and lightning, knowing that every hail- stone had its direction from God. And spread abroad his hands unto the Lord — An outward expression of earnest desire, and humble expectation. He prevailed with God; but he could not prevail with Pharaoh: he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart — The prayer of Moses opened and shut heaven, like Elijah’s. And such is the power of God’s two witnesses, Revelation 11:6 . Yet neither Moses nor Elijah, nor those two witnesses, could subdue the hard hearts of men. Pharaoh was frighted into compliance by the judgment, but, when it was over, his convictions vanished. Exodus 9:34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. Exodus 9:35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Exodus 9:1 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. CHAPTER IX. THE FIFTH PLAGUE. Exodus 9:1-7 . Our Lord when on earth came not to destroy men's lives. And yet it was necessary, for our highest instruction, that we should not think of Him as revealing a Divinity wholly devoid of sternness. Twice, therefore, a gleam of the fires of justice fell on the eyes which followed Him--through the destruction once of a barren tree, and once of a herd of swine, which property no Jew should have possessed. So now, when half the gloomy round of the plagues was being completed, it was necessary to prove that life itself was staked on this desperate hazard; and this was done first by the very same expedient--the destruction of life which was not human. There is something pathetic, if one thinks of it, in the extent to which domestic animals share our fortunes, and suffer through the brutality or the recklessness of their proprietors. If all men were humane, self-controlled, and (as a natural result) prosperous, what a weight would be uplifted from the lower levels also of created life, all of which groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now! The dumb animal world is partner with humanity, and shares its fate, as each animal is dependent on its individual owner. We have already seen the whole life of Egypt stricken, but now the lower creatures are to perish, unless Pharaoh will repent. He is once more summoned in the name of "Jehovah, God of the Hebrews," and warned that the hand of Jehovah, even a very grievous murrain (for so the verse appears to say), is "upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the herds and upon the flocks." Here some particulars need observation. Herds and flocks were everywhere; but horses were a comparatively late introduction into Egypt, where they were as yet chiefly employed for war. Asses, still so familiar to the traveller, were the usual beasts of burden, and were owned in great numbers by the rich, although rash controversialists have pretended that, as being unclean, they were not tolerated in the land. Camels, it is said, are not to be found on the monuments, but yet they were certainly known and possessed by Egypt, though there were many reasons why they should be held chiefly on the frontiers, and perhaps in connection with the Arabian mines and settlements. Upon all these "in the field" the plague should come. The murrain still works havoc in the Delta, chiefly at the period, beginning with December, when the floods are down and the cattle are turned out into the pastures, which would this year have been signally unwholesome. It was not, then, the fact of a cattle plague which was miraculous, but its severity, its coming at an appointed time, its assailing beasts of every kind, and its exempting those of Israel. We are told that "all the cattle of Egypt died," and yet that afterwards "the hail ... smote both man and beast" ( Exodus 9:6 , Exodus 9:25 ). It is an inconsistency very serious in the eyes of people who are too stupid or too uncandid to observe that, just before, the mischief was limited to those cattle which were "in the field" ( Exodus 9:3 ). There were great stalls in suitable places, to give them shelter during the inundations; and all that had not yet been driven out to graze are expressly exempted from the plague. Much of Pharaoh's own property perished, but he was the last man in the country who would feel personal inconvenience by the loss, and therefore nothing was more natural than that his selfish "heart was heavy, and he did not let the people go." Not even such an effort was needed as in the previous plague, when we read that he made his heart heavy, by a deliberate act. There was nothing to indicate that he had now reached a crisis--that God Himself in His judgment would henceforth make bold and resolute against crushing adversities the heart which had been obdurate against humanity, against evidence, against honour and plighted faith. Nothing is easier than to step over the frontier between great nations. And in the moral world also the Rubicon is passed, the destiny of a soul is fixed, sometimes without a struggle, unawares. Instead of spiritual conflict, there was intellectual curiosity. "Pharaoh sent, and behold there was not so much as one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was heavy, and he did not let the people go." This inquiry into a phenomenon which was surprising indeed, but yet quite unable to affect his action, recalls the spiritual condition of Herod, who was conscience-stricken when first he heard of Christ, and said, "It is John whom I beheaded" ( Mark 6:16 ), but afterwards felt merely vulgar curiosity and desire to behold a sign of Him. In the case of Pharaoh it was the next step to judicial infatuation. When Christ confronted Herod, He, Who had explained Himself to Pilate, was absolutely silent. And this warns us not to think that an interest in religious problems is itself of necessity religious. One may understand all mysteries, and yet it may profit him nothing. And many a reprobate soul is controversial, acute, and keenly orthodox. Exodus 9:8 And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. THE SIXTH PLAGUE. Exodus 9:8-12 . At the close of the second triplet, as of the first, stands a plague without a warning, but not without the clearest connection between the blow and Him who deals it. To the Jews Egypt was a furnace in which they were being consumed--whether literally in human sacrifice, or metaphorically in the hard labour which wasted them ( Deuteronomy 4:20 ). And now the brothers were commanded to fill both hands with ashes of the furnace and throw them upon the wind,[16] either to symbolise the suffering which was to be spread wide over the land, or because the ashes of human sacrifices were thus presented to their evil genius, Typhon. If this were its meaning, the irony was keen, when at the same action a feverish inflammation breaking out in blains spread over all the nation. But, apart from any such reference to their cruel idolatry, it was right that they should suffer in the flesh. When the higher nature is dead, there is no appeal so sharp and certain as to the physical sensibility. And moreover, there are other sins which have their root in the flesh besides sloth and bodily indulgence. Wrath and cruelty and pride are strangely stimulated and excited by self-indulgence. Not in vain does St. Paul describe a "mind of the flesh," and reckon among the fruits of the flesh not only uncleanness and drunkenness, but, just as truly, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies ( Colossians 2:18 ; Galatians 5:19-20 ). From such evil tempers, stimulated by evil appetites, the slaves of Egypt had suffered bitterly; and now the avenging rod fell upon the bodies of their tyrants. And we may perhaps detect especial suffering, certainly an especial triumph to be commemorated, in the failure of the magicians even to stand before the king. It is implied that they had done so until now, and this confirms the belief that after the third plague they had not acknowledged Jehovah, but merely said in their defeat, "This is the finger of a god." Until now Jannes and Jambres (two, to rival the two brothers) had withstood Moses, but now the contrast between the prophet and his victims writhing in their pain was too sharp for prejudice itself to overlook: their folly was "evident unto all men" ( 2 Timothy 3:8-9 ). But it was not destined that Pharaoh should yield even to so tremendous a coercion what he refused to moral influences; and as Jesus after His resurrection appeared not unto all the people (hiding this crowning evidence from the eyes which had in vain beheld so much), so "the Lord made strong the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken unto Moses." In this last expression is the explicit statement that it was now that the prediction attained fulfilment, in the manner which we have discussed already. But even this strength of heart did not reach the height of attempting any reprisals upon the torturers. The sense of the supernatural was their defence: Moses was as a god unto Pharaoh, and Aaron was his prophet. In the narrative of this plague there is an expression which deserves attention for another reason. The ashes, it says, "shall become dust." Is there no controversy, turning upon the too rigid and prosaic straining of a New Testament construction, which might be simplified by considering the Hebrew use of language, exemplified in such an assertion as "It shall become dust," and soon after, "It is the Lord's passover"? Do these announce transubstantiations? Did two handfuls of ashes literally become the blains upon the bodies of all the Egyptians? FOOTNOTES: [16] The passage in Deuteronomy had not this event specially in mind, or it would have used the same term for a furnace. The word for ashes implies what can be blown upon the wind. Exodus 9:13 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. THE SEVENTH PLAGUE. Exodus 9:13-35 . The hardening of Pharaoh's heart, we have argued, was not the debauching of his spirit, but only the strengthening of his will. "Wait on the Lord and be of good courage "; " Be strong , O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong , O Joshua, son of Josadak the high priest; and be strong , all ye people" ( Psalm 27:14 ; Haggai 2:4 ), are clear proofs that what was implied in this word was not wickedness, but only that iron determination which his choice directed in a wicked channel. And therefore it was no mockery, no insincere appeal by one who had provided against the mischance of its succeeding, when God again addressed Himself to the reason, and even to the rational fears of Pharaoh. He had only provided against a terror-stricken submission, as wholly immoral and valueless, as the ceasing to resist of one who has swooned through fright. Now, to give such an one a stimulant and thus to enable him to exercise his volition, would be different from inciting him to rebel. The seventh plague, then, is ushered in by an expostulation more earnest, resolute and minatory than attended any of the previous ones. And this is the more necessary because human life is now for the first time at stake. First the king is solemnly reminded that Jehovah, Whom he no longer can refuse to know, is the God of the Hebrews, has a claim upon their services, and demands them. In oppressing the nation, therefore, Pharaoh usurped what belonged to the Lord. Now, this is the eternal charter of the rights of all humanity. Whoever encroaches on the just sphere of the free action of his neighbour deprives him, to exactly the same extent, of the power to glorify God by a free obedience. The heart glorifies God by submission to so hard a lot, but the co-operation of the "whole body and soul and spirit" does not visibly bear testimony to the regulating power of grace. The oppressor may contend (like some slave-owners) that he guides his human property better than it would guide itself. But one assertion he cannot make: namely, that God is receiving the loyal homage of a life spontaneously devoted; that a man and not a machine is glorifying God in this body and spirit which are God's. For the body is but a chattel. This is why the Christian doctrine of the religious equality of all men in Christ carries with it the political assertion of the equal secular rights of the whole human race. I must not transfer to myself the solemn duty of my neighbour to offer up to God the sacrifice not only of his chastened spirit but also of his obedient life. And these words were also a lifelong admonition to every Israelite. He held his liberties from God. He was not free to be violent and wanton, and to say "I am delivered to commit all these abominations." The dignities of life were bound up with its responsibilities. Well, it is not otherwise today. As truly as Moses, the champions of our British liberties were earnest and God-fearing men. Not for leave to revel, to accumulate enormous fortunes, and to excite by their luxuries the envy and rage of neglected brothers, while possessing more enormous powers to bless them than ever were entrusted to a class,--not for this our heroes bled on the field and on the scaffold. Tyrants rarely deny to rich men leave to be self-indulgent. And self-indulgence rarely nerves men to heroic effort. It is for the freedom of the soul that men dare all things. And liberty is doomed wherever men forget that the true freeman is the servant of Jehovah. On these terms the first demand for a national emancipation was enforced. And next, Pharaoh is warned that God, who at first threatened to destroy his firstborn, but had hitherto come short of such a deadly stroke, had not, as he might flatter himself, exhausted His power to avenge. Pharaoh should yet experience " all My plagues." And there is a dreadful significance in the phrase which threatens to put these plagues, with regard to others "upon thy servants and upon thy people," but with regard to Pharaoh himself "upon thine heart." There it was that the true scourge smote. Thence came ruin and defeat. His infatuation was more dreadful than hail in the cloud and locusts on the blast, than the darkness at noon and the midnight wail of a bereaved nation. For his infatuation involved all these. The next assertion is not what the Authorised Version made it, and what never was fulfilled. It is not, "Now I will stretch out My hand to smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt be cut off from the earth." It says, "Now I had done this, as far as any restraint for thy sake is concerned, but in very deed for this cause have I made thee to stand" (unsmitten), "for to show thee My power, and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth" ( Exodus 9:15-16 ). The course actually taken was more for the glory of God, and a better warning to others, than a sudden stroke, however crushing. And so we find, many years after all this generation has passed away, that a strangely distorted version of these events is current among the Philistines in Palestine. In the days of Eli, when the ark was brought into the camp, they said, "Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the wilderness" ( 1 Samuel 4:8 ). And this, along with the impression which Rahab declared that the Exodus and what followed it had made, may help us to understand what a mighty influence upon the wars of Palestine the scourging of Egypt had, how terror fell upon all the inhabitants of the land, and they melted away ( Joshua 2:9-10 ). And perhaps it may save us from the unconscious egoism which always deems that I myself shall not be treated quite as severely as I deserve, to mark how the punishment of one affects the interests of all. Added to all this is a kind of half-ironical clemency, an opportunity of escape if he would humble himself so far as to take warning even to a small extent. The plague was to be of a kind especially rare in Egypt, and of utterly unknown severity--such hail as had not been in Egypt since the day it was founded until now. But he and his people might, if they would, hasten to bring in their cattle and all that they had in the field. Pharaoh, after his sore experience of the threats of Moses, would find it a hard trial in any case, whether to withdraw his property or to brave the stroke. To him it was a kind of challenge. To those of his subjects who had any proper feeling it was a merciful deliverance, and a profoundly skilful education of their faith, which began by an obedience probably hesitating, but had few doubts upon the morrow. We read that he who feared the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses; and this is the first hint that the plagues, viewed as discipline, were not utterly vain. The existence of others who feared Jehovah beside the Jews prepares us for the "mixed multitude" who came up along with them ( Exodus 12:38 ), and whose ill-instructed and probably very selfish adhesion was quite consistent with such sensual discontent as led the whole congregation into sin ( Numbers 11:4 ). To make the connection between Jehovah and the impending storm more obvious still, Moses stretched his rod toward heaven, and there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, such as slew man and beast, and smote the trees, and destroyed all the vegetation which had yet grown up. The heavens, the atmosphere, were now enrolled in the conspiracy against Pharaoh: they too served Jehovah. In such a storm, the terror was even greater than the peril. When a great writer of our own time called attention to the elaborate machinery by which God in nature impresses man with the sense of a formidable power above, he chose a thunderstorm as the most striking example of his meaning. "Nothing appears to me more remarkable than the array of scenic magnificence by which the imagination is appalled, in myriads of instances when the actual danger is comparatively small; so that the utmost possible impression of awe shall be produced upon the minds of all, though direct suffering is inflicted upon few. Consider, for instance, the moral effect of a single thunderstorm. Perhaps two or three persons may be struck dead within a space of a hundred square miles; and their death, unaccompanied by the scenery of the storm, would produce little more than a momentary sadness in the busy hearts of living men. But the preparation for the judgment, by all that mighty gathering of the clouds; by the questioning of the forest leaves, in their terrified stillness, which way the winds shall go forth; by the murmuring to each other, deep in the distance, of the destroying angels before they draw their swords of fire; by the march of the funeral darkness in the midst of the noonday, and the rattling of the dome of heaven beneath the chariot wheels of death;--on how many minds do not these produce an impression almost as great as the actual witnessing of the fatal issue! and how strangely are the expressions of the threatening elements fitted to the apprehensions of the human soul! The lurid colour, the long, irregular, convulsive sound, the ghastly shapes of flaming and heaving cloud, are all true and faithful in their appeal to our instinct of danger."--Ruskin, Stones of Venice , III. 197-8. Such a tempest, dreadful anywhere, would be most appalling of all in the serene atmosphere of Egypt, to unaccustomed spectators, and minds troubled by their guilt. Accordingly we find that Pharaoh was less terrified by the absolute mischief done than by the "voices of God," when, unnerved for the moment, he confessed at least that he had sinned "this time" (a singularly weak repentance for his long and daring resistance, even if we explain it, "this time I confess that I have sinned"), and went on in his terror to pour out orthodox phrases and professions with suspicious fluency. The main point was the bargain which he proposed: "Intreat the Lord, for there hath been enough of mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer." Looking attentively at all this, we discern in it a sad resemblance to some confessions of these latter days. Men are driven by affliction to acknowledge God: they confess the offence which is palpable, and even add that God is righteous and that they are not. If possible, they shelter themselves from lonely condemnation by general phrases, such as that all are wicked; just as Pharaoh, although he would have scoffed at the notion of any national volition except his own, said, "I and my people are sinners." Above all, they are much more anxious for the removal of the rod than for the cleansing of the guilt; and if this can be accomplished through the mediation of another, they have as little desire as Pharaoh had for any personal approach to God, Whom they fear, and if possible repel. And by these signs, every experienced observer expects that if they are delivered out of trouble they will forget their vows. Moses was exceedingly meek. And therefore, or else because the message of God implied that other plagues were to succeed this, he consented to intercede, yet adding the simple and dignified protest, "As for thee and thy people, I know that ye will not yet fear Jehovah God."[17] And so it came to pass. The heart of Pharaoh was made heavy, and he would not let Israel go. Looking back upon this miracle, we are reminded of the mighty part which atmospheric changes have played in the history of the world. Snowstorms saved Europe from the Turk and from Napoleon: the wind played almost as important a part in our liberation from James, and again in the defeat of the plans of the French Revolution to invade us, as in the destruction of the Armada. And so we read, "Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?" ( Job 38:22-23 ). FOOTNOTES: [17] Except in one passage ( Genesis 2:4-25 ; Genesis 3:1-23 ) these titles of Deity are nowhere else combined in the books of Moses. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.