Exodus 9

Three more plagues fall on Egypt: disease on the livestock, boils on people and animals, and a terrible hailstorm. Again God separates His people from the Egyptians, and again He sends a plain warning first. Pharaoh admits his sin when the hail falls, but when it stops he goes back to stubbornness.

Exodus 9:1

God sends Moses to Pharaoh once more with the same message: release My people. The goal is not only freedom from slavery but freedom to worship. Israel was rescued so that it could belong to God and serve Him.

BSA: worship (“serve, give reverence to”): The word carries the sense of service, so worship here means a whole life given to God, not only a ceremony.

Hebrew: וְיַעַבְדֻנִי (weya’avduni, H5647) — “and they may serve me.” The Hebrew verb is the ordinary word for serving a master. Israel is leaving Pharaoh’s service to enter the service of the LORD.

See also: Exodus 8:1.

Exodus 9:2-4

God warns of a severe disease on Egypt’s animals if Pharaoh keeps holding Israel back. Livestock were a main source of Egypt’s wealth and work. God also promises that Israel’s animals will be untouched, so that the difference is plain to see.

BSA: distinction (“be distinguished, separated from others”): God Himself draws a line between His people and Egypt, so the judgment cannot be explained away as chance.

Hebrew: וְהִפְלָה (vehifla, H6395) — “and He will set apart.” The verb means to set apart in a wonderful, marked way. The separation is itself a miracle.

See also: Exodus 8:22-23.

Exodus 9:5-6

God names the day in advance, and it happens exactly as He said. Egypt’s livestock die, while none of Israel’s animals die. Promise and fulfillment line up, which shows that the LORD speaks and acts as the true God.

BSA: time (“appointed season”): The timing is God’s own appointment, so the plague is no accident.

Exodus 9:7

Pharaoh checks for himself and finds that Israel’s animals were spared. The evidence is clear, yet he still refuses. A hard heart can see a miracle and still say no.

BSA: hardened (“made stubborn, obstinate”): Pharaoh’s will is set firm against what he can plainly see.

Hebrew: וַיִּכְבַּד (vayikhbad, H3513) — “and it became heavy.” Here the Hebrew word for hardened means heavy. Pharaoh’s heart is weighed down and dull, slow to respond.

See also: Exodus 8:15.

Exodus 9:8-9

This time there is no warning. Moses and Aaron are to take soot from a furnace and throw it into the air. It will become fine dust over Egypt and cause painful, festering sores on people and animals. Brick-making furnaces were part of Israel’s slave labor, so the plague strikes at Egypt’s own oppression.

BSA: handfuls (“fullness of the palm”): Both hands are filled, so a large amount of soot is scattered.

Exodus 9:10-11

Moses throws the soot in front of Pharaoh, and the boils break out as promised. Even the magicians, who had tried to copy earlier signs, cannot stand in front of Moses. They are now suffering the same plague as everyone else.

BSA: magicians (“sorcerers, wonder-workers”): These were Egypt’s religious experts, and they are now shown to have no power against the LORD.

Exodus 9:12

The text now says that the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Earlier verses said Pharaoh hardened his own. The Bible holds both together: Pharaoh keeps choosing his stubbornness, and God confirms him in it, as He had told Moses.

BSA: hardened (“strengthened, made stubborn”): God strengthens Pharaoh’s resolve in the direction he has already chosen.

Hebrew: וַיְחַזֵּק (vayechazzeq, H2388) — “and he strengthened.” The verb means to make firm or strong. God does not put evil into Pharaoh. He lets his resistance set hard.

See also: Exodus 4:21; Romans 9:17-18.

Exodus 9:13-14

Moses must rise early and meet Pharaoh with a stern warning. If Pharaoh keeps refusing, God will send the full force of His plagues. The purpose is that Pharaoh would know there is no one like the LORD in all the earth.

BSA: plagues (“punishments, judgments”): These are not random disasters but judgments from a God who rules.

Exodus 9:15-16

God says He could have wiped Pharaoh out already. He has instead let him stand, so that God’s power would be seen and His name made known throughout the earth. His patience is part of His purpose, and it is also a mercy.

BSA: raised you up (“to stand, appointed thee”): Pharaoh has been kept standing, not struck down, for a purpose beyond himself.

Hebrew: הֶעֱמַדְתִּיךָ (he’emadtikha, H5975) — “I have made you stand.” The word can mean to cause someone to remain standing. God has let Pharaoh survive so that He can show His power.

See also: Romans 9:17; 2 Peter 3:9.

Exodus 9:17

Pharaoh is still exalting himself over God’s people. The slave-master treats them as his property and will not let them go. He is setting himself up against the God who owns them.

BSA: lord it over (“exalt yourself against, uplifted in pride against”): The root problem is pride, a man lifting himself above God and above others.

Hebrew: מִסְתּוֹלֵל (mistolel, H5549) — “you exalt yourself.” The verb is related to building up a raised roadway. Pharaoh keeps piling himself higher against God’s people.

See also: Proverbs 16:18.

Exodus 9:18-19

God announces a hailstorm for the next day, worse than any in Egypt’s history. Mercy comes with it: Pharaoh is told to bring people and animals indoors. Anyone who heeds the warning can be saved.

BSA: hail (“ice storm, heavy hailstones”): This is a violent storm of falling ice, in a land where rain and hail were rare.

Hebrew: בָּרָד (barad, H1259) — “hail.” The same word appears again and again in this chapter. It marks this plague as a single, heavy blow from heaven.

Exodus 9:20-21

Some of Pharaoh’s officials take God’s word seriously and rush their servants and animals to shelter. Others ignore it and leave everything outside. The same warning produced two different responses, and the results will differ accordingly.

BSA: feared (“stood in awe of, revered”): This fear is respect that leads to action. These men believed and obeyed.

Hebrew: הַיָּרֵא (hayare, H3373) — “the one who fears.” To fear the LORD’s word in the Bible means to take it seriously enough to act on it. It is not only to feel afraid.

See also: Proverbs 1:7.

Exodus 9:22-23

At God’s command Moses stretches his staff toward heaven. Thunder, hail and lightning follow. The storm is not an accident of nature. It comes at the LORD’s word, and He is the one who sends it.

BSA: thunder (“a voice of power”): The thunder is spoken of as God’s own voice, announcing His power over the earth.

See also: Psalm 105:32-33.

Exodus 9:24-26

Lightning flashes through the hail, and the storm is worse than anything Egypt had known. People, animals, crops and trees outside are struck down. Only Goshen, where Israel lived, is spared. Once again God separates His people from the judgment.

BSA: lightning (“fire mingled with the hail”): Fire and ice together make this a storm beyond any ordinary one.

See also: Revelation 16:21.

Exodus 9:27-28

Pharaoh sends for Moses and says words that sound like repentance: I have sinned, the LORD is righteous, we are wicked. But his real concern is relief from the storm. He promises to let Israel go if the thunder and hail stop.

BSA: sinned (“missed the mark, gone wrong”): Pharaoh admits he has fallen short, but only after pain forced him to say it.

Hebrew: חָטָאתִי (chatati, H2398) — “I have sinned.” The root means to miss the mark. The right words are used here, but without a changed heart.

Exodus 9:29-30

Moses agrees to pray once he leaves the city, so that Pharaoh will know the whole earth belongs to the LORD. But Moses is not fooled. He sees that Pharaoh and his officials still do not truly fear God.

BSA: hands (“palms, in prayer and supplication”): Moses prays with open, uplifted hands, a picture of asking and depending on God.

See also: Psalm 24:1; Psalm 141:2.

Exodus 9:31-32

A quick note explains the damage to the crops. Flax and barley were ruined because they were already ripe or in bloom. Wheat and spelt came up later and so survived. The detail shows when in the year this happened, and that more crops remained to be lost.

BSA: ripe (“in the ear, abib”): The same word later names the month of Passover, linking this plague to the season of Israel’s deliverance.

Hebrew: אָבִיב (aviv, H24) — “grain in the ear, young ears.” Barley at this stage gave its name to a spring month. It tells us this was near the start of the year.

Exodus 9:33

Moses leaves the city and prays with outstretched hands, and the storm stops at once. The relief comes through prayer, not through Pharaoh’s power. It shows again that the God of Israel controls the weather.

BSA: ceased (“to stop or end something”): The storm ends fully and immediately, showing that God started it and God stops it.

See also: 1 Kings 8:22.

Exodus 9:34-35

As soon as the storm is over, Pharaoh sins again, and so do his officials. His confession was only words. His heart is set hard, exactly as the LORD had said through Moses. Mercy that is taken lightly can leave a person harder than before.

BSA: hardened (“made stubborn, unresponsive”): The heart that once felt the pressure of the storm now becomes unresponsive again.

See also: Hebrews 3:15.