The Fifth Plague: Livestock Pestilence
Exodus 9:1 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says Yahweh God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go, and still hold them, 3 behold, the hand of Yahweh will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep—a very severe pestilence. 4 And Yahweh will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die bof all that belongs to the children of Israel.”’”
5 Then the Yahweh appointed a set time, saying, “Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land.”
Finally, the other slice of bread... Speak in the name of Yahweh- Creator and Destroyer—the God whom the Hebrews worship, and tell them that He makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the children of Israel. And at the set time, "the hand of Yahweh" will be on the cattle in the open field unto destruction. This plague was not inflicted, as the others, "through the instrumentality or waving of Aaron's rod, but directly by the hand of the Lord, and the fixing of the precise time tended still further to determine the true character of the calamity (Jer 12:4).” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown)
6 So Yahweh did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died. 7 Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go.
Yahweh did this thing. A prophet later referred to these fourth and fifth blows of the exodus from Egypt in explaining the Lord's hand on his generation, saying : "'I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me,'declares the LORD.” (Amos 4:10) The issue for the Egyptians was turning to Yahweh; the issue for the Israelites in the land was returning to Him. The issue for both is obedience to His commands, as “the unbelieving owners did not take care to house them..." (Sutcliffe Commentary)
"That is, All the cattle that did die belonged to the Egyptians, but not one died that belonged to the Israelites, Exodus 9:4, Exodus 9:6. That the whole stock of cattle belonging to the Egyptians did not die we have the fullest proof, because there were cattle both to be killed and saved alive in the ensuing plague, Exodus 9:19-25. By this judgment the Egyptians must see the vanity of the whole of their national worship, when they found the animals which they not only held sacred but deified, slain without distinction among the common herd, by a pestilence sent from the hand of Jehovah.
And Pharaoh sent, etc. - Finding so many of his own cattle and those of his subjects slain, he sent to see whether the mortality had reached to the cattle of the Israelites, that he might know whether this were a judgment inflicted by their God, and probably designing to replace the lost cattle of the Egyptians with those of the Israelites.” (Adam Clarke)
"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. 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." (Benson Commentary) But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go.
This was only the temporal death, not the eternal one prophesied about in the book of Revelation. Indeed all of the animal creation will universally be saved, but their wicked masters will perish in hell-fire, as it is written: “And every creature which is in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: blessing and honour and glory and power be to Him who sits on the Throne and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” (Rev 5:13) Join the Choir, friend!
"The plague on the cattle reminds us that the whole creation groans and travails from the effects of human sin. See Romans 8:20. But those groans are the cries of birth, not of death; and herald a happier day when the creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. There is a hint of this here, for the children of Israel lost not so much as one of their cattle from this pestilence. The Lord knoweth how to deliver his own, and our religion should make a difference for the living things of our firesides and farms.” (F.B. Meyer)
The Sixth Plague: Boils
Exodus 9:8 So Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 And it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” 10 Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward heaven. And they caused boils that break out in sores on man and beast. 11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
"Much of Goshen had been converted into a brick-field (Exodus 1:14; 5:7-13); and though most of the bricks made would be simply dried in the sun, a portion would be subjected to artificial heat in brick-kilns. When ashes from one of these kilns were made the germs of a disease that was a sore infliction, their own wrongdoing became to the Egyptians a whip wherewith God scourged them.” (Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers)
"The plague itself was very grievous.. , like Job's. This is afterwards 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…” (Matthew Henry) But in fact, it became one of the curses pronounced on Israel from the mount Ebal for disobedience to "all the words of this Torah that are written in this book.” So, this plague is real and it is going to happen again to the disobedient in the end-time.
"In this plague account we learn that the magicians were still hard at work opposing the signs of Moses [Exodus 9:11]. A new twist, however, is put on their work here. Their problem now is not that they cannot duplicate the sign-something which they would not likely have wanted to do; rather, they cannot 'stand before Moses because of the boils.’… It also provides a graphic picture of the ultimate failure of the magicians to oppose the work of Moses and Aaron. The magicians lay helpless in their sickbed before the work of Moses and Aaron.” (Sailhamer, The Pentateuch)
The false professors will be struck with these boils, by the finger of God. False profession of these religious men “is more dangerous than playing with fire. Be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong. Thus they were shamed in the presence of their admirers. How weak were their enchantments, which could not so much as secure themselves! The devil can give no protection to those that are in confederacy with him. Thus they were driven from the field. Their power was restrained before (Exodus 8:18), but they continued to confront Moses, and confirm Pharaoh in his unbelief, till now, at length, they were forced to retreat, and could not stand before Moses, to which the apostle refers (2 Timothy 3:9) when he says that their folly was made manifest unto all men.” (Matthew Henry)
12 But Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses.
"Previously, God announced that he would harden Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 4:21 and 7:3), and this was the fulfillment of it. Yet it is said at least six times before this that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 7:13, 7:22, 8:15, 8:19, 8:32, 9:7).” (David Guzik)"This is the first time we read that God hardened Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 9:12). If a person continues to harden his own heart, God will then harden it further in judgment (cf. Romans 1). It is also the first indication that the Egyptian learned men could no longer resist Moses and his God.” (Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable)
"'Harden' is the expression, not of the divine purpose but of the result of disobedience to the divine appeals. As a matter of fact, all the plagues were intended and calculated to soften, if Pharaoh had been willing to yield." (Thomas) "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11)
"Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, 'Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.’ So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.” (Revelation 16:1-2)
This is the first of a series of seven bowls of the wrath of God that will be poured out upon the earth in the end-time. I believe that the plagues of Egypt no longer have a spiritual counterpart in the book of Revelation. For those who persist in their obstinance and resistance to the Commandments of Yahweh, God of the Hebrews— those who have the mark of the beast in their forehead, representing theology directing their works-- them will Yahweh hit with actual physical plagues coming on them in the end.
Exodus 9:13 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me, 14 for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth."
The next plagues would reach the heart of Pharaoh. "This applies to all the plagues which follow; the effect of each was foreseen and foretold. The words 'at this time' point to a rapid and continuous succession of blows. The plagues which precede appear to have been spread over a considerable time....” (Barnes’ Notes) but these with rapid fire.
The Seventh Plague: Hail
The Eighth Plague: Locusts
The Ninth Plague: Darkness
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn
"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?” (Benson Commentary)
"The naturally obdurate heart of Pharaoh, which he had further indurated by his own voluntary action (Exodus 8:15; 32), and which God had begun to harden penally (Exodus 9:12), was now to be softened by a repetition of blow after blow, until it should finally succumb, and yield, and humble itself under the mighty hand of God, and consent to the departure of the whole people, with flocks, and herds, and 'little ones.’" (Ellicott's Commentary)
15 Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth.
Translate— I could have already "stretched out mine hand, and smitten both thee and thy people with pestilence; and then thou hadst been cut off from the earth; but, &c.” (Ellicott's Commentary)
16 But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.
"And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up.—Rather, but truly on this account have I made thee stand—i.e., kept thee alive, not for thy deserts, not even in pity, but only 'for to show in thee My power’ [ to all]...
Thou hast provoked Me so that long since thou wouldst have been 'cut off from the earth,' only that My glory will be the more shown forth by thy continuance in life, and by the further plagues and punishments whereto thou wilt be subjected.
That my name may be declared.—Comp. Exodus 14:17; Exodus 15:14-16, &c.” (Ellicott's Commentary)That my precepts shall be made known to this and subsequent generations.
Some questions Yahweh’s hardening of Pharoah’s heart, but the apostle Paul taught: “For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” [Exodus 9:16] Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens."(Romans 9:17-18) For the Scripture says to Pharaoh-- It was actually Yahweh who said it to Pharaoh, but says Paul: "The Scripture saith’, is a Talmudic way of speaking, used when any point is proved from Scripture;… and so the sense of it here is, God said to Pharaoh…”(John Gill) Paul “is stating the unquestionable sovereignty of God to take a rebellious Egyptian and make him Pharaoh and to let Pharaoh live with the consequence of his own arrogance and be a warning not only to his contemporaries but to all posterity.” (D Stuart Briscoe) “There is no suggestion here that the Egyptian monarch was doomed from the time of his birth. What happened was this. In adult life he proved to be wicked, cruel, and extremely stubborn. In spite of the most solemn warnings he kept hardening his heart. God could have destroyed him instantly, but he didn’t. Instead, God preserved him alive in order that He might display His power in him, and that through him God’s name (Yahweh) might be known worldwide.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)
17 As yet you exalt yourself against My people in that you will not let them go.
"Dost thou still exalt, or oppose, thyself against My people?—i.e., Art thou not tired of the contest? Dost thou still, in thy folly, continue it?” (Ellicott's Commentary) Of course you do! I have now hardened your heart.
Morning Remix From Yesterday: The Seventh Plague: Hail
Exodus 9:18 "Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now. 19 Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home; and they shall die.”
"Hail… such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof, even until now; not since the earth or land itself was founded, for that was founded when the rest of the world was, and the sense then would be the same as since the foundation of the world; and so the Targum of Jonathan seems to understand it, paraphrasing the words,'from the day that men were made, even until now.’….” (Gill's Exposition)
20 He who feared the word of Yahweh among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. 21 But he who did not regard the word of Yahweh left his servants and his livestock in the field.
"HE THAT FEARED THE WORD OF THE LORD among the servants of Pharaoh… made his servants and cattle flee into the houses; called home his servants, and drove his cattle in great haste out of the fields, and brought them home as fast as he could, and housed them; in which he acted the wise and prudent part, and showed a concern for his servants and his cattle, as well as believed the word of the Lord.
AND HE THAT REGARDED NOT THE WORD OF THE LORD,.... Or 'set not his heart' (non posuit cor suum) 'unto it', took no notice of it, but treated it with the utmost contempt; and of this sort it may be thought there were the far greatest number: everyone of this cast
left his servants and cattle in the field; let them remain there, and took no care of them, nor thought about them, and so took no methods to preserve them; in which he acted a foolish part, to his own detriment and loss.” (Gill)
22 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt—on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.” 23 And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and Yahweh sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt. 24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.
Hail mixed with judgment fire-- "A strange mixture; a miracle within a miracle, saith Rabbi Solomon. Fire and water made a peace betwixt themselves, that they might obey the will of their Creator." (Trapp) "God sent the worst hailstorm Egypt had ever experienced (Exodus 9:18; Exodus 9:24) and accompanied it with thunder, fire (lightning?), and rain (Exodus 9:23; Exodus 9:34)... 'The recurring thunderclaps ..., the lightning darting back and forth ..., and the severity of the storm ... all suggest the advent of Yahweh in theophany ... and thus the Presence of Yahweh in a more dramatic and intense coming than anywhere in the mighty-act sequence to this point.'[Note: Durham, p. 128.]" (Dr. Thomas Constable)
27 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. 28 Entreat Yahweh, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”
29 So Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to Yahweh; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, that you may know that the earth is Yahweh’s. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear Yahweh God.”
"Who could have imagined that after such an acknowledgment and confession, Pharaoh should have again hardened his heart?” (Clarke)
31 Now the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud. 32 But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are late crops.
Some of the harvest of Israel was struck, but some wasn't. I believe this is an allusion to the harvest of the end-time. Jesus is the first fruits (flax and barley) and He was struck-- accepted on our behalf, but His redeemed (wheat and spelt) will not be struck of the second death. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power." (1 Cor 15:22-24)
But there is coming another physical storm in the end-time in the bowls of God's wrath. “Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, 'It is done!' And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great." (Rev16:17-21)
33 So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to Yahweh; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. 34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 So the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as Yahweh had spoken by Moses.
"Rain had not been previously mentioned, as it was no part of the plague, that is, it did no damage. But Moses, recording the cessation as an eye-witness, recollects that rain was mingled with the hail, and that, at his prayer, the thunder, the hail, and the rain all ceased. This touch is one that no later writer would have introduced.” (Rawlinson)