How does the warning about hail separate Pharao’s servants, and what does Pharao do after the storm stops?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Those who fear the Lord’s word bring their servants and cattle into houses; those who disregard it leave them in the fields. Pharao asks for prayer and promises release, but after the storm stops he increases his sin and does not let Israel go.

Chapter breakdown

How does the warning about hail separate Pharao’s servants, and what does Pharao do after the storm stops? Those who fear the Lord’s word bring their servants and cattle into houses; those who disregard it leave them in the fields. Pharao asks for prayer and promises release, but after the storm stops he increases his sin and does not let Israel go.

The Lord tells Moses to go to Pharao and give the Lord God of the Hebrews’ demand: let his people go to sacrifice. If Pharao refuses and still holds them back, God’s hand will be upon his fields, and a very grievous disease will strike his horses, asses, camels, oxen and sheep. God will make a wonderful difference between Israel’s possessions and the Egyptians’ possessions: nothing belonging to Israel will die. He appoints tomorrow as the day he will do this in the land.

The Lord does this the next day. The verse says all the Egyptians’ beasts die, while not one of Israel’s beasts dies. Challoner’s note explains “All the beasts” as “many of all kinds.” Pharao sends to see, and nothing belonging to Israel is found dead. His heart is hardened, and he does not let the people go.

God tells Moses and Aaron to take handfuls of ashes from the chimney. Moses is to sprinkle them into the air before Pharao. There is to be dust throughout Egypt, with boils and swelling sores on people and beasts across the land. They take the ashes and stand before Pharao; Moses sprinkles them into the air, and the boils and sores come upon people and beasts. The magicians cannot stand before Moses because of the boils on them and throughout Egypt. The Lord hardens Pharao’s heart, and he does not listen, as the Lord told Moses. Challoner’s note on hardening refers the reader to the earlier annotations at Exodus 4:21, 7:3 and 8:15.

God tells Moses to rise in the morning and stand before Pharao with the demand of the Lord God of the Hebrews: let his people go to sacrifice. God will now send all his plagues upon the king’s heart, his servants and his people, so that Pharao may know none is like him in all the earth. God says he will stretch out his hand to strike the king and his people with pestilence, and the king will perish from the earth. He says he has raised Pharao so that he may show his power in him and his name may be spoken throughout the earth. He asks whether the king still holds back his people and will not let them go.

God announces exceedingly great hail for tomorrow at this same hour, unlike any in Egypt since its founding. Pharao is to send at once and gather his cattle and everything he has in the fields. People, beasts and all things left outside in the fields where the hail falls will die. Among Pharao’s servants, the one who fears the Lord’s word makes his servants and cattle flee into houses. The one who disregards the word leaves his servants and cattle in the fields.

God tells Moses to stretch his hand towards heaven so that hail may fall throughout Egypt upon people, beasts and every plant in the fields. Moses stretches his rod towards heaven. The Lord sends thunder, hail and lightning running along the ground. Hail and fire mixed with it drive on together, with hail of a size never seen in Egypt since the nation was founded. The hail destroys everything in the fields throughout Egypt, both people and beasts; it strikes every field plant and breaks every tree of the country. Only Gessen, where Israel lives, receives no hail.

Pharao sends for Moses and Aaron. He says he has sinned this time also, that the Lord is just, and that he and his people are wicked. He asks them to pray for the thunder and hail to stop so that he may let them go and they need not stay any longer. Moses says that once outside the city he will stretch his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and hail will cease, so Pharao may know the earth belongs to the Lord. But Moses says he knows neither Pharao nor his servants yet fear the Lord God.

The flax and barley are damaged because the barley is green and the flax is bolled, or has formed its bolls. The wheat and other winter corn are not damaged because they are late in growth. The account gives these differences without supplying a further account of the crops’ condition.

Moses leaves Pharao and goes outside the city, where he stretches his hands to the Lord. The thunder and hail cease, and no more rain falls on the earth. Seeing that the rain, hail and thunder have stopped, Pharao increases his sin. His heart and the hearts of his servants are hardened and become exceedingly hard. He does not let Israel go, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

The story inside

The hail warning leads to two recorded responses among Pharao’s servants. It states when the hail will come and that those left in the fields where it falls will die. Some bring servants and cattle into houses because they fear the word; others leave them in the fields because they disregard it. After the storm, Pharao says the Lord is just and asks for prayer, promising release. Moses promises the storm will stop but says the king and his servants do not yet fear God. When the storm stops, the king increases his sin and again refuses release. The chapter therefore distinguishes responding to the warning before the hail from asking for relief during it. (Exodus 9:18–35.)

Lessons worth keeping

1
The disease account keeps its stated distinction and the edition’s qualification. No beast belonging to Israel dies. The verse’s “all” for Egyptian beasts is explained by Challoner as many of all kinds. Pharao checks the result but still refuses release. (9:4–7 and note.)
2
The warning makes the servants’ choices concrete. Those fearing the word bring their servants and cattle into houses; those disregarding it leave them in the fields. The chapter gives no count or proportion for either group. (9:18–21.)
3
Pharao’s words during the storm are followed by a different action after it. He acknowledges sin and asks for relief, but when the storm stops he increases his sin and does not release Israel. That sequence supplies the contrast without an invented account of his hidden motives. (9:27–35.)

Test your recall

Why can the magicians not stand before Moses? They have boils. Why do some servants bring people and cattle into houses? They fear the Lord’s warning that those left in the fields where the hail falls will die. Why are wheat and other winter corn not damaged? They are late in growth, unlike the green barley and bolled flax. What follows the storm’s ending?

Show answer

Pharao increases his sin and does not release Israel. (9:11, 18–21, 31–35.)

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 6830–6835
Exodus Chapter 9 The fifth plague is a murrain among the cattle. The sixth, of boils in men and beasts. The seventh, of hail. Pharao promiseth again to let the people go, and breaketh his word.
Lines 6836–6852
9:1. And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and speak to him: Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. 9:2. But if thou refuse, and withhold them still: 9:3. Behold my hand shall be upon thy fields; and a very grievous murrain upon thy horses, and asses, and camels, and oxen, and sheep. 9:4. And the Lord will make a wonderful difference between the possessions of Israel and the possessions of the Egyptians, that nothing at all shall die of those things that belong to the children of Israel. 9:5. And the Lord appointed a time, saying: To morrow will the Lord do this thing in the land.
Lines 6853–6862
9:6. The Lord therefore did this thing the next day: and all the beasts of the Egyptians died, but of the beasts of the children of Israel there died not one. All the beasts.... That is, many of all kinds. 9:7. And Pharao sent to see; and there was not any thing dead of that which Israel possessed. And Pharao’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
Lines 6863–6883
9:8. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Take to you handfuls of ashes out of the chimney, and let Moses sprinkle it in the air in the presence of Pharao. 9:9. And be there dust upon all the land of Egypt: for there shall be boils and swelling blains both in men and beasts, in the whole land of Egypt. 9:10. And they took ashes out of the chimney, and stood before Pharao, and Moses sprinkled it in the air; and there came boils with swelling blains in men and beasts. 9:11. Neither could the magicians stand before Moses, for the boils that were upon them, and in all the land of Egypt. 9:12. And the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses. Hardened, etc.... See the annotations above, chap. 4.21, chap. 7.3, and chap. 8.15.
Lines 6884–6899
9:13. And the Lord said to Moses: Arise in the morning, and stand before Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. 9:14. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayst know that there is none like me in all the earth. 9:15. For now I will stretch out my hand to strike thee, and thy people, with pestilence, and thou shalt perish from the earth. 9:16. And therefore have I raised thee, that I may shew my power in thee, and my name may be spoken of throughout all the earth. 9:17. Dost thou yet hold back my people; and wilt thou not let them go?
Lines 6900–6914
9:18. Behold I will cause it to rain to morrow at this same hour, an exceeding great hail; such as hath not been in Egypt from the day that it was founded, until this present time. 9:19. Send therefore now presently, and gather together thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for men and beasts, and all things that shall be found abroad, and not gathered together out of the fields which the hail shall fall upon, shall die. 9:20. He that feared the word of the Lord among Pharao’s servants, made his servants and his cattle flee into houses: 9:21. But he that regarded not the word of the Lord, left his servants, and his cattle in the fields.
Lines 6915–6933
9:22. And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand towards heaven, that there may be hail in the whole land of Egypt upon men, and upon beasts, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Egypt. 9:23. And Moses stretched forth his rod towards heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightnings running along the ground: and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 9:24. And the hail and fire mixt with it drove on together: and it was of so great bigness, as never before was seen in the whole land of Egypt since that nation was founded. 9:25. And the hail destroyed through all the land of Egypt all things that were in the fields, both man and beast: and the hail smote every herb of the field, and it broke every tree of the country. 9:26. Only in the land of Gessen, where the children of Israel were, the hail fell not.
Lines 6934–6947
9:27. And Pharao sent and called Moses and Aaron, saying to them: I have sinned this time also, the Lord is just: I and my people, are wicked. 9:28. Pray ye to the Lord that the thunderings of God and the hail may cease: that I may let you go, and that ye may stay here no longer. 9:29. Moses said: As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will stretch forth my hands to the Lord, and the thunders shall cease, and the hail shall be no more: that thou mayst know that the earth is the Lord’s: 9:30. But I know that neither thou, nor thy servants do yet fear the Lord God.
Lines 6948–6953
9:31. The flax therefore, and the barley were hurt, because the barley was green, and the flax was now bolled; 9:32. But the wheat, and other winter corn were not hurt, because they were lateward.
Lines 6954–6965
9:33. And when Moses was gone from Pharao out of the city, he stretched forth his hands to the Lord: and the thunders and the hail ceased, neither did there drop any more rain upon the earth. 9:34. And Pharao seeing that the rain, and the hail, and the thunders were ceased, increased his sin: 9:35. And his heart was hardened, and the heart of his servants, and it was made exceeding hard: neither did he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.