CHAPTER IX.

The Lord sends Moses to Pharaoh, to inform him that if he did not let the Israelites depart, a destructive pestilence should be sent among bis cattle, 1-3; while the eattle of the Israelites should be preserved, 4. The next day, this pestilence which was the Afth plague, is sent, and all the cattle of the Egyptians die, 5, 6. Though Pharaoh nds that not one of the cattle of the leraelites had died, yet through hardness of heart, he refuses to let the people go, 7. Moses and Aaron are commanded to sprinkle handfuls of ashes from the furnace, that the sixth plague, that of biles and blains, might come on man and beast, 8,9; which having done, the plague takes place, 10. The magicians cannot stand before this plague, which they can neither imitate nor remove, 11. Pharaoh's heart is again hardened, 12. God's awful message to Pharaoh, with the threat of more severe plagues than before, 13-17. The seventh plague of rain, hail, and fire threatened, 18. The Egyptians com manded to house their cattle, that they might not be destroyed, 19. Those who feared the word of the Lord brought home their servants and cattle, and those who did not regard that word left their eattle and servants in the fields, 20, 21. The torm of hail, thunder, and lightning takes place, 22-24. It nearly desolates the

whole land of Egypt, 25, while the land of Goshen escapes, 26. Pharaoh confesses his sin, and begs an interest in the prayers of Moses and Aaron, 27, 28. Moses promises to intercede for him, and while he promises that the storm shall cease, he foretells the continuing obstinacy of both himself and his servants, 29, 30. The flax and barley being in a state of maturity, are destroyed by the tempest, 31; while the wheat and the rye, not being grown up, were preserved, 32 Moses obtains a cessation of

the storm, 33 Pharaoh and his servants seeing this, harden their hearts, and refuse to let the people go, 34, 35.

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.

2 For if thou P refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,

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.

4 And the LORD shall sever between the

o Ch. 8. 1-p Ch. 8. 2-r Ch. 7. 4.-8 Ch. 8. 22-t Psa. 78. 50.

streams; no frogs, lice, nor flies, in all their borders! They trusted in the true God, and could not be confounded.-Reader, how secure mayest thou rest, if thou have this God for thy friend! He was the Protector and Friend of the Israelites, through the blood of that covenant which is the very charter of thy salvation: trust in and pray to him, as Moses did, and then Satan and his angels shall be bruised under thy feet, and thou shalt not only be preserved from every plague, but be crowned with his lovingkindness and tender mercy. He is the same to-day that he was yesterday, and shall continue the same for ever.-Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!

NOTES ON CHAPTER IX.

Verse 1. The LORD God of the Hebrews.] It is very likely that the term Lord, Yehovah, is used here to point out particularly his eternal power and Godhead; and that the term God, Elohay, is intended to be understood in the sense of Supporter, Defender, Protector, &c. Thus saith the self-existent, omnipotent, and eternal Being, the Supporter and Defender of the Hebrews, "Let my people go, that they may worship me."

The FIFTH plague-The MURRAIN. Verse 3. The hand of the Lord] The power of God manifested in judgment.

Upon the horses] susim. This is the first place the horse is mentioned; a creature for which Egypt and Arabia were always famous. Do sus, is supposed to have the same meaning with sas, which signifies to be active, brisk, or lively; all which are proper appellatives of the horse, especially in Arabia and Egypt. Because of their activity and swiftness, they were sacrificed and dedicated to the sun; and perhaps, it was principally on this account that God prohibited the use of them among the Israelites.

A very grievous murrain.] The murrain is a very contagious disease among cattle, the symptoms of which are, a hanging down and swelling of the head, abundance of gum in the eyes, rattling in the throat difficulty of breathing, palpitation of the heart, staggering, a hot breath, and a shining tongue; which symptoms prove, that a general inflammation has taken place. The original word deber, is variously translated. The Septuagint have Mavares, death; the Vulgate has pestis, a plague or pestilence; the old Saxon version, cpealme, from cpealan, to die, any fatal disease. Our English word murrain, comes either from the French mourir, to die, or from the Greek xxv, maraino, to grow lean, waste away. The term mortality would be the nearest in sense to the original, as no particular disorder is specified by the Hebrew word.

Verse 4. The Lord shall sever] See on chap. viii. 22. Verse 5. To-morrow the Lord shall do this] By thus foretelling the evil, he showed his prescience and power; and from this both the Egyptians and Hebrews must see, that the mortality that ensued was no casualty, but the effect of a predetermined purpose in the Divine Justice. Verse 6. All the cattle of Egypt died] That is, all the

cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel.

5 And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To-morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

u Ch. 7. 14. & 8. 32-v Rev. 16. 2-w Deut. 28. 27.-x Ch. 8. 18, 19. 2 Tim. 3. 9,

cattle that did die, belonged to the Egyptians, but not one died that belonged to the Israelites, ver. 4. and 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, ver. 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. One might naturally suppose, that after this, the animal worship of the Egyptians could never more maintain its ground.

Verse 7. And Pharaoh sent, &c.] 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.

The SIXTH plague-The BILES and BLAINS. Verse 8. Handfuls of ashes from the furnace] As one part of the oppression of the Israelites consisted in their labour in the brick-kilns, some have observed a congruity between the crime and the punishment. The furnaces, in the labour of which they oppressed the Hebrews, now yielded the instruments of their punishment; for every particle of those ashes, formed by unjust and oppressive labour, seemed to be a bile or a blain on the tyrannic king, and his cruel and hard-hearted people.

Verse 9. Shall be a boil] p shechin. This word is generally expounded, an inflammatory swelling, a burning bile-one of the most poignant afflictions, not immediately mortal, that can well affect the surface of the human body. If a single bile on any part of the body, throws the whole system into a fever, what anguish must a multitude of them on the body at the same time, occasion?

Breaking forth with blains] nyaya abûbûoth, supposed to come from nya baah, to swell, bulge out, any inflammatory swelling, node, or pustule, in any part of the body, but more especially in the more glandular parts, the neck, arm-pits, groin, &c. The Septuagint translate it thus, xx xxx XTides avalec, and it shall be an ulcer with burning pustules. It seems to have been a disorder of an uncommon kind, and hence it is called, by way of distinction, the botch of Egypt, Deut. xxviii. 27. perhaps never known before in that or any other country. Orosius says, that in the sixth plague, "all the people were blistered, that the blisters burst with tormenting pain, and that worms issued out of them." Dæc eali Folc pær poninr utrionde.-Alfred's Oros. lib. i. c. vii. on blædran, da pæɲon гpide hpeoplice berrtende, Ba

Verse 11. The boil was upon the magicians] They could not produce a similar malady by throwing ashes in the air; and they could neither remove the plague from the people, nor from their own tormented flesh. Whether

they perished in this plague, we know not; but they are no more mentioned. If they were not destroyed by this awful judgment, they at least left the field, and no longer contended with these messengers of God. The triumph of God's power was now complete; and both the Hebrews and Egyptians must see that there was neither might, nor wisdom, nor counsel, against the Lord; and that as universal nature acknowledged his power, devils and men must fail before him.

Verse 15. For now I will stretch out my hand] In the Hebrew, the verbs are in the past tense, and not in the future, as our translation improperly expresses them, by which means a contradiction appears in the text; for neither Pharaoh nor his people were smitten by a pestilence, nor was he by any kind of mortality cut off from the earth. It is true, the first-born were slain by a destroying angel, and Pharaoh himself was drowned in the Red sea; but these judgments do not appear to be referred to in this place. If the words be translated as they ought, in the subjunctive mood, or in the past instead of the future, this seeming contradiction to facts, as well as all ambiguity, will be avoided. For if now I HAD STRETCHED OUT ( shalachti, had sent forth my hand) and had smitten thee (78 78 va-ac oteca) and thy people, with the pestilence, thou SHOULDEST HAVE BEEN cut off (non tikkached) from the earth. 16. But truly, on this very account, have I caused thee to SUBSIST, (Toyn he-êmadtica) that I MIGHT cause thee to see my power, (hareoteca et cochi) and that my name MIGHT be declared throughout all the earth; or, becol, ha-arcts, in all THIS LAND. See Ainsworth and Houbigant.

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Thus God gave this impious king to know, that it was in consequence of his especial providence that both he and his people had not been already destroyed by means of the past plagues; but God had preserved him for this very purpose, that he might have a farther opportunity of manifesting that he, Jehovah, was the only true God, for the full conviction both of the Hebrews and Egyptians: that the former might follow, and the latter fear before him. Judicious critics of almost all creeds, have agreed to translate the original as above; a translation which it not only can bear, but requires; and which is in strict conformity to both the Septuagint and Targum. Neither the Hebrew Try he-êmadlica, I have caused thee to stand, nor the apostle's translation of it, Rom. ix. 17. years, I have raised thec-nor that of the Septuagint, EXEV Senin, on this account art thou preserved, viz. in the past plagues can countenance that most exceptionable meaning put on the words by certain commentators, viz. "That God ordained or appointed Pharaoh, from all eternity, by certain means, to this end; that he made him to exist in time; that he raised him to the throne; promoted him to that high honour and dignity; that he preserved him, and did not cut him off as yet; that he strengthened and hardened his heart; irritated, provoked, and stirred him up against his people Israel; and suffered him to go all the lengths he did go in his obstinacy and rebellion; all which was done for to show in him his power, in destroying him and his host in the Red Sea. The sum of which is, that this man was raised up by God, in every sense, for God to show his power in his destruction.' So man speaks: thus, God hath not spoken.

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.

20 He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:

f

21 And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field. 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.

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.

f Heb. set not his heart unto. Ch. 7. 2-g Rev. 16. 21-h Josh. 10. 11. Ps. 18. 13. & 78. 47. & 105, 32 & 148. 8. Isai. 30. 30. Ezek. 38. 22 Rev. 8. 7.

ple?]

So it appears, that at this time he might have submitted, and thus prevented his own destruction.

The SEVENTH plague-The HAIL. Verse 18. To-morrow about this time] The time of this plague is marked thus circumstantially, to show Pharaoh that Jehovah was Lord of heaven and earth; and that the water, the fire, the earth, and the air, which were all objects of Egyptian idolatry were the creatures of his power, and subservient to his will: and that, far from being able to help them, they were now, in the hands of God, instruments of their destruction.

To rain a very grievous hail] To rain hail, may ap pear, to some superficial observers, as an unphilosophical mode of expression; but nothing can be more correct. "Drops of rain falling through a cold region of the atmosphere, are frozen and converted into hail;" and thus the hail is produced by rain. When it begins to fall, it is rain; when it is falling, it is converted into hail; thus it is literally true, that it rains hail. The farther a hailstone falls, the larger it generally is; because, in its descent, meeting with innumerable particles of water, they become attached to it, are also frozen, and thus its bulk is continually increasing till it reaches the earth. In the case in question, if natural means were at all used, we may suppose a highly electrified state of an atmosphere loaded with vapours, which becoming condensed and frozen, and having a considerable space to fall through, were of an unusually large size. Though this was a supernatural storm, there have been many of a natural kind, that have been exceedingly dreadful. A storm of hail fell near Liverpool, in Lancashire, in the year 1795, which greatly damaged the vegetation, broke windows, &c. &c. Many of the stones measured five inches in circumference. Dr. Halley mentions a similar storm of hail in Lancashire, Cheshire, &c. in the year 1797, April 29, that for sixty miles in length, and two miles in breadth, did immense damage, by splitting trees, killing fowls and all small animals, knocking down men and horses, &c. &c. Mezeray, in his History of France, says, that in Italy, in 1510, there was for some time a horrible darkness, thicker than that of night; after which the clouds broke into thunder and lightning, and there fell a shower of hailstones, which destroyed all the beasts, birds, and even fish, of the country. It was attended with a strong smell of sulphur, and the stones were of a blueish colour, some of them weighing one hundred pounds weight. The Almighty says to Job-"Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?" Job, chap. xxxviii. 22, 23. While God has such artillery at his command, how soon may he desolate a country, or a world!

Verse 19. Send now and gather thy cattle] So in the The miracle midst of judgment God remembered mercy. should be wrought, that they might know he was the Lord; but all the lives, both of men and beasts, might have been saved, had Pharaoh and his servants taken the warning so mercifully given them. While some regarded not the word of the Lord, others feared it, and their cattle and their servants were saved. See ver. 20, 21.

Verse 23. The Lord sent thunder-rp koloth, voices; but loud repeated peals of thunder are meant--and hail,

יתהלך אש ארצה (and the fire ran along upon the ground

32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were "not grown up.

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.

u Heb. hidden or dark.-v Ver. 29. Ch. 8. 12.

ing up holy hands without wrath and doubting." In the apostle's word, sipovτas, lifting up, there is a manifest reference to stretching out the hands to place them either on the altar, or on the head of the victim. Four things were signified by this lifting up of the hands. 1. It was the posture of supplication, and expressed a strong invitation-Come to my help. 2. It expressed the earnest desire of the person to lay hold on the help he required, by bringing him who was the object of his prayer to his assistance. 3. It showed the ardour of the person to receive the blessings he expected. And 4. By this act he designated and consecrated his offering or sacrifice to his God.

From a great number of evidences and coincidences it is not unreasonable to conclude, that the heathens borrowed all that was pure and rational, even in their mode of worship, from the ancient people of God; and that the preceding quotations are proofs of this.

Verse 31. The flax and the barley was smitten] The word nn pishetah, flax, Mr. Parkhurst thinks is derived from the root D, pashat, to strip, because the substance which we term flax, is properly the bark or rind of the vegetable, pilled or stripped off the stalks. From time immemorial, Egypt was celebrated for the production and the manufacture of flax: hence the linen, and fine linen of Egypt, so often spoken of in ancient authors.

Barley y sheôrah, from y shaar, to stand on end, to be rough, bristly, &c. hence yv, seâr, the hair of the head, and y, sêir, a he-goat, because of its shaggy hair; and hence also, barley, because of the rough and prickly beard with which the ears are covered and defended.

Dr. Pocock has observed that there is a double seedtime and harvest in Egypt; rice, Indian wheat, and a grain called the corn of Damascus, and in Italian, surgo rosso, are sown and reaped at a very different time from wheat, barley, and flax. The first are sown in March, before the overflowing of the Nile, and reaped about October; whereas the wheat and barley, are sown in November, and December, as soon as the Nile is gone off, and are reaped before May.

Pliny observes, Hist. Nat. lib. xviii. chap. 10. that in Egypt the barley is ready for reaping in six months after it is sown, and wheat, in seven. In Egypto, HORDEUM sexto a satu mense, FRUMENTA septimo metuntur.

The flax was bolled] Meaning, I suppose, was grown up into a stalk: the original is by gibôl, podded, or was in the pod. The word well expresses that globous pod on the top of the stalk of flax, which succeeds the flower, and contains the seed; very properly expressed by the Septuagint, XIVOV CHIPMATICOV, but the flax was in seed, or was seeding.

Verse 32. But the wheat and the rie were not smitten.] Wheat non chittah, which Mr. Parkhurst thinks should be derived from the Chaldee and Samaritan chati, which signifies tender, delicious, delicate, because of the superiority of its flavour, &c. to every other kind of grain. But this term in Scripture appears to mean any kind of bread-corn. Rie, no cussemeth, from Do, casam, to have long hair; and hence, though the particular species is not known, the word must mean some bearded grain. The Septuagint call it cave, the Vulgate far, and Aquila Ca, which signify the grain called spelt; and some suppose that rice is meant.

Mr. Harmer, referring to the double harvest in Egypt, mentioned by Dr. Pocock, says that the circumstance of the wheat and the rie being DN aphiloth, dark or hidden, as the margin renders it, (i. e. they were sown, but not grown up) shows that it was the Indian wheat, or surgo rosso, mentioned ver. 31. which, with the rie, escaped; while the barley and flax were smitten, because they were at or nearly at a state of maturity. See Harmer's Obs. vol. iv. p. 11. edit. 1808. But what is intended by the words in the Hebrew text, we cannot positively say as there is a great variety of opinions on this subject, both among the versions and the commentators. The Anglo-Saxon translator, probably from not knowing the meaning of the words, omits the whole verse.

Verse 33. Spread abroad his hands] Probably with the

w Ch. 4. 21.-x Heb. by the hand of Moses. Ch. 4. 13.

rod of God in them. See what has been said on the spreading out of the hands in prayer, ver. 29.

Verse 34. He sinned yet more, and hardened his heart] These were merely acts of his own: "For who can deny," says Mr. Psalmanezer, "that what God did on Pharaoh was much more proper to soften than to harden his heart; especially when it is observable, that it was not till after seeing each miracle, and after the ceasing of each plague, that his heart is said to have been hardened? The verbs here used are in the conjugations pihel and hiphil, and often signify a bare permission, from which it is plain, that the words should have been read, God suffered the heart of Pharaoh to be hardened."-Universal Hist. vol. i. p. 494. Note D.

Verse 35. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened] In consequence of his sinning yet more, and hardening his own heart, against both the judgments and mercies of God; we need not be surprised, that after God had given him the means of softening and repentance, and he had in every instance resisted and abused them, he should, at last have been left to the hardness and darkness of his own obstinate heart, so as to fill up the measure of his iniquity, and rush headlong to his own destruction.

IN the fifth, sixth, and seventh plagues, described in this chapter, we have additional proofs of the justice and mercy of God, as well as of the stupidity, rebellion, and wickedness of Pharaoh and his courtiers. As these continued to contradict and resist, it was just that God should continue to inflict those punishments which their iniquities deserved. Yet, in the midst of judgment, he remembers mercy; and therefore Moses and Aaron are sent to inform the Egyptians that such plagues would come, if they continued obstinate. Here is mercy; the cattle only are destroyed, and the people saved! Is it not evident, from all these messages, and the repeated expostulations of Moses and Aaron, in the name and on the authority of God, that Pharaoh was bound by no fatal necessity to continue his obstinacy: that he might have humbled himself before God, and thus prevented the disasters that fell on the land, and saved himself and his people from destruction? But he would sin, and therefore he must be punished.

In the sixth plague Pharaoh had advantages which he had not before. The magicians, by their successful imitations of the miracles wrought by Moses, made it doubtful to the Egyptians, whether Moses himself was not a magician, acting without any divine authority; but the plague of the biles, which they could not imitate, by which they were themselves afflicted, and which they confessed to be the finger of God, decided the business. Pharaoh had no longer any excuse, and must know that he had now to contend, not with Moses and Aaron, mortals like himself, but with the living God. How strange, then, that he should continue to resist! Many affect to be astonished at this, and think it must be attributed only to a sovereign controlling influence of God, which rendered it impossible for him to repent or take warning. But the whole conduct of God, shows the improbability of this opinion. And is not the conduct of Pharaoh and his courtiers copied and reacted by thousands, who are never suspected to be under any such necessitating decree? Every sinner under heaven, who has the Bible in his hand, is acting the same part. God says to the swearer and the profane-Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain ; and yet common swearing and profanity are most scandalously common among multitudes who bear the Christian name, and who presume on the mercy of God to get at last to the kingdom of heaven! He says also-Remem ber the Sabbath-day to keep it holy-thou shalt not kill– thou shalt not commit adultery-thou shalt not stealthou shalt not bear false witness-thou shalt not covetand sanctions all these commandments with the most awful penalties; yet, with all these things before them, and the professed belief that they came from God, Sabbath-breakers, men-slayers, adulterers, fornicators, thieves, dishonest men, false witnesses, liars, slanderers, backbiters, covetous men, lovers of the world more than lovers of God, are found by hundreds and thousands! What were the crimes of the poor, half-blind Egyptian king, when compared with those! He sinned against a compa