Exodus 9

3 the camels. Cp. Gen. xii. 16. Camels do not appear to have been used in the interior of Egypt, but on the frontier.

6 all the cattle of Egypt died. That is, there was death among all the cattle of Egypt; no kind was spared.

7 not one of the cattle, etc. This exemption showed clearly that the plague was from Jehovah, the God of Israel. But Pharaoh, in his hardness of heart, probably attributed it to the Hebrews’ superior skill in the treatment of cattle.

9 dust. The irritation produced by dust and heat occasions many purulent diseases in Egypt, especially ophthalmia.

11 the magicians. The preceding divine judgements had been principally directed against the objects of idolatrous worship. This plague affected the chief supporters of this idolatry, who now retire, and do not appear again in the history.

15. I will stretch out. Rather, “I might stretch out,” etc., “and thou shouldest be cut off from the earth. But in very deed for this cause I have made thee stand”; meaning either, “I have preserved thee through all” (as the Septuagint understood the passage), or “I have raised thee up” (as it is rendered in Rom. ix. 17), “in order to make thee see My power,” etc. Pharaoh was not destroyed at once, that God might make the more signal and varied displays of His power.

18 hail. Violent hailstorms are rare in Lower Egypt.

20. He that feared, etc. This shows that on some of the Egyptians the plagues were beginning to exert a salutary effect.

23 fire ran along upon the ground. Or, “ran to the earth” (so R.V.), i.e., the lightning struck into the ground.

31 boiled. “Bolled” means come into blossom, which was the case about the end of February. In the case of the barley and the flax, the stalk, being stiff, was broken by the hail. The wheat and rye (rather spelt) had not risen to a stalk; and the blade would yield, and so escape serious injury.