Exodus
Verse 3. My hand. God inflicts the fourth, fifth, and tenth plagues without Moses.
EXPLANATIONS
Exodus 9
Historical chapter commentary
Exodus
Verse 5. Land. Moses related all this to the king, according to the Samaritan copy.
Exodus
Verse 6. All the beasts. That is, many of all kinds. Challoner.—So it is said, (Jeremiah 9:26,) all the nations are uncircumcised, though some few observed the rite of circumcision with the Jews. Bible.
Exodus
Verse 7. Hardened. He did not beg for a deliverance, as the beasts were dead. Menochius.
Exodus
Verse 9. Blains. Pestiferous buboes or burning swellings. Calmet.—Thus were the pride and luxury of the Egyptians punished by Moses; and they who had kept the Hebrews in an iron furnace, were themselves scorched with fiery ashes and ulcers. Menochius.
Exodus
Verse 11. Stand before to oppose Moses. They could not screen themselves. Bible.
Exodus
Verse 12. Hardened, and so forth See the annotations above, chap. 5:21, chap. 7:3, and chap. 8:15. Challoner.—The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of sins, condemneth: but ignominy and reproach follow him. Proverbs 18:3.
Exodus
Verse 14. Plagues of fire and hail, that thy heart may relent. But as all my chastisements will not produce this effect, I will be glorified in thy fall. Bible.—I could now strike thee dead; (verse 15,) but I reserve thee for a more dreadful punishment, (verse 17,) in the waters of the Red Sea. Calmet.
Exodus
Verse 15. Pestilence, or various evils which now came fast upon Pharao. Menochius.
Exodus
Verse 16. Raised thee to the throne, or preserved thee hitherto from the former plagues. God disposes of things in such a manner, as to draw good out of the evil designs of men. Saint Augustine de Calmet. D. xi. 17. Romans 9:17. Calmet.
Exodus
Verse 19. Cattle. Some had escaped the former plague, or the Egyptians had purchased more from their neighbours, and in the land of Gessen. Bible.—God tempers justice with mercy. Saint Augustine q. 33.—Die. This message was accordingly delivered to Pharao. Sam. copy. Bible.
Exodus
Verse 24. In all the land of. So the Heb.: but the Sam. and some Hebrew MSS. have simply in Egypt. Ken.—Founded, about 627 years before. Hence it appears, that the rain falls in some parts of Egypt, ( Menochius.) particularly about Tanis, verse 18, 34. Calmet. Wisd. 16:17.
Exodus
Verse 32. Lateward. The hail fell in February. Bonfrere Aristophanes (in Avibus) says, the Egyptians and Phenicians have their harvest when the cuckoo begins to sing. The month Nisan, which answers to part of March and April, was honoured with the first fruits. Calmet. 13:4. Menochius.
Exodus
Verse 35. Hard. Hebrew “and he hardened his heart.” Worthington.