Exodus 9:22-35 comments: and the heart of Pharaoh was hardened

9:22 ¶  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. 24  So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25  And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. 26  Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail. 27  And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. 28  Intreat the LORD (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. 29  And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD’S. 30  But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God. 31  And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. 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. 34  And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35  And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.

There was not just hail but fire mingled with hail. This catastrophe wrecked the land of Egypt.

In this passage we see evidence of hail, fire, rain, and thunder, a terrible storm of hurricane proportions and then some.

Psalm 18:12  At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

Psalm 78:43  How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan: 44  And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. 45  He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 46  He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust. 47  He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost. 48  He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

Pharaoh makes a false confession of repentance here and Moses identifies it for what it is. Pharaoh’s heart will yet be hardened by his pride and God’s will. God has brought many a person low by what tragedies and disasters He allows in their lives only for them to fall back on their pride and self-righteousness practically pleading for worse to happen. They will not yield. Pharaoh is a great type of the Beast of Revelation whose pride will stand opposed to God in spite of all of the disasters around him.

A rod turned into a serpent, infestations of frogs, lice, flies, a great plague among the Egyptian cattle, boils on the Egyptians themselves, and hail mingled with thunder and lightning and fire and yet the object of Moses’ evangelism still will not yield to God in spite of the words that come out of his mouth. So many have come to the front of the church, got on their knees, and pleaded with God only to reject Him when their own pride and the hardness of their heart takes over once they’ve left the church building.

In the book of Job we are told that these kinds of things can happen and seem quite random and meaningless to us. We simply cannot know why a hurricane strikes when it does with the ferocity it does. We make predictions and guesses which are sometimes accurate but modernism insists there is no reason beyond mere weather-related factors, chance, and circumstance for a disaster of epic proportions while the Bible says that God either causes it or allows it to happen for reasons we are not privy to in this finite existence. It is very frustrating for us and for our pride.


But, here, in Egypt, at this time, we have a specific reason declared by God openly for this trouble, trouble which will declare His power openly to the world and to history.