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RUSSELL SANDERS
11-8-2024
THE LIFE OF MOSES – LESSON 18
THE SEVENTH PLAGUE – ENORMOUS HAILSTONES
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Moses went again to Pharaoh demanding unsuccessfully to let the people go.
Moses then told him the word of the LORD God (Jehovah Elohiym) that God would, “Send all my plagues upon thine heart…thy servants…thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none like Me in all the earth.” (Exodus 9:14-15.) God then declared that He had raised up Pharaoh for the express purpose of showing the power of Jehovah so that His name would be declared over the whole earth (v. 16).
God then accused Pharaoh of exalting himself. That was true as Pharaoh considered himself to be a god. Moses then announced a plague or judgment of grievous hailstones (extremely large) that would come the next day and kill every man and beast found out in the open (the field). He advised Pharaoh to put his cattle under protection, or else the hailstones would kill them.
Pharaoh’s servants knew of this word, and they had all the servants and cattle put under shelter. However, Pharaoh himself disregarded the warning. His servants heeded the warning for themselves as they sheltered all their animals and families. They were protected while Pharaoh lost his.
Thunder, lightning, and gigantic hailstones were accompanied with fire running all about. Any man or animal caught in it was killed by the falling hail. The food crops were also destroyed.
Pharaoh pleaded with Moses to ask Jehovah to stop it, and he would let the people go. Moses said he would do it so that the king would know (Ex. 9:29) “that the earth is the LORD’S (Jehovah).” Moses told Pharaoh that he knew the king would again renege on his promise, which he did.
This was the second defamation of the Egyptian goddess Nut (Newt). She was the goddess of the sky and the heavens around us. She was unable to stop the hail. Nut’s first defamation came as she was unable to stop or cure the plague of disease upon the cattle. She is depicted as a celestial cow.
The god Seth was also defamed. He was the god of storms and of disorder, but he had no control over the hailstone storm. Our God is a jealous God in that he will not share His glory nor allow any “high thing” to stand opposing Him. Within time all others will come down. Just as Moses told Pharaoh in Ex. 9:29 that “the earth is the LORD’S,” so also do we read David’s words in Psalm 24:1 which says, “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and all they that dwell therein.”
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