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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:28
Only ye shall not go very far away. Here for the first time Pharaoh shows his real objection to letting the Israelites go—he is afraid that they will escape him. So he suggests the compromise, that they shall just enter…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:29
To-morrow. As Pharaoh had fixed the "morrow" for the departure of the second plague (Exodus 8:10), so Moses now announces a similar date for the departure of the fourth. He adds a remonstrance against any further deceit…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:29
The duty of God's servants to rebuke the great of the earth. "Let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more." Deceit is despicable in the meanest of men. How much more in a king! Subterfuge, tricks, lies, are said to be the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:31
There remained not one. The hand of God was shewn in the removal no less than in the infliction of the plagues. The complete disappearance was as abnormal as the sudden coming.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 8:32
At this time also. Compare Exodus 7:13, Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:15. HOMILETICS Exodus 8:25, Exodus 8:26 Compromise not allowable in religious matters. The struggles of political and social life, the conflicting claims of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1-8
The plague of murrain of beasts. I. THE ALTERNATIVE AGAIN (Exodus 9:1, Exodus 9:2). Surely Pharaoh was well warned. The analogy of the third plague would have led us to expect that on this occasion—after a second and gl…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1-7
EXPOSITION THE FIFTH PLAGUE. Hitherto the plagues had been directed rather against the persons of the Egyptians than against their property. Property had perhaps suffered somewhat in the preceding plague, if it was real…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1
Excepting in the designation of Jehovah as "the Lord God of the Hebrews," this verse is an almost exact repetition of the first verse of Exodus 8:1-32. Such repetitious are very characteristic of the most ancient writin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1-7
The burthen of man's sin presses on the brute creation, as well as on man himself. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Romans 8:22). Brutes are to a large extent co-partners with man…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1-7
The fifth plague-the murrain among the beasts. I. THE USE WHICH GOD HERE MAKES OF THE LOWER CREATION. In the three plagues immediately preceding God made the lower creation his scourges. He took little creatures, the ba…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:1-7
GOD'S MERCY IN TEMPORAL JUDGMENTS. Hitherto no great loss had been inflicted; now their cattle is taken. In God's mercy the afflictions deepen that Egypt may forsake the path of death. When the Lord's hand falls in heav…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:3
Thy cattle which is in the field. The word "cattle" here is to be taken generally, as including under it the various kinds particularised. The cattle are mentioned as being at this time "in the field," because during th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:4
The Lord shall sever. Compare Exodus 8:22. There shall nothing die, etc The original is more emphatic, and might be rendered literally—" There shall not die of all that is the children's of Israel a thing."
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:5
To-morrow. God may have interposed the interval in order that such as believed the announcement might save their animals by bringing them in out of the fields. All the cattle died—i.e, all that were "in the field" (Exod…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:7
And Pharaoh sent. This time the king had the curiosity to send out and see whether the Israelites had been spared. Though he found the fact correspond to the announcement, he was not seriously impressed. Perhaps he thou…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:8
Ashes of the furnace. Rather "soot from the furnace." The word commonly used in Hebrew for "ashes" is different. Many recondite reasons have been brought forward for the directions here given. But perhaps the object was…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:8-12
Sin punished by physical suffering, but such suffering not always a punishment for sin. God has many weapons in his quiver wherewith to chastise sin. One of them is physical pain. He can cause the limbs to ache, the tem…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:8-13
The plague of boils and blains. This plague, like the third, was unannounced. God varies his methods. There was need for some token being given of God's severe displeasure at Pharaoh's gross abuse of his goodness and fo…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:8-12
The sixth plague-the boils and blains. Only the barest conjectures are possible as to why these ashes of the furnace were taken as materials whence to draw this sixth plague. If we look at the first two plagues we see t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:8-12
I. The Sixth Plague. THE MEANS USED. Ashes were taken from the brick-kiln in which the Israelites toiled, and in Pharaoh's presence sprinkled in mute appeal toward heaven. The memorials of oppression lifted up before Go…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:8-12
EXPOSITION THE SIXTH PLAGUE. The sixth plague was sent, like the third, without notice given. It was also, like the third, a plague which inflicted direct injury upon the person. There was a very solemn warning in it; f…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:9
It shall become small dust. Rather, "It shall be as dust." No physical change is intended by the expression used, but simply that the "soot" or "ash" should be spread by the air throughout all Egypt, as dust was wont to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:10
The furnace. It is perhaps not very important what kind of "furnace" is meant. But the point has been seriously debated. Some suppose a furnace for the consumption of victims, human or other; some a baking oven, or cook…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:11
The magicians could not stand. It is gathered from this that the magicians had, up to this time, been always in attendance when the miracles were wrought, though they had now for some time failed to produce any counterf…