The plagues of blood, frogs, gnats, and flies weren’t enough to change Pharaoh’s mind. The Lord told Moses to go to Pharaoh once again and give him these words.
2-4 If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.
6 And the next day the Lord did it.
Pharaoh sent men to investigate and confirm that not one of the Israelites’ animals had died, yet he remained unyielding.
This plague is the first one to mention the Lord himself carrying out the plague.
Two things are different about the next plague. Verse 8 says the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron, and God didn’t say to command Pharaoh first. Instead, He just told him to take handfuls of soot and toss it in the air in front of Pharaoh. Moses did so and festering boils broke out on men and animals.
11-12 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.
The Lord told Moses to confront Pharaoh in the morning and tell him God said to let the people go.
14-19 “or this time, I (God) will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.For by now I (God) could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have spared you for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every man and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.”
20-21 Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. But those who ignored the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the field.
Moses stretched his hand out to the sky, and hail beat down everything in the land.
26 The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.
By this time, the Israelites had to have changed their opinions toward Moses and Aaron. God was obviously up to something, and He was clearly sparing their lives and livestock.
Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said he had sinned and was in the wrong. Once again, Pharaoh asked Moses to pray to the Lord and said he would let the Israelites go. Moses said he would do so after he had left the city.
30 “But I know you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.”
Moses left the city and prayed, and the hail stopped.
34-35 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts… just as the Lord had said through Moses.
10:1-2 The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”
Moses went back to Pharaoh with the promise of a plague of locusts if the Israelites were not released. This time, Pharaoh’s officials told him to let the Israelites go because Egypt was ruined. When Moses and Aaron were summoned to come back, Pharaoh asked who exactly Moses wanted to go, and he said all of the Israelites. Pharaoh insisted that only the men could go “since that’s what you have been asking for.”
That wasn’t what they had been asking for, so the Lord told Moses to stretch his hand over Egypt to bring about the plague. The locusts devoured everything that was left after the hail, and Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron again.
16 “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away.”
Pharaoh knew what the Lord wanted, but he only asked for forgiveness and for the consequence to go away. He still wouldn’t obey.
21 The Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt- darkness that can be felt.”
Moses did so and total darkness covered the land for three days. No one could see anyone else or leave his place.
23 Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.
Pharaoh finally told Moses that all of the people could go worship the Lord. They just had to leave their flocks and herds behind.
Moses answered that they needed all their livestock for their sacrifices, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart again.
Pharaoh told Moses not to come back again or he would die, so Moses agreed to not appear before him again.
Thank you for your word. May your power continually be made known in this world.
A Walk Through The Bible 