was fatal to them, v. 1..7. II. Boils upon man and beast, v. 8..12. III. Hail with thunder and lightning. 1. Warning is given of this plague, v. 13..21. 2. It is inflicted to their great terror, v. 22..26. 3. Pharaoh in a fright renews his treaty with Moses, but instantly breaks his word, v. 27..35.
1.THEN the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2. For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, 3. Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. 4. And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel. 5. And the Lord appointed a set time, saying, To-morrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land. 6. And the Lord did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. 7. And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
Here is,
I. Warning given of another plague, namely, The murrain of beasts. When Pharaoh's heart was hardened, after he had seemed to relent under the former plague, then Moses is sent to tell him there is another coming, to try what that would do toward reviving the impressions of the former plagues. Thus is the wrath of God revealed from heaven, both in his word, and in his works, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. 1. Moses puts Pharaoh in a very fair way to prevent it; Let my people go, v. 1. This was still the demand, God will have Israel released; Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. See how jealous God is for his people; when the year of his redeemed is come, he will give Egypt for their ransom; that kingdom shall be ruined, rather than Israel shall not be delivered. See how reasonable God's demands are; whatever he calls for, it is but his own. They are my people, therefore let them go. 2. He describes the plague that should come, if he refused, v. 2, 3. The hand of the Lord immediately, without the stretching out of Aaron's hand, is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, should die by a sort of pestilence. This was greatly to the loss of the owners: they had made Israel poor, and now God would make them poor. Note, The hand of God is to be acknowledged even in the sickness and death of cattle or other damage sustained in them, for a sparrow falls not to the ground without our Father. 3. As an evidence of the special hand of God in it, and of his particular favour to his own people, he foretells that none of their cattle should die, though they breathed in the same air, and drank of the same water, with the Egyptians' cattle; (v. 4.) The Lord shall sever. Note, When God's judgments are abroad, though they may fall both on the righteous and the wicked, yet God makes such a distinction, that they are not the same to the one that they are to the other. See Isa. 27. 7. The providence of God is to be acknowledged with thankfulness in the life of the cattle, for he preserveth man and beast, Ps. 36. 6. 4. To make the warning the more remarkable, the time is fixed; (v. 5.) To-morrow it shall be done; we know not what any day will bring forth, and therefore cannot say what we will do to-morrow, but God can.
II. The plague itself inflicted. The cattle died, v. 6. Note, The creature is made subject to vanity by the sin of man, being liable, according to its capacity, both to serve his wickedness, and to share in his punishment, as in the universal deluge, Rom. 8. 20, 22. Pharaoh and the Egyptians sinned; but the sheep, what had they done? Yet they are plagued. See Jer. 12. 4. For the wickedness of the land, the beasts are consumed. The Egyptians, afterward, and, some think, now, worshipped their cattle; it was among them that the Israelites learned to make a god of a calf, in this animal therefore the plague, here spoken of, meets with them. Note, What we make an idol of, it is just with God to remove from us, or imbitter to us. See Isa. 19. 1.
III. The distinction put between the cattle of the Egyptians and the Israelites' cattle, according to the word of God; not one of the cattle of the Israelites died, v. 6, 7. Does God take care for oxen? Yes, he does; his providence extends itself to the meanest of his creatures. But it is written also for our sakes, that, trusting in God, and making him our refuge, we may not be afraid of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, no not though thousands fall at our side, Ps. 91. 6, 7. Pharaoh sent to see if the cattle of the Israelites were infected, not to satisfy his conscience, but only to gratify his curiosity, or with design, by way of reprisal, to repair his own losses out of their stocks. And having no good design in the inquiry, the report brought him made no impression upon him, but, on the contrary, his heart was hardened. Note, To those that are wilfully blind, even those methods of conviction which are ordained to life, prove a savour of death unto death.
8. And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. 9. And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. 10. And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven: and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast. 11. And the magicians could not stand before Moses, because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians. 12. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had spoken unto Moses.
Observe here, concerning the plague of boils and blains,
1. That when they were not wrought upon by the death of their cattle, God sent a plague that seized their own bodies, and touched them to the quick. If lesser judgments do not do their work, God will send greater. Let us therefore humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and go forth to meet him in the way of his judgments, that his anger may be turned away from us.
