Exodus 9:23

23 Moshe stretched forth his rod toward the heavens, and the LORD sent thunder, hail, and lightning flashed down to the eretz. The LORD rained hail on the land of Mitzrayim.

Exodus 9:23 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 9:23

And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven
The same which Aaron had made use of before, but was now in the hand of Moses, and whose rod it properly was: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the
ground,
hot thunderbolts, which struck their flocks, ( Psalms 78:48 ) and hail which fell so thick and weighty as to destroy both men and cattle, and break trees in pieces, and spoil the corn, the grass, and the tender herb; and fire, that is lightning, which descended so low, and in such quantities, as ran along the ground, and consumed all it met with. Artapanus ^F7, an Heathen writer, who speaks of this storm of hail, says, that Moses, besides the hail, caused earthquakes by night, so that those that escaped the earthquakes were taken away by the hail, and those that escaped the hail perished by the earthquakes, which he says overthrew all the houses, and most of the temples: and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt;
upon Egypt, where rain was not common, and on all the land of Egypt, when in some parts of it it was scarce known, and hail as thick as rain; ice, snow, and hail, are most rarely if ever seen there, the air not being cold enough for the production of them ^F8. This was the Lord's immediate doing, when there was no likelihood of it, nor any appearance of second causes concurring to produce it, and came at the exact time he had foretold it should; all which were very extraordinary.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 435, 436.
F8 Vid. Scheuchzer. Physica Sacra, vol. 1. p. 139.

Exodus 9:23 In-Context

21 Whoever didn't regard the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field.

22 The LORD said to Moshe, "Stretch forth your hand toward the sky, that there may be hail in all the land of Mitzrayim, on man, and on animal, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Mitzrayim."

23 Moshe stretched forth his rod toward the heavens, and the LORD sent thunder, hail, and lightning flashed down to the eretz. The LORD rained hail on the land of Mitzrayim.

24 So there was very severe hail, and lightning mixed with the hail, such as had not been in all the land of Mitzrayim since it became a nation.

25 The hail struck throughout all the land of Mitzrayim all that was in the field, both man and animal; and the hail struck every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field.