Exodus 9:23

23 When Moses raised his walking stick toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the earth. So he caused hail to fall upon the land of Egypt.

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 But others ignored the Lord's message and left their slaves and animals in the fields.

22 The Lord told Moses, "Raise your hand toward the sky. Then the hail will start falling in all the land of Egypt. It will fall on people, animals, and on everything that grows in the fields of Egypt."

23 When Moses raised his walking stick toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the earth. So he caused hail to fall upon the land of Egypt.

24 There was hail, and lightning flashed as it hailed -- the worst hailstorm in Egypt since it had become a nation.

25 The hail destroyed all the people and animals that were in the fields in all the land of Egypt. It also destroyed everything that grew in the fields and broke all the trees in the fields.