Exodus 9

15 Apr 2026 - Theology

Livestock Pestilence, Boils, and Hail

In this chapter, we read about the next three plagues: livestock pestilence, boils, and hail.

Livestock Pestilence

Exodus 9:3-4 - “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. 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.”

Again there was a precision to this plague over the realm of space, as no cattle of the people of Israel would die.

Here we read that the first thing Pharaoh did was not check his own losses, but to see the precision of the Lord by checking the cattle of the Israelites.

Exodus 9:7 - “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.”

“hardened” = kabad or kabed [3513]

• To be heavy
• Hardened
• When I don’t see it for what it is (stubbornness)

Boils

The next plague was the plague of boils.

Exodus 9:11 - “And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.”

Why do the magicians of Egypt appear again in the sixth plague, when they were not mentioned at all in the fourth or fifth plagues? One reason may be that plagues four and five came directly from the Lord, without the help of any magic from Moses or Aaron. When Moses and Aaron return to work the sixth plague, the Egyptian magicians are mentioned again, even though it is only to say that they were helpless.

Exodus 9:12 - “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lordhad spoken unto Moses.”

“hardened” = chazaq [2388]

• To be strong
• Strengthened (resolve)
• When I do see it and power through (courage)

This is the first time it explicitly says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. However, it is certainly possible that it was the Lord who hardened his heart every time the word chazaq was previously used.

Why would the Lord chazaq Pharaoh’s heart? Remember that the Lord’s goal was that Egypt would come to know the true God, the Lord (Exodus 7:5). It is possible that Pharaoh could have given in to Moses and let the people go before he came to the realization of the Lord. Left to his own devices, Pharaoh could have simply given in to Moses because of a lack of courage.

The Lord, however, did not wish for Pharaoh to capitulate simply out of a lack of courage and a desire to end the plagues. If it was courage that Pharaoh lacked, the Lord would chazaq his heart (give him courage) to pursue his vision. Should Pharaoh have acknowledged the Lord as the one true God, and accepted his subservience to the Lord, then the Lord would surely have accepted his surrender.

Hail

Exodus 9:18 - “Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.”

This plague of hail was another that showed extreme precision to Pharaoh, as it started “tomorrow about this time”.

This plague is also the only plague that comes with a warning from the Lord as how to avoid or soften the effects of the plague:

Exodus 9:19 - “Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.”

Why did the Lord give a warning to Pharaoh before striking? The Lord recognizes that this is not a war between equals. To Pharaoh, this does not sound at all like a pagan god addressing its enemy. A Creator-God might have compassion for a rebellious child, but not a polytheistic deity.

This plague was also unique in that there was fire actually frozen inside the hailstones:

Exodus 9:24 - “So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.”

The mingling of fire and hail togther makes absolutely no sense in a polytheistic universe. The fire and ice gods are motral enemies, they extinguish one another; an alliance between them is impossible. Only one power would conceivably have the authority to force cooperation between fire and ice: the God who created both of them.

Exodus 9:34 - “And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.”

“hardened” = kabad or kabed [3513]

• To be heavy
• Hardened
• When I don’t see it for what it is (stubbornness)

Pharaoh changed his mind and first hardened his heart. In the next verse we see that the Lord then hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

Exodus 9:35 - “And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the Lord had spoken by Moses.”

“hardened” = chazaq [2388]

• To be strong
• Strengthened (resolve)
• When I do see it and power through (courage)

Let’s add these three plagues to our table:

References:

1. The Hebrew - Greek Key Study Bible (KJV Version)
2. The BEMA Podcast, Episode 19: A Strengthened Heart
3. The Torah Portion-by-Portion by Rabbi Seymour Rossel (2007)
4. The Meaning of the Ten Plagues and the Egyptian gods they Defeated
5. The Exodus You Almost Passed over, by Rabbi David Fohrman (2021)
6. hardened = chazaq
7. hardened = kabad or kabed