13Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. 14Otherwise, I will send all My plagues against youa and your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.
15For by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth. 16But I have raised you upb for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you,c and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth. 17Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.
18Behold, at this time tomorrow I will rain down the worst hail that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now. 19So give orders now to shelter your livestock and everything you have in the field. Every man or beast that remains in the field and is not brought inside will die when the hail comes down upon them.’”
20Those among Pharaoh’s officials who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their servants and livestock to shelter, 21but those who disregarded the word of the LORD left their servants and livestock in the field.
22Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt—on man and beast and every plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.”
23So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. So the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 24The hail fell and the lightning continued flashing through it. The hail was so severe that nothing like it had ever been seen in all the land of Egypt from the time it became a nation.
25Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast; it beat down every plant of the field and stripped every tree. 26The only place where it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.
27Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. 28Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.”
29Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s. 30But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear the LORD our God.”
31(Now the flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley was ripe and the flax was in bloom; 32but the wheat and the spelt were not destroyed, because they are late crops.)
33Then Moses departed from Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.
34When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart—he and his officials. 35So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.
“Rainfall comes so occasionally in Upper Egypt that the prediction of a severe hailstorm accompanied by a violent electrical storm must have been greeted with much skepticism.” (Kaiser)
“A strange mixture; a miracle within a miracle, saith Rabbi Solomon. Fire and water made a peace betwixt themselves, that they might obey the will of their Creator.” (Trapp)
“Moses does not believe that pharaoh will keep his word, yet he grants the request so that pharaoh may be without excuse.” (Cole)
he sinned, pharaoh wasn’t sincere and Moses knew it.
How could pharaoh have such a hard heart?
A simple reading of the news today to understand what is going on in the world explains it simply, he/they don’t know the Lord or His ways.
Do you?
Blessings, David
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