"to raise e. mound, or ba.nk," thence "to ob- did not seek the shelter of houses or sheds lltnict." '· oppose." would be smitten by the huge jagged he.il- Ver. 18.-To-morrow e.bout this time. As s~ncs wit~ such force. the.t they would be it might have been thought that Moses had killed outright, or else die of tlieir wounds. done nothing very extraordinary in predicting Ver. 20.-Re the.t feared the word of the e. l'torm for the next day, a more exact note of Lord among the servantll of Phare.oh, It is a time the.n usual was here given. Compare new fact that any of the Egyptians had boon eh viii. 23 ; ix. 5. I will O&UBe it to re.in e. brought t.o " fear the word of J chove.h." Pro- very grievollll hail. Rain, and, still more, be.bly, the effect of the ple.gues had been gm- hail are comparatively rare in Egypt, though dually to convince a considere.ble number, not not so rRre as stated by some ancient authors so much that Jehovah we.s the one True God (Herod. iii. IO; Pomf. Mela, De Situ Orbis, as that he was a great and powerful god, i. 9). A g0od deal o rain falls in the Lower whose chastisement;; were to be feared. Con- Countr_,-, where the north wind brings air sequently there were now e. certain number loaded with vapour from the Mediterranean; among the " servants of Pharaoh " who pro- particularly in the winter months from Decem- fited by the warning given (ver. 10), e.nd ber to March. Snow, and hail, and thunder housed their cattle and herdsmen, in anticipe.- are during those months not very uncommon, tion of the coming storm. ha..-ing been "l'l;tnessed by many modern tra- Ver. 21.-Re that regarded not, If there ,·ellers, as Pococke, W ansleben, Seetzen, Perry, were men who believed in the power e.nd truth- Tooke, and others. They a.re seldom, how- fulness of Jehovah, there were probably more ever, of e.ny great severity. Such a storm as who did not believe. As Lot "seemed e.s one here described (see especially vers. 23, 24) the.t mocked unt.o his sons-in-law" (Gen. xix would be quite strange and abnormal ; no 14), so Moses and Aaron appeared to the great Egyptian would have experienced anything mass of the Egyptians. As observed e.bove, e. approaching to it, and hence the deep impres- hail-storm the.t could endanger life, either of sion that it made (ver. 27). Since the foun- man or beast, was beyond all Egyptian expe- dation thereof. Not "since the original for- rience, e.nd must have seemed almost impos- mation of the country" at the Creation, or by sible. subsequent alluvial deposit;;, as Herodotus Ver. 22.-Btretoh forth thine hand toward thought (ii. 5--11 ), but "since Egypt became heaven. The action we.s appropriate, as the a nation" (see ver. 24). Modern Egypt.olo- pl.e.gae we.s t.o come from the heaven. Simi- gists, or at any rate e. large number of them, larly, in the first e.nd second plagues, Aaron's carry back th.is event to a date completely he.nd had been stretched out upon the waters irreconcilable mth the Biblical chronology- ( eh. vii. 19, 20; viii. 6); and in the third upon Bockh t.o n.c. 5702, Unger to n.c. 5613, Ma- "the dust of the ground" ( eh. viii. 17). And riette and Lenormant to n.c. 5004, Brugsch upon every herb of the 11.eld--i.e., upon all to B.c. 4455, Lepsius to n.c. 3852, and Bnnsen forms of vegetable life. (Compare Gen. i. 30; (in one ple.ce) to B.C. 3623. The early Egyp- ix. 3.) tian chronology is, however, altogether uncer- Ver. 23.-l'lloees stretched forth his rod. tain, as the variety in these dates sufficient!y In the last set of three plagues, the earthly intime.tes. Of the dynasties before the (so- agent we.s Moses (eh. ix. 10; eh. x. 13, 22), called) eighteenth, only seven a.re proved to whose diffidence seems t.o he.ve wom off as time be historical, and the time that the Old and went on, and he became a.ccust.omed to put Middle Empires lasted is exceedingly doubt- himself forward. Thunder and hail. Thun- ful All the known facts are sufficiently met der had not been predicted; but it is a common bv such e. date e.s B.c. 2500--2400 for the accompaniment of e. hail-storm, the change Pyramid lungs, before whose time we have of tempere.ture produced by the discharge of nothing anthentic. This is a date which comes electricity no doubt conducing to the forma- well within the period allowed for the forma,- tion of hailstones. The fire ran along upon tion of nations by the chronology of the Sep- the ground. Some very peculiar electrical tnagint and Samaritan versions. display seems t.o be intended---t1omething cor- Ver. 19.-Thy cattle, and all tha.t thou hast responding to the phenomena called " fire• in the field. During winter and early spring, balls," where the electric fluid does not merely the Egyptians kept their cattle " in the field," flash momentarily, but remains for severe.I & other nations commonly do. When the seconds, or even minutes, before it disappears. inundation began (Jnne or July), they were Ver. 24. - Fire mingled with the hail obliged to bring them into the cities e.nd en- Rather, " There was hail, and in the midst of closed villages, e.nd house them. The time of the hail e. fire infolding itself." The expres- the " Plague of Hail" e.ppears by all the indi- sion used is the same which occurs in Ezek. i. cations w he.ve been the middle of February. 4. It seems to mean a tire the.t wu not a They llhall du,. Homan life wu now for the mere flash, but collected itself into e. IWl&S and first time three.t.ened. AJJy herdsmen that was seen for some considerable time. remained with the cattle in the open field and Ver. 25.-The hail smote, It is to the hail C'II. JX. 13-19.J 'fllE BOOK OF EXODUS. 209
nnd not to the lightning that the great destruc- found desirable to organise a special insuranco tion of men and bee.ats is attributed. Such light- against IO!ls from this cause. Such hail as ning, however, as is spoken of, would probably that described in tho text would greatly injure kill some. All that was in the tl.eld. According every crop that was many inches above the to tho warning givon (ver. 19), the herdsmen soil, and entirely destroy such as had gone to and cattle left in tho or,en air and not brought ear. (See below, ver. 31.) Broke every tre&- into the sheds were killed. The hail smote i.e., damaged the smaller branches and twigs, every herb of the tl.eld, Even in our own thus destroying the prospect of fruit. temperato climate, which is free from all at- Ver. 26.-0nly in the land of Goshen, etc. mospheric oxtremes, hailstorms occasionally do Compare eh. viii. 22; ix. 4; x. 23. so much damage to crops that it has been