Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 9:29
And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; [and] the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth [is] the LORD’s.
29. spread abroad my hands ] The attitude of prayer: v. 33, 1Ki 8:22; 1Ki 8:38 al. that thou mayest know
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Exo 9:29-30
I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God.
Lessons
1. Gracious souls are willing to yield to vilest persecutors to help them though they deceive them.
2. Time and place convenient, Gods servants take to answer the desires of the wicked.
3. Heart and hand do Gods saints lay out in prayer to God for their enemies.
4. Under Gods revelation his ministers may assure the wicked of His mercies.
5. Such discoveries are made to wicked men that they might acknowledge His propriety and sovereignty over all (Exo 9:29).
6. Though Gods servants know how the wicked will afterward behave themselves, yet they may pray for them.
7. God doth foretell by His servants sometimes the incorrigibility of the wicked under judgment and mercy.
8. Wicked men may tremble under vengeance, but never fear the Lord God when it is removed (Exo 9:30). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Wise ministerial treatment of an obstinate sinner
I. That the true minister is willing to render help to the vilest persecutor in the hour of imagined repentance. Moses did not remain away from Pharaoh in the hour of his penitence. He did not treat him with contempt, as unworthy of further effort. He went to him at once. Ministers are never justified in leaving even the vilest men to themselves in their time of perplexity. They should visit them and render them all the aid in their power. The hypocrite must never be forsaken by the servant of God.
II. That the true minister will pray for the most obstinate sinner in the hour of distress. As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord.
1. The prayer will be offered in private. Out of the city. Solitude is favourable to prayer. The minister should seek solitude. It is well for him to go outside of the city to meditate and to pray about obstinate men.
2. It will be offered with earnestness. I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord. The ministers of God should employ their hands and hearts in prayer to heaven for the souls of wicked men.
III. That the true minister may assure the most obstinate sinner of the mercy of God toward him. A contrite heart shall not hear the thunder of retributive judgment.
IV. That the true minister must assert the unbending sovereignty of God to the most obstinate sinner.
V. That the true minister will deal faithfully with the most obstinate sinner who mat manifest tokens of repentance. Lessons:
1. That ministers are often perplexed as to the best method of conduct toward obstinate sinners.
2. They must pray for them.
3. They must be faithful to them. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The earth is the Lords
1. Then admire its beauty.
2. Then participate in its bounty.
3. Then tread it reverently.
4. Then use it generously. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
I know that ye will not fear the Lord God
1. Because your mind is dark.
2. Because your heart is hard.
3. Because your conscience is seared.
4. Because your will is rebellious.
5. Because your sin is a pleasure. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 29. I will spread abroad my hands] That is, I will make supplication to God that he may remove this plague. This may not be an improper place to make some observations on the ancient manner of approaching the Divine Being in prayer. Kneeling down, stretching out the hands, and lifting them up to heaven, were in frequent use among the Hebrews in their religious worship. SOLOMON kneeled down on his knees, and spread forth his hands to heaven; 2Ch 6:13. So DAVID, Ps 143:6: I stretch forth my hands unto thee. So EZRA: I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God; Ezr 9:5. See also JOB Job 11:13: If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thy hands towards him. Most nations who pretended to any kind of worship made use of the same means in approaching the objects of their adoration, viz., kneeling down and stretching out their hands; which custom it is very likely they borrowed from the people of God. Kneeling was ever considered to be the proper posture of supplication, as it expresses humility, contrition, and subjection. If the person to whom the supplication was addressed was within reach, the supplicant caught him by the knees; for as among the ancients the forehead was consecrated to genius, the ear to memory, and the right hand to faith, so the knees were consecrated to mercy. Hence those who entreated favour fell at and caught hold of the knees of the person whose kindness they supplicated. This mode of supplication is particularly referred to in the following passages in Homer: –
, .
Iliad i., ver. 407.
Now therefore, of these things reminding Jove,
Embrace his knees. COWPER.
To which the following answer is made: –
‘ ,
, .
Iliad i., ver. 426.
Then will I to Jove’s brazen-floor’d abode,
That I may clasp his knees; and much misdeem
Of my endeavour, or my prayer shall speed. Id.
See the issue of thus addressing Jove, Ibid., ver. 500-502, and ver. 511, c.
In the same manner we find our Lord accosted, Mt 17:14: There came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him , falling down at his knees.
As to the lifting up or stretching out of the hands, (often joined to kneeling,) of which we have seen already several instances, and of which we have a very remarkable one in this book, Ex 17:11, where the lifting up or stretching out of the hands of Moses was the means of Israel’s prevailing over Amalek we find many examples of both in ancient authors. Thus HOMER: –
, ‘ .
Iliad xxiv., ver. 301.
For right it is to spread abroad the hands
To Jove for mercy.
Also VIRGIL:-
Corripio e stratis corpus, TENDOQUE SUPINAS
AD COELUM cum voce MANUS, et munera libo
AEneid iii., ver. 176.
I started from my bed, and raised on high
My hands and voice in rapture to the sky;
And pour libations. PITT.
Dixerat: et GENUA AMPLEXUS, genibusque volutans Haerebat. Ibid., ver. 607.
Then kneel’d the wretch, and suppliant clung around My knees with tears, and grovell’d on the ground.
Id.
—————-media inter numina divum
Multa Jovem MANIBUS SUPPLEX orasse SUPINIS.
Ibid. iv., ver. 204.
Amidst the statues of the gods he stands,
And spreading forth to Jove his lifted hands.
Id.
Et DUPLICES cum voce MANUS ad sidera TENDIT.
Ibid. x., ver. 667.
And lifted both his hands and voice to heaven.
In some cases the person petitioning came forward, and either sat in the dust or kneeled on the ground, placing his left hand on the knee of him from whom he expected the favour, while he touched the person’s chin with his right. We have an instance of this also in HOMER: –
‘ , ‘ ‘ ‘ .
Iliad i., ver. 500.
Suppliant the goddess stood: one hand she placed Beneath his chin, and one his knee embraced.
POPE.
When the supplicant could not approach the person to whom he prayed, as where a deity was the object of the prayer, he washed his hands, made an offering, and kneeling down, either stretched out both his hands to heaven, or laid them upon the offering or sacrifice, or upon the altar. Thus Homer represents the priest of Apollo praying: –
‘ , .
‘ , .
Iliad i., ver. 449.
With water purify their hands, and take
The sacred offering of the salted cake,
While thus, with arms devoutly raised in air,
And solemn voice, the priest directs his prayer.
POPE.
How necessary ablutions of the whole body, and of the hands particularly, accompanied with offerings and sacrifices were, under the law, every reader of the Bible knows: see especially Ex 29:1-4, where Aaron and his sons were commanded to be washed, previously to their performing the priest’s office; and Ex 30:19-21, where it is said: “Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands – that they die not.” See also Le 17:15. When the high priest among the Jews blessed the people, he lifted up his hands, Le 9:22. And the Israelites, when they presented a sacrifice to God, lifted up their hands and placed them on the head of the victim: “If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord – of the cattle of the herd, and of the flock – he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering, and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him;” Le 1:2-4. To these circumstances the apostle alludes, 1Ti 2:8: “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” In the apostle’s word , lifting up, there is a manifest reference to stretching out the hands to place them either on the altar or on the head of the victim. Four things were signified by this lifting up of the hands.
1. It was the posture of supplication, and expressed a strong invitation – Come to my help;
2. It expressed the earnest desire of the person to lay hold on the help he required, by bringing him who was the object of his prayer to his assistance;
3. It showed the ardour of the person to receive the blessings he expected; and
4. By this act he designated and consecrated his offering or sacrifice to his God.
From a great number of evidences and coincidences it is not unreasonable to conclude that the heathens borrowed all that was pure and rational, even in their mode of worship, from the ancient people of God; and that the preceding quotations are proofs of this.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Or, that this land is the Lords, even his whom thou deniedst to have any jurisdiction in it, or over thee, Exo 5:2. Or the earth is put for the world, the heaven and the earth: q. d. That thou mayst see that he can either cause the heavens to send forth such thunders and hails, or restrain them as he pleaseth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Moses said unto him, as soon as I am gone out of the city,…. Zoan or Tanis, for it was in the field of Zoan where these wonders were wrought, Ps 78:12, the reason why he went out of the city to pray, Jarchi says, was because it was full of idols; but the truer reason was, that he might be private and alone while he was praying to God; and perhaps he went out also to show that he was not frightened at the storm, or afraid of being destroyed by it, and was confident of preservation in the midst of it, in the open field, by the power of God, whom he served:
I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; which was a prayer gesture directed to by the light of nature, and was used very anciently, and by the Heathens, as well as others; of which the learned Rivet has given many instances in his comment on this text:
and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; this he had faith in, and full assurance of before he prayed for it; he knew the mind and will of God, and not only he knew what he could do, but what he would do, and which he tells Pharaoh of before hand; which was a full proof that he was a god to Pharaoh, as the Lord said he had made him, Ex 7:1
that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s; that the whole earth is his, and therefore he can do, and does in it whatever he pleases; as the heavens also are his, and therefore can cause thunder, lightning, hail, and rain, and stop them when he thinks fit; or that the land of Egypt particularly was his, and not Pharaoh’s, and therefore could destroy, or save it at his pleasure; and particularly it being his, Pharaoh had no right to detain his people in it against his will, who was Lord of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Moses promised that his request should be granted, that he might know “ that the land belonged to Jehovah, ” i.e., that Jehovah ruled as Lord over Egypt (cf. Exo 8:18); at the same time he told him that the fear manifested by himself and his servants was no true fear of God. denotes the true fear of God, which includes a voluntary subjection to the divine will. Observe the expression, Jehovah, Elohim: Jehovah, who is Elohim, the Being to be honoured as supreme, the true God.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verse 29-35:
“The city” was likely Tanis or Zoan. The text infers that Moses and Aaron did not live in this city, but with the Israelites. They went to the city when they confronted Pharaoh.
Moses was skeptical of Pharaoh’s repentance. He knew that as soon as the plague was lifted, Pharaoh and his courtiers would return to their hard-hearted refusal to let Israel go.
Moses lifted up his hands to heaven, and the storm ceased at once.
The time of year may be deduced from verse 31. Flax was a major crop in Egypt. Linen is from its fiber. The Egyptians preferred this fabric to any other. Flax is “boiled” or blossoms during the last of January or the first of February.
Barley comes into ear about the same time that flax blossoms. This was a common grain raised in Egypt. It was fed to livestock, and was used in the brewing of a kind of beer popular in Egypt. The poorer classes used barley in making their bread.
The wheat harvest in Egypt is about a month later than the barley.
“Rye” kussemeth is literally “prickly spelt” or vetch.
When the plague of hail was removed, Pharaoh once more hardened his heart, and refused to let Israel go.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
29. And Moses said. In this answer Moses indirectly hints, that he leaves the presence of Pharaoh, in order duly and purely to supplicate God; since by his unbelief he would in a manner pollute the sacrifices. For, as he had already shown, that legitimate worship could not be offered by the people except away from Egypt, so now he seeks to be alone for prayer; and thus, by this change of place, he indicates that the place, in which Pharaoh dwells, is unholy. We have already said, that Moses promises nothing out of mere rash impulse, but that, taught either by the inspiration of the Spirit, or by sure revelation, he pronounces, with the authority of a prophet, what God is about to do. Moreover, it is not without reason that Moses exhorts Pharaoh to learn from the remission of the punishment, that the God of Israel is the Lord of Egypt also; for the word earth seems here to be limited to Egypt; although I do not deny that it may be properly understood of the whole world; but, whichever you may prefer, Moses rightly concludes, that the glory and dominion of God is perfectly manifested, not only when he appears as an avenger in the infliction of punishment, but that He also shows it in an opposite way, when all the elements are subservient to His mercy. Besides, His power is still more clearly shown forth, when He himself heals the wounds which He has inflicted; and, therefore, in Isa 41:23, and Isa 45:7, in order to prove His divinity, He joins the two together, viz., that it is His prerogative and attribute both to “do good, or to do evil.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Exo. 9:31. Bolled] In flower.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 9:29-35
WISE MINISTERIAL TREATMENT OF AN OBSTINATE SINNER
Moses was a true minister. He was a real and worthy servant of God. He had to deal with an obstinate sinner in Pharaoh. We see in these verses the manner in which he treated him when he pretended to be sorry for his rebellion against God.
I. That the true minister is willing to render help to the vilest persecutor in the hour of imagined repentance. Moses did not remain away from Pharaoh in the hour of his penitence. He did not treat him with contempt, as unworthy of further effort. He went to him at once. Ministers are never justified in leaving even the vilest men to themselves in their time of perplexity. They should visit them and render them all the aid in their power. The true minister of the cross will be generous and forbearing. He will have too much sympathy with the souls of men ever to leave them, even though he has little faith in their professed repentance or their final salvation. The hypocrite must never be forsaken by the servant of God.
II. That the true minister will pray for the most obstinate sinner in the hour of distress. As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord.
1. The prayer will be offered in private. Out of the city. Did Moses go out of the city to pray because it was idolatrous, and because he would not mix the worship of God with the profane superstitions of the Egyptians? Moses went out from the presence of Pharaoh; he would give the king time to fully consider his promise, and to test the motive of his repentance. Also Moses wanted to be alone with God. Solitude is favourable to prayer. The minister should seek solitude. It is well for him to go outside of the city to meditate and to pray about obstinate men.
2. It will be offered with earnestness. I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord. The ministers of God should employ their hands and hearts in prayer to heaven for the souls of wicked men.
III. That the true minister may assure the most obstinate sinner of the mercy of God toward him.And the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be anymore hail. Thus Moses makes known to Pharoah the abundant mercy of God. And this should be the method of a true minister in his treatment of wicked men. He should assure them of the compassion of the Infinite Father for the truly penitent. A contrite heart shall not hear the thunder of retributive judgment.
IV. That the true minister must assert the unbending Sovereignty of God to the most obstinate sinner. That thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lords. The divine sovereignty must be asserted to the most obstinate man, even though he may be the proud Monarch of Egypt. True repentance will be led to acknowledge the royal supremacy of God in the material as well as in the moral universe. Ministers must seek to give repentant souls rightful views of the Character and Rulership of the Eternal.
V. That the true Minister will deal faithfully with the most obstinate sinner who may manifest tokens of repentance. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God. This language was most faithful on the part of Moses. It was plain. It was fearless. He knew Pharaoh too well to imagine that his repentance was genuine. He knew his reformation would not be permanent. In this way will the wise and true minister deal with the obstinate sinner who manifests repentance and seeks the removal of woe. LESSONS:
1. That ministers are often perplexed as to the best method of conduct toward obstinate sinners.
2. They must pray for them.
3. They must be faithful to them.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exo. 9:29-30. Under Gods revelation His ministers may assure the wicked of His mercy.
Such discoveries are made to wicked men that they may acknowledge the sovereignty and ownership of God over all.
Though Gods servants know how the wicked will afterwards behave, yet they may pray for them. Wicked men may tremble under vengeance, but never fear the Lord when it is removed.
The earth is the Lords:
1. Then admire its beauty.
2. Then participate in its bounty.
3. Then tread it reverently.
4. Then use it generously.
I know that ye will not fear the Lord God:
1. Because your mind is dark.
2. Because your heart is hard.
3. Because your conscience is seared.
4. Because your will is rebellious.
5. Because your sin is a pleasure.
Exo. 9:31-32. God in His prerogative determines what creatures to destroy for the punishment of man. When creatures grow nearest for mans comfort, he takes them away for mans sin.
The smitings of God.
1. The outcome of Divine anger.
2. The punishment of mans sin.
3. The richest growths stricken.
4. The immature things left unhurt.
PHARAOHS CONDUCT AFTER THE STORM
Exo. 9:34. Mercy makes some men worse. Let the rod cease to strike and they will rebel the more basely. Some need judgments continually to keep them from sin. Pharaohs vices were only kept down by his terrors, as soon as they ceased his vices sprang up again most vigorously. The storm over and God is forgotten.
I. Pharaohs conduct is often resembled by men of our day. There was a great deal of common human nature in Pharaoh. Those who visit men much in their afflictions know how transitory are the impressions made upon them at such seasons. Vows made then are seldom kept. To estimate men by their sayings on a bed of suffering, or amid the crash of bankruptcy, or under the bitterness of bereavement, is altogether misleading. Mens views of themselves and life change as the dark clouds roll away, and the sun breaks forth to gild their path again. This has become proverbial. How often have the ironical words of Rabelais been quoted concerning men!
The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be:
The devil was well, the devil a monk was he!
An old Puritan relates that, It is storied of a merchant, that in a great storm at sea, vowed to Jupiter, if he would save him, and his vessel, he would give him a hecatomb. The storm ceaseth and he bethinks that a hecatomb was unreasonable; he resolves on seven oxen. Another tempest comes and now he vows again the seven at least. Delivered then also, he thought that seven were too many, and one ox would serve the turn. Yet another peril comes, and now he vows solemnly to fall no lower, if he might be rescued an ox Jupiter shall have. Again freed, the ox appears too much, and he would fain draw his devotion to a lower rate; a sheep was sufficient. But at last being set ashore, he thought a sheep too much, and purposeth to carry to the altar only a few dates. But by the way he eats up the dates, and lays on the altar only the shells.Adams, vol. i., p. 112. This is how many act towards God. Terrors are soon forgotten. Virtues begotten in the hour of trouble are short-lived. Men would live well if they always lived as they purposed in their hours of sorrow.
II. Pharaohs conduct reveals that his heart had been unchanged. Afflictions do change some sinners into saints. They effect a permanent reformation. Some have found an affliction a divine epoch in their lives. They have come out of the storm new men. But it often produces no radical change. It does not change the heart. Unless mens dispositions towards God are rectified in the hour of affliction no lasting good is effected. Men cannot change their own hearts, but they can give them up into the hands of God to be changed. Love only ensures future allegiance. Love only awakens permanent resistance to sin. Pharaohs heart was unrenewed though the words of penitence had been upon his lips. Sin had been checked, but it was still loved. The weeds had been trampled down for a moment, but not uprooted; the disease was controlled, but not cured; the fire was covered over, but it yet smouldered. Men reveal what effects have been produced in them during the storm by their actions in the subsequent calm.
III. Pharaohs conduct manifested the basest ingratitude. Sin is always lamentable, but more so in the face of Divine mercy. As God had heard the prayers of Moses on Pharaohs behalf, and had withdrawn the fierceness of His anger; the king ought to have humbled himself by obedience. Common feelings of gratitude would have prompted to this. But Pharaoh was so hardened that he could find in Gods goodness a fresh incentive to sin. The goodness of God manifested to obdurate sinners often leads them to further transgression and not to repentance. Such insensibility to mercy is sure to bring another judgment.
IV. Pharaohs conduct was most presumptuous. He had again and again suffered for his rebellion. He ought to have feared the consequences of another attempt to resist the will of Jehovah, Sin thus deludes. It infatuates him so that he runs madly upon the thick bosses of Gods buckler. Sin after both judgment and mercy is madness. How many that know the judgment of God against their sins, yet sin on, because they will not see the eternal blackness which is gathering around them.
V. Pharaohs conduct shows the amount of depravity that may lurk in a human heart. Pharaoh had a stubborn nature. All have not the same gigantic lusts to evercome. Every man has some depravity. God estimates a mans nature in dealing with him. Every man may overcome the evil within him if he will seek for Divine help. Gods grace is sufficient for the most obdurate. Wonderful is the power of some men to resist God. Neither judgment nor mercy will affect them. They sin more and more. There is a terrible momentum in evil. Some seem driven by their own evil hearts to hell. Our only safety is in humbling ourselves before the Lord and seeking for his grace to overcome our own stubbornness and sins.W. Lilley.
The performance of ministerial duty:
1. Immediate.
2. According to promise.
3. Divinely sanctioned.
4. Greatly abused.
The cessation of penitential sorrow:
1. When calamity was removed.
2. When mercy was bestowed.
3. When gratitude was expected.
God spares wicked men in answer to the prayers of the good.
Mercy may prove the occasion of hardening to wicked souls.
Heart-hardening:
1. After mercy given.
2. After promise made.
3. After prediction uttered.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Ministerial Pity! Exo. 9:29. Very recently off our south-eastern shores, a German ship collided with an English vessel known as the Strathclyde. This collision was apparently done of set purpose and deliberation. But the captain of the Franconia roused a storm of indignation against him in Europe, when it was discovered from the evidence that he had relentlessly sailed away, and left the sinking vessel and drowning wretches to their fate. No such reckless want of feeling do Moses and Aaron display. Of set purpose had they driven the prow of Judgment sheer into the hull of Egypts national lifecleaving it amidships; but no sooner did they hear the cry for help, then at once they hurried to the rescue. It is the duty of the ambassadors of Christ to collide against the conscience of the sinner; but, like their Divine Master, they are eager to bind up and to heal. They crush the decayed timbers of the sinners ship of self-deception and indifference; but it is only that they may receive the sinners soul on board that noble vesselthe ark of Salvationwhose beams never decay, and whose prow breasts the wildest waves.
High billows are upon the deep,
And all the sky is dark,
But faithfulness and mercy keep
The covenanted Ark.
Contrast! Exo. 9:30. How remarkable the difference between Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, both oppressors of Israel! What produced this contrast in the effects of the Divine chastenings on these two monarchs? A surgeon has two patients suffering frem the same disease, and requiring to undergo the same operation. He performs both cases with the same surgical instruments, and with an equally firm hand and admirable skill. Yet one dies, while the other lives and recovers. How is this? Their bodies were in a different condition. That of the one was highly favourable; that of the other was full of gross humours from self-indulgence. The heart of the conqueror of nations was wicked, but still the Divine judgments wrought a successful cure; while the condition of Pharoahs heart was so corrupt and perverse that Jehovahs visitations failed to bring him to a saving repentance. He repented not, though
Deep in his soul convictions ploughshare rings,
And to the surface his corruption brings.
Holmes.
Divine Care! Exo. 9:33 The Lord preserveth the souls of His servants. And so, as has been said, this man of God went forth into the field, walking without fear through the storm of hail and tempest of fire. Moses knew that he was safesafe, though all around might be destroyed. Standing then under the canopy of heaven, bareheaded, in the attitude of prayer, he wrestled until the hail ceased. None that trust in Him shall be laid waste. The just man fears not in the midst of dangers.
Let Gods dread arm with thunder rend the spheres,
Amid the crash of worlds undaunted he appears.
Horace.
Contrast! Exo. 9:34. If the sea has its sorrows, the llanos have their sufferings. Nothing can be more remarkable than the contrast between the immeasurable plains of Venezuela and New Grenada and the watery plains of the sea. Like the ocean, their limits melt in the hazy distance with those of the horizon; but here the resemblance ceases, for no refreshing breeze wafts coolness over the desert, and comforts the drooping spirits of the wanderer. It is true that the llanos have their storms, when the dust of the savanah, set in motion by conflicting winds, ascends in mighty, columns and glides over the desert plain; as the sea has its tempests, when the waterspout, raised by contending air currents, rises to the clouds and sweeps over the floods. But no cooling zephyr fans the burning temples, or allays the irritation of the blistered skin of the traveller on the landand indeed, the glaring sand suspended in the air only increases the sultriness of the atmosphere. Such is the difference between the repentance of the good and the remorse of the bad. Pharaohs contrition was as the tropical llanosthere was no water. The storms swept over his heart, but it remained dry.
What time, beneath Gods chastening rod afraid,
He drank coercive of afflictions cup.
Man.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(29) That thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lords.Comp, Exo. 9:15. It was the general belief of the Egyptians, as of most ancient nations, that each country had its own god or gods. Pharaoh had already admitted Jehovahs power (Exo. 8:8), and now regarded Him as the God of the Hebrews (Exo. 8:28). God desired to have it generally acknowledged that He was the God of the whole earth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Once more behold the amiableness of Moses; though he had strong reasons to believe the insincerity of Pharaoh.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 9:29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; [and] the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth [is] the LORD’S.
Ver. 29. I will spread abroad my hands, ] viz., In prayer; holding up and out the palms of the hand, as those do that expect to receive an alms, in a having manner: so did Solomon, 2Ch 6:13 Psa 143:6 Ezr 9:5 .
That the earth is the Lord’s.] See Trapp on “ Exo 9:14 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
spread: Exo 9:33, 1Ki 8:22, 1Ki 8:38, 2Ch 6:12, 2Ch 6:13, Ezr 9:5, Job 11:13, Psa 143:6, Isa 1:15
that the earth: Deu 10:14, Psa 24:1, Psa 24:2, Psa 50:12, Psa 95:4, Psa 95:5, Psa 135:6, 1Co 10:26, 1Co 10:28
Reciprocal: Exo 8:10 – there is none Exo 19:5 – all the earth Exo 19:16 – thunders Exo 24:18 – went into Job 38:35 – Canst Psa 44:20 – stretched Dan 4:32 – until Jam 5:16 – The effectual
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE EARTH IS THE LORDS
That thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lords.
Exo 9:29
I. The Egyptians did not know, being taught otherwise.Therefore the lesson was made to be unforgetable. In the awful sweep and crush of mighty hail, in the leaping fires of the lightning, in thunders that terrified the stoutest, but most of all in the coming and the passing of these terrors at the word of Gods servant, they were made to feel His being and majesty.
II. Our generation needs the same lesson, though in another form.With us faith in Gods being and power is not so much denied as neutralised. The great and true doctrine of the un-changeableness of the laws of nature is so held as to deny its Creator any liberty of present action. Nature is conceived of as a vast machine impassible even to its Author, and so denying Him liberty to come directly to our aid. This is the real faith of multitudes who never dare to speak it, even to themselves. They do not believe, in their heart of hearts, that Jehovah reigns, always and everywhere. Now, if this reasoning is plausible and dangerous, it is certainly very shallow; for is it not by this very fixity of law that we men gain power and freedom? The same law (electricity for example), that bars or crushes, when opposed, becomes, when obeyed, the most reliable of servants. How foolish, then, to imagine that the same uniformity of natural law which brings us all our power and freedom, brings bondage to God, the Creator of it all! Human power and liberty increase exactly in proportion to obedience. Perfect obedience brings perfect freedom. God obeys His laws perfectly; therefore, all Nature is His servant.
Illustration
There is no doubt that God longs to show through each one of us His mighty power, so that His name may be declared throughout the world. If we will but yield ourselves to Him, His power will work through us without let or hindrance, to manifest the Divine glory over wide areas of the earth. But if we reject and refuse, then God will still be glorified in us, but amid our awful loss and sorrow. Gods purposes must be fulfilled. Nothing can thwart or hinder them. But the grave question is, Shall they be realised with our concurrence or against itto our salvation or our shame?
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Exo 9:29. That the earth is the Lords That is, the whole world, the heavens and the earth. This is one great point that the Scriptures are intended to establish, that the whole universe, and all creatures therein, belong to the Lord, and are under his government. This truth, the foundation of all religion, ought to be established in our hearts, that we may put our trust in him, and be resigned to his will, whatever the dispensations of his adorable providence may be; however mysterious and unsearchable, as to the reasons of them, persuaded that they are as wise as they are powerful, and as gracious as they are just and holy, and will assuredly all work for good to those that love him.