Exodus Chapter 9: Plague 7 - The Plague of Hail (Part 2)

Last we left off, we were still not all the way through the plague of hail.

In fact, we're not even a third of the way through.

So, continuing on from verse 22.

Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt on man and beast and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.

Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven and the Lord sent thunder and hail and fire ran down to the earth.

And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been seen in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast.

And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree in the field." Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

Do we want to stop there, or do we want to keep going?

I think it's a good pause, because this is a lot.

Yes, it is.

So...

I want to bring up what I noticed because after so many plagues, I feel like I should have noticed this sooner.

But there's some inconsistencies here with what the Lord tells Moses to do and then what Moses does.

And I don't think that it's like... disobedience or anything.

I just noticed it as a pattern and I think it's interesting and maybe worth exploring as we continue because it changes as we get towards the parting of the Red Sea.

But one of the things that I noticed in the very beginning of what you read is the Lord says, "'Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so there may be hail.'" And then in the next verse, "'Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven.'" And it made me ask several questions.

The first and I think most important being, is the staff the hand of God? And alongside that, is the staff like a holy object that is filled with God's spirit? Or is it just...

An action that Moses is creating that is then calling upon God's power and God is enacting his power on the land and the people.

And I think this is a very important question because if you understand the finger and spirit of God the way that you do from the New Testament.

You really can't ignore the capability of a man having access or authority to use the spirit of God for God's purpose.

And I think that is evident throughout Moses's life and journey.

Just a random thing that I thought of.

There's a couple of things that go along with that will come up potentially as we go that I'm exploring, but wanted to lay the groundwork for that because it was right in the beginning of what you wrote.

Last we left off, we were still not all the way through the plague of hail.

In fact, we're not even a third of the way through.

So, continuing on from verse 22.

Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt on man and beast and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.

Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven and the Lord sent thunder and hail and fire ran down to the earth.

And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been seen in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast.

And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree in the field." Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

Do we want to stop there, or do we want to keep going?

I think it's a good pause, because this is a lot.

Yes, it is.

So...

I want to bring up what I noticed because after so many plagues, I feel like I should have noticed this sooner.

But there's some inconsistencies here with what the Lord tells Moses to do and then what Moses does.

And I don't think that it's like... disobedience or anything.

I just noticed it as a pattern and I think it's interesting and maybe worth exploring as we continue because it changes as we get towards the parting of the Red Sea.

But one of the things that I noticed in the very beginning of what you read is the Lord says, "'Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so there may be hail.'" And then in the next verse, "'Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven.'" And it made me ask several questions.

The first and I think most important being, is the staff the hand of God? And alongside that, is the staff like a holy object that is filled with God's spirit? Or is it just...

An action that Moses is creating that is then calling upon God's power and God is enacting his power on the land and the people.

And I think this is a very important question because if you understand the finger and spirit of God the way that you do from the New Testament.

You really can't ignore the capability of a man having access or authority to use the spirit of God for God's purpose.

And I think that is evident throughout Moses's life and journey.

Just a random thing that I thought of.

There's a couple of things that go along with that will come up potentially as we go that I'm exploring, but wanted to lay the groundwork for that because it was right in the beginning of what you wrote.