Exodus 9:8-10:20

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 9:8-12

Observe here, concerning the plague of boils and blains, I. When they were not wrought upon by the death of their cattle, God sent a plague that seized their own bodies, and touched them to the quick. If less judgments do not do their work, God will send greater. Let us therefore humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and go forth to meet him in the way of his judgments, that his anger may be turned away from us. II. The signal by which this plague was summoned was the sprinkling of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 9:8

And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron ,.... This very probably was the day following, on the third day of the month Abib, about the eighteenth of March, that orders were given to bring on the following plague: take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace ; either in which the bricks were burnt, or rather in which food was boiled, since it can scarcely he thought there should be brickkiln furnaces so near Pharaoh's court; though perhaps some reference may be had to them, and to the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 9:8

Handfuls of ashes of the furnace - As one part of the oppression of the Israelites consisted In their labor in the brick-kilns, some have observed a congruity between the crime and the punishment. The furnaces, in the labor of which they oppressed the Hebrews, now yielded the instruments of their punishment; for every particle of those ashes, formed by unjust and oppressive labor, seemed to be a boil or a blain on the tyrannical king and his cruel and hard-hearted people. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 9:8

Verse 8 8.And the Lord said unto Moses. God does not now postpone the time of the punishment, but redoubles the plagues in a continuous series; nor does he threaten Pharaoh, but, leaving him, executes the judgment which He decreed; both because it was now more than sufficiently manifested that admonitions were of no avail with him, and also that his desperate wickedness might be reproved in every way. For although I have lately said that all which happened is not fully related, still the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 9:1-8

The plague of murrain of beasts. I. THE ALTERNATIVE AGAIN ( Exodus 9:1 , Exodus 9:2 ). Surely Pharaoh was well warned. The analogy of the third plague would have led us to expect that on this occasion—after a second and glaring breach of faith—there would have been no warning. Yet mercy waits upon him. Faithless though he had been, if even yet he will let the people go, all will be forgiven. If not—then judgments. Mark how sacredly, in all this, the freedom of Pharaoh is... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 9:8

Ashes of the furnace . Rather "soot from the furnace." The word commonly used in Hebrew for "ashes" is different. Many recondite reasons have been brought forward for the directions here given. But perhaps the object was simply to show that as water, and earth ( Exodus 8:13 ) and air ( Exodus 10:13 ) could be turned into plagues, so fire could be. The "soot of the furnace" might well represent fire, and was peculiarly appropriate for the preduction of a disease which was in the main an... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 9:8-12

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 9:8-12

Sin punished by physical suffering, but such suffering not always a punishment for sin. God has many weapons in his quiver wherewith to chastise sin. One of them is physical pain. He can cause the limbs to ache, the temples to throb, the blood to be inflamed, the breathing to labour, the head to be racked, the nerves to thrill and tingle—the whole body, from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, to be nothing but a mass of "wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores." There is no... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 9:8-12

The sixth plague-the boils and blains. Only the barest conjectures are possible as to why these ashes of the furnace were taken as materials whence to draw this sixth plague. If we look at the first two plagues we see that they come out of the water. The next plague, that of the gnats, comes out of the dust of the earth, and the flies may be taken as having the same origin. The murrain probably arose through a vitiating change in the food of the animals; and here again we are directed to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 9:8-12

I. The Sixth Plague. THE MEANS USED . Ashes were taken from the brick-kiln in which the Israelites toiled, and in Pharaoh's presence sprinkled in mute appeal toward heaven. The memorials of oppression lifted up before God will fall in anguish upon the oppressors ( James 5:1-5 ). The French Revolution and the ages of giant wrong that had gone before. American slavery and its punishment. II. THE SUDDENNESS OF THE INFLICTION . There was no warning. The dust was cast... read more

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