Exodus 9:29 - Exposition

As soon as I am gone out of the city . "The city" is probably Tanis (Zoan). We may gather from the expression of this verse, and again of Exodus 9:33 , that Moses and Aaron did not live in the city, but in the country with the other Israelites. When it was necessary for them to have an interview with the king, they sought the city: when their interview was over they quitted it. To obtain for Pharaoh a speedy accomplishment of his wish, Moses undertakes to pray for the removal of the plague as soon as he is outside the city walls. That thou mayest know that the earth is the Lord's . The phrase used is ambiguous. It may mean either "that the earth is Jehovah's," or "that the land (of Egypt) is his." On the whole, perhaps the former rendering is the best. The other plagues sufficiently showed that Egypt was Jehovah's; this, which came from the open heaven that surrounds and embraces the whole world, indicated that the entire earth was his. (Comp. Psalms 24:1 : "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof: the world, and they that dwell therein.")