So they took soot from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on man and beast.
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.
Commenting on Exodus 9:8-12
And they took ashes of the furnace,.... Which was near at hand, perhaps in Pharaoh's kitchen: and stood before Pharaoh; not in his palace, or in any covered room, but in some place open to the heaven, a courtyard or garden adjoining to the palace: and Moses sprinkled it up towards heaven; cast it up in the air; this being again ascribed to Moses, seems...
This plague struck the Egyptians' very persons as ulcerous eruptions on skin and flesh, not from natural causes but from the specific action of Moses in Pharaoh's sight, an unmistakable mark of divine judgment, not mere magic.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 9:8-17