So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast.
When cattle die and men do not repent, God strikes their own bodies instead. The ashes from the furnace that enslaved Israel now terrorize the Egyptians with searing boils; they read their sin written in their punishment. Sores are calls to repentance, and if lighter judgments fail, heavier ones will follow.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 9:8-12
Moses cast the furnace ash toward heaven in Pharaoh's sight, and whatever it touched broke out in burning boils and blisters on man and beast alike. The lie-mongers later claimed the Israelites were a scabby people driven out; in truth, Egypt itself bore the marks of God's judgment.
AI summary
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