Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.
Fear grips the wicked only for a moment, and when it passes, so does any pretense of submission. Pharaoh was not lying outright; terror drove him to grasp at anything to appease God. But the moment the danger lifted, his promises evaporated with it, and he hardened himself again.
AI summary
God makes the clouds His arsenals. When He pleases, He draws forth hail and lightning as formidable artillery against His enemies, woeful havoc that kills men and beasts and batters down the very trees. Yet mark: Goshen was preserved untouched. God directs the pregnant clouds themselves and causes it to rain on one city and not on another.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 9:22-35
Pharaoh begs Moses to entreat the Lord, for the thunder and hail are unbearable, he calls them the very voices of God, so terrible and loud that Egypt had never known such a storm. He promises at once to let Israel go without delay, yet his heart remains unchanged; fear, not repentance, wrings this confession from him.
AI summary