And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh.
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.
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
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...