For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
Moses must repeat the demand a seventh time, though Pharaoh's heart is hardened and his case now desperate. God sends plagues on the heart itself, making it senseless or hopeless, which are the worst plagues of all. None who hardens his heart against God will prosper.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 9:13-21
The verbs here must be read in the imperfect or conditional sense, not as future threat. God says: had I stretched out My hand then, as I did against the cattle, I could have struck you and your people with pestilence and cut you off entirely. There was no lack of power in Him; He simply chose not to do it.
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