- Book: [[Exodus]] - Previous chapter: [[Exodus 8]] - Next chapter: [[Exodus 10]] > [!summary] Summary > - Fifth plague: disease kills all [[Egyptian]] livestock; [[Israel]]'s animals are unharmed > - Sixth plague: boils afflict all [[Egyptians]] and animals; magicians cannot even stand before [[Moses]] > - Seventh plague: devastating hail destroys crops and people in the fields; [[Goshen]] is spared; [[Pharaoh]] confesses sin but hardens again after relief > [!info] Why is this here? > - Intensifies the plague sequence: livestock, bodies, sky — the plagues move through all of creation > - The magicians' total incapacitation by boils signals the collapse of [[Egypt]]'s religious establishment > - The hail plague introduces a new theological note: God has "raised up" [[Pharaoh]] specifically to display his power and spread his name — the hardening is purposeful # Overview ## v. 1-7: Fifth plague — livestock disease - All [[Egyptian]] horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats die - Not one [[Israelite]] animal dies — [[Pharaoh]] investigates and confirms this - Yet his heart is unyielding ## v. 8-12: Sixth plague — boils - [[Moses]] tosses furnace soot into the air before [[Pharaoh]]; boils break out on all [[Egyptians]] and animals - The magicians cannot stand before [[Moses]] because of their own boils - God hardens [[Pharaoh]]'s heart — the first time the hardening is explicitly God's direct action in this sequence ## v. 13-21: Warning before the seventh plague - God sends [[Moses]] to declare: "I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth" - [[Egypt]] is warned to bring people and animals inside - Some of [[Pharaoh]]'s officials fear God's word and comply; others do not > [!note] Raised up for this purpose > [[Pharaoh]]'s stubbornness is not wasted: it becomes the occasion for God's power to be fully displayed. The rescue reaches beyond [[Egypt]] — it will be proclaimed in all the earth. ## v. 22-26: Seventh plague — hail - Worst hailstorm in [[Egyptian]] history: hail with lightning, kills people and animals in fields, destroys crops - Only [[Goshen]] is spared ## v. 27-35: [[Pharaoh]] confesses and hardens - "This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right" - [[Moses]] prays; the storm stops immediately - [[Pharaoh]] sees the relief and hardens — both he and his officials this time - Note: the flax and barley were destroyed, but the wheat and spelt (later-ripening crops) survived