Hailstorms are common in Texas. So common, in fact, that I’ve even invested in a hail blanketfor my vehicle so that I don’t have to keep filing insurance claims and dealing with dent repair centers.
It’s a nuisance, but in certain situations, can be downright dangerous. The meteorologists here will routinely describe hail in size ranging from dime-sized to softball-sized, with the larger ones punching holes in the roof.
But no matter how bad it gets, nothing will ever compare to the hail that fell in Egypt during the seventh plague. The Text actually goes into great detail to drive this point home. Listen to all the different physical markers that relay how bad it was.
- Fire flashed “intermittently” with the hail (Exodus 9:23)
- Hail that “shattered every tree of the field” (Exodus 9:26)
- Hail that “had never been seen” since the conception of Egypt (Exodus 9:24)
This type of cataclysmic storm brings to mind the one seen by the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai. In Exodus 19:18-25, the Lord descends on the mountain wrapped in fire, with smoke ascending like a furnace. When Moses spoke, God answered him with thunder.
It’s fitting then that the seventh plague evokes the same type of awe in the Egyptians that it would later give to the Israelites. Pharaoh responds with his most humble request yet, telling Moses that he has sinned and God is the only righteous one.
Along with the fire and the smoke and the tree explosions, in the seventh plague, you also notice, for the first time, the taking of human life.
Moses had warned Pharaoh that every single person who didn’t bring in his livestock and servants from the field would watch as those things died. In Exodus 9:25, that’s exactly what happened: Hail struck everything in the field, killing everything from plants to animals to people.
What a shame that it’s gotten to this point, but now Pharaoh isn’t the only one to blame. Sure, he could’ve let the people go, but the Egyptians themselves could’ve brought their servants indoors too. Some of them did, but some of them didn’t.
Such is the nature of faith. Either you believe what God says and you act on it, or you disbelieve and you don’t. Belief and action are inextricably linked in our lives, leaving us with the same type of option.
Either we believe God and act on it, or we disbelieve and don’t act. You can’t have one or the other.
Which choice will you make?
