Exodus 9:13 - Meaning and Application

Here is a general declaration of God’s anger against Pharaoh because of his stubbornness. Even though God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 9:12), Moses must still keep speaking to him. God withheld His help, yet still demanded obedience, to punish Pharaoh for demanding bricks from the Israelites when he had refused them straw. At the same time, God was showing a pattern of great patience, how He waits to show grace to rebellious people.

The demand had already been made six times without result, yet Moses must make it a seventh time: “Let my people go” (Exodus 9:13). Moses is sent with a terrible message, whether Pharaoh listens or refuses. He must tell Pharaoh that he is marked for ruin and that he now stands as the target of God’s anger (Exodus 9:14, Exodus 9:15). “Now I will send all my plagues.” Since Pharaoh now has no room for repentance, nothing can stop his full destruction, because only repentance could have stopped it. When God begins to harden a person’s heart, that person’s case is desperate.

God says He will send His plagues on Pharaoh’s heart, not only on his body. He can strike the heart by making it numb or by making it hopeless, and those are the worst plagues. Pharaoh must expect no relief and no pause in the fighting, only plague after plague until he is completely destroyed. When God comes in judgment, He will win. No one has ever hardened his heart against God and prospered.

Moses must also tell Pharaoh that he will remain in history as a standing example of God’s justice and power (Exodus 9:16). “For this purpose I raised you up” means that God allowed Pharaoh to rise to power and stand through earlier plagues so that God’s power could be shown in him. Providence arranged for Moses to face a man with such a fierce and stubborn spirit. Everything in this whole event was ordered to make it a clear and memorable example of God’s power to humble the proudest of His enemies.

God’s name, meaning His clear rule, His irresistible power, and His firm justice, would be known throughout the earth, not only in many places but through all ages while the earth lasts. God sometimes raises very bad men to power, leaves them in place for a long time, and allows them to become more and more proud, so that He may be even more glorified when He destroys them at last. Nearby nations learned from Pharaoh’s fall how great God is. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, said, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods” (Exodus 18:11). Paul also uses this example to explain God’s rule over all things (Romans 9:17).

To show that God was right in these actions, Moses is told to ask Pharaoh, “Do you still set yourself up against my people?” (Exodus 9:17). Pharaoh was a great king, while God’s people were only poor shepherds at best, and now they were poor slaves. Yet Pharaoh would be ruined if he kept exalting himself against them, because in doing so he was really exalting himself against God. This was not the first time God had rebuked kings for His people’s sake and shown that He would not let His people be trampled or insulted, even by the most powerful rulers.

Next comes a specific warning about the hailstorm (Exodus 9:18), along with a merciful warning to Pharaoh and his people to bring their servants and livestock in from the fields so they could be protected from the hail (Exodus 9:19). When God’s justice threatens ruin, His mercy at the same time shows a way of escape, because He is unwilling that any should perish. Here we see that God cared not only to make a difference between Egyptians and Israelites, but even between some Egyptians and others. If Pharaoh will not give in and stop the judgment itself, still those who fear God and respect His word are given a chance to save themselves from sharing in the disaster.

Those who will take warning may take shelter. Those who will not may blame themselves when they are swept away by the overwhelming storm, the hail that will wipe away false security (Isaiah 28:17). Some believed what was said, feared God, and brought their servants and cattle inside (Exodus 9:20), like Noah, who obeyed God by faith (Hebrews 11:7), and they acted wisely. Even among Pharaoh’s servants, some trembled at God’s word, and should not the Israelites fear it as well? But others did not believe. Everything Moses had foretold up to that point had happened exactly as he said, and even if this warning had seemed doubtful, it would have cost them very little to keep their cattle inside for one day and choose the safer path. Still, they were so reckless that they openly defied Moses’ truth and God’s power, both of which they had already seen to their own harm. Pharaoh himself, it seems, led the way in this pride (Exodus 9:21). Obstinate unbelief, which refuses the clearest warnings and the wisest advice, leaves the guilt of those who perish on their own heads.