Exodus 9:13-21

¹³ Then the LORD told Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Send my people away, so that they may serve me. ¹⁴ Because this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that none like me exists in all the land. ¹⁵ Because by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the land. ¹⁶ But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. ¹⁷ You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not send them away. ¹⁸ See, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. ¹⁹ So now send word, get your livestock and all the people whom you have in the field into safe shelter, because every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.” ‘” ²⁰ Then whoever feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, ²¹ but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the LORD left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

left exposed

The hail plague began with a word of warning from God through Moses through Pharaoh to the people of Egypt. All the plagues that had come before had been major irritations for the Egyptians, but this one had the potential to be fatal. Most of the citizens of Egypt knew nothing about the God of the Hebrews. All that they knew was that his word had caused problems for them. They had pride in their own culture and they were not about to give up their own culture and chase the dreams of these slave people. But some of them were beginning to take these messages seriously. They were beginning to ask themselves what harm would there be to get their cattle and field workers out of the way. They were not ready to sign on and become a Hebrew, but they did fear the word of this foreign God. This God is a God of grace, and for him, that was enough. He did not want to take anyone’s life just to prove his power. He created the Egyptians as well, and he loves them.

God has a warning for the world today, and it is not about hail but about hell. People can ignore this word, but to do so would be to put their lives in danger. All the good news about Jesus does not change the fact that the bad news is still valid. In fact, the good news about Jesus is that he has taken hell for us. The essence of hell in the New Testament is that God will judge everyone at the end of time and destroy them with what he calls the second death.[1] For believers, Christ has taken the second death for us. But for those who choose to have nothing to do with Jesus, the warning from this text is that they have left themselves exposed to the judgment. Only those who feared the word of the LORD were protected from the hail. Only those who come to Christ will be saved from the second death.

LORD, show us how to spread your word so that the world can hear it, and save themselves from your coming judgment.

[1] Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8.