“Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.”
My Notes
What Does Exodus 9:18 Mean?
God announces the seventh plague with a specific timestamp: "to morrow about this time." The hail will be the worst Egypt has ever experienced — "since the foundation thereof even until now." The superlative is absolute: nothing like this has happened in Egypt's entire history. And it's scheduled for tomorrow at this time.
The timestamp serves a dual purpose: it's a warning that allows preparation (verse 19 — bring your livestock indoors) and a test of belief. Those who feared God's word brought their servants and animals inside. Those who didn't left them in the field (verse 21). The advance notice separates the responsive from the dismissive.
The phrase "since the foundation thereof" places the coming hail against the entire span of Egyptian civilization — one of the oldest in the world. Egypt's pyramids, dynasties, and millennia of history provide the baseline. What's coming tomorrow exceeds everything Egypt has ever known. God measures his judgment against the full scope of Egypt's existence.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does the advance warning (specific time, specific severity) function as mercy?
- 2.What does the split response (some feared, some dismissed) teach about how people handle divine warnings?
- 3.When God warns with specificity, what does immediate action look like in your life?
- 4.What warning are you currently receiving that you're evaluating rather than acting on?
Devotional
Tomorrow. This time. The worst hail Egypt has ever seen. Since the country was founded. Since the pyramids were built. Since the first pharaoh sat on the first throne. Nothing like this has happened before. And it's scheduled for twenty-four hours from now.
The timestamp is mercy. God doesn't need to warn Pharaoh. He could send the hail without announcement. But he gives a specific time — tomorrow, about this time — so that anyone who believes the warning can prepare. Bring the livestock in. Get the servants under shelter. The advance notice is the difference between devastation and survival.
Verses 20-21 reveal the split: some of Pharaoh's servants feared God's word and brought everything inside. Others dismissed it and left their animals in the field. The same warning reached every Egyptian ear. The response separated the living from the dead. The hail didn't discriminate. The warning did.
The superlative — "since the foundation" — forces Egypt to measure this against everything it's ever experienced. Egypt was ancient even in Moses' time. The civilization that built the pyramids, mapped the stars, and ruled the Nile for millennia had never faced anything like what's coming tomorrow. God isn't comparing this plague to recent history. He's comparing it to the entirety of Egypt's existence.
When God warns with specificity — naming the time, naming the severity, naming the comparison — the appropriate response is immediate preparation. Not evaluation of whether God means it. Not calculation of how bad it might really be. Immediate action based on the word. The servants who feared survived. The ones who dismissed didn't.
What warning from God are you receiving with specific enough detail to act on?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Behold, tomorrow about this time,.... It was now the fourth day of the month Abib, and the fifth when the following was…
With the plague of hail begins the last series of plagues, which differ from the former both in their severity and their…
To-morrow about this time - The time of this plague is marked thus circumstantially to show Pharaoh that Jehovah was…
Here is, I. A general declaration of the wrath of God against Pharaoh for his obstinacy. Though God has hardened his…
to-morrow as vv.5, 6. Comp. on Exo 8:23.
grievous i.e. severe: see on Exo 8:24.
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture