| Barnes' Notes on the Bible He gave up their cattle also to the hail - Margin, he shut up. Exodus 9:22-25. And their flocks to hot thunderbolts - Margin, lightnings. The original word means flame; then, lightning. There is no allusion in the word to the idea of a bolt, or shaft, accompanying the lightning or the thunder, by which destruction is produced. The destruction is caused by the lightning, and not by the thunder, and it is hardly necessary to say that there is no shaft or bolt that accompanies it. Probably this notion was formerly entertained, and found its way into the common language used. The same idea is retained by us in the word thunderbolt. But this idea is not in the original; nor is there any foundation for it in fact. Clarke's Commentary on the BibleHe gave up their cattle - See on Exodus 9:23 (note). Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleHe gave up their cattle also to the hail,.... For the hail fell upon man and beast, as well as upon herbs and trees, Exodus 9:22, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts: which were killed by them: this is to be understood of the fire that was mingled with the hail, and ran upon the ground, and destroyed their flocks, Exodus 9:23. Jarchi, out of the Midrash, interprets the words of fowls which devoured the sheep killed by the hail. Geneva Study BibleHe gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. King James Translators' Notesgave...: Heb. shut up hot...: or, lightnings Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary48. gave . cattle-literally, "shut up" (compare Ps 31:8). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary78:40-55. Let not those that receive mercy from God, be thereby made bold to sin, for the mercies they receive will hasten its punishment; yet let not those who are under Divine rebukes for sin, be discouraged from repentance. The Holy One of Israel will do what is most for his own glory, and what is most for their good. Their forgetting former favours, led them to limit God for the future. God made his own people to go forth like sheep; and guided them in the wilderness, as a shepherd his flock, with all care and tenderness. Thus the true Joshua, even Jesus, brings his church out of the wilderness; but no earthly Canaan, no worldly advantages, should make us forget that the church is in the wilderness while in this world, and that there remaineth a far more glorious rest for the people of God. |