Exodus 9:21

And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:13-21 Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a way of escape from it. God not only distinguished between Egyptians and Israelites, but between some Egyptians and others. If Pharaoh will not yield, and so prevent the judgment itself, yet those that will take warning, may take shelter. Some believed the things which were spoken, and they feared, and housed their servants and cattle, and it was their wisdom. Even among the servants of Pharaoh, some trembled at God's word; and shall not the sons of Israel dread it? But others believed not, and left their cattle in the field. Obstinate unbelief is deaf to the fairest warnings, and the wisest counsels, which leaves the blood of those that perish upon their own heads.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The word of the Lord - This gives the first indication that the warnings had a salutary effect upon the Egyptians.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20, 21. He that feared the word of the Lord … regarded not, &c.—Due premonition, it appears, had been publicly given of the impending tempest—the cattle seem to have been sent out to graze, which is from January to April, when alone pasturage can be obtained, and accordingly the cattle were in the fields. This storm occurring at that season, not only struck universal terror into the minds of the people, but occasioned the destruction of all—people and cattle—which, in neglect of the warning, had been left in the fields, as well as of all vegetation [Ex 9:25]. It was the more appalling because hailstones in Egypt are small and of little force; lightning also is scarcely ever known to produce fatal effects; and to enhance the wonder, not a trace of any storm was found in Goshen [Ex 9:26].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he that regarded not the word of the Lord,.... Or "set not his heart" (f) "unto it", took no notice of it, but treated it with the utmost contempt; and of this sort it may be thought there were the far greatest number: everyone of this cast

left his servants and cattle in the field; let them remain there, and took no care of them, nor thought about them, and so took no methods to preserve them; in which he acted a foolish part, to his own detriment and loss.

(f) "non posuit cor suum", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Fagius.

Geneva Study Bible

And he that regarded not the {f} word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field.

(f) The word of the minister is called the word of God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - He that regarded not. If there were men who believed in the power and truthfulness of Jehovah, there were probably more who did not believe. As Lot "seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law" (Genesis 19:14), so Moses and Aaron appeared to the great mass of the Egyptians. As observed above, a hail-storm that could endanger life, either of man or beast, was beyond all Egyptian experience, and must have seemed almost impossible. Exodus 9:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The good advice to be given by Moses to the king, to secure the men and cattle that were in the field, i.e., to put them under shelter, which was followed by the God-fearing Egyptians (Exodus 9:21), was a sign of divine mercy, which would still rescue the hardened man and save him from destruction. Even in Pharaoh's case the possibility still existed of submission to the will of God; the hardening was not yet complete. But as he paid no heed to the word of the Lord, the predicted judgment was fulfilled (Exodus 9:22-26). "Jehovah gave voices" (קלת); called "voices of God" in Exodus 9:28. This term is applied to the thunder (cf. Exodus 19:16; Exodus 20:18; Psalm 29:3-9), as being the mightiest manifestation of the omnipotence of God, which speaks therein to men (Revelation 10:3-4), and warns them of the terrors of judgment. These terrors were heightened by masses of fire, which came down from the sky along with the hail that smote man and beast in the field, destroyed the vegetables, and shattered the trees. "And fire ran along upon the ground;" תּהלך is a Kal, though it sounds like Hithpael, and signifies grassari, as in Psalm 73:9.