Exodus 9:8–12
King Solomon wrote: “Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his foolishness will not depart from him” (Prov. 27:22). It did not matter how many plagues (so far) God brought on Pharaoh, he was determined to remain the fool.
BOILS! – 9:8-11:
What was it going to take? Well, perhaps Pharaoh would relent if God afflicted his body. The word translated “boils” (shechin) occurs a dozen times in the Old Testament and is used for a variety of infectious skin ailments. It might be leprosy or small pox or skin anthrax.
Like the other plagues, the boils were a genuine miracle. They were miraculous in their inception, in their intensity, in their conclusion, and in their discrimination!
THE Magicians:
As with the prior plagues, God is “executing judgment against the gods of Egypt” (Exo. 12:12; Num. 33:4). The Egyptians prided themselves on their medicine and their arts of healing. There were at least four gods or goddess associated with healing in Egypt: Amon Re, Imhotep, Sekhmet, and Thoth.
We also tend to “worship” our medical advances and think that if we walk into a doctor’s office or the hospital, we are going to walk out healed. In Exodus 15:26, God told Israel, “I, the Lord, am your healer.” It is in that context that Jesus Christ presents Himself as the “Great Physician.” He is Jehovah God in the flesh and Matthew tells us that Jesus took all our sickness and all our diseases upon Himself (Matt. 8:17).
God also humiliated the magicians of Pharaoh. They had replicated God’s first two plagues; they failed in the third plague and were MIA in the fourth and fifth plagues. Now, in the sixth plague, God strikes them with the boils as well as all the Egyptians! Throwing dust into the air was a ritual these magicians had done as a sign of blessing; now God turns it into a sign of His justice! The kiln from which Moses and Aaron took the soot might have been the kilns from which the Israelites had taken the bricks they fired back in chapter 1! Additionally, with the magicians being unclean due to the sores, they could not practice their deceitful magic!
It is ironic that Moses and Aaron “stood” before Pharaoh (9:10) but these magicians could not “stand” before Moses (9:11). That’s what happens when you fight against God!
Pharaoh’s heart was hardened – 9:12:
This is the first time that God had “hardened” Pharaoh’s heart (9:12). Pharaoh had hardened it himself earlier (7:22; 8:15; 9:7). Now God works and directs and penetrates Pharaoh’s heart to such an extent – without violating Pharaoh’s free will (see 9:2) – Pharaoh will eventually do what God wants him to do. But Pharaoh has to be pushed to the extreme before he does it.
HOW WE SHOULD VIEW ILLNESSES:
What should Pharaoh have done? What do we do when we are struck with physical illnesses or physical set backs? These should: 1) help us realize that this life is not what life is all about; 2) God is the healer; 3) God has promised that we will have another body when we get to heaven that is not susceptible to disease and death. That should give us hope and help us have patience.
In the life to come, “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Rev. 21:4).
When we have physical problems, let’s make sure we put our ultimate confidence in the sovereignty and power of God. He is our Healer.
Paul Holland
