Exodus 9 Devotional

Mercy Inside the Warning

“Those among Pharaoh’s officials who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their servants and livestock to shelter,”Exodus 9:20 (BSB)

The plagues grow heavier. Egypt's livestock die while not one animal belonging to Israel is lost (9:6). Boils break out on people and animals (9:10). Then God announces a hailstorm worse than any Egypt has ever seen, and he tells Pharaoh why he has been allowed to stand: so that God's power would be displayed and his name proclaimed in all the earth (9:15-16). Paul cites this passage to show God's freedom in mercy and judgment (Romans 9:17).

But before the hail falls, God tells the Egyptians to bring their servants and livestock in from the fields (9:19), and some of Pharaoh's own officials fear the word of the LORD and do it (9:20). Even in judgment, God gives warning and a way of escape to anyone who will take him at his word. Pharaoh confesses that the LORD is righteous and that he and his people are wicked (9:27), but when the storm stops he sins again (9:34). God's warnings are themselves a mercy, and faith takes them as seriously as his promises.

To think about: Is there a warning in Scripture you have been treating as less serious than God's promises?