The Story of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, Continued (Exodus 9)

Plague Number 7 – Hail. Have you ever been in a hailstorm? Usually a powerful wind is involved, and ice falls down from the sky in all different sizes. Sometimes they are small pieces of ice, but sometimes they are as large as golf balls or I have even heard of them being as large as baseballs. When I was a kid I remember riding my bicycle, and a big storm came up. The sky got very dark, the wind started blowing very hard, and I headed for home as fast as I could peddle. We lived in the country, and as I rode down our long lane it started to rain. There was not time to make it to the house, and I started to get inside a small building that was on our property. I then changed my mind and rode a little further and got into the barn. It was a good thing I did! When the storm was over and I came out of the barn, ice was everywhere. The wind had blown down the small building I started to get into, and when I went into the house mom showed me where the hailstones had broken some of our windows. That was bad, but boys and girls, the hailstorm in Egypt was much, much worse. God told Moses to stand before Pharaoh early in the morning and tell him that the God of the Hebrews says, “Let my people go that they may worship me.” When Pharaoh refused, the storm came and destroyed just about everything in Egypt. The Bible says that it killed all the people and animals that were outside, and it beat down everything that was growing in the fields. Pharaoh called for Moses and said, “I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked.” He asked Moses to pray for the storm to stop, and he would let the people go. Do you think he will really let the people go?