Pointing to Jesus (Exodus 9)

Summary:

Exodus 9 records the fifth, sixth, and seventh plagues:

•  Livestock disease: God strikes every Egyptian animal in the field with a deadly pestilence; all Israel’s livestock in Goshen remain untouched. Pharaoh investigates and finds it true, yet hardens his heart.

•  Boils: Moses tosses soot skyward; festering boils break out on every Egyptian and magician (they cannot even stand before Pharaoh). The LORD hardens Pharaoh’s heart.

•  Hail: Moses stretches the rod; catastrophic hail, fire, and thunder devastate Egypt—crops, trees, people, and beasts caught outside. Goshen is spared. Some Egyptian officials now “fear the word of the LORD” and shelter their servants and livestock. Pharaoh falsely confesses (“I have sinned…the LORD is righteous”), begs relief, then hardens again when the storm stops exactly as Moses prayed.

Pointing to Jesus:

The repeated, explicit distinction between Egypt and Goshen (vv. 4, 6, 26) is the christological thunderclap.

 “I will put a division between My people and your people” is not arbitrary favoritism but a public display of unconditional election—God sovereignly sparing a people He has chosen in grace before they have done anything good or bad (Deut 7:7–8; Rom 9:11–13).

This division reaches its apex at the cross. 

Jesus is the ultimate Goshen: the place where the hail of divine wrath falls on Him so that it never touches the elect (Isa 53:4–6; Rom 8:1). 

The same sovereign hand that spared Israel’s livestock now spares Christ’s sheep because He was smitten in their place. 

Every spared flock in Goshen proclaims: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain…He has redeemed us to God by His blood out of every tribe” (Rev 5:9–12). 

The plagues are not random; they are billboards shouting particular redemption—Christ died to actually save His bride, not merely to make salvation possible for all.

Reflection:

Exodus 9 is a mirror for the half-repentant heart. 

Pharaoh’s confession—“I have sinned…the LORD is in the right”—sounds orthodox, yet it evaporates the moment pressure lifts. 

We are Pharaoh far more than we admit: quick to cry “Lord, Lord” in the hailstorm of consequence, quicker still to renegotiate when the sky clears.

Meanwhile, the chapter quietly spotlights the first cracks of true conversion among some Egyptian officials who “feared the word of the LORD” and obeyed. 

Gospel fruit often begins in unlikely soil—not in the palace, but among the servants who heed the warning.

For the believer, Goshen remains: you dwell under the blood-sprinkled lintel of Christ. 

When boils of affliction break out or hailstones of judgment pound the world, lift your eyes—the storm you deserve fell on Him. 

And when you feel the old Pharaoh-heart bargaining (“I’ll serve…just ease the pain first”), run to the true Moses who ever lives to intercede. 

He will pray, the sky will clear, and this time your heart will stay softened, because the Spirit who began the good work will complete it at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6).