Exodus 9:18

Hebrew Bible

16 But for this purpose I have caused you to stand: to show you my strength, and so that my name may be declared in all the earth. 17 You are still exalting yourself against my people by not releasing them. 18 I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19 So now, send instructions to gather your livestock and all your possessions in the fields to a safe place. Every person or animal caught in the field and not brought into the house—the hail will come down on them, and they will die!”’” 20 Those of Pharaoh’s servants who feared the Lord’s message hurried to bring their servants and livestock into the houses,

Psalm 18:12

Hebrew Bible

10 He mounted a winged angel and flew; he glided on the wings of the wind. 11 He shrouded himself in darkness, in thick rain clouds. 12 From the brightness in front of him came hail and fiery coals. 13 The Lord thundered in the sky; the Most High shouted. 14 He shot his arrows and scattered them, many lightning bolts and routed them.

 Notes and References

"... Many aspects of the divine warrior in the poetic texts are also found in prose text, but the clearest references to the divine warrior in prose texts involve YHWH’s employment of nature or supernatural envoys against an envoy. When Joshua approached Jericho, the “general of the army of YHWH” affirmed YHWH’s presence in the upcoming battle (Joshua 5:13–15). In the campaign against the kings who attacked Gibeon, YHWH hurled “large stones from heaven” down on the Amorite armies (Joshua 10:11). Samuel experienced the help of the divine warrior when YHWH thundered (םער) from heaven and threw the Philistines into a panic (1 Samuel 7:10). In one of David’s battles against the Philistines, YHWH commanded him to go around the back of the Philistine camp and attack them when they heard the “sound of marching” in the trees because YHWH was going ahead of them, most likely referring to a heavenly army going ahead of David’s army (2 Samual 5:22–25) ... The plagues represented extreme phenomena, such as the hail storm being the worst Egypt had ever seen (Exodus 9:18, 24) and house invasions by the locust swarms, which the Egyptians had never seen before ..."

Trimm, Charlie "YHWH Fights for Them!": The Divine Warrior in the Exodus Narrative (p. 41, 193) Gorgias Press, 2014

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.