Comentario sobre Exodo 9:18

כעת מחר means AT THIS TIME (כָּעֵת not כְּעֵת) TO-MORROW — He scratched a mark on the wall, saying, “To-morrow when the sun-rays reach here the hail will descend” (Exodus Rabbah 12:2; cf. Rashi on Genesis 21:2).

In view of the fact that Scripture states, A very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the day it was founded, and repeats it again, Very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation,²¹³Further, Verses 18 and 24. there is an allusion that there are other places in the world where such hail did come down, such as is mentioned in the verse, And the Eternal cast down great stones from heaven upon them,²¹⁴Joshua 10:11. or as is mentioned in connection with [the destruction of] Sodom, brimstone, and salt, and fire.²¹⁵Deuteronomy 29:22. But in the land of Egypt, where there is no rain or hail, this was a great wonder.
I have not understood what is said in Midrash Rabbah:²¹⁶Shemoth Rabbah 12:2. In our Midrash, there is a different version of this text. See also my Hebrew commentary, p. 316. “The verse does not say, ‘as hath not been in Egypt like it,’ but instead it says, ‘as hath not been like it in Egypt,’ which means there has neither been like it in the world nor in Egypt.”²¹⁷This Midrash is in clear contradiction to that which Ramban stated above, i.e., that such hail has come down in other places. Therefore Ramban preceded the Midrash by saying that he does not understand it. Since Ramban’s opinion is based upon the verses mentioned above, he cannot revoke his opinion as being incorrect. And the expression, since the day it was founded, is equivalent to saying: “Your fathers and your grandfathers have never seen the like of it.” But it is not possible to say that it suggests that the like of it occurred before the world was founded or before the inception of nations. Perhaps because this hail came as a punishment upon the inhabitants of Egypt and was not in the natural order, [the verse] is saying that nothing like it has ever occurred because of the sins of the fathers, for before the inception of Egypt as a nation, surely there was no [reason for] such hail to come.

אשר לא היה כמוהו בארץ מצרים, “the like of which never occurred in the land of Egypt.” The wording suggests that this phenomenon had never been experienced in Egypt, although it had occurred elsewhere. We have a verse in Joshua 10,11 where G’d is described as raining down large stones on the Canaanites. Seeing that rain does not normally fall in Egypt, this would be a frightening experience in that country. Seeing that hail consists of frozen rain particles, that experience was new in Egypt also.

אשר לא היה כמוהו במצרים, “the like of which had never occurred in Egypt.” Moses did not say אשר לא היה במצרים כמוהו, but אשר לא היה כמוהו במצרים. This means that in the whole world there had never been a plague of hail comparable to the one that would strike Egypt. The reason that he added the word “in Egypt,” was that even in Egypt in which there is never any rain, i.e. precipitation, such a precipitation would now be experienced in its most catastrophic form.

When the sun reaches here the hail will come down. [Rashi knows this] because otherwise, why does our verse say: “tomorrow at this time,” whereas with the plague of pestilence it says only “tomorrow”? (Gur Aryeh) The reason the pestilence [was not given an exact time] is that the animals were spread throughout the fields and Pharaoh would not know precisely when the pestilence began, thus nothing would be gained by scratching a mark in the wall. That is why the verse said simply “tomorrow”

V. 18. רפה ,הוסדה, den schwachen Anfang bezeichnend. Hagel in Ägypten, das kaum überhaupt Niederschlag aus der Atmosphäre kennt, zeigt — wie schon Eingangs bemerkt — eine ganze Umwandlung seiner tellurischen und kosmischen Verhältnisse, zeigt, dass es nur eines Winkes von oben bedarf und Ägypten ist Ägypten nicht mehr; daher V. 14. את כל מגפתי.

הוסדה means [FROM THE DAY] WHEN IT WAS FOUNDED (נתיסדה). Every word (verb) the first root-letter of which is י, as יסד and ילד and ידע and יסר, when it is used in the Hithpael sense (Rashi means our Niphal which often is the reflexive of the Kal), a ו replaces this י; e. g., הוסדה here, from יסד; (Hosea 2:5) “her being born (הִוָלְדָּהּ)”; (Esther 2:22) “and it was known (ויודע)”; (Genesis 66:20) “and there was born (ויולד) to Joseph”; (Proverbs 29:19) A servant will not be corrected (יוסר) by words”.

למן היום הוסדה ועד עתה, “from the day it was founded until now.”

BEHOLD, TOMORROW ABOUT THIS TIME I WILL CAUSE IT TO RAIN A VERY GRIEVOUS HAIL, etc. 19. NOW THEREFORE SEND, HASTEN IN THY CATTLE. All this is G-d’s word to Moses, and it is self-understood that Moses came and told Pharaoh all the words of G-d that He sent him to speak, and there was no need to prolong the account [of Moses’ going to Pharaoh and so telling him]. Scripture only states, He that feared the word of the Eternal among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses,²¹⁸Verse 20. from which it is clear that Moses had told them [G-d’s words]. This advice was on account of G-d’s being merciful to them, since the plague of hail was sent only against the produce of the earth and not against man, therefore doth He instruct sinners in the way²¹⁹Psalms 25:8. to save them from the plague.