Tag: hail

Gary Pollard

Of the plagues in Exodus, the one most interesting to me is the hailstorm. According to that account, hail mixed with fire and thunder was responsible for the deaths of cattle, servants, and the total destruction of fields (c.f. The Ipuwer Papyrus 9.2-3 for the Egyptian perspective of this event. Orthodox scholars consider this papyrus to be simple propaganda, not an eyewitness account of the events of Exodus. I’ve read it many times over, and it’s not very good propaganda [if that’s what it’s supposed to be], and its events mirror those leading up to Israel’s escape quite nicely. E.g. “grain has perished on every side” in Ipuwer is “every living thing in the field was destroyed, even the trees” in Exodus 9.25).  . This hail was said to have been mixed with fire (Ex 9.24; The LXX may suggest that the “hailstones” themselves were on fire — …και το πυρ φλογιζον εν τη χαλαζη) and accompanied by “thunderings”. Ice does not usually mix well with fire, and the word used here for “thunder” would be better understood to mean “loud noise”. 

So what were these avney habarad (stones of barad) that brought great destruction in a desert land, that were mixed with fire, that caused frighteningly loud booming throughout Egypt, that slaughtered 1,000+ pound bulls, killed humans, leveled buildings, and obliterated fields? This was no ordinary hail. Joshua 10.11 says that these meteorites killed more of the enemy than their own swords did. Exodus 9.25 begins with, “It left all of Egypt in ruins…” I wonder if the destruction at Tanis was caused by this event? Can hail — even massive hail — level extremely heavy, granite-cased limestone structures? 

God did some pretty incredible things all over the planet around this same time. Egypt was not the only land to have water turned to blood, extended periods of darkness (on the other side of the world, the sun wouldn’t go down), flaming stones from heaven, plagues, and severe flooding. Records from all over the world claim that the length of the day changed, the length of the month changed, the positions of some of the constellations changed, and many other catastrophes that point to a divine source.

So what did God use to cause the destruction this plague brought? What it did, how it sounded, and its fiery nature all point to a source higher than the troposphere. More than likely, these “hailstones” were actually meteorites. The Exodus, contrary to how many in the secular world view it, was not a fanciful origin story or poetic propaganda to establish Moses’s leadership. Exodus was an eyewitness account of the events that lead both to the demise of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom and the securing of Israel’s freedom. We look with wonder at the great destruction all over Egypt, massive statues broken as if they were toys, buildings that look like they were put in a blender, huge single-piece granite pillars broken and strewn across courtyards, and Moses has likely held the answer to this mystery for 3,500 years.