שמות, פרק ט׳, פסוק כ״ג

With a single upward motion toward the open air [הטור הארוך], a terrifying storm awakened, shattering the routine of the Egyptian climate. Although God commanded Moses to stretch out his hand, Moses understood that he was meant to use his staff for this task [העמק דבר]. Pointing it toward the sky [רלב״ג, ביאור שטיינזלץ], he unleashed a plague that combined the opposing elements of fire, water, and wind, striking the earth with unprecedented force.

The onslaught was accompanied by overwhelming sounds. The primary approach among commentators is that these sounds were fierce thunderclaps accompanying the hail, often viewed in ancient poetic terms as the voice of God [קאסוטו]. These deafening booms were so powerful that they killed people even before the hailstones made impact [צאינה וראינה]. Some suggest these sounds represented God and His heavenly entourage descending [חזקוני]. Conversely, other commentators argue that the noise was not thunder at all, but rather the roar of a massive storm and fierce wind that propelled the heavy, coarse hailstones to the earth with brutal force, as if fired from a sling [הכתב והקבלה, ביאור יש״ר, בכור שור, העמק דבר].

Alongside the hail, fire descended upon the land, taking the form of relentless lightning strikes [שד״ל, קאסוטו, ביאור שטיינזלץ] or massive, miraculous torches of flame [רלב״ג, ביאור יש״ר]. This downward trajectory stood in complete contrast to the natural tendency of fire, which typically rises [אבן עזרא, הטור הארוך, חזקוני]. This unnatural phenomenon occurred because the blazing air was forced downward by the immense weight and power of the falling hail [ספורנו, הכתב והקבלה]. The descent of the flames was heavy, slow, and unrelenting [רש״ר הירש, הכתב והקבלה], though some view the description as part of an ancient poetic style [שד״ל, קאסוטו]. The fire served a devastating, complementary role to the hail. While the ice broke the trees and killed the livestock, the flames incinerated the carcasses and the shattered wood, ensuring the Egyptians could not salvage any remnants from the destruction [ביאור יש״ר].

The plague created a miraculous suspension of the laws of nature. Typically, lightning is seen before thunder is heard, and hail takes time to travel from the clouds to the ground. However, to prevent the Egyptians from claiming that Moses lied about the precise moment the plague began, a unique miracle occurred: the thunder, lightning, and hail all struck the earth in the exact same fraction of a second [מלבי״ם]. Furthermore, the event caused a profound inversion of the natural elements. The pure, heavenly fire was forced downward, becoming as lowly as dust. This process polluted the air, bringing severe diseases upon bodies composed of these disrupted elements [רבנו בחיי].

The execution of the plague unfolded in distinct stages. Initially, God prepared the destruction within the heavenly storehouses before focusing its release specifically upon Egypt [קאסוטו]. The opening moments were entirely miraculous, with the hail and thunder crashing down instantaneously, after which the hail continued to fall like natural rain, governed by the laws of gravity [מלבי״ם]. Ultimately, the sheer creation of such massive quantities of ice in a region completely unfamiliar with such weather posed an existential threat to the very nature of the local climate [רש״ר הירש].