Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 9:8-10

"And Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast." — Exodus 9:8-10 (ASV)

THE SIXTH PLAGUE.

Here, again, there is little question about what the plague was. Doubts may be entertained regarding its exact character and its proper medical designation, but all agree, and must agree, that it was a visitation upon people's bodies with a severe cutaneous disorder, accompanied by pustules or ulcers. It was not announced beforehand to the Egyptians, nor were they allowed the opportunity to escape it. Like the third plague, it was entirely in the nature of a judgment; and the judgment was a severe one. Now, for the first time, acute suffering was inflicted on people; now, for the first time, it was shown how Jehovah could smite with a terrible disease; and if with a disease, why not with death?

No doubt those stricken suffered unequally; but for some the affliction may have resembled the final affliction of Job, when he was smitten with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown (Job 2:7). Its severity is marked by the statement that the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils (Exodus 9:11). And it was universal, or quasi-universal (Exodus 9:11). Moreover, it was not confined to humans; it was also upon the beasts—that is, upon those domesticated animals that had escaped the preceding plague. It does not, however, seem to have been fatal; and it effected no change in Pharaoh, whose heart God is now, for the first time, said to have hardened (Exodus 9:12), as He had declared to Moses (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3).