Exodus 9:29

Hail - A greeting of joy and peace.

I will spread abroad my hands - That is, I will make supplication to God that he may remove this plague. This may not be an improper place to make some observations on the ancient manner of approaching the Divine Being in prayer. Kneeling down, stretching out the hands, and lifting them up to heaven, were in frequent use among the Hebrews in their religious worship. Solomon kneeled down on his knees, and spread forth his hands to heaven; 2 Chronicles 6:13. So David, Psalm 143:6 : I stretch forth my hands unto thee. So Ezra: I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God; Ezra 9:5. See also Job JObadiah 11:13 : If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thy hands towards him. Most nations who pretended to any kind of worship made use of the same means in approaching the objects of their adoration, viz., kneeling down and stretching out their hands; which custom it is very likely they borrowed from the people of God. Kneeling was ever considered to be the proper posture of supplication, as it expresses humility, contrition, and subjection. If the person to whom the supplication was addressed was within reach, the supplicant caught him by the knees; for as among the ancients the forehead was consecrated to genius, the ear to memory, and the right hand to faith, so the knees were consecrated to mercy. Hence those who entreated favor fell at and caught hold of the knees of the person whose kindness they supplicated. This mode of supplication is particularly referred to in the following passages in Homer: -

Των νυν μιν μνησασα παρεζεο, και λαβε γουνων.

Iliad i., ver. 407.

Now therefore, of these things reminding Jove,

Embrace his knees.

Cowper.

To which the following answer is made: -

Και τοτ' επειτα τοι ειμι Διος ποτι χαλκοβατες δω,

Και μιν γουνασομαι, και μιν πεισεσθαι οΐω.

Iliad i., ver. 426.

Then will I to Jove's brazen-floor'd abode, That I may clasp his knees; and much misdeem Of my endeavor, or my prayer shall speed. Id. See the issue of thus addressing Jove, Ibid., ver. 500-502, and ver. 511, etc.

In the same manner we find our Lord accosted, Matthew 17:14 : There came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him γονυπετων αυτον, falling down at his knees.

As to the lifting up or stretching out of the hands, (often joined to kneeling), of which we have seen already several instances, and of which we have a very remarkable one in this book, Exodus 17:11, where the lifting up or stretching out of the hands of Moses was the means of Israel's prevailing over Amalek; we find many examples of both in ancient authors. Thus Homer: -

Εσθλον γαρ Δυ χειρας ανασχεμεν, αι κ' ελεησῃ.

continued...

The earth is the Lord's - This declaration has a direct reference to Egyptian superstition. Each god was held to have special power within a given district; Pharaoh had learned that Yahweh was a god, he was now to admit that His power extended over the whole earth. The unity and universality of the divine power, though occasionally recognized in ancient Egyptian documents, were overlaid at a very early period by systems alternating between Polytheism and Pantheism.

9:29 The earth - The world, the heaven and the earth.