Exodus 9:29

Exo 9:29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; [and] the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth [is] the LORD’S.

Ver. 29. I will spread abroad my hands,] viz., In prayer; holding up and out the palms of the hand, as those do that expect to receive an alms, in a having manner: so did Solomon, 2Ch 6:13 Psa 143:6 Ezr 9:5.

That the earth is the Lord’s.] {See Trapp on "Exo 9:14"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo_9:29-30

I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God.

Lessons

1. Gracious souls are willing to yield to vilest persecutors to help them though they deceive them.

2. Time and place convenient, Gods servants take to answer the desires of the wicked.

3. Heart and hand do Gods saints lay out in prayer to God for their enemies.

4. Under Gods revelation his ministers may assure the wicked of His mercies.

5. Such discoveries are made to wicked men that they might acknowledge His propriety and sovereignty over all (Exo_9:29).

6. Though Gods servants know how the wicked will afterward behave themselves, yet they may pray for them.

7. God doth foretell by His servants sometimes the incorrigibility of the wicked under judgment and mercy.

8. Wicked men may tremble under vengeance, but never fear the Lord God when it is removed (Exo_9:30). (G. Hughes, B. D.)

Wise ministerial treatment of an obstinate sinner

I. That the true minister is willing to render help to the vilest persecutor in the hour of imagined repentance. Moses did not remain away from Pharaoh in the hour of his penitence. He did not treat him with contempt, as unworthy of further effort. He went to him at once. Ministers are never justified in leaving even the vilest men to themselves in their time of perplexity. They should visit them and render them all the aid in their power. The hypocrite must never be forsaken by the servant of God.

II. That the true minister will pray for the most obstinate sinner in the hour of distress. As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord.

1. The prayer will be offered in private. Out of the city. Solitude is favourable to prayer. The minister should seek solitude. It is well for him to go outside of the city to meditate and to pray about obstinate men.

2. It will be offered with earnestness. I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord. The ministers of God should employ their hands and hearts in prayer to heaven for the souls of wicked men.

III. That the true minister may assure the most obstinate sinner of the mercy of God toward him. A contrite heart shall not hear the thunder of retributive judgment.

IV. That the true minister must assert the unbending sovereignty of God to the most obstinate sinner.

V. That the true minister will deal faithfully with the most obstinate sinner who mat manifest tokens of repentance. Lessons:

1. That ministers are often perplexed as to the best method of conduct toward obstinate sinners.

2. They must pray for them.

3. They must be faithful to them. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The earth is the Lords

1. Then admire its beauty.

2. Then participate in its bounty.

3. Then tread it reverently.

4. Then use it generously. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

I know that ye will not fear the Lord God

1. Because your mind is dark.

2. Because your heart is hard.

3. Because your conscience is seared.

4. Because your will is rebellious.

5. Because your sin is a pleasure. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 9:29. That the earth is the Lord’s — That is, the whole world, the heavens and the earth. This is one great point that the Scriptures are intended to establish, that the whole universe, and all creatures therein, belong to the Lord, and are under his government. This truth, the foundation of all religion, ought to be established in our hearts, that we may put our trust in him, and be resigned to his will, whatever the dispensations of his adorable providence may be; however mysterious and unsearchable, as to the reasons of them, persuaded that they are as wise as they are powerful, and as gracious as they are just and holy, and will assuredly all work for good to those that love him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Exo_9:31. Bolled] “In flower.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_9:29-35

WISE MINISTERIAL TREATMENT OF AN OBSTINATE SINNER

Moses was a true minister. He was a real and worthy servant of God. He had to deal with an obstinate sinner in Pharaoh. We see in these verses the manner in which he treated him when he pretended to be sorry for his rebellion against God.

I. That the true minister is willing to render help to the vilest persecutor in the hour of imagined repentance. Moses did not remain away from Pharaoh in the hour of his penitence. He did not treat him with contempt, as unworthy of further effort. He went to him at once. Ministers are never justified in leaving even the vilest men to themselves in their time of perplexity. They should visit them and render them all the aid in their power. The true minister of the cross will be generous and forbearing. He will have too much sympathy with the souls of men ever to leave them, even though he has little faith in their professed repentance or their final salvation. The hypocrite must never be forsaken by the servant of God.

II. That the true minister will pray for the most obstinate sinner in the hour of distress. “As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord.”

1. The prayer will be offered in private. “Out of the city.” Did Moses go out of the city to pray because it was idolatrous, and because he would not mix the worship of God with the profane superstitions of the Egyptians? Moses went out from the presence of Pharaoh; he would give the king time to fully consider his promise, and to test the motive of his repentance. Also Moses wanted to be alone with God. Solitude is favourable to prayer. The minister should seek solitude. It is well for him to go outside of the city to meditate and to pray about obstinate men.

2. It will be offered with earnestness. “I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord.” The ministers of God should employ their hands and hearts in prayer to heaven for the souls of wicked men.

III. That the true minister may assure the most obstinate sinner of the mercy of God toward him.“And the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be anymore hail.” Thus Moses makes known to Pharoah the abundant mercy of God. And this should be the method of a true minister in his treatment of wicked men. He should assure them of the compassion of the Infinite Father for the truly penitent. A contrite heart shall not hear the thunder of retributive judgment.

IV. That the true minister must assert the unbending Sovereignty of God to the most obstinate sinner. “That thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s.” The divine sovereignty must be asserted to the most obstinate man, even though he may be the proud Monarch of Egypt. True repentance will be led to acknowledge the royal supremacy of God in the material as well as in the moral universe. Ministers must seek to give repentant souls rightful views of the Character and Rulership of the Eternal.

V. That the true Minister will deal faithfully with the most obstinate sinner who may manifest tokens of repentance. “But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God.” This language was most faithful on the part of Moses. It was plain. It was fearless. He knew Pharaoh too well to imagine that his repentance was genuine. He knew his reformation would not be permanent. In this way will the wise and true minister deal with the obstinate sinner who manifests repentance and seeks the removal of woe. LESSONS:

1. That ministers are often perplexed as to the best method of conduct toward obstinate sinners.

2. They must pray for them.

3. They must be faithful to them.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Exo_9:29-30. Under God’s revelation His ministers may assure the wicked of His mercy.

Such discoveries are made to wicked men that they may acknowledge the sovereignty and ownership of God over all.

Though God’s servants know how the wicked will afterwards behave, yet they may pray for them. Wicked men may tremble under vengeance, but never fear the Lord when it is removed.

“The earth is the Lord’s:”—

1. Then admire its beauty.

2. Then participate in its bounty.

3. Then tread it reverently.

4. Then use it generously.

“I know that ye will not fear the Lord God:”—

1. Because your mind is dark.

2. Because your heart is hard.

3. Because your conscience is seared.

4. Because your will is rebellious.

5. Because your sin is a pleasure.

Exo_9:31-32. God in His prerogative determines what creatures to destroy for the punishment of man. When creatures grow nearest for man’s comfort, he takes them away for man’s sin.

The smitings of God.—

1. The outcome of Divine anger.

2. The punishment of man’s sin.

3. The richest growths stricken.

4. The immature things left unhurt.

PHARAOH’S CONDUCT AFTER THE STORM

Exo_9:34. Mercy makes some men worse. Let the rod cease to strike and they will rebel the more basely. Some need judgments continually to keep them from sin. Pharaoh’s vices were only kept down by his terrors, as soon as they ceased his vices sprang up again most vigorously. The storm over and God is forgotten.

I. Pharaoh’s conduct is often resembled by men of our day. There was a great deal of common human nature in Pharaoh. Those who visit men much in their afflictions know how transitory are the impressions made upon them at such seasons. Vows made then are seldom kept. To estimate men by their sayings on a bed of suffering, or amid the crash of bankruptcy, or under the bitterness of bereavement, is altogether misleading. Men’s views of themselves and life change as the dark clouds roll away, and the sun breaks forth to gild their path again. This has become proverbial. How often have the ironical words of Rabelais been quoted concerning men!

“The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be:

The devil was well, the devil a monk was he!”

An old Puritan relates that, “It is storied of a merchant, that in a great storm at sea, vowed to Jupiter, if he would save him, and his vessel, he would give him a hecatomb. The storm ceaseth and he bethinks that a hecatomb was unreasonable; he resolves on seven oxen. Another tempest comes and now he vows again the seven at least. Delivered then also, he thought that seven were too many, and one ox would serve the turn. Yet another peril comes, and now he vows solemnly to fall no lower, if he might be rescued an ox Jupiter shall have. Again freed, the ox appears too much, and he would fain draw his devotion to a lower rate; a sheep was sufficient. But at last being set ashore, he thought a sheep too much, and purposeth to carry to the altar only a few dates. But by the way he eats up the dates, and lays on the altar only the shells.”—Adams, vol. i., p. 112. This is how many act towards God. Terrors are soon forgotten. Virtues begotten in the hour of trouble are short-lived. Men would live well if they always lived as they purposed in their hours of sorrow.

II. Pharaoh’s conduct reveals that his heart had been unchanged. Afflictions do change some sinners into saints. They effect a permanent reformation. Some have found an affliction a divine epoch in their lives. They have come out of the storm new men. But it often produces no radical change. It does not change the heart. Unless men’s dispositions towards God are rectified in the hour of affliction no lasting good is effected. Men cannot change their own hearts, but they can give them up into the hands of God to be changed. Love only ensures future allegiance. Love only awakens permanent resistance to sin. Pharaoh’s heart was unrenewed though the words of penitence had been upon his lips. Sin had been checked, but it was still loved. The weeds had been trampled down for a moment, but not uprooted; the disease was controlled, but not cured; the fire was covered over, but it yet smouldered. Men reveal what effects have been produced in them during the storm by their actions in the subsequent calm.

III. Pharaoh’s conduct manifested the basest ingratitude. Sin is always lamentable, but more so in the face of Divine mercy. As God had heard the prayers of Moses on Pharaoh’s behalf, and had withdrawn the fierceness of His anger; the king ought to have humbled himself by obedience. Common feelings of gratitude would have prompted to this. But Pharaoh was so hardened that he could find in God’s goodness a fresh incentive to sin. The goodness of God manifested to obdurate sinners often leads them to further transgression and not to repentance. Such insensibility to mercy is sure to bring another judgment.

IV. Pharaoh’s conduct was most presumptuous. He had again and again suffered for his rebellion. He ought to have feared the consequences of another attempt to resist the will of Jehovah, Sin thus deludes. It infatuates him so that he runs madly upon the “thick bosses of God’s buckler.” Sin after both judgment and mercy is madness. How many that know the judgment of God against their sins, yet sin on, because they will not see the eternal blackness which is gathering around them.

V. Pharaoh’s conduct shows the amount of depravity that may lurk in a human heart. Pharaoh had a stubborn nature. All have not the same gigantic lusts to evercome. Every man has some depravity. God estimates a man’s nature in dealing with him. Every man may overcome the evil within him if he will seek for Divine help. God’s grace is sufficient for the most obdurate. Wonderful is the power of some men to resist God. Neither judgment nor mercy will affect them. They “sin more and more.” There is a terrible momentum in evil. Some seem driven by their own evil hearts to hell. Our only safety is in humbling ourselves before the Lord and seeking for his grace to overcome our own stubbornness and sins.—W. Lilley.

The performance of ministerial duty:—

1. Immediate.

2. According to promise.

3. Divinely sanctioned.

4. Greatly abused.

The cessation of penitential sorrow:—

1. When calamity was removed.

2. When mercy was bestowed.

3. When gratitude was expected.

God spares wicked men in answer to the prayers of the good.

Mercy may prove the occasion of hardening to wicked souls.

Heart-hardening:—

1. After mercy given.

2. After promise made.

3. After prediction uttered.

ILLUSTRATIONS

BY

REV. WM. ADAMSON

Ministerial Pity! Exo_9:29. Very recently off our south-eastern shores, a German ship collided with an English vessel known as the Strathclyde. This collision was apparently done of set purpose and deliberation. But the captain of the Franconia roused a storm of indignation against him in Europe, when it was discovered from the evidence that he had relentlessly sailed away, and left the sinking vessel and drowning wretches to their fate. No such reckless want of feeling do Moses and Aaron display. Of set purpose had they driven the prow of Judgment sheer into the hull of Egypt’s national life—cleaving it amidships; but no sooner did they hear the cry for help, then at once they hurried to the rescue. It is the duty of the ambassadors of Christ to collide against the conscience of the sinner; but, like their Divine Master, they are eager to bind up and to heal. They crush the decayed timbers of the sinner’s ship of self-deception and indifference; but it is only that they may receive the sinner’s soul on board that noble vessel—the ark of Salvation—whose beams never decay, and whose prow breasts the wildest waves.

“High billows are upon the deep,

And all the sky is dark,

But faithfulness and mercy keep

The covenanted Ark.”

Contrast! Exo_9:30. How remarkable the difference between Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, both oppressors of Israel! What produced this contrast in the effects of the Divine chastenings on these two monarchs? A surgeon has two patients suffering frem the same disease, and requiring to undergo the same operation. He performs both cases with the same surgical instruments, and with an equally firm hand and admirable skill. Yet one dies, while the other lives and recovers. How is this? Their bodies were in a different condition. That of the one was highly favourable; that of the other was full of gross humours from self-indulgence. The heart of the conqueror of nations was wicked, but still the Divine judgments wrought a successful cure; while the condition of Pharoah’s heart was so corrupt and perverse that Jehovah’s visitations failed to bring him to a saving repentance. He repented not, though—

“Deep in his soul conviction’s ploughshare rings,

And to the surface his corruption brings.”

—Holmes.

Divine Care! Exo_9:33 The Lord preserveth the souls of His servants. And so, as has been said, this man of God went forth into the field, walking without fear through the storm of hail and tempest of fire. Moses knew that he was safe—safe, though all around might be destroyed. Standing then under the canopy of heaven, bareheaded, in the attitude of prayer, he wrestled until the hail ceased. None that trust in Him shall be laid waste. The just man fears not in the midst of dangers.

“Let God’s dread arm with thunder rend the spheres,

Amid the crash of worlds undaunted he appears.

—Horace.

Contrast! Exo_9:34. If the sea has its sorrows, the llanos have their sufferings. Nothing can be more remarkable than the contrast between the immeasurable plains of Venezuela and New Grenada and the watery plains of the sea. Like the ocean, their limits melt in the hazy distance with those of the horizon; but here the resemblance ceases, for no refreshing breeze wafts coolness over the desert, and comforts the drooping spirits of the wanderer. It is true that the llanos have their storms, when the dust of the savanah, set in motion by conflicting winds, ascends in mighty, columns and glides over the desert plain; as the sea has its tempests, when the waterspout, raised by contending air currents, rises to the clouds and sweeps over the floods. But no cooling zephyr fans the burning temples, or allays the irritation of the blistered skin of the traveller on the land—and indeed, the glaring sand suspended in the air only increases the sultriness of the atmosphere. Such is the difference between the repentance of the good and the remorse of the bad. Pharaoh’s contrition was as the tropical llanos—there was no water. The storms swept over his heart, but it remained dry.

“What time, beneath God’s chastening rod afraid,

He drank coercive of affliction’s cup.”

—Man.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:29 There is no one like the Lord in all the earth (9:14), and all the earth belongs to the Lord. This was the inescapable message of the plagues, though the Egyptians had difficulty accepting it.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 29. 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; 2Ch 6:13. So DAVID, Ps 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; Ezr 9:5. See also JOB Job 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 favour 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 endeavour, or my prayer shall speed. Id.

See the issue of thus addressing Jove, Ibid., ver. 500-502, and ver. 511, c.

In the same manner we find our Lord accosted, Mt 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, Ex 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.

Iliad xxiv., ver. 301.

For right it is to spread abroad the hands

To Jove for mercy.

Also VIRGIL:-

Corripio e stratis corpus, TENDOQUE SUPINAS

AD COELUM cum voce MANUS, et munera libo

AEneid iii., ver. 176.

I started from my bed, and raised on high

My hands and voice in rapture to the sky;

And pour libations. PITT.

Dixerat: et GENUA AMPLEXUS, genibusque volutans Haerebat. Ibid., ver. 607.

Then kneel'd the wretch, and suppliant clung around My knees with tears, and grovell'd on the ground.

Id.

----------------media inter numina divum

Multa Jovem MANIBUS SUPPLEX orasse SUPINIS.

Ibid. iv., ver. 204.

Amidst the statues of the gods he stands,

And spreading forth to Jove his lifted hands.

Id.

Et DUPLICES cum voce MANUS ad sidera TENDIT.

Ibid. x., ver. 667.

And lifted both his hands and voice to heaven.

In some cases the person petitioning came forward, and either sat in the dust or kneeled on the ground, placing his left hand on the knee of him from whom he expected the favour, while he touched the person's chin with his right. We have an instance of this also in HOMER: -

Και ρα παροιθ' αυτοιο καθεζετο, και λαβε γουνων Σκαιῃ· δεξιτερῃ δ' αρ' ὑπ' ανθερεωνος ἑλουσα.

Iliad i., ver. 500.

Suppliant the goddess stood: one hand she placed Beneath his chin, and one his knee embraced.

POPE.

When the supplicant could not approach the person to whom he prayed, as where a deity was the object of the prayer, he washed his hands, made an offering, and kneeling down, either stretched out both his hands to heaven, or laid them upon the offering or sacrifice, or upon the altar. Thus Homer represents the priest of Apollo praying: -

Χερνιψαντο δ' επειτα, και ουλοχυτας ανελοντο.

Τοισιν δε Χρυσης μεγαλ' ευχετο, χειρας ανασχων.

Iliad i., ver. 449.

With water purify their hands, and take

The sacred offering of the salted cake,

While thus, with arms devoutly raised in air,

And solemn voice, the priest directs his prayer.

POPE.

How necessary ablutions of the whole body, and of the hands particularly, accompanied with offerings and sacrifices were, under the law, every reader of the Bible knows: see especially Ex 29:1-4, where Aaron and his sons were commanded to be washed, previously to their performing the priest's office; and Ex 30:19-21, where it is said: "Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands - that they die not." See also Le 17:15. When the high priest among the Jews blessed the people, he lifted up his hands, Le 9:22. And the Israelites, when they presented a sacrifice to God, lifted up their hands and placed them on the head of the victim: "If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord - of the cattle of the herd, and of the flock - he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering, and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him;" Le 1:2-4. To these circumstances the apostle alludes, 1Ti 2:8: "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." In the apostle's word επαιροντας, lifting up, there is a manifest reference to stretching out the hands to place them either on the altar or on the head of the victim. Four things were signified by this lifting up of the hands.

1. It was the posture of supplication, and expressed a strong invitation - Come to my help;

2. It expressed the earnest desire of the person to lay hold on the help he required, by bringing him who was the object of his prayer to his assistance;

3. It showed the ardour of the person to receive the blessings he expected; and

4. By this act he designated and consecrated his offering or sacrifice to his God.

From a great number of evidences and coincidences it is not unreasonable to conclude that the heathens borrowed all that was pure and rational, even in their mode of worship, from the ancient people of God; and that the preceding quotations are proofs of this.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(29) That thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s.—Comp, Exo_9:15. It was the general belief of the Egyptians, as of most ancient nations, that each country had its own god or gods. Pharaoh had already admitted Jehovah’s power (Exo_8:8), and now regarded Him as the God of the Hebrews (Exo_8:28). God desired to have it generally acknowledged that He was the God of the whole earth.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29. spread abroad my hands] The attitude of prayer: v. 33, 1Ki_8:22; 1Ki_8:38 al.

that thou mayest know, &c.] cf. Exo_8:10, with the note.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But as for thee, and thy servants,.... Notwithstanding the confession of sin he had made, and his earnest request that the Lord might be entreated to remove this plague, and though he had been assured it would be removed:

I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God: they had not feared him yet; the confession of sin made did not arise from the true fear of God, but from a dread of punishment, and when delivered from this plague, the goodness of God would have no such effect as to cause him and his servants to fear the Lord; or "I know, that before ye were afraid of the face of the Lord God" (n), which Kimchi (o) and Ben Melech interpret thus,"I know that thou and thy servants, before I pray for you, are afraid of the face of the Lord God, but after I have prayed, and the thunders and rain are ceased, ye will sin again;''and so they did.

(n) "priusquam timeretis", Tigurine version. (o) Sepher Shorash, rad.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or, that this land is the Lord’s, even his whom thou deniedst to have any jurisdiction in it, or over thee, Exo 5:2. Or the earth is put for the world, the heaven and the earth: q. d. That thou mayst see that he can either cause the heavens to send forth such thunders and hails, or restrain them as he pleaseth.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As soon as I am gone out of the city. "The city" is probably Tanis (Zoan). We may gather from the expression of this verse, and again of verse 33, that Moses and Aaron did not live in the city, but in the country with the other Israelites. When it was necessary for them to have an interview with the king, they sought the city: when their interview was over they quitted it. To obtain for Pharaoh a speedy accomplishment of his wish, Moses undertakes to pray for the removal of the plague as soon as he is outside the city walls. That thou mayest know that the earth is the Lord"s. The phrase used is ambiguous. It may mean either "that the earth is Jehovah"s," or "that the land (of Egypt) is his." On the whole, perhaps the former rendering is the best. The other plagues sufficiently showed that Egypt was Jehovah"s; this, which came from the open heaven that surrounds and embraces the whole world, indicated that the entire earth was his. (Comp. Psa_24:1: "The earth is the Lord"s and the fulness thereof: the world, and they that dwell therein.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The earth - The world, the heaven and the earth.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Moses promised that his request should be granted, that he might know "that the land belonged to Jehovah," i.e., that Jehovah ruled as Lord over Egypt (cf. Exo 8:18); at the same time he told him that the fear manifested by himself and his servants was no true fear of God. יי מפּני ירא denotes the true fear of God, which includes a voluntary subjection to the divine will. Observe the expression, Jehovah, Elohim: Jehovah, who is Elohim, the Being to be honoured as supreme, the true God.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Moses said to him

"Moses said to Pharaoh"

spread my hands out to Yahweh

This symbolic gesture accompanies prayer. AT: "lift up my hands and pray to Yahweh" (See: Symbolic Action)

honor Yahweh God

Honoring God involves obeying him and living in a way that shows how great he is.

translationWords

Moses

Yahweh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

כצאתי את העיר — This is the same as מן העיר [AS SOON AS I AM GONE OUT] FROM THE CITY. But he did not pray within the city because it was full of idols (Exodus Rabbah 12:5).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AS SOON AS I AM GONE OUT OF THE CITY, I WILL SPREAD FORTH MY HANDS UNTO THE ETERNAL. In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, it is possible to say that [on other occasions] Moses prayed in his house, [which was within the city]. However, this time He saw fit that his hands be spread heavenward so that the thunders and the hail cease immediately, and that was impossible to be done in the city [because it was replete with idols]. Hence he said, As soon as I am gone out of the city. And so it is said further on, And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread forth his hands. But at first, [i.e., during the plague of swarms], Moses said to Pharaoh, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entreat the Eternal, [for as soon as he left the palace he went to his house in the city and prayed].But our Rabbis have said that Moses “did not pray within the city because it was full of idols, and all the more He did not converse with him except outside the city.” If so, we must say that since Pharaoh now pleaded with Moses that he remove the hail immediately, Moses found it necessary to explain to him that he must go out of the city first and after that he will spread forth his hands to the Eternal, and He will remove it on account of his prayer. This is the true explanation.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.