Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, "Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the LORD will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die."'" And the LORD set a time, saying, "Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land." And the next day the LORD did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt." So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses.
Exodus 9:1-12
The contest begins at this point to assume ugly and dangerous dimensions, as Pharaoh by his intransigence brings upon himself heavier and more costly judgments. The previous plagues had caused distress, but the murrain on the cattle was an economic catastrophe of great magnitude. And while Egypt was still staggering under this blow, with Pharaoh tight-lipped and more deeply set in his refusal to yield, the divine judgment touched them more closely still in a plague of boils and blains. But the most important point to note here is the fateful change represented by 7b and 12a. The hardening which had begun through a wrong reaction to God's dispensations and been aggravated by a perverse attitude of will at last becomes judicial, and to use Paul's words, because Pharaoh did not like to retain God in his knowledge, God gave him over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28). God confirmed him in his choice of remaining in antagonism against Him. It is this principle that is echoed in Revelation 22:11, 'He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still'. When God really intervenes in judgment, it is as in a film when the movement is suddenly stopped and the character portrayed is fixed forever in the fateful attitude he has adopted. Pharaoh had resolutely turned his heart against the Lord, and now he was to be fixed forever in that attitude by the judicial action of God. No one knows when that moment may come in the life of sin, and none may presume upon the divine long-suffering and patience. The only possible safety lies in being constantly turned towards His good and perfect will. Happy will be the man found in such an attitude on the great Day.