“The Lord said to Moses: Extend your hand toward the heavens, and there will be hail throughout the land of Egypt, upon man, upon animal, and upon all the grasses of the field, in the land of Egypt (Exodus 9:22). “The Lord said to Moses: Extend your hand toward the heavens” – that is what is written: “Whatever the Lord wished, He has done…” (Psalms 135:6). David said: Even though the Holy One blessed be He decreed: “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord and the earth He has given to the children of men” (Psalms 115:16) [it is to be understood in this way].
To what is this matter comparable? It is [comparable] to a king who decreed and said that Romans may not go down to Syria and Syrians may not go up to Rome. Similarly, when the Holy One blessed be He created the world, He decreed and said: “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord; but the earth He has given to the children of men.” When He sought to give the Torah, He cancelled the first decree and said: Those below will ascend to those above, and those above will descend to those below, and it is I who begins, as it is stated: “The Lord descended onto Mount Sinai” (Exodus 19:20), and it is written: “To Moses He said: Ascend to God” (Exodus 24:1).
That is: “Whatever the Lord wished, He has done, in the heavens and on the earth.” Likewise, when He sought to, He said: “Let the waters be gathered” (Genesis 1:9), and when He sought to act, He made the dry land into sea and the depths, as it is stated: “Who summons the water of the sea” (Amos 5:8; 9:6), and it says: “All the fountains of the great deep burst” (Genesis 7:11). When He sought to do so, he made the sea and the depths into dry land, as it is stated: “And the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea” (Exodus 14:29), and it says: “He led them through the depths, as through a wilderness” (Psalms 106:9).
Likewise in Egypt, regarding Moses, who was on the land, He gave him license to control the actions of the heavens, as it is stated: “The Lord said to Moses: Extend your hand toward the heavens…” Why did He bring hail upon them? It is because they [the Egyptians] set Israel to be planters of vineyards, gardens, orchards, and trees; therefore He brought hail upon them and broke everything. “Upon man, upon animal” – when the Holy One blessed be He saw that they did not heed His words that He had said to them: “Now send, gather [your livestock…every man and animal that will be found in the field… will die]” (Exodus 9:19), the Holy One blessed be He said: They deserve that the hail shall fall upon everything.4Since they did not listen to God’s warning.