“Moses emerged from the city, from Pharaoh, and spread his hands to the Lord; the thundering and hail ceased, and the rain did not pour upon the earth” (Exodus 9:33). “Moses emerged from the city, from Pharaoh” – he was still in the vicinity of the city; he did not delay praying on their behalf, but rather, he immediately “spread his hands to the Lord,” and the Holy One blessed be He accepted his prayer.
“The thundering and hail ceased, and the rain did not pour upon the earth.” He suspended it [the hail] loosely. When did it fall? In the days of Joshua, upon the Emorites, as it is stated: “It was as they fled…the Lord cast upon them great stones from the heavens” (Joshua 10:11).
The rest is destined to fall in the days of Gog and Magog. “Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thundering had ceased, and he continued to sin, and he hardened his heart, he and his servants” (Exodus 9:34). “Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thundering had ceased, and he continued to sin.” The wicked are thus – as long as they are in distress, they subjugate themselves; when the distress passes, they return to their corruption.
Likewise Nebuchadnezzar, when he was in distress, he would laud the Holy One blessed be He, as it is stated: “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, extol, and honor the King of the heavens, as all His works are truth…” (Daniel 4:34). When he saw himself in his greatness, he began boasting: “The king spoke, and said: Isn’t this great Babylon, which I have built as a royal residence, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:27).
Pharaoh, too, did the same: “Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thundering had ceased, and he continued to sin…”