Legends of the Jews turns to The Hailstones Froze in Midair When Moses Prayed.
Here's the kicker: as soon as Moses prayed, the hail that had been pelting Egypt just…stopped. Suspended in mid-air.
What happened to it? Did it melt? Nope. According to Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, drawing on various midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) sources, that hail was put on hold.
Part of it, we're told, was used later when Joshua was battling the Amorites. Imagine being on the battlefield and suddenly…hail!
But the rest? The really interesting part? The rest of that plague-hail is being saved for a future showdown. A massive, end-of-days battle against Gog. A chilling thought, isn't it? God, in His fury, unleashing the full force of the ancient plague.
And it's not just the hail. The thunders, too, ceased at Moses' request. But they weren't destroyed either. They were stored up. All that raw, untamed power just… waiting.
And where did they end up? Well, according to this tradition, they were the very same thunderous noises that caused the Syrian army to flee in terror from Samaria! Can you imagine the sound? So terrifying it sent an entire army running in the twilight. Talk about repurposing!
It makes you think about divine power, doesn't it? About how things, even destructive forces like plagues, can be used and reused for different purposes, at different times. It's a reminder that nothing is ever truly wasted and that the echoes of the past can resonate powerfully in the future. What other "leftovers" might be waiting in the wings, ready to be unleashed when the time is.