I. THERE IS A LIMIT TO THE DIVINE MERCY. This, like every third plague, came without warning. Opportunity was given twice to avert coming judgment. None is given now. Unannounced it startles them in the midst of their fancied security.
1. When men have baffled the servants of God by unrepentant stubbornness and broken vows the matter is not ended. God who has spoken will also act.
2. God will not always strive. Those who resist mercy pass on to meet sudden destruction.
II. THE JUDGMENT UPON THE IDOLATRY OF EGYPT. In the two first plagues God's hand was laid upon the river which the Egyptians worshipped as the giver of life. In this it was laid upon the land—also an Egyptian god and the giver of their food, etc. God proves that these are his servants, and that they will bless or harm according to his word. The works of God's hands—earth, sea, etc.—are still regarded as bestowing good independently of his will. Let us not need Egypt's chastisements to teach us that all are serving him, both in blessing and in judgment.
III. THE WORLD'S WISDOM TURNED INTO FOOLISHNESS. They who have hitherto contended so proudly with God are confounded before the basest of all the miracles.
1. The wisdom that seeks to rob man's heart of God is brought to nothing before the gospel. With all its vaunted power it could not bring peace to a sinner's heart nor change to his life.
2. Atheistic science, that can see God nowhere, will yet be confounded before his judgments.—U.