And there fell.... — And a great hail, as of a talent in weight, descends from the heaven on men. There is again a reference to the Egyptian plagues. But we may also call to mind the great defeat of the enemies of Israel at Beth-horon (Joshua 10:1-11), when “the Lord cast down great stones from heaven.” Such an overthrow awaits every confederacy that sets itself in array against the kingdom of the righteous King. The discomfiture and the plague works no repentance; the men blaspheme God because of the hail, for great is its plague exceedingly. The proud, hard spirit which still hates the good remains: thus is sin its own worst penalty. As an illustration of this hard, unsubdued spirit, we may call to mind Capaneus, in Dante’s Inferno, and the words in which Virgil addresses him: —
“Thou art more punished, in that this thy pride
Lives yet unquenched; no torment save thy rage
Were to thy fury pain proportioned full.
The unrepentant state of those upon whom the vials are poured is to be contrasted with the different result of the earthquake in Revelation 11:13, when men gave glory to the God of heaven.