The hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle.
The suffering that comes upon the brute creation in consequence of the sin of man
I. That wicked men often act in reference to the claim’s of God in such a manner as to provoke his judgments.
II. That men who thus reject the claim’s of God often involve the brute creation in pain and woe.
III. That the men who thus involve the brute creation in pain and suffering are often unmoved by the devastation they occasion. “And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened.” Lessons:
1. That the retribution of sin does not end with those who occasion it.
2. That the brute world is affected by the conduct of man.
3. That men should endeavour to banish pain from the universe by attention to the commands of heaven. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Another blow at Egyptian idolatry
By the former plagues their religious ceremonies had been interrupted and their sacred abominations defiled: but now their chief deities are attacked. In Goshen, where the cattle are but cattle, they remain untouched: “Of the cattle of the children of Israel there died not one” (Exodus 9:6); but in all other parts of the country, where they are reverenced as gods, the plague is upon them, and they die. Osiris, the saviour, cannot save even the brute in which his own soul is supposed to dwell; Apis and Mnevis, the ram of Ammon, the sheep of Sais, and the goat of Mendes, perish together. Hence Moses reminds the Israelites afterwards, “Upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments” (Numbers 33:4); and Jethro, when he had heard from Moses the history of all that God had done in Egypt, confessed, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods; for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly, He was above them” (Exodus 18:11). (T. S. Millington.)
Calf-worship in modern times
There are some traces of this calfworship to be observed even in our own days. The Hindus still pay reverence to the ox as a sacred animal. One particular kind of cattle, having a hump upon the shoulders, is consecrated to Siva, as the Egyptian bull was to Osiris; they are caressed and pampered by the people; they roam at large, and may destroy the most valuable crops with impunity; none dare lay hands upon them; they are everywhere treated with respect. (T. S. Millington.)