“And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s.”
Moses replied: when I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord's. The stated purpose of the answer to prayer — so you may know that the earth is the Lord's — is one of the most comprehensive theological declarations in the plague narrative. Not just the God of Israel, not just the God of the Hebrews, but the owner of the earth. Psalm 24:1 opens: the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Moses is announcing to the most powerful earthly ruler in the world that he is a tenant, not an owner — that the land he rules, the rivers he controls, the sky above him all belong to another. The prayer Moses will offer is not a transaction; it is a testimony.
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