Exodus 9:18-26 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail… Herodotus says — "The manufacture of linen is peculiar to the Colchians and the Egyptians. The linen which comes from Colchis, the Greeks call Sardonian; the linen of Egypt, Egyptian" (1. 2, c. 105). Pliny's account of it is — "The flax of Egypt, though the least strong of all as a tissue, is that from which the greatest profits are derived. There is no tissue known that is superior to those made from the thread of the Egyptian xylon, either for whiteness and softness, or dressing; the most esteemed vestments worn by the priests of Egypt are made by it" (Hist. Nat. 1. 19, c. 2). Pliny mentions four varieties of flax, and first among them the Tanaitic, growing in the lower district of Egypt, Zoan, which was the seat of Pharaoh's government. The destruction of the flax deprived the people of the material for their chief manufacture, and put a stop to the trade which they carried on with neighbouring nations, who sent their treasure into the country to pay for it. The ruin of the barley was equally injurious. Egypt appears to have been from a very early period the granary of the world. Thither Abraham went down to sojourn when the land in which he dwelt was visited with famine; and thither the sons of Jacob, under similar necessity, naturally turned for help. (T. S. Millington.) Parallel Verses KJV: Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. |
    |