(Now the flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley was ripe and the flax was in bloom;
31. And the flax and the barley. He relates the calamity which the hail inflicted; and shows that a part of the fruits of the earth was destroyed, viz., that which had already grown into stalk; but that the seeds which grow more slowly were spared.
The threatened plague of hail is here summoned by the powerful hand and rod of Moses (Exo 9:22, Exo 9:23), and it obeys the summons, or rather the divine command; for fire and hail fulfil God's word, Psa 148:8. And here we are told, I. What desolations it made upon the earth.
Commenting on Exodus 9:22-35
But the wheat and the rye were not smitten,.... Bruised, broken, beat down, and destroyed by hail: the word by us rendered "rye", and by other "fitches" or "spelt", is thought by Dr. Shaw (q) to be "rice", of which there were and still are plantations in Egypt; whereas rye is little, if at all known in those countries, and besides is of the quickest...