The language of God: Hail
By Elizabeth Prata
Yesterday I started a short series on the Language of God in Natural Disasters. I explored the questions of where is God when a tsunami happens? Does God send the hurricane, or is it merely the result of the proper meteorological elements coming together?
Today I want to start looking at some specific disasters that happened in the Bible, and today we’ll start with hail.
Two summers ago I looked long and hard for a reasonably priced, reasonably reliable used car. I finally found one with the help of a church buddy, and when I saw it I loved it. Lowish miles, good engine, clean interior. The only thing wrong was it had hail damage. The roof and hood was pockmarked with lots of tiny dents, and the side was scratched. Cosmetically the car wasn’t tip top, but I could live with it.
Living in a town, hail doesn’t bother me much. If I was a farmer, hail would bother me a lot. Hail can ruin crops. It can kill animals. Hail is a problem. Hail are ice particles that fall from the sky in various sizes. The meteorologists have a rating scale for when they talk about hail. Weathermen relate the size of the hail to food or familiar objects when discussing it. The following chart is from the National Weather Service:
Pea Size (1/4 inch)
Mothball, peanut, USB Plug
Penny Size
Nickel Size
Quarter Size
Half Dollar Size
Ping Pong Ball Size
Golf Ball Size
Lime or medium sized Hen Egg
Tennis Ball Size
Baseball Size
Large Apple
Softball
Grapefruit (4 1/2 inches)
The NWS said if a hailstone is bigger than 4 1/2 inches, well-
4 1/2 Probably a record sized hailstone for Idaho or Oregon
Freeze it, Measure it, Notify the NWS.
If you’re still alive that is. They consider anything from pea sized to nickel sized as non-severe. From quarter sized to lime sized, “At this size, a hailstone can fall from approximately 25-40 mph, which is enough to tear up crops, dent vehicles, crack windows, damage housing, and injure both humans and animals alike.“
Hail stones from tennis ball to grapefruit sized are considered high-end severe. Hail at that size can fall from upwards of 100 miles per hour. They can shatter windows, tear up the roof, or kill things outside.
How does God get our attention? Through many ways, and one of them is hail. God uses hail to demand attention, it is one of His signature calling cards. It behooves us to return to the Bible to see when and how He used hail to make His name known.
The most famous case of hail was the one God promised to send to Egypt. God told Moses to visit Pharaoh and tell him-
Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19So now, send word, bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every person and animal that is found in the field and is not brought home, when the hail comes down on them, will die. (Exodus 9:18-19).
And it was so. Even the trees were shredded, all the crops smashed, and any living still outside died.
“Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields–both men and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree.” (Exodus 9:25)
Initially awed by God’s power, Pharaoh acknowledged that he had sinned. However when the rain and hail stopped, He sinned again. God specifically used a massive hailstorm to indicate His power over the earth, and to know that the earth is the LORD’S. Pharaoh did not acknowledge God’s sovereignty.
God has storehouses of hail (Job 38:22). It’s a metaphor. I don’t think there are barns in heaven with iced-up hail waiting to be unleashed (by angels? With shovels?) No, lol. But the metaphor is picturesque, something we finite humans can understand.
God uses hail to warn the unrepentant to come back to Him. “‘I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the LORD.” (Haggai 2:17).
He uses hail to render justice upon the wicked. “I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.” (Isaiah 28:17). In one example, the LORD hurled hail down onto the Amorites at Azekah, as a vengeance against the wicked. (Joshua 10:11)
God plans to use hail again in the future: “The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered great Babylon, to make her drain the cup of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found; and great hailstones, heavy as a hundred-weight, dropped on men from heaven, till men cursed God for the plague of the hail, so fearful was that plague.” (Revelation 16:18-21).
In today’s times we have weather forecasters alerting us to foul weather, and we can prepare. We board up the windows for a hurricane, put the cars in the garage for hail, and buy ice-melt for the coming blizzard. Imagine the shepherds in the fields, they did the best they could predicting the weather by looking at the signs in the sky (Matthew 16:3). But when severe hail began to fall, they had nowhere to run. Farmers mourned the loss of crops and animals. I’m sure that some might have died.
Terrible hail storms have always been and will be part of God’s language to an unrepentant and wicked people. But in today’s times we simply do not know that THIS hail storm was a judgment or THAT hailstorm was a warning or if it was just a collision of air masses. We do not have prophets explicitly telling us God’s mind and plans in these days but we do have the completed canon to look to for comfort over anxiety with coming bad weather or after a disaster.
Yahweh also thundered in the heavens, And the Most High gave forth His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire. (Psalm 18:13)
When or if a severe hailstorm happens near you, what we can do in these modern days is look to the sky and acknowledge God’s sovereign hand over the weather and humankind, and praise Him for His involvement in the world. It may be hard to do if your car is crushed or your flock has been killed, but all things work together for good for those who love God.
