Ps. 78.48 (an egyptian hell)

He delivered / their livestock / to the hail
and their flocks / to the lightning bolts. 

If we have been correct in perceiving a type of mirroring between God’s actions with Israel and with her enemies, then that continues into these verses. We have seen how, with Israel, God first provides water, then bread, then meat. Here, God ‘kills’ the enemies water, their crops and now their meat (their livestock). It is also instructive how this destruction occurs. Our analysis here will be very similar to the one offered in regard to God’s provision of bread and destruction of agriculture. When God provided meat to the Israelites it was described as “raining down” on the Israelites. God “set the east wind blowing” and “guided the south wind” such that meat and flying birds fell on them like dust and the sand on seashore. Here, just as with the ‘rain of death’ in the agricultural sphere, God now, instead of a rain of ‘blessing’, produces the ‘raining of curse’ upon Israel’s enemies. This rain, instead of producing life, produces death. Again, this is a ‘sign’ of God’s protection of his people and their ransoming. It is, also as we saw yesterday, a sign that takes is shape from the blessing that will ‘rain down’ on Israel later. The ‘killing’ of the Egyptian meat is understood only in light of the ‘blessing’ of Israelite meat in the wilderness. Further, as we also remarked upon yesterday, this ‘sign’ is established in Egypt. With all of the weight that Egypt carries in the Scriptures it is difficult not to envision these ‘signs in Egypt’ as a type of enacted hell. These sings make Egypt into a desecration as death begins to feed upon its every strata (from water, to vegetation, to animal, to man—much like the creation story…). Whereas God’s ‘sanctuary’ will be in the wilderness (around which ‘birds will fall like sand’), Egypt will become desolated by a killing hail and lightning bolts. In Egypt, life is being systematically destroyed; in the wilderness, life is being prodigally provided.