The table below presents two contradictory verses/verselets. Both verses speak about the 7th plague, the hail. The underlined words highlight the contradiction. One verse/verselet says there were fires (presumably from pre-hail lightning storms), while the other verse/verselet says there was hail. We see the contradiction Which is it? Was there hail or fire? For if there was hail, it would have put out the fires! Rashi simply resolves this using the 2 Stages / 2 Aspects method: First there was a lightning storm which started fires. Second there was a hail storm. The fires pulsated in the hail; the fires went out in one place and quickly pulsated to another place. So the hail did not put out the fires and they - the fire and hail - coexisted. One point here is that no good came from the hail (such as putting out fires).

Summary	Verse / Source	Text of verse / Source
First, there was a pre-hail lightning storm with fires.	Ex09-28a	So there was hail, and fire pulsating amidst the hail, very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
2nd there was hail. But the fire pulsated to and from the hail so both remained; the hail did not put out the fire.	Ex09-28a	So there was hail, and fire pulsating up amidst the hail, very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
Resolution:	2 Stages / 2 Aspects	First there was a lightning storm which started fires. Second there was a hail storm. The fires pulsated in the hail; the fires went out in one place and quickly pulsated to another place. So the hail did not put out the fires and they - the fire and hail - coexisted. The point here is that no good came from the hail (such as putting out fires).

Advanced Rashi: For the translation mithlaqachat = pulsating see Rule #3, grammar and Rule #2, meaning above.

Rashi literally says Hail is water and water and fire do not coexist. But it was the greatness of the miracle that these two forces - water and fire - coexisted to punish the Egyptians. We have taken this Rashi and supplied operational details. We have explained that the fire came from a pre-hail lightning storm. We have also explained that from the word pulsating we infer that the hail did put out some fires but the fires quickly pulsated to and fro not being totally extinguished but reappearing in another place. Finally we explained the significance of the fire and water working together to punish the Egyptians. Typically a punishment like hail would have some benefits such as putting out fires. But part of the miracle of the 7th plague, hail, was that no good came from the hail.