'And he withdrew his hand' means: the one that had been burned when he took the ember while he was in the lap of Pharaoh. Pharaoh exerted all his effort in treating it with all the physicians he could find, but he was unable to heal it. He withdrew it from his pocket after showing it to him in the state he was accustomed to seeing it, then he put it back in his pocket. 'So when it was' after the withdrawal, 'white for the onlookers' means: a whiteness that compels the observers to look at it, as it is extraordinary, for it has a light like the light of the sun that almost blinds the eyes.