Day 32. Reading Exodus 7 – 9.  (February)

Read the scripture for today. What do you learn about God? Share what you learn with others.

Exodus 7.

“Let the “plagues” begin!” 

God renews His commission to Moses to tell Pharaoh to “Let the people of Israel go out of his land.”  He warns Moses that Pharaoh will NOT allow it, but so that the Egyptians will know that He is the LORD, He will perform “great acts of judgment.” When Pharaoh asks Moses to perform a miracle, Moses is to tell Aaron to throw down his staff in front of the king so it will become a serpent.

(Aaron will speak for Moses. Aaron is much more at ease with the Egyptian language than Moses, who has been away for 40 years.)

It goes just like God said, except Pharaoh’s sorcerers were able to make their staffs become snakes as well.  Did that surprise/worry Moses?  However, the “rod of God” swallows their “serpents” before Aaron picks it up.

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.

Next, God tells Moses to meet Pharaoh by the Nile River as he goes out to get water. Moses is to repeat the request (“Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.”)  To show that the LORD is God (and not their pagan river god), Moses will tell Aaron to strike the water with his staff. When he does, ALL the water in Egypt will turn to blood. Pharaoh ignores the warning, so Aaron hits the water.

All the water in the Nile turned to blood, the fish died, and the river stunk. All the connecting canals, ponds, and pools became blood, and all the pots, buckets, and pitchers of water also became blood. (Egyptians had to dig in the sand along the river to get fresh water, or they would have died of thirst.)

And Pharaoh’s sorcerers did the same. Huh? How? And why not REVERSE the plague instead of making it worse. They couldn’t.

Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened.

Exodus 8.

A whole week later, Moses goes to Pharaoh and repeats the request. “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” If he doesn’t respond, Moses (though Aaron with the staff) will call up frogs from the River. Millions of frogs will swarm over the land and into their houses, bedrooms, beds, cooking pots, ovens, and kneading bowls.  YUCK!! 

(BTW, frogs were considered sacred to Egyptians, so they wouldn’t try to kill them.)

Pharaoh does not respond, so Aaron stretches the “rod of God” over the waters, and Voila! Up come those masses of amphibians.  And guess what!  The sorcerers made MORE frogs.  Seriously?? 

“Moses, Moses! Plead with the LORD to take away these frogs!” says the Pharaoh, now stepping on and throwing off the creatures. “And…. I will let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.”  Whoa! Really??

(I love this.) “Be pleased to command me WHEN I am to plead for you and our servants and your people that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile,” Moses (or Aaron) says. 

“TOMORROW!”   (Huh?  Why not this minute?)

“Okay, so you will know that there is no one like the LORD our God… tomorrow it is.“

Moses leaves and prays. God hears and answers. The frogs die and are gathered into piles. They stink, but they are no longer hopping into houses.

When Pharaoh saw there was a respite, he hardened his heart.

Then, without warning, Moses tells Aaron to strike the dust with his staff. He does, and the dust becomes gnats. (Think “no-see-ums,” you folks in the South.)  They swarmed and buzzed and landed on and bit man and beast. 

Ho, ho, ho! The sorcerers could NOT duplicate this one. “Pharaoh, this is the finger of God!” they cried.

But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.

Next, Moses is told to meet Pharaoh again when he goes out to get water. “The LORD says, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else…flies will swarm everywhere! EXCEPT in Goshen where My people live.” And the next day, it happened. No “rod of God” this time. 

“Moses! Go, sacrifice to your God within the land!” Pharaoh cries, swatting at the awful insects.

“Nope. The offerings we shall sacrifice to the LORD are an abomination to the Egyptians. (They worshiped cattle.)  “We must go a three-day journey into the wilderness.”

“Okay, okay,” says the fly-covered Pharaoh. “I will let you go and sacrifice to the LORD in the wilderness, but you must not go very far away. PLEAD FOR ME!” 

“Okay, the flies will be gone tomorrow, but YOU’D BETTER NOT CHEAT AGAIN!”

And so, the LORD removed the flies so that not one remained.

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also.

Genesis 9.

The LORD sends Moses again to Pharaoh. “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me.'” 

This time, it would be a very severe plague on the livestock in the field. Horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks will die.  BUT NOT IN GOSHEN. The animals belonging to the people of Israel would be safe.

The next day, it happened as the LORD said, and the animals of Egypt died. (Pharaoh even sent to check in Goshen and found the Israelite animals well and chomping grass in the fields.)

But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened.

Next, God told Moses and Aaron to take handfuls of soot from the kiln and let MOSES throw it in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It will turn to fine dust, spread over Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast, says the LORD.  EEEK! 

So they did it before Pharaoh.  His sorcerers could not even stand on their feet because of the boils, as was true for all of Egypt.

But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh.

Next, Moses was to go before Pharaoh in the morning and say, “The LORD the God of the Hebrews says ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me.”  Furthermore, He said, “This time I will send all my plagues on YOU, YOURSELF, and the people, so that you may know that there is NONE LIKE ME in all the earth.“

God then explains why He continues to plague (and harden his heart). “For this purpose, I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that My Name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 

Then, through Moses, God proclaimed that the next day would bring hail like they had never seen, VERY HEAVY HAIL.  But, the merciful God warned all in Egypt who would listen to “Send and get any livestock you have in the field into a safe shelter. Every man and beast in the field will die when the hail falls on them.”

(Whoever feared the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into houses.)  Well done, you!

Moses then stretched out his hand toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth (lightning?). There was fire flashing continually in the hail, very heavy hail, not seen since Egypt became a nation.  And all in the fields; man, beast, plant, and tree were stuck down or broken.

But not in Goshen. 

Pharaoh sent for Moses. “This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. PLEAD with Him, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”  REALLY… Pharaoh?

“I’ll do it, O Pharaoh, but you do not yet fear the LORD God.”

And Moses was correct. As soon as the rain, hail, and thunder stopped, the king sinned again.

The heart of Pharaoh was hardened.

.

Mass destruction and the final blow will come tomorrow for Pharaoh and Egypt. But deliverance for Israel, as God promised.