Exodus 2-19

We ended our overview of EXODUS 1 with the Israelite still being held captive in Egypt, but the time was quickly approaching when God was going to deliver them out of slavery, and He was going to use a man by the name of Moses to lead them out of Egypt. The first part of EXODUS is almost as much of a study on Moses as it is the Hebrew nation.

During the time when Moses was born, 1536BC, all of the Israelite male infants were being killed, so Moses mother put him in a wicker basket and set that basket in the Nile River, so it would float down to where the Pharaoh’s daughter bathed every morning.

As the basket neared the Pharaoh’s daughter, she saw it and rescued the “lost baby.” And so, begins the story of Moses. He was adopted into the Pharaoh’s house and raised as royalty, receiving the best of education and living accommodations. He stayed there for 40 years, and then ended up killing an Egyptian who was beating up an Israelite.

This made him flee from Egypt in fear of his life, and so he went far away into the desert and spent the next 40-years of his life as a shepherd, watching the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro.

After this 40-year span, God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush and told him to go and lead His people out of Egypt. And what did Moses do? He did the same thing we do today when God calls us to do His work: He started making up excuses why he couldn’t do what God commanded.

I believe there are many who have not responded to God’s call they are waiting for an engraved invitation to be hand delivered by an angel, or some mystical moment before they finally become obedient. There are many who miss opportunities to brightly shine for God, like the radiant city upon a hilltop. We squander our opportunities to be blessed because we don’t act. Opportunities to reach others for Jesus are constantly being missed because we sit idly by, doing nothing but trying to get out of being called.

And all the while, God is just waiting for us to say, ‘I’m here, Lord. I’m Yours. Set me on fire for You!

Moses finally consented to be obedient and he went back to Egypt and confronted the Pharaoh. But the Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he refused to let the Israelites go. Every time the Pharaoh told Moses he could not take the people out of Egypt, God then sent down a plague over the Egyptians. There were 10 different plagues in all.

In EXODUS 8-11, we read about THE PLAGUES:

1. EXODUS 8:2-4 tells us that God instructed Moses to turn the water in the Nile River into blood.

2. In EXODUS 8:2-3 we see the plague of the frogs, where frogs would come out of the river and invade every nook and cranny of where the Egyptians were.

3. EXODUS 8:16 tells us about the lice and gnats that came up out of the dust of the ground and inflicted every Egyptian and their homes.

4. EXODUS 8:21 describes how flies were so numerous that they swarmed in the homes of the Egyptians. They were everywhere and none of the Egyptians could get away from them.

5. EXODUS 9:3 says God sent down sickness unto death for all the livestock in Egypt. But He also said none of the Israelite animals would die.

6. EXODUS 9:9 tells how a dust came from the east and that produced boils on every Egyptian and the animals they had left.

7. EXODUS 9:18 details the hailstorm that came upon the Egyptians. The intensity was like none every seen since the formation of the earth.

8. EXODUS 10:5 explains how locusts were so thick that nobody could even see the ground, and the locusts ate all the trees and all the grain and crops that the Egyptians had left.

9. EXODUS 10:21-22 says that a thick darkness that could actually be felt came over all the land for three days. It says that none of the Egyptians could see anything during this time and couldn’t see to go anywhere, but the Israelites had light where they lived in Goshen.

10. And finally, in EXODUS 11:5, we read about how God sent death to the firstborn of every Egyptian household, including the Pharaoh’s house. And this included the cattle belonging to the Egyptians.

In these plagues, we find two things: We see the power of God Almighty and how He uses it against those who oppose Him or His people. Secondly, we see that all these plagues only affected the Egyptians, not the Israelites.

THE PASSOVER

In chapter 12, we learn about the Passover.