Plagued with Problems
Selected Passages from Exodus 7-11
Series: Essential 100
January 27, 2008
Morning Service
God seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye. C.S. Lewis, Studies in Theology.
God has a way of stepping into the stream of human history and changing everything in an instant. He can do this because, well He is God. God does what needs to be done as it needs to be done and how it needs to be done. The greatest miracle it seems is the fact that He uses us at all in his plans.
Meaning of Miracle (dictionary.com)
1. An effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.
2. such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.
3. a wonder; marvel.
A poll was conducted of adults on the question of miracles. Percentage of adults who mostly agree or completely agree with the statement, "Even today, miracles are performed by the power of God": 82.
God sends the means to make His mission possible. The means were the ten plagues and the mission was to set His people free. If you have your Bibles open them to Exodus 6:6-8
The Ten Plagues reveal the Significance of God (Knowledge)
6 "Therefore, say to the Israelites: `I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’ " Exodus 6:6-8
God makes it clear to Moses that He is about to make Himself known. This means that God was going to reveal Himself through a variety of means. The history of Israel was filled with three major times of miracles. The last time of miracles was during the life of Jesus, the second was during the life of Elijah and the first was during the life of Moses.
The word used here for know meant to make known, to declare or to reveal oneself. This was exactly what God was going to do. God tells Moses that He is going to do something so great and so incredible that it will get everyone’s attention. In other words, God was going to do something that no one could ignore. People might still reject but there would be no way to ignore.
What was God going to show?
His divine person – I Am that I Am – Yahweh
God had given Moses His personal name at the burning bush, I Am that I Am – Hebrew word Yahweh. God is now declaring who He is to those who do not yet know or those who are seeking to know. Remember God called Moses because He had heard the cries of His people in Egypt. God is now going to reveal Himself to His people and to the world.
His divine position – LORD
God is also called Lord and this designates His position in the universe. The Israelites have lived under the rule of the Pharaoh and Egypt for too long. The Egyptian belief was that the Pharaoh was a god and the ruler over them. No one could stand against his rule and now God was going to step in to declare Himself.
His divine Power - God
God also declares Himself as Almighty. The Hebrew elohim is used here to describe that He is the Almighty God of all the universe.
Who was God going to reveal Himself to?
The people of Israel (6:7)
God was going to show Himself to His people Israel and reveal the things that only he could do. He was going to show them that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was their God and He would be their deliverer. His wrath was going to be poured out on Egypt for the suffering of His people.
The people of Egypt (7:5)
And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it."
God was going to reveal Himself to the people of Egypt and remind them who really was God. Before all would be finished, everyone in Egypt would know that God was above all and over all.
Pharaoh (7:17)
14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’ " Exodus 7:14-18
God was going to show Pharaoh that he was not a god and was not above any other man. Pharaoh was a mere mortal and God was God.
The Ten Plagues reveal the Supremacy of God (Egyptian gods and goddesses)
The miracles that happen here in these chapters of Exodus are far from random. In fact, each plague follows a specific sequence that attacks the belief system of Egypt. God simply defeats the entire pantheon of Egyptian gods and goddesses through the 10 plagues. Each of the plagues targets a specific god or goddess or set of deities.
The plague of blood – Hapi, the god of the Nile
God turned the waters of the Nile and the tributaries to blood. This would cut off nearly all water supplies and destroy a major source of food. All fish and other creatures were killed when this happened.
The plague of frogs – Heqt, the frog headed goddess of fruitfulness
God sends an overwhelming swarm of frogs to beset Egypt. Frogs were everywhere and there was no way to avoid them. Moses could have asked God to remove them at any time and was told to wait for tomorrow.
The plague of gnats and flies – Khepher, the god of flies and beetles.
God sent down swarms of flies and gnats upon Egypt in two different instances, one was gnats or lice and the other was flies. Both seem to be an attack on the same god of Egyptian belief. These plagues either were not duplicated or could not be duplicated by the magicians.
The plague of livestock – All zoomorphic gods and goddesses. These are the gods or goddesses who had livestock appearances (EX: Hathor – cow headed goddess, Khnum – ram headed god)
God sent a plague upon the livestock of Egypt and decimated their food supply even further. Remember that they would have already lost the food sources of the Nile. Now their livestock were killed and not one of Israel’s animals was lost.
The plague of boils – Imhotep – the physician god
Moses and Aaron used ashes from the furnace to sprinkle out on the land. This furnace was likely used for bricks, the source of much oppression against Israel. God sent down boils on the Egyptians. Boils would have likely been an infected and open sore on the body. These would have been extremely painful and the magicians could not heal themselves.
The plague of hail – Nut, goddess of the sky
God sends hail down on Egypt. This storm would have caused a great deal of fear in Egypt. Not only was there hail but also thunder and lightning. The storm was so severe that crops and animals were destroyed. Again God attacked the agriculture of Egypt.
The plague of locusts – Serapia, protector from locusts
God then sends down locusts on Egypt. The locusts would have destroyed what was left of the crops in Egypt. The crops were already decimated by the hail and now the job was finished by hail.
The plague of darkness – Re, god of the sun and king of the gods
God sends down a great darkness, a darkness that can be felt. It is unclear if this means physically, spiritually or emotionally. Most likely it would be all three. Imagine to be surrounded by darkness for three days. It would be nothing short of oppressing. Still the Pharaoh would not let them go and he threatened to kill Moses if he saw him again. Now that was the height of arrogance.
The plague of firstborn – Bes the protector of the family
God finally sends down the worst of all the plagues on Egypt; the killing of the firstborn. Many times we believe this to be limited to just children. However, the word in Hebrew means more than just children. This would have been the firstborn and would have included adults. For example: A person could lose their oldest son and their oldest brother. The effects would have been devastating
The Ten Plagues reveal the Sovereignty of God (Pharaoh)
The understanding of God’s sovereignty is simply stated that God rules over all things.
The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Exodus 4:21
God has the ability to change the Pharaoh’s receptivity and harden his heart. The narrative uses three specific and descriptive words for the hardening process.
Kabed: to be heavy
This word often describes the eyes, ears, mouth and tongue. Once these organs become heavy they no longer work as they should. The word describes organs of perception that are no longer able to receive outside stimuli.
Thus between the actions of God and the actions of Pharaoh himself, his heart was no longer open to God’s work.
Hazaq: to be strong, hard
The understanding with this word is to be stubborn. We might use the slang bullheaded, pigheaded or stubborn as a mule
Qasha: to be hard, difficult or severe
This is to act in a manner that is harsh.
Pharaoh hardens his heart before God does
Pharaoh sees the work of god and makes the decision to harden his heart before God moves to do so. The choice was the Pharaoh’s and he chose to be difficult with God. The same is true today; many people that God tries to deal with become difficult with Him and with others.
God moves to harden the heart of the Pharaoh
As God begins to move in Egypt, there can be no mistaking that He exhibits amazing power. Before Moses ever goes back to Egypt, God knows what it will take to set the people free. The ten plagues were planned before Moses ever set foot back in Egypt
God brings conviction to the heart of the Pharaoh and on two occasions the Pharaoh confesses to being sinful (9:27 & 10:17) People who try to resist the convicting power of God only make themselves and the people around them miserable. This would seem to be true with Pharaoh and the misery brought on Egypt.
Life Lessons from the Plagues
Never underestimate the power of God
One of the greatest problems that Christians have today is that they underestimate God. We underestimate His power and ability to move on our behalf. We underestimate His plan for our lives and his desire to use us for His kingdom. We underestimate His love for us and His desire for a personal relationship with us. When we underestimate God, we miss our opportunity to live in faith
Allow God to soften your heart
If we are honest, all of us have one area or another that we hold onto. Whether it is some hurt from the past, some guilt that still haunts us or some hindrance that won’t let us move forward with life. In all of these things, we need God to step in and soften our hearts
Open your life to knowing God
The whole purpose of the plagues was for God to reveal Himself to his people and to the people of Egypt. God spoke to Moses at the burning bush. He spoke to Samuel in the tabernacle. He still speaks today and He is still revealing Himself to His people. The question is: are you looking for Him? Are you open to His leading and guiding?
