As we saw last week, Moses is finally on board with the mission that God had given him. He’s done making excuses and complaining about how hard it’s going to be to get the Jews out of Egypt. Him and his brother Aaron are ready to take God’s Word to Pharaoh.
But as you’re reading the story in Exodus chapter six, Moses takes a break from the dialogue and inserts a partial genealogy of the heads of Israel which included the line of Reuben, Simeon and his line, the line of Levi. It seems a little out of place here, but actually Moses needed to rightfully establish his and Aaron’s identity since they would hold such prominent positions in the nation.
[Read Exodus 6:26-27 from Exodus 6:14-27.]
This Moses and Aaron were the ones who were definitely from the line of Levi.
So after he establishes their identity, he gives us a mission summary of what God had called them to do.
[Read Exodus 6:28 – 7:7.]
Within this mission summary, God shows us why He so dramatically delivered His people from Egypt. Verse five says, “The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”
For the Egyptians to understand that the Jewish God was the God of the universe, they needed to see proof. So the ten plagues that were going to come upon them would be a display of God’s great power and authority over the universe.
You see, the Egyptians were a very superstitious and spiritually-minded people. They had gods for everything! They had gods for animals, for reproduction, for celestial bodies, for the earth – they had gods for everything. And so when the Lord unleashed his plagues upon the people, in reality it was a battle between Him and the Egyptian gods. Every plague undermined the power, the authority and even the validity of one or more of the Egyptian gods. So when the people saw misfortune come upon them, misfortune their gods couldn’t protect them from, they had the opportunity to realize that the Hebrew God that was bringing the plagues, that He alone is God. And for some of the Egyptians it worked! Some realized that Yahweh was the One, True God. Others, like Pharaoh, hardened their hearts towards God.
And you know what, that’s why God went though all this trouble in the first place – for those that would believe. He could have just wiped out Egypt like He did Sodom and Gomorrah and lead the Jews right to the promise land. But these particular works caused the Jews to have faith and these particular works caused even some of the Egyptians to have faith. God loves the world and it was worth it for those who would believe.
But before He unleashed on the Egyptians, He gave them a warning shot.
[Read Exodus 7:8-13.]
Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh and give him God’s proposal. He asks them to work a miracle to prove that they really are messengers of God. Aaron throws his staff down and it becomes a snake. Pharaoh says, “Not bad.” And calls for his own magicians who come in and do the same thing. Several of them turn their staffs into snakes right before them. But then comes the warning shot – Aaron’s one staff/snake eats all of the magician’s staffs/snakes.
Right away God is showing them that He is the one with the power of the universe. It’s like He’s saying, “Before anyone gets hurt, let me just show you who you’re messing with.” But Pharaoh just thinks it’s a nice trick and hardens his heart just like the Lord said he would. So now it’s time to get serious.
1st Plague: water to blood transformation
[Read Exodus 7:14-25.]
God tries to get their attention by attacking the most important part of their civilization – the Nile River. The river was their life, but now it was lifeless!
Now some have tried to minimize this miracle and say that maybe the light of the sunrise hit the water in such a way that the water appeared red. Or maybe it was a natural occurrence of the clay in the area mixing with the water of the Nile turning it a reddish color. But make no mistake about it, God turned that water into blood. That was evidenced by the dead fish, the foul smell and the Egyptian’s inability to drink from the river. It also says that all the water in Egypt was affected, even water that was standing in containers or ponds not linked to the Nile River. God did something amazing that couldn’t be disputed.
But the magicians, probably dug down and got some water from underground like the people were, and replicated the sign that Moses and Aaron did. They turned some water into blood as well. That was all Pharaoh needed to justify not giving in to Moses’ demands.
Now personally, I think Pharaoh’s mind was made up long before this on whether or not he would let the Jews leave Egypt. He wanted his 2 million slaves in place and it didn’t matter what happened – nothing was going to soften his heart. But there’s a couple of things should have caused him to reconsider.
First of all, his magicians didn’t help anything by making more bloody water. How come they didn’t undo Aaron’s miracle? How come they didn’t use their power to clean the water – the water their people needed for survival? Aaron turned all the water of the whole country into blood while they turned a bucket of water red. All they could muster up was a cheap imitation of a true miracle. They looked like a couple of amateurish wanna-be’s!
Secondly, where were all the Egyptian gods that were supposed to be protecting the Nile River? The Nile was the Egyptians most precious possession and they had several gods who’s main responsibility was to watch over the water. They had:
Hapi or Apis the bull god of the Nile
Isis the goddess of the Nile
Khnum the ram god guardian of the Nile
And several others
Where were they? They were either outdone by the Hebrew God or they didn’t exist. Either way it didn’t look good for Egyptian superstition. Yet Pharaoh didn’t pay attention to reality and hardened his heart. So things are only going to get worse.
2nd Plague: frog mass-invasion
[Read Exodus 8:1-7.]
Now again, this is such an ironic way of plaguing the people. You see, to Egyptians, the frog is a sacred animal and were not to be hurt in any way. They believed this because their goddess Heqet had the body of a woman but the head of a frog. It was believed that she and her husband, the god Khnum could create life. He made the bodies from the dust of the earth and she animated them with the breath of life from her nostrils.
Frogs were a symbol of life, a sign of fertility and a sign of blessing. People would even wear amulets around their necks of frogs to honor them. But now one of the most sacred things to them has become a curse.
And again their magicians only made things worse. Instead of causing the frogs to retreat back to the Nile with one of their spells, they just made more frogs! What were they thinking? Why didn’t these guys get fired or beheaded or something? Could you imagine calling an exterminator to get rid of your roaches but he just brought more roaches with him? That’s what these guys did.
Could you imagine what it must have been like to have every area of your life invaded by frogs? In the streets, at your job, in the markets, in your homes, in your bedrooms, sitting on your face when you wake up in the morning? Obviously the frog mass-invasion was too much for Pharaoh and he had a change of heart; or did he?
[Read Exodus 8:8-15.]
Moses treats Pharaoh with the utmost of respect. And he tells him that God would get rid of the frogs to prove to him once and for all that He alone is the One, True God. Moses and God keep their end of the bargain but Pharaoh continues to harden his heart. I don’t think he ever intended on letting the people go. He just wanted the frogs gone and did whatever it took to make it happen. Obviously his magicians were no help so he turned to Moses. But in a disingenuous way.
So Pharaoh, you don’t like frogs in your land? How do you feel about bugs?
3rd Plague: gnat multiplication
[Read Exodus 8:16-19.]
Now the exact kind of bug is uncertain except that it was some sort of bug that would “fasten” itself to you through it’s sting; (gnat, lice, sand flea or mosquito). And there were so many of them that they attacked all the people and the animals of the land and made life miserable.
But where was their god Set who was the god of the desert? Was he not there when Aaron multiplied the “dust of the earth” into gnats?
And again the magicians were of no help. They even tried to copy the miracle by making some gnats themselves. I tell you what, when you aren’t living for God your mind just doesn’t work right. “Hey guys, let’s make some more bugs that’ll torment us day and night with their itchy bites… Okay!” You’d think the magicians would create some bug spray or at least a fly swatter? But no.
Now the interesting thing is that when they tried to replicate Aaron’s miracle they failed. And when they failed it caused them to realize that Aaron wasn’t just performing some kind of magic trick. He was doing these things by the power of God.
[Read Exodus 8:19.]
Well, time for another plague. How’s about a:
4th Plague: fly infestation
[Read Exodus 8:20-24.]
With this plague, and all the plagues to follow, only the Egyptians would be affected. The Israelites would stand out as having the protective hand of God upon them through these terrible times. And I tell you what, a fly infestation is a terrible thing.
[Terry’s fly infestation story.]
Egypt has a serious fly infestation on it’s hand and nothing’s helping. The magicians are nowhere to be found. (Like they’d do any good.) And their gods aren’t protecting them from harm. The Egyptians had a god named Uatchit that manifested himself as a fly. Why wasn’t he keeping all the other flies in line?
Well, Pharaoh’s had enough of the flies all over his land so he calls Moses and Aaron and tries to offer them a compromise to the situation. But as we’ll see, it’s just more deception.
[Read Exodus 8:25-32.]
You know what’s amazing here? The only thing that gets rid of the plagues is when God answers Moses’ prayers. And Moses lets Pharaoh know that he would pray for that to happen. Pharaoh knows it’s God causing the plagues and he knows its God lifting the plagues. Yet his heart is still so hard towards the Lord. He has every opportunity to believe yet chooses to hold on to his pride, his reputation and his slaves that are building his kingdom.
Have you ever seen a person like this? God is working all around them yet they continually harden their heart towards Him.
[Nick hospitalized story.]
Some people just refuse to believe. However, some people can see the same miracles and it has a completely different affect on them.
[Leah’s dad in church after heart attack story.]
Some people react to the power of God with faith and some people harden their hearts. It’s a choice we all have to make when confronted by the reality of God Almighty.
