A friend of mine asks brilliant questions. In his own words, he doesn't always have the right answer. But he often has the right question. And he asked me the other day, "How can we teach our kids and grandkids to understand that God is a Big God?"
His question put a bug in my ear. How can we help our kids move past our own doubts about God, and fears, and our struggles with faith? How we can start them on a path toward a truer understanding of God? How can we give them a better starting point than our own, so that they can go higher, and farther, in faith, in God? Another brilliant question.
My sermon today, is part of my (delayed) answer to his question.
Verses 1-2:
(1) And Yahweh said to Moses,
"Go to Pharaoh,
because I am making heavy his resolve/heart, and the resolve/heart of his servants,
in order that I may do these signs of mine in his midst,
and in order that you may recount in the ears of your son and your grandson
(1) how I abused /made a fool of Egypt,
and (2) my signs that I did against them,
and that you may know that I [am] Yahweh,"
So far, the plagues that Yahweh has sent against Egypt, through Moses, have been a bit of a mix, as far as how severe they've been.
The Nile turned to blood is gross. It resulted in way more work for the people, because they had to dig out water sources. The frogs, everywhere, were like a giant prank, gone way too far. When I think about the flies, and the gnats, they seem impossibly irritating. It's bad enough having a few gnats flying around your head, but to have all the loose dust of Egypt turn to gnats? Brutal.
When Yahweh sent diseases against the livestock, killing most of them, that marks a serious escalation. Sickness, and disease, is a far more terrifying enemy from a human perspective, because it's mysterious, and there's no good way to fight it.
But the scariest thing that Yahweh has done, I think, is strengthen Pharaoh's resolve. In God's own words, in verse 2, God is doing one of two things. And maybe we are supposed to grab both possible meanings here. You could say (=translate it as)-- God is "abusing" (Jeremiah 38:19; Judges 19:25, "and abused her all night") Pharaoh. Or, you could say, He's making a fool of Pharaoh (both are listed glosses in lexicons).
Numbers 22:22-29:
22 But God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. 24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25 And when the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again. 26 Then the angel of the LORD went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28 Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “***Because you have made a fool of me.*** I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.”
When people set themselves against God, and against God's people, they are fighting a God they cannot defeat.
And at that point, in response, how God decides to wage war against them, and judge them, is up to Him.
It's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Eventually, when God's patience runs out, what might He do? If you've become his enemy, He may abuse you. He may make an absolute fool out of you.
Now, in all of this, I rabbit trailed really hard. Let's reread verses 1-2:
(1) And Yahweh said to Moses,
"Go to Pharaoh,
because I am making heavy his resolve/heart, and the resolve/heart of his servants,
in order that I may do these signs of mine in his midst,
and in order that you may recount in the ears of your son and your grandson
(1) how I abused/made a fool of Egypt,
and (2) my signs that I did against them,
and that you may know that I [am] Yahweh,"
Part of why God is doing all of this to Pharaoh, is for Israel's/your benefit. God is creating stories of his own power, that He wants to have passed down from generation to generation.
You will sit your kids down next to you, or in your lap, and you'll read the stories of what God did to Pharaoh. And kids will think about blood, and frogs, and flies, and gnats, and snakes, and they'll be impressed. The boys, at least. You could have them act out the stories with broom handles ("the staff of Yahweh"). They are great stories.
Kids can learn, from a young age, that Yahweh is powerful. And, that Yahweh "will be," whatever He wants to be. He will be "for you." He will be against your enemies. And He will be enough.
God wanted to make sure that you had plenty of stories to tell your kids, and grandkids, about God's power.
These stories will help you stay faithful to God. And they will help you trust him, when you deal with your own suffering.
Verse 3-6:
(3) and Moses went with Aaron to Pharaoh,
and they said to him,
"Thus has said Yahweh the God of the Hebrews: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?
Release my people, that they may serve me
(4) because if refusing, you are, to release my people, LOOK! I am bringing locusts tomorrow against your territory,
(5) and they will cover the face of the land,
and no one will be able to see the land,
and they will eat the remnant of the remnant of what remains to you from the hail,
and they will eat every tree that sprouts for you from the field,
(6) and they will be filled-- your houses, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians--
such as your fathers and grandfathers haven't seen from when lived upon the land, until this day,"
and he turned,
and he went out from with Pharaoh,
For a farmer, locusts are about as it gets. They can strip fields clean, down to nothing, quickly. They are insatiable.
And maybe, if you're an Egyptian farmer, you looked at your fields after the hail, and thought, "It could've been worse. Some of my crops hadn't come up yet. I still have something." It's like a farmer who loses half his crop to a late spring frost. It's brutal. It stinks. But maybe all your crops hadn't germinated yet. Maybe you're the glass half-full sort of farmer.
Here, Yahweh promises that things will get worse. The leftover crops that you consoled yourself with, will also be destroyed. And the locusts won't be like hail-- locusts leave nothing.
Verse 7:
(7) and the servants of Pharaoh said to him,
"How long shall this [man?] [be] to us as a snare?
Release the men, that they may serve Yahweh their God/Elohim.
Do you not yet know that Egypt has been destroyed?,
Pharaoh's servants can see what Pharaoh can't. Egypt has been destroyed. And so his own advisors have reached the point, where they realize that keeping the Hebrews as slaves isn't worth it. They are more trouble than they are worth. Because Yahweh, is nothing but trouble to them. And so they call Pharaoh to do the same thing, that Moses called them to do. Release them.
Except, the servants call Pharaoh to release "the men." Not all the all the people. Not the women. Not the kids. Just the men.
My very first day driving out in the countryside, on a storm day, I got impossibly stuck. It was my fault. I was beyond stupid. A city boy, who didn't understand how the country works. A guy came in a Ford Explorer, with a tow rope. And he tried to help. And it was hopeless. So he says to me, "I'll go to my nearby farm, warm up my tractor, and come back and get you." And then he went to grab his tow rope. I said, "Do you want to leave the rope here?"
I knew that rope was worth a hundred bucks. It's the kind of thing you don't leave behind. And I wanted him to leave it behind, because then he'd for sure come back and help me.
He took it, drove off. And I never saw him again.
Pharaoh's servants know, if you let the men go serve Yahweh, but keep back the women, and the children, the men will come back. They're not going to abandon their families. They don't want to become bachelors again. A week of microwaved meals, and they'll be back.
Verse 8:
(8) and Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh,
and he said to them,
"Go! Serve Yahweh your God/Elohim.
Who is going?",
(9) and Moses said,
"With our youth and with our elders we shall go.
With our sons and with our daughters.
With our flocks and with our livestock we shall go,
because a festival/feast of Yahweh [it is] for us,"
(10) and he said to them,
"May Yahweh thus be with you.
As soon as I release you and your little children, see that evil [is] before your faces.
(11) Not in this way [will I send you out].
May the warriors, please, go, that they may serve Yahweh,
because this is evil you are seeking,"
and he drove them from before the face of Pharaoh,
Pharaoh knows, what I knew. No good can come from letting everyone, and everything go. He calls on Moses to admit, that he has some type of evil plan.
And Moses does. That's the amusing part. At this point, I think it's becoming clear that Israel isn't coming back. They can't leave a tow rope behind.
Pharaoh, hearing their words, drives Moses and Aaron out of his presence. He refuses to release all the people.
And so now it's time for Yahweh to harm Egypt, again. To abuse Pharaoh. To make a fool of him. Verse 12:
(12) and Yahweh said to Moses,
"Stretch out your hand upon the land of Egypt with the locusts,
that they will come up upon the land of Egypt,
and that they will eat all the greenery of the land-- all that the hail left over,"
(13) and Moses stretched out his staff upon the land of Egypt,
while Yahweh guided an east wind against the land all that day and all night.
Morning came,
and the east wind carried the locusts,
(14) and the locusts went up upon all the land of Egypt,
and they settled in all the territory of Egypt.
Very heavy [they were] before him.
There weren't ever locusts like it before,
and after it there weren't like it,
(15) and they covered the surface of all the land,
and the land was darkened,
and they ate all the greenery of the land and all the fruit of the trees
that the hail had left over,
and any greenery of the trees and vegetation of the field wasn't left over in all the land of Egypt,
(16) and Pharaoh hurried to call to Moses and to Aaron,
and he said,
"I have sinned toward Yahweh your God and toward you,
(17) and so then, carry, please, my sin, surely this time,
and plead to Yahweh your God,
that He may turn from upon me (except?) only this death,
(18) and he went out from with Pharaoh,
and he pled to Yahweh,
(19) and Yahweh turned a west wind, very strong,
and it carried the locusts,
and it drove them to the Sea of Reeds.
There wasn't left over, one locust in all the territory of Egypt,
(20) and Yahweh strengthened the heart/resolve of Pharaoh,
and he didn't release the sons of Israel,
So Moses prays for Pharaoh, and Yahweh answers his prayer. He sends a new wind, and it carries the locusts into the sea where they die. This plague won't be end like the frogs, where the whole land stinks.
But in verse 20, Yahweh again strengthens Pharaoh's resolve. There is more that God wants to do to him. He's not done with Pharaoh yet. There's more abuse coming. There's more making a fool of him coming.
And so we jump right into the next plague. This one, I'll just read:
(21) and Yahweh said to Moses,
"Stretch out your hand upon the heavens,
and darkness will come over the land of Egypt,
that he will feel/grope [the] darkness,"
(22) and Moses stretched out his hand upon the heavens,
and thick darkness came against all the land of Egypt three days.
(23) A man couldn't see his brother,
and no one could move for three days,
while for all the sons of Israel there was light in their homes,
(24) and Pharaoh called to Moses,
and he said,
"Go. Serve Yahweh.
Only, your flocks and your livestock must remain behind.
What's more, even your small children may go with you,
(25) and Moses said,
"Even if you give into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings, we must offer to Yahweh our God,
(26) and also our livestock must go with us.
Not a hoof may remain,
because from them we must take to serve Yahweh our God,
while/and we don't know how we will serve Yahweh until we get there,"
(27) and Yahweh strengthened the resolve/heart of Pharaoh,
and he wasn't willing to release them,
(28) and Pharaoh said to him,
"Go from me.
Be careful to never again see my face,
because on the day you see my face you will die,"
(29) and Moses said,
"Thus you have said.
I will never see your face again."
With God's help, Pharaoh does the impossible. He ends the story, not simply resisting, but for the first time, he threatens Moses.
How does Moses respond?
Moses doesn't seem very scared. I imagine Moses standing defiantly before Pharaoh. Moses is the one who decides when he gets to leave. Moses is the one, with God (obviously), who decides how all of this will play out.
And if Yahweh is with him, who can be against him?
-------------------------------------------------------
I'd like to close today by reflecting on the first two verses:
(1) And Yahweh said to Moses,
"Go to Pharaoh,
because I am making heavy his resolve/heart, and the resolve/heart of his servants,
in order that I may do these signs of mine in his midst,
and in order that you may recount in the ears of your son and your grandson
(1) how I abused /made a fool of Egypt,
and (2) my signs that I did against them,
and that you may know that I [am] Yahweh,"
What you are supposed to take away from this story, is an understanding of who Yahweh is. Yahweh tells you, what you should learn about him from the story. Yahweh "will be, what He will be." And what He will be, is the God who laughs at his enemies (Psalm 2). Who abuses them. Who makes a fool of them. Who does whatever He wants to them.
Pharaoh can oppress Israel, and refuse to let them go. He can threaten Moses. But compared to God, what is Pharaoh? Pharaoh is a paper tiger. At this point, when we hear Pharaoh's last words, we hear them from God's perspective. We laugh. "Tough guy, talking big, can't back it up."
If I've learned one thing over the past year, it's that God is bigger than our problems. He's bigger than my problems. He's bigger than your problems. God "will be" more than enough for me.
And since God is with me, I will win. I will conquer. In Christ, I'm an absolute monster. And so are you. You walk around like Moses, knowing Who is with you, Who is fighting for you, Who backs up your faith-words.
And if we do suffer in this world, like the Israelites did, we know that this is not the end of God's story. It's not the end of my story. And it will never be the end of the church's story. So long as we stay faithful to Jesus, and walk in step with the Spirit (trying to grab Romans 8:4-5, 13, and holding that with what follows), we will conquer. Our last word, is always, conquer.
Let's read from Romans 8:28-39:
31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.[w] 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So when you sit down to read the children's Bible with your kids, and grandkids, how will you tell God's story?
You'll make sure to laugh about Pharaoh. You'll get the kids to laugh with you. You'll train them, from a young age, to view their hardships from God's perspective. You'll help them realize that God is bigger than every problem. You'll teach them how to wield the broomstick-- the staff of God. And you'll raise kids in a way, that they become spiritual warriors.
Translation:
(1) And Yahweh said to Moses,
"Go to Pharaoh,
because I am making heavy his resolve/heart, and the resolve/heart of his servants,
in order that I may do these signs of mine in his midst,
and in order that you may recount in the ears of your son and your grandson
(1) how I mistreated/abused Egypt,
and (2) my signs that I did against them,
and that you may know that I [am] Yahweh,"
(3) and Moses went with Aaron to Pharaoh,
and they said to him,
"Thus has said Yahweh the God of the Hebrews: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?
Release my people, that they may serve me
(4) because if refusing, you are, to release my people, LOOK! I am bringing locusts tomorrow against your territory,
(5) and they will cover the face of the land,
and no one will be able to see the land,
and they will eat the remnant of the remnant of what remains to you from the hail,
and they will eat every tree that sprouts for you from the field,
(6) and they will be filled-- your houses, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians--
such as your fathers and grandfathers haven't seen from when lived upon the land, until this day,"
and he turned,
and he went out from with Pharaoh,
(7) and the servants of Pharaoh said to him,
"How long shall this [man?] [be] to us as a snare?
Release the men, that they may serve Yahweh their God/Elohim.
Do you not yet know that Egypt has been destroyed?,
(8) and Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh,
and he said to them,
"Go! Serve Yahweh your God/Elohim.
Who is going?",
(9) and Moses said,
"With our youth and with our elders we shall go.
With our sons and with our daughters.
With our flocks and with our livestock we shall go,
because a festival/feast of Yahweh [it is] for us,"
(10) and he said to them,
"May Yahweh thus be with you.
As soon as I release you and your little children, see that evil [is] before your faces.
(11) Not in this way [will I send you out].
May the warriors, please, go, that they may serve Yahweh,
because this [evil-- feminine pronoun, pointing backward] you are seeking,"
and he drove them from before the face of Pharaoh,
(12) and Yahweh said to Moses,
"Stretch out your hand upon the land of Egypt with the locusts,
that they will come up upon the land of Egypt,
and that they will eat all the greenery of the land-- all that the hail left over,"
(13) and Moses stretched out his staff upon the land of Egypt,
while Yahweh guided an east wind against the land all that day and all night.
Morning came,
and the east wind carried the locusts,
(14) and the locusts went up upon all the land of Egypt,
and they settled in all the territory of Egypt.
Very heavy [they were] before him.
There weren't ever locusts like it before,
and after it there weren't like it,
(15) and they covered the surface of all the land,
and the land was darkened,
and they ate all the greenery of the land and all the fruit of the trees
that the hail had left over,
and any greenery of the trees and vegetation of the field wasn't left over in all the land of Egypt,
(16) and Pharaoh hurried to call to Moses and to Aaron,
and he said,
"I have sinned toward Yahweh your God and toward you,
(17) and so then, carry, please, my sin, surely this time,
and plead to Yahweh your God,
that He may turn from upon me only this death,
(18) and he went out from with Pharaoh,
and he pled to Yahweh,
(19) and Yahweh turned a west wind, very strong,
and it carried the locusts,
and it drove them to the Sea of Reeds.
There wasn't left over, one locust in all the territory of Egypt,
(20) and Yahweh strengthened the heart/resolve of Pharaoh,
and he didn't release the sons of Israel.
(21) and Yahweh said to Moses,
"Stretch out your hand upon the heavens,
and darkness will come over the land of Egypt,
that he will feel/grope [the] darkness,"
(22) and Moses stretched out his hand upon the heavens,
and thick darkness came against all the land of Egypt three days.
(23) A man couldn't see his brother,
and no one could move for three days,
while for all the sons of Israel there was light in their homes,
(24) and Pharaoh called to Moses,
and he said,
"Go. Serve Yahweh.
Only, your flocks and your livestock must remain behind.
What's more, even your small children may go with you,
(25) and Moses said,
"Even if you give into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings, we must offer to Yahweh our God,
(26) and also our livestock must go with us.
Not a hoof may remain,
because from them we must take to serve Yahweh our God,
while/and we don't know how we will serve Yahweh until we get there,"
(27) and Yahweh strengthened the resolve/heart of Pharaoh,
and he wasn't willing to release them,
(28) and Pharaoh said to him,
"Go from me.
Be careful to never again see my face,
because on the day you see my face you will die,"
(29) and Moses said,
"Thus you have said.
I will never see your face again."
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