The Story of Moses : Exodus 10
The Plagues Continue (Part 4)
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
05-25–2025
Intro
Over the past month, we have been studying God’s response to Pharaoh’s taunt:
“Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.” (Exodus 5:1-2)
For 400 years, the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. We began our story of Moses with the Pharaoh attempting to kill the Jewish baby boys. The Egyptians were the original anti-semites. But that was 3,000 years ago. Aren’t you glad things have changed? Or have they?
On Wednesday of this past week, young Jewish diplomats gathered in Washington DC for an event hosted by the American Jewish counsel.
As Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, left the event, they were approached by Elias Rodriguez, who had been seen pacing outside the event earlier in the night.
He shot both of them, and even shot Sarah again as she tried to crawl away. He went inside the building and told the security guard what he had done. As he was taken into custody, people heard him yelling, “Free Palestine!”
Yaron bought an engagement ring and was planning to propose to Sarah when they traveled to Jerusalem next week.
Why were they targeted? Simply because they were Jewish. Not much has changed in 3,000 years.
Review
Over a period of nine months, the Egyptians had seen the Nile turn to blood, been inundated with frogs, been stung by gnats, been harassed by flies, lost their livestock to the plague, been infected with boils on their skin, and endured the most violent hailstorm in the history of their country.
They had cried out to their gods in vain. They were terrified of what could come next. But Pharaoh didn’t care. His heart was hard as stone.
Because of this, three more plagues would come upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And these three plagues would show them, once and for all, that God was the only God and He alone was worthy to be worshipped.
Please turn with me to Exodus 10.
Prayer
Plague 8: Locust
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.” (V1-2)
God again tells Moses to approach Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron no longer show any fear or hesitation but boldly approach the most powerful man in the world.
God tells Moses that the plagues serve a dual purpose.
For the Egyptians, these plagues would be like hammer blows on an anvil. They would reveal the powerlessness of their so called gods and show the futility of opposing Yahweh.
But for the Israelites, it would be something to be remembered and passed down to their children and grandchildren.
“Dealt harshly” can be translated as “make a mockery of.” God took on Pharaoh and made a fool of him.
All throughout the Old Testament, God tells the Israelites to remember what He had done and to tell their children.
They were to recited the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Duet 6:4-9)
The Psalmist wrote:
“My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old— things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.
He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.” (Psalm 78:1-7)
Often, after God intervened and provided for them in miraculous ways, the Hebrews would stack up stones as a memorial. When the children passed that way and saw these stones piled up, they would ask their parents what it meant and they would tell them the story of God’s faithfulness.
This weekend, we set aside time to remember the sacrifices of those who died so we may live in freedom. The Memorial Day service will be at the cemetery tomorrow at 11:30 am and they are looking for people to help take down the flags at 2:00 pm.
After the Holocaust, survivors wrote in a Yizkor book, telling the stories for future generations that those who had died couldn’t tell.
One of Elijah’s favorite things to play with at our house is a diecast greyhound bus. What he doesn’t know yet, is that the bus is a “memorial stone” for Maxine and I.
It was given to us after hearing the story of our marriage.
Maxine and I got married when we were 24 years old. I was 24 going on 17. She was 24 going on 40. Our first year of marriage was a disaster.
We actually had a serious talk and agreed that we might have made a mistake. But we had also made a commitment to never consider divorce so we had to figure something out.
I was a terrible husband. I was insensitive, childish, and demanding. I hurt Maxine deeply that first year.
What I didn’t know at that the time was that Maxine was praying that I would be hit by a greyhound bus. Yep, she wanted me dead.
See, then she would be rid of the jerk she married and could also have had people’s sympathy in the process.
All that happened nearly 30 years ago, and we not only survived but have learned, with time, patience, and therapy, to thrive with each other.
I shudder at what we would have missed out on if we had given up too soon.
The bus is our pile of stones. It helps us to remember that God is faithful and that He rescued our marriage and that we can always trust Him to do what’s going to bring Himself the most glory and do us the most good.
Do you have anything in your life that reminds you of God’s faithfulness? Maybe it’s a stack of stones or a toy bus or something altogether different. But each time you look at it, you are reminded of what’s most important.
More importantly, do your children and grandchildren know the story? Do they know how you were born again? Do they know the stories of God’s faithfulness? Of how He got you through hard times?
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh. (v 3-6)
Through Moses, God confronts with Pharaoh a haunting question, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?”
Remember, that the people, and Pharaoh himself believed he was divine, a god.
God is making it clear. You are no god. You are a man. I have brought this great suffering on you to humble you. But instead of humility, you still stand puffed up in your pride.
Charles Spurgeon wrote:
“The same sun which melts wax hardens clay. And the same Gospel which melts some persons to repentance hardens others in their sins.”
The word locust caused fear in the hearts of people who lived in an agricultural society.
Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?” (V 7)
For the first time, Pharaoh’s advisors speak up. Notice that they attribute all that has happened to Moses, “this man,” and not to Yahweh.
The word “snare” is actually where we get our word “scandal.” It means a stumbling block.
Cut your losses, Ramseses. Let them go. Look around, your arrogance has caused the destruction of our land!
Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be going.” “Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the Lord.” (V 9)
Pharaoh send for Moses and Aaron and again tries to negotiate with God.
“Pharaoh said, “The Lord be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil. No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.” (V 10-11)
Ramseses tries to make a compromise with Moses and Aaron. You can go. Well, some of you can go. Just the men. The women, children and herds will stay behind, with me.
In other words, he will hold their families hostage until the men return.
“And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.” “So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.” (V 12-15)
The wind normally blows in Egypt from the south but there is an intense east wind called a sirocco that happens occasionally.
The wind blew all day and night. When the Egyptians awoke in the morning, they walked outside in horror. Locusts had invaded and were devouring the land.
When studying Scriptures each week, I learn something new all the time. I learned about locusts this week.
Locusts are a type of grasshopper. Grasshoppers, the ones we see, are solitary creatures. But locusts occur in swarms or clouds.
In one square mile of a locust swarm, there can be up to 130 million locusts.
They can fly up to 12 miles an hour but carried by the wind, they have been clocked at over 60 miles per hour.
They can stay in the air for 17 hours at a time. They are destructive beyond imagination.
In 1866 in Algiers, locusts caused a famine, killing over 200,000 people.
When locusts invade a land, they leave nothing and the ground looks like it has gone through a forest fire.
These locusts would strip the country of what little vegetation was left after the hail.
The Egyptian would have cried out to Min, the god of the crops, Isis, the goddess of life, Nepri, the god of grain, Annubus - god of the fields, and, most of all, Senehem, the god that protected them from pests like locusts.
But no matter what offering they made, their gods were silent. The only sound in the land was the locust swarm eating the last of their food.
“Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.” (V 16-17)
Well, well. It looks as if Pharaoh has learned his lesson this time, right? He admits he has sinned against God and Moses. He begs them to forgive their sin and, for all that is holy, take away the locusts!
“Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.” (V 17-19)
After Moses prayed, the winds changed directions and the locusts were gone. But God hardened Pharaoh’s already hard heart and he refused to let the people go.
This plague is a foreshadowing of the fifth trumpet judgement in Revelation 9:
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.” (Rev 9:1-6)
There will be only two more plagues. One will terrify the people and the other will cause wailing throughout the land.
Plague 9: Darkness
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” (V 21)
There is no advanced warning with this plague. Moses would stretch out his Hans and darkness would descend. A darkness that could be felt. This Hebrew word means to grope about.
Last summer, I was in Branson with the Albretchs and we went to a cave. We were deep in the cave when our guide said that they were going to turn out the lights for a few seconds.
Usually, when we experience darkness, our eyes search for any light source and gradually adjust. When the guide turned out the lights, there was no light for our eyes to find.
It was pitch black. We couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces. It was oppressive. The darkness could almost be felt. One lady said frantically, “Hey, that’s enough. Turn the lights back on!” The guide obliged and we could see again.
“So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.” (V 22-23)
Egypt is the land of sun. It’s sunny 365 days a year. The moon and stars are out every night.
Imagine three days of total darkness. Imagine groping about in the dark. In fact, the darkness paralyzed them. They sat stunned for 72 hours.
This plague was the ultimate insult to Pharaoh, who was said to be the incarnation of the sun god, Amon Ra. God literally turned out the lights on Egypt and there was nothing Pharaoh could do about it.
This plague foreshadows the fifth bowl judgement in Revelation 16:
“The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.” (Rev 16:10-11)
Yet, God again, made a distinction between Pharaoh’s people and His own. The Israelites had light in the end of Goshen.
Pharaoh, in his pride, again tries to negotiate with God. Everyone can go but you have to leave your herds behind. Now he is going to hold their cows hostage.
“Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the Lord. Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.” But Moses said, “You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the Lord our God. Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind. We have to use some of them in worshiping the Lord our God, and until we get there we will not know what we are to use to worship the Lord.” (V 24-26)
Moses said, “No dice.” I’m not really sure what God is going to require of us so we need to be ready to worship Him.
“But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.” (V 26-28)
At this, Pharaoh kicks Moses and Aaron out of the palace and threatens to kill them if they ever show their faces to him again.
“Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.” (V 29)
Prophetically, Moses probably raised an eyebrow and said, “You are right. You will never see me again. Your time has run out.”
Plague Ten: The Plague of the Firstborn Promised
“Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.) (v 1-3)
There is one more plague to come. It will cause Pharaoh to finally let you go and the people of Egypt will repay for for 400 years of slavery.
So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.” (V 4-5)
The Israelites were God’s “first born,” and because Pharaoh wouldn’t let his first born go, the Egyptians will forfeit their first born.
“There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.” (V 6-8)
This would be the most terrible of the plagues and cast an already distressed Egypt into deep mourning.
“The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.” Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.” (V 9-10)
This is a promise from God. Their time to leave is at hand. But a long night will come first. We’ll get to that next week.
Hello Darkness my Old Friend
Many people are afraid of the dark. Why? Because you don’t know what might be lurking there.
In the Bible, darkness is a symbol of sin, evil, chaos, judgment and wrath.
In the ninth plague, we see the darkness over Egypt and the darkness in Pharaoh’s heart.
The New Testament speaks of a spiritual darkness that is brought on by sin.
Paul writes of this darkness:
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor 4:4)
They grope about in darkness, unable to find their way out.
But Isaiah wrote about a light that would dawn:
“Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:1-2)
700 years later, a young Galilean rabbi said,
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Peter writes that God, in Jesus, called us out of that darkness:
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (I Peter 2:9)
Jesus came to rescue us from the darkness of sin and death. And His light changes us from the inside out:
Paul wrote:
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.” (Ephesians 5:8-13)
John wrote that this light changes us:
"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (I John 1:5-7)
Darkness cannot overcome light. The human eye can see a candle from almost three miles away.
Light must overcome darkness. And we have been given assignment of bringing His light into the world:
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:14-16)
When Jesus hung on that cross for you and me, darkness engulfed the land for three hours. And the darkness thought that it had won the day.
Ending Video: Out of the Darkness
Ending Song: King of Kings
