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Summary
We are reminded that God’s power and sovereignty are on full display in the plagues of Egypt, as recorded in Exodus 7–10. Through nine devastating judgments, we see that God is not to be trifled with, that his glory is his ultimate purpose, and that stubborn pride before him is eternally ruinous.
Key Lessons:
- Every act of sin is, at its core, a challenge to God’s authority—just as Pharaoh declared ‘Who is Yahweh?’ our hearts naturally exhibit the same boastful pride.
- God sovereignly hardened Pharaoh’s heart not out of injustice, but to multiply his signs and wonders so that all Egypt—and all Israel—would know that he is Yahweh.
- Each of the nine plagues directly assaulted the Egyptian religious system, proving the gods of Egypt to be completely powerless against the one true God.
- God’s patience and grace are evident even in judgment—he gave advance warnings and time between plagues—yet his patience will not last forever.
Application: We are called to humble ourselves before God now, while the opportunity remains, rather than harden our hearts as Pharaoh did. We must run to God as our deliverer and not force him to be our judge.
Discussion Questions:
- In what ways do we subtly challenge God’s authority in our own daily lives, even when we would never say ‘I am God’ out loud?
- How does understanding God’s sovereign purpose in hardening Pharaoh’s heart change the way you think about his sovereignty in your own circumstances?
- The magicians replicated the first two plagues and only hurt Egypt more. In what ways does resisting God’s will tend to increase our own suffering?
Scripture Focus: Exodus 6:28–10:29 forms the backbone of this study, tracing Moses and Aaron’s confrontations with Pharaoh through the first nine plagues. James 4:6 (‘God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble’) and Romans 9:18 (‘He hardens whom he desires’) provide theological grounding for understanding God’s sovereign purposes in these events.
Outline
- Introduction
- The Pride of Pharaoh and the Pride in Us All
- Background: Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh
- Reading: Exodus 6:28–7:13
- God’s Commission and the Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart
- How Can God Harden Hearts and Remain Just?
- Surveying the Nine Plagues
- Plague 1: Water Turned to Blood
- Plague 2: Frogs
- Plague 3: Gnats
- Plague 4: Flies
- Plague 5: Death of Livestock
- Plague 6: Boils
- Plague 7: Hail and Fire
- Plague 8: Locusts
- Plague 9: Darkness
- The Meaning of the Plagues and the Call to Repent
- Q&A: Hardening, Grace, and the Folly of Sin
Introduction
Let’s begin. Welcome back to Sunday school. We are continuing in our study of the life and ministry of Moses, which is ultimately a study about God himself.
Over the last two weeks, we’ve seen how God sovereignly protected and raised up Moses as the deliverer of the Hebrews.
Today, we’re going to see how God displays his power, and in particular through mighty delivering plagues on Egypt. We’re going to be covering a lot of ground today, particularly from Exodus 7 to Exodus 10. Much of it will have to be in summary fashion.
We’re first going to look at Moses and Aaron’s confrontation with Pharaoh, and then we’ll walk through and consider the significance of the first nine plagues. We’ll have a separate lesson to talk about the last plague, but we’ll talk about the first nine plagues today. That’s our agenda.
Let me pray and ask for God’s blessing.
Lord God, please impress upon us your great holiness, your great power, your great glory in the lesson today. May it move us, God, not to trifle with you, to be so grateful for your love and deliverance, but to be so reverent and fearful of your judgment and chastening.
Please help me to explain in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Amen.
The Pride of Pharaoh and the Pride in Us All
I once read a news story about a Kentucky man named Ben Hart who chose for himself a special vanity plate for his car. The license plate read, “I am G O D. I’m God.” The Kentucky Division of Motor Vehicles originally denied Ben Hart’s request to have this license plate back in 2016, as the message was deemed obscene and vulgar.
But Hart filed suit for what he considered to be a violation of his first amendment rights. He won the lawsuit and got to have his special plate.
Now, even if Hart was within his legal rights, do you not feel that his action was filled with impudent pride? How does someone have the gall to announce, whether joking or not, “I’m God”? Who would dare challenge and blaspheme the true God in this way?
Yet Hart’s hubris is nothing new. In fact, it’s in all of us. Every time we sin, what we’re really doing is challenging God and exalting ourselves. We’re saying, “I’m going to do what I’m going to do. I’m going to decide for myself what is good. I’m going to be God.”
Sin, therefore, makes us not that different from Pharaoh and his own challenge to God. In Exodus 5:2, after Moses and Aaron deliver Yahweh’s message that Pharaoh must let the people of Israel leave Egypt, this is what Pharaoh says in response.
But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord? Or that is, ‘Who is Yahweh that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh, and besides, I will not let Israel go.’”
Isn’t this the attitude of every sinful heart? “I’m sorry, Yahweh. Who? Yeah, I’m just going to do what I’m going to do.”
Our hearts naturally exhibit the same boastful pride, the same divine challenge that we see in Ben Hart and that we see in Pharaoh. Only most of the time our challenges are more secret. We are not as obvious in our challenge.
But will God abide such provocations? Will God just shrug his shoulders and move on? Will God not care whether he receives the honor and glory of which he is worthy?
In many ways, the account that we’re looking at today is the answer to these questions. The record of the plagues of Egypt is all about showing the power, holiness, and sovereignty of God. We see directly fulfilled in this passage what James talks about in James 4:6: God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.
This account is written to show us that we are to take the one true God seriously. We should stop exalting ourselves before him and instead run to him as our savior and shelter.
That we may get away with stubborn pride in the short term, as Ben Hart did. It is eternally ruinous to oppose God. Yet how wonderful it is to humble yourself before God and have the true God fight for you.
“God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. — James 4:6”
If you haven’t yet, please open your Bibles to Exodus 6:28, which is where we pick up the account.
Background: Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh
Let me summarize what has happened since the burning bush encounter.
After Moses returned to Egypt and proclaimed God’s salvation plan to the Israelites, Aaron and Moses came before Pharaoh and asked that Israel might be granted leave to journey three days into the wilderness and hold a feast to God.
But Pharaoh not only refused to let the Israelites go, he used the occasion to accuse the Hebrews of laziness and therefore made their lives even harder.
Pharaoh decreed that the Hebrews would no longer be provided with any straw for brickmaking. The Hebrews would have to find and gather straw for themselves without making any fewer bricks than they were supposed to make before.
The Hebrews therefore complained against Moses and Aaron for this new trouble. And Moses cried out to God, wondering why God brought hardship instead of the salvation that God promised.
Once again, God was doing something that Moses did not expect. God soon reassured Moses that all was happening according to God’s good plan.
Moses then tried to encourage the people to trust God, but they would not listen to Moses.
“God reassured Moses that all was happening according to God’s good plan.”
Reading: Exodus 6:28–7:13
Now where we are resuming the narrative, God is about to send Moses and Aaron again to Pharaoh. Let’s read Exodus 6:28 to chapter 7:13 and find out what happens. Follow along with me. Exodus 6:28.
Now it came about on the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt that Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, “I am Yahweh.
Speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I speak to you.” But Moses said before Yahweh, Behold, I am unskilled in speech. How then will Pharaoh listen to me?
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land, but I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that I may multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring out my hosts, my people, the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt by great judgments.
The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.” So Moses and Aaron did it as Yahweh commanded them. Thus they did. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Now Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Work a miracle.’ Then you shall say to Aaron, take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh that it may become a serpent.” So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as Yahweh had commanded. And Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. And they also and the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts, for each one threw down his staff, and they turned into serpents.
But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had said.
God’s Commission and the Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart
All right. Well, let’s make some basic observations on this passage. What do we see?
Notice how the conversation in Exodus 6:29 begins with a declaration.
I am the Lord. I am Yahweh. We talked about where that name Yahweh comes from last week. That’s the Hebrew that sounds like he is going back to God’s statement: I am who I am.
Now, it’s only after God declares this that Yahweh gives a command to Moses.
But Moses’s response in verse 30 is, “I’m not skilled enough to make Pharaoh listen.” Does that remind you of anything?
It’s what he said at the burning bush. He just made this excuse a few chapters ago.
Notice how in Exodus 7:1-2, God describes the approach Moses and Aaron are to use before Pharaoh. Moses will be like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron will be like Moses’s prophet. Moses will speak God’s words to Aaron, and Aaron will speak the same words to Pharaoh.
Now, do you think Aaron was allowed to deviate at all from Moses’s words?
No. Aaron as prophet had to speak the word exactly as given him by his God. In this case, Moses, figuratively speaking.
Now, I stress this arrangement because, as one of my seminary professors once pointed out, here really is a model of how all prophecy works in the Bible.
There is no fallible prophecy in the scriptures, at least not true prophecy. There is no word from God mixed with error, no tentative declaration, no mysterious word that you said it and you interpreted it, but now you need to reinterpret it because you didn’t get it right as the prophet. No. If you’re a prophet, you say exactly what God gives you to say. This is what it means to be a prophet of God.
If you deviate from God’s perfect message or are unreliable, what do you show yourself to be?
A false prophet. You’re not a true prophet. You’re not a true prophet that sometimes gets things wrong. You’re a false prophet. Here’s the model right here.
“If you’re a prophet, you say exactly what God gives you to say.”
All right. That’s a side observation.
Notice another declaration from God at the beginning of verse 3. He says, “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.” God has told Moses and Aaron what they must do, but he’s already told them that they will not be successful at first. And why is that? Because God himself will harden Pharaoh’s heart.
And what does it mean to have a hard heart?
Help me out here.
Unrepentant.
Yeah. Unrepentant. What else?
Not willing to listen.
Yeah. Not willing to listen.
Rebellious.
Yeah. Rebellious. Stubborn. Rebellious.
You do not respond to entreaty. You do not respond to correction, command, or exhortation. That’s what it means to have a hard heart. God says, “That’s what I’m going to do to Pharaoh. I’m going to harden his heart. I will cause Pharaoh to be stubborn. I will cause him not to listen to you, Moses and Aaron.”
Interesting. Notice God explains the why in Exodus 6:3-5. He says that so that—what’s the purpose? That I may multiply my signs and my wonders.
That is so that I can put on display my incredible supernatural power. I will send great judgments and deliver my people by a mighty hand. And then verse 5: the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh.
Pharaoh said he doesn’t know who Yahweh is. God is going to show Pharaoh who Yahweh is and all Egypt, and by extension, all Israel.
The Sign of the Staff: Serpents and Sovereignty
Aaron and Moses obey God and go appear before Pharaoh. God tells them to perform a miraculous sign before Pharaoh when they get there, and they do. Notice the end of verse 10.
Aaron’s staff becomes a snake.
And notice Pharaoh’s reaction in verse 11. Pharaoh doesn’t go, “Wow, human must be from God.” Instead, he calls his wise men and sorcerers, his magicians, it says, “Perform the same miracle.” And amazingly, they do. They apparently do the same. Their staffs also become snakes.
Text says they did this with their secret hearts.
But notice the end of verse 12. Aaron’s staff eats up the staffs of the others, the snakes of the magicians.
So this is a compounded miracle. We have an inanimate piece of wood become a snake and then it eats other snakes, not just one, but multiple.
Pretty sure snakes can’t normally do that. Not all at one time.
And then presumably Aaron’s staff, the snake, it becomes a piece of wood again.
Whoa, this is truly a wondrous occurrence.
“Aaron’s staff eats up the staffs of the others—God symbolically showing he is more powerful.”
Yet notice Pharaoh’s reaction in verse 13.
His heart was hardened. And that’s a sentence in the passive voice. We’re not told who hardened Pharaoh’s heart there.
It’s left ambiguous.
Okay, those are basic observations.
How Can God Harden Hearts and Remain Just?
Let’s ask a few interpretation questions now.
Why does God begin in chapter 6:9 with a declaration about his own identity? “I am Yahweh.” Is that just a thing? That’s the way he starts conversations. “I am Yahweh.”
Why did he do that?
I don’t think it’s accidental.
It emphasizes that God himself, God’s nature and power are what are going to make everything possible. All right, guys. I’m about to explain the situation. I just want you to know from the start, remember who I am. I’m Yahweh. I’m going to make this happen.
Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart in chapter 7:13?
It has to be God. Even though it’s passive and it’s not indicated, we would be right to infer that it’s God. And why? Because what God declared in verse 3, he said, “Pharaoh will not listen to you because I will harden his heart.” So if we go to verse 13, we say, “Who did this?” God did. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart just like he said he would.
But wait a second, how is that right? How is it right for God to harden Pharaoh’s heart?
After all, doesn’t God love when people are righteous and obedient? James 1:13-14 says that God does not tempt or lead anyone to sin.
Abraham said back in Genesis 18:25, “Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly?” So, how can God cause Pharaoh to have a more stubborn, more disobedient heart when God is good and righteous?
We come again to the so-called problem of evil.
How can a good and holy God use and ordain evil in his world?
We’ve talked about this question before in different settings. We’ll briefly say a few things about it again.
The answer to this question from the Bible is that God is able to ordain evil in such a way that God is not chargeable or blameable for it.
The scriptures are clear. God never forces anyone, never coerces anyone to be sinful or stubborn.
Evildoers choose evil freely and because they want to. This is why they are guilty.
Yet everything is under God’s complete sovereign control. God ultimately is the one who brings anything to pass in life, including evil and calamity.
Now, we probably won’t be able to fully wrap our minds around this issue in this life. Yet, the scriptures are clear that both of those realities that I declared are true.
If you do want more explanation, you can check out Pastor Greg’s Sunday school lesson from last year, which was entitled “Sovereign Election Questions,” where he dealt with this issue. Pastor Mike Ricardi also has a good blog post and sermon on the topic entitled “God and Evil: Why the Ultimate Cause Is Not the Chargeable Cause.” If you just Google that—Mike Ricardi, why the ultimate cause is not the chargeable cause—you’ll find a blog post and his messages about that.
So that’s all we’ll say on that issue right now. There’s a lot more to it, but God’s absolute holiness yet absolute sovereignty over sin, even over sin, is what the Bible teaches. As we can even see from Paul’s statement in Romans 9:18, actually commenting on the Exodus narrative.
Romans 9:18: “He has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires.”
He is not evil in choosing to do so.
God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are both true from the Bible.
But why? Why does God choose to do one or the other? Why does God choose to do anything and everything that he does?
What’s the answer?
God.
He’s God. He has the right to. But what’s he seeking?
To display and enjoy his own glory. If you want to know what motivates God, that’s it.
Which we hear in Exodus 2. This is exactly why God promises, “I’m going to harden Pharaoh’s heart so I may show forth my glory. I will multiply signs and wonders in Egypt.” God’s good and kind purposes for his own people are also tied up in this so that we can rightly say God’s glory is our good.
“God’s glory is our good.”
Okay, other question.
How were Pharaoh’s magicians able to replicate the miracle of the staff?
After all, Moses and Aaron did what they did by the power of God. So, how were these pagan magicians able to do the same? What do you think?
Spiritual powers could be at play.
Any other explanations, Eric?
God gave them the power to show his glory because he worked it out so it would be like that. The other one servant needs the others and he needs other servants to show his power and glory.
That’s an interesting answer, Eric.
So, you said God gave the magicians the power to do what they did so he could ultimately show forth his glory. I think that’s absolutely true in a sovereign sense as we were just talking about. How directly God would get involved in the occult, I think we’d have to be a little bit careful, but ultimately that answer is true. God permitted or God ordained this for his glory.
It could be that this is just subterfuge. This could be an illusion.
Magicians often used illusion and trickery just like magicians do today.
Egyptian magicians were famous for snake charming. So, it’s possible they were able to manipulate snakes in some way to make them look like staffs and then have them temporarily seem like snakes again until they were eaten up. So, it could be illusions. It could be occult power in some way. The limitations on what God permits demons to do in the Bible are not entirely clear. They can affect the physical world in some instances, though being able to turn a staff into a snake might be going too far. Don’t know if God would allow that.
Or it could be some combination of the two. Because when we get to the book of Revelation and we learn what the false prophet and those associated with the Antichrist are doing, they are in tune with the occult. They are empowered by Satan. But it is a deceptive power. So maybe both of those things are happening at the same time here.
Ultimately, we cannot get the specifics of how they did what they did.
Nevertheless, the main point comes through, or at least it should. What is the significance of God’s staff eating the magician’s staffs?
Show his superiority.
Yeah, it shows God’s superiority. This is God symbolically showing he’s more powerful. My staff eats up your staffs.
“Aaron’s staff swallowing the others shows God’s superiority—who has the power here?”
Who’s the one with the power here?
Surveying the Nine Plagues
And this point will be underscored dramatically as we go through the plagues, which is what we’re going to do now. Let’s survey the first nine plagues of Egypt.
I’m going to put a chart up here. I couldn’t get the text to be very big, so if you’re sitting in the back, I do apologize. You probably won’t be able to read it. The slides will be made available on our website afterwards, but for those of you in the front, hopefully you’re still able to read it.
Let’s look at the first nine displays of God’s great power and judgment in Egypt. These occur over chapters 7 to 10. That’s too much for us to read and analyze right now. We’re just going to look briefly at each plague.
We want to find out certain pieces of information. What was the plague? What was Pharaoh’s response? What was the magician’s response, if any is mentioned? And what Egyptian deity was connected to the plague?
You may never have thought about how the plagues on Egypt connect to the Egyptian gods themselves. But right before the last plague, plague 10, God says this in Exodus 12:10: “Against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments. I am Yahweh.”
So God is indicating that in that final plague and in the nine before it, God’s judgments take place in a realm that is said to be directly controlled by and associated with certain Egyptian gods. Through these judgments, the true God shows these false gods to be completely worthless and completely powerless.
“Through these judgments the true God shows these false gods to be completely worthless and powerless.”
Now, if you happen to ever look at study tools connected to the plagues, you’ll probably see one particular deity associated with each judgment. I’m going to do a little bit of that too.
However, it’s more likely that there are multiple deities in view with each judgment. You see, there are many gods in Egypt. One estimate I saw said that there were more than 400 gods in ancient Egypt. So multiple gods are probably targeted, as multiple gods were often associated with a certain part of life or a certain part of the world.
For instance, there were several gods associated with the Nile. They would all be targeted. And there were several goddesses associated with fertility. So anything that hits fertility is going to hit all these goddesses.
Now some deities were more popular at certain times and therefore became particularly important. These would be deities that maybe you’ve heard of, like Ra, Horus, or Isis. They’re going to be in the bull’s eye for sure.
You should also know that Egyptian religion is centered on a concept called ma’at, also pronounced maat or mayat. Ma’at refers to harmony, order, and balance.
Righteousness in ancient Egypt basically was dependent on ma’at. Your righteousness was determined by whether you maintained and promoted ma’at. Did you promote order and harmony in your life, in your family, and in the kingdom?
The gods, Pharaoh included, were also responsible for ma’at. They needed to maintain order in Egypt and in all the world to hold back the forces of chaos.
Plague 1: Water Turned to Blood
This is why it was really important to serve and to please the gods because if they were not properly served, they would not or they could not maintain order. Egyptian religion is all about order and harmony. This is going to be assaulted via these plagues.
With that background in mind, let’s look at these judgments—this national and theological cataclysm. The first plague is in Exodus 7:20-23.
“So Moses and Aaron did even as Yahweh had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood. The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. But the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts. And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. He did not listen to them as Yahweh had said.”
Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this.
What is the first plague? Turning the Nile into blood. The water in Egypt turns to blood, and probably beyond the Nile because it says “the blood was through all the land of Egypt.”
We have the water in Egypt turned to blood. By the way, there’s no really reasonable natural explanation for this. People are always trying to provide a natural explanation. They say, “Oh, it was an algae in the Nile and it bred an anthrax virus and that got into the frogs and that brought the flies,” and they try to make a logical progression for how these plagues came about. No, no, no. You’re really going to have to stretch logic to make that work, and that’s just not consistent with the text.
That’s not what the text says happens. We can trust what the word of God says. This is God’s power on display. This isn’t just a natural set of coincidences that were pretty calamitous.
So the first plague is the water in Egypt turns to blood. What’s Pharaoh’s response? He didn’t care. His heart was hardened and he paid no concern. That seems like a pretty big deal. Your water all turned to blood. Your Nile turned to blood.
“This is God’s power on display—not a natural set of calamitous coincidences.”
Whatever. What was the response of Pharaoh’s magicians? They did the same thing. They also made water turn to blood. Not very helpful, but okay.
What Egyptian deity was being judged here? Again, it’s going to be multiple. But among other deities, we have the god Hapi. I mentioned him in a previous lesson. Hapi was the god of the Nile’s flood and was associated with fertility. He is depicted in blue because of the Nile River and is also depicted fat and with male and female characteristics to emphasize his abundant fertile nature.
But after this first plague, Hapi and the Nile are not bringing fertility. They’re bringing death and putrefaction.
Plague 2: Frogs
What a reversal. And we’re just getting started. Let’s look at the second plague. Exodus 8:5-7.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.” So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. Magicians did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
What’s the second plague?
Frogs. Frog invasion. What’s Pharaoh’s response?
It’s actually not mentioned in the verse that we read, but in the following verses, we find that Pharaoh at first agrees to release the Hebrews if Moses will entreat God to remove the frogs. But then in verse 15, Exodus 8:15, when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them as Yahweh had said.
Notice it says Pharaoh hardened his heart here. Interesting.
What was the magician’s response in this plague?
They did the same. They also made frogs appear. What deity is associated with this plague? Well, one of them would be Heqet. Heqet, the frog goddess, was a god of fertility and childbirth. She’s usually depicted as a frog or as a woman with a frog’s head.
Frogs appeared in great number every time the fertile Nile floods came in. So frogs were regarded as a symbol of life and fertility in Egypt. But here again, we have this overturning, this reversal. Instead of life and fertility, Heqet’s frogs are bringing nothing but trouble. Get these frogs out of here.
“When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen.”
Plague 3: Gnats
That’s the second plague. Third plague, verses 16 to 17 in Exodus chapter 8.
Exodus 8:16-17. Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth that it may become gnats through all the land of Egypt.” They did so. And Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth. And there were gnats on man and beast. All of the dust of the earth became gnats through all the land of Egypt.
What’s the third plague?
Gnats. The dust of Egypt becoming gnats or possibly lice.
What’s Pharaoh’s response in verse 19?
If you glance down there, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. What’s the magician’s response? You hear about it in verses 18 and 19. They try to bring forth gnats out of the dust, but they can’t. So what do they conclude?
This is the finger of God. This is the judgment of God, the true God. What a testimony.
“The magicians conclude: ‘This is the finger of God.’ What a testimony.”
Some relevant Egyptian gods for this plague would be Geb and Aor, both gods of the earth.
But even the dust of the earth has become a plague on the Egyptians.
Plague 4: Flies
The fourth plague, Exodus 8:20-24.
Exodus 8:20-24.
Now Yahweh said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh as he comes out to the water and say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, let my people go that they may serve me.
For if you do not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of flies and also the ground on which they dwell.
But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen where my people are living so that no swarms of flies will be there in order that you may know that I, Yahweh, am in the midst of the land. I will put a division between my people and your people tomorrow this sign will occur. Then Yahweh did so, and there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants. And the land was laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt.
What’s the fourth plague? Flies. Swarms of flies or possibly mosquitoes.
Notice the highlighted protection on the people of Israel. God says, “This plague is coming and by the way, I’m going to protect my people where they live.” Possibly this was true for all of the plagues. I’d say even likely.
Now, maybe it’s that the first three didn’t affect areas that would affect the people of Israel, but certainly from now on, and probably the ones before, the plagues that God sends on Egypt feature special protection for God’s people. He’s showing Egypt and everyone else that God makes a distinction.
How does Pharaoh respond to this plague? First, Pharaoh offers to let the Hebrew sacrifice within Egypt.
But Moses says that’s no good. After that, Pharaoh promises to let the Israelites go once the flies are removed.
But once Moses entreats God and God makes that happen, guess what? Pharaoh hardens his heart and he does not let the people go.
The magicians are not mentioned in this plague. There’s not an obvious Egyptian god targeted by this plague. Answers in Genesis suggest Khepri, the god whose head was that of a scarab beetle. I guess that’s a bug, somewhat related.
“God makes a distinction—his people receive special protection while judgment falls on Egypt.”
But regardless, none of the gods of Egypt are able to stop these biting flies.
Plague 5: Death of Livestock
The fifth plague, Exodus 9:6-7.
Exodus 9:6-7.
So Yahweh did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died. But of the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died. Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
What’s this plague?
Egyptian livestock.
That’s right. Mike’s got it. The death of all Egyptian livestock. We’re talking horses, donkeys, camels, sheep, goats, and cows. Pharaoh’s response was that his heart was hardened.
Once again, the magicians are not mentioned here. But one deity featured in this plague has got to be Hathor. She was a very popular Egyptian goddess—the goddess of the sky, dance, love, beauty, joy, motherhood, foreign lands, mining, music, and fertility.
She’s depicted both as a cow and as a woman with cow horns. So she’s associated with livestock, but neither she nor any of the other gods are able to prevent the Egyptian livestock from dying.
“Neither Hathor nor any of the other gods are able to prevent the Egyptian livestock from dying.”
Plague 6: Boils
Noticing a pattern here. Sixth plague.
Exodus 9:10-12.
So they, this is Moses and Aaron, took soot from a kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast. The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils. For the boils were on the Egyptians as well as on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians. And Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not listen to them just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses.
What’s the plague here?
Boils. Boils or sores on man and beast.
What’s Pharaoh’s response?
Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart. You notice it kind of goes back and forth, right? Sometimes it says Pharaoh does. Sometimes it says Yahweh does. Sometimes it’s his heart was hardened. It doesn’t say who did it.
What’s the magician’s response?
They do show up here, but not very helpfully. They got the boils, too. To the point where they could not do what? Couldn’t even stand before Pharaoh. This must have been a terrible malady. It’s so disgusting and painful. They can’t even stand up.
“The boils were so terrible that the magicians could not even stand before Pharaoh.”
Oh, and what a theological assault this is, too, because Isis is the featured deity, or at least one of them. I’m not talking about the Islamic terrorist organization.
Egyptian Isis was a goddess of health, marriage, and wisdom among other aspects. She was extremely popular in ancient Egypt and subsumed even half or somewhat. Isis was often depicted as a woman with a throne on her head because she was the mother of Horus, the god of kingship. Isis priests and priestesses were thought to be skilled healers.
Plague 7: Hail and Fire
But neither she nor her adherents can overcome the boils that are sent by Yahweh God. We move now to the seventh plague: Exodus 9:23-26.
Exodus 9:23-26.
Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky and Yahweh sent thunder and hail and fire ran down to the earth and Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck all that was in the field through all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. The hail also struck every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail.
All right. What’s the seventh plague? We have a hail storm—hail and fire.
Now, when the Old Testament uses the term fire, it’s probably referring to lightning. Fire from the sky is probably lightning. Remember, they don’t think in terms of electricity like we do. You see this flash, you see its burning quality. You’re like, “That’s fire from the sky.” That’s probably what they’re talking about here. This is a mighty hail storm.
Pharaoh’s response after is interesting. He confesses that God is righteous and that he and his people are the wicked ones. Is this repentance? Pharaoh also promises to send away the Hebrews once more after Moses stops the storm.
But as soon as the storm stops, Pharaoh sins again and hardens his heart. He and his servants—verse 34 says magicians would be part of Pharaoh’s servants. So they also are hardening their hearts and they do not let the people of Israel go.
A featured goddess here would be Nut, goddess of the sky. Her body is actually supposed to be the sky, though she is sometimes depicted as a woman with a pot on her head or as a cow. But Nut is totally unable to protect the Egyptians from this traumatic hail storm.
“Pharaoh confesses God is righteous and he and his people are the wicked ones—yet still hardens his heart.”
Plague 8: Locusts
We go to the eighth plague, Exodus 10:12 and also verses 16 to 20. First, Exodus 10:12.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the field, even all that the hail has left.” Pause there for a second.
We learned that flax and barley were destroyed in the previous hail storm, but wheat and spelt ripened about a month later, so they would be growing now by the time of this eighth plague. This is an important observation because it indicates that the plagues of Egypt did not necessarily happen one right after the other.
It appears that God gave certain periods of pause to give the people of Egypt time to reconsider, time to repent, time to recover. There’s definitely a pause here. This is probably when the Egyptians got new livestock because all the livestock of Egypt died and then they got livestock again. It’s because some time went by. They got some new livestock.
All right, continuing down in verses 16 to 20. Exodus 10:16-20.
Then Pharaoh hastily called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you. Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and make supplication to Yahweh your God, that he would only remove this death from me.”
He went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to Yahweh. Yahweh shifted the wind to a very strong west wind which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left in all the territory of Egypt.
But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not let the sons of Israel go.
Okay, we see what this plague is. It is a gigantic locust swarm. Every green thing and plant that is left in Egypt is eaten.
What is Pharaoh’s response? Before the plague occurs, he allows—we didn’t read this, but before the plague occurs—he allows only the Hebrew men to leave. He says, “I’ll let you go, but just the men.” Moses says, “No, that’s not going to work for us.”
But after, what’s Pharaoh’s response? Eventually, he hardens his heart, but in the middle there’s confession and repentance and a request for intercession. Could you please look, I’ve sinned. I’ve sinned against you and against your God.
Please intercede for him to get rid of this plague. Get rid of these locusts which he calls a death. Remove this death from me. But after the plague, Yahweh hardens Pharaoh’s heart and he refuses to let the people of Israel go.
How stubborn is this man?
“Pharaoh confesses ‘I have sinned against Yahweh’—then Yahweh hardens his heart again.”
What is the magician’s response here? Again, something we didn’t read, but we’re just moving along quickly. They have an interesting response. They, along with the other servants, are pleading with Pharaoh to just let the Hebrews go. Actually, before the plague comes, they’re pleading with Pharaoh: just let the Hebrews go because don’t you see, Egypt is ruined.
But Pharaoh, he only gives his half-hearted acquiescence to their leaving. What’s the targeted deity here?
Hard to say. Answers of Genesis suggests Seth, also known as Set. They characterize him as the god of agitation confounded in this plague. But from my own research, I see Set associated with storms, deserts, chaos, and war.
I don’t know about plants. Certainly locusts. Maybe they come from the desert. But again, regardless, no Egyptian gods are able to stop these devastating locusts.
Plague 9: Darkness
But one more plague to discuss today, the ninth plague.
Exodus 10:21-23 and then verses 27 to 29. So, Exodus 10:21-23.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky. And there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.
They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.
Go down to verse 27.
But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he was not willing to let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, that’s Moses, “Get away from me. Beware, do not see my face again. For in the day you see my face, you shall die.” Moses said, “You are right. I shall never see your face again.”
What’s this ninth plague?
Darkness.
Darkness that can be felt. What an odd description. What an unnerving description.
After the plague, Pharaoh agrees to let the Hebrews go if they will leave their flocks behind. But Moses again says, “That’s not what Yahweh requires of us. We can’t accept that.” But when Moses refuses, Yahweh hardens Pharaoh’s heart like we read, and Pharaoh drives Moses from his presence.
“Darkness that can be felt—what an unnerving description of God’s judgment.”
Now, one god certainly targeted in this plague.
Well, can you guess who it would be?
Ra, the sun god. One of the most important Egyptian deities. Ra was thought to have dominion over all creation. The Egyptians saw the sun as representing light, warmth, and growth.
Even the obelisks that you see throughout Egypt, those are largely monuments to the sun.
But now we have the sun blotted out. We have darkness instead filling the land which is a huge blow to Ra and to the Egyptians.
The Meaning of the Plagues and the Call to Repent
Now that does it for the first nine plagues. Though we have treated them briefly, they are worthy of more meditation.
These are incredible judgments. Could you imagine living through these either as one having them come upon you or just being an observer looking at them happen at the Egyptians? This is a fearful time. This is an overwhelming experience.
And these things really happened.
Ten tremendous supernatural plagues came upon Egypt. We just covered the first nine, but there is a tenth. And why did this happen?
We already saw God proclaimed it before it happened. This was so that God might show forth his glory and accomplish a mighty deliverance for his people and a terrifying judgment on his people’s oppressors.
Pharaoh was raised up specifically for this purpose. God says there’s a point in the middle of the plagues where God tells Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron, “I could have destroyed you already, but I didn’t so that I could show forth my power.” By the way, do these judgments remind you of any other judgments in scripture?
Revelation.
Book of Revelation, right? Things we’ve been talking about recently here in our church, the tribulation period. Here are very similar judgments to this one and executed for a similar reason. Just as God devastated Egypt to show forth his glory and to bring just judgment, so God will do with all the earth in the days before Jesus Christ’s return to vanquish evil and to set up a kingdom of righteousness.
God, just as he was with Egypt, so he is now. God is very patient and gracious.
Yet he is also holy, just, and jealous.
His patience will not last forever.
Which is why his word says, “Come before the judgment falls. Come be reconciled to your God before the judgment falls.” Do not remain stubborn. Do not remain willful in your sin as Pharaoh did and suffer God’s holy anger. This is the appeal of the scriptures. This is the appeal of God himself.
If you do this, then don’t blame God. I don’t know if you ever hear the excuse from somebody who’s a little bit acquainted with reformed theology and they’ll say, “Well, if I’m not elect, what does it matter? God’s not going to let me come to him.” Or, “If God really wants to save me, he’ll draw me in his own time.”
Oh, don’t absolve yourself of responsibility. Don’t deceive yourself in that way. No, you are choosing to rebel. You are choosing evil. You are choosing to exalt yourself before God.
So when the judgment falls, you will have no one to blame but yourself.
This is why the Bible says over and over, repent while you have the chance.
Humble yourself before God. Be clothed with his own son. Be clothed with Christ and follow him so that you may be protected when judgment comes and you also know the wonderful goodness of God.
“Humble yourself before God, be clothed with Christ, so you may be protected when judgment comes.”
If nothing else from this account, let us learn not to continually foolishly challenge God with stubborn sin.
Pharaoh does this. What an ultimate fool.
We should not do the same.
God is faithful. That’s his name, Yahweh. I don’t change. I keep covenant.
God is faithful to forgive those who trust in Christ. God is faithful to accept those who run to him for mercy.
But he is also faithful to judge.
Faithful to judge those who test him and those who spurn him. So which do you want?
“God is faithful to forgive those who trust in Christ—and faithful to judge those who spurn him.”
Let the true God be your deliverer and not your judge. All right, we have some time for questions and comments.
Q&A: Hardening, Grace, and the Folly of Sin
Pastor Mark, the hardening, as mysterious as that could be, do you think it relates in some way to God giving over to the desires in Romans 1?
Okay, good question. Pastor Mark is asking, “The hardening, as mysterious as it may be, does it relate to God giving over in Romans 1?” Probably. It’s interesting. I can’t remember if this particularly is a pattern, but there are several patterns in how the plagues play out and even how they’re described.
I think there might be a pattern too as to the description of who hardens the heart. Is it God? Is it left passive and unsaid, or is it Pharaoh? Is there a progression where God hardens it at first and Pharaoh does later? I can’t quite remember how the pattern works out, but certainly it is a true concept.
That is one of the reasons why you absolutely must beware of hardening your heart or having your heart hardened because you may say, “Well, I’ll repent later.” But you might not be able to repent later. Your heart could be hardened as a judgment from God.
Even as Pastor Mark was saying, God giving you over. In the book of Isaiah, he says, “This is what I’m going to do with Israel. I’m going to harden their hearts in judgment so that they don’t turn and be healed.” Even though that’s really what they need, that’s going to be my judgment on them.
It could be a judgment on you. It could be a judgment on those that you love. That’s why we plead with people: don’t say, “Oh, I’ll do it later” or “I’ll just repent later.” You might not be able to.
The deceitfulness of sin could so cloud your mind, and at the same time, God may give you over in judgment. He says, “I’m not going to let you see and turn anymore. You won’t want to, but it will also be part of my sovereign judicial hardening of your heart.”
Yeah. I think of that verse that comes up from time to time: Proverbs 29:1. “He who hardens his heart after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.” I think that’s describing what we just said as examples.
Yeah, absolutely. Pastor Mark is mentioning Proverbs 29:1: “He who hardens his heart against reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.” That’s basic wisdom from Proverbs and it relates to “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
That’s true in multiple applications and certainly we see that same concept emphasized in our passage. Other comments or questions? Leela?
Well, you addressed it about the passage of time between the plagues, but I was also wondering about it with the snakes. So the first sign—they turned the rod into a snake. How much time was there hanging out with the snake before he called the magicians? And then did they have a cache of snakes somewhere, or had they already been practicing this trick? It’s an observation.
Yeah, good question, Leela. You’re pointing out how we might assume that all the plagues come right after another, but there seems to be some time in between. Was the same thing true with the sign of the staff turning into a snake at the beginning?
Certainly we have to assume that there was some passage of time. It’s not like they knew that this is the trick that Moses was going to do and had snakes at the ready. I think that stretches credulity. But he calls the magicians. They see what’s going on and they’re like, “I think we can do that.” Maybe they go and get their snake or go and get their special staff or whatever it is. We don’t really know, but I think it’s reasonable to assume there was a little bit of passage of time in that instance.
That probably was very uncomfortable for all those sitting there with the snake. We don’t know what kind of snake it was, but you got this snake just going around there in the presence of everybody and you’re like, “What’s this snake going to do?” So it does seem to indicate more of the possibility of the occult because they weren’t necessarily practicing this trick already or knew it was going to happen.
And assuming maybe that they were close by in the court so that they were able to come quickly. So that points to that perhaps. Leela is saying maybe that points more to the occult because how would they have known to practice this? How would they have had the power to do this so instantly, so quickly?
But again, there’s the observation that Egyptians were famous for their snake charming. So maybe they already had practiced different things with snakes. Like, “I can make this snake freeze” or “I can make this snake do this.” Then maybe they’re like, “Oh, that’s kind of like what we already do. Let’s go do it before Pharaoh.” So maybe it’s hard to say.
Danny, yeah, you mentioned this earlier about the grace of God. You see it a lot in this passage because he says “I am,” then he reveals himself, and he’s the eternal, powerful God and destroys all the other gods. You would think the Egyptians, even the Israelites, would bow their knee before this great God. They don’t. You see man’s depravity.
Yeah. Danny makes some good observations. Though this passage clearly emphasizes the powerful judgment of God, there is also the grace of God evident not just towards Israel but to the Egyptians. Why is there a period of time in between these plagues?
Why does God many times give an announcement before the plague comes? Why is there an opportunity for people to respond, for Pharaoh and the Egyptians to respond? It’s because of God’s grace. He’s giving an opportunity to repent. He’s showing mercy. He’s appealing to them not to go their own sinful and foolish way.
You say, “Well, God already determined the outcome. This is a fake appeal.” No, it’s not. God is able to make a genuine appeal even when he is sovereignly ordained that you’re not going to respond to it. So we do see, just as Danny said, God’s love and grace on display in this passage.
Even as we see man’s depravity and his total inability without the mercy of God. The Egyptians, the Israelites, Pharaoh—they will not be able to turn. But the fact that they do not turn, you can’t say, “Well, it’s God’s fault.” No, it’s their own fault. That’s how evil their hearts are. And that’s how evil our hearts are without God’s merciful intervention.
“God gives advance warning before each plague—his grace giving opportunity to repent.”
All right, time for one more maybe. Yes, host.
Yeah. When the magicians replicate the first two plagues, I think it was actually very foolish on them to do that because they were inflicting more pain on themselves.
So I think it’s probably a reflection of God hardening their hearts because in this attempt to compete with God, they don’t care. That’s actually a funny observation.
You’re right, host. I feel like there’s something poignant about what you’re pointing out. The magicians can replicate the first two plagues. They’re able to get water to turn to blood and they’re able to get frogs to come out of the Nile, but it’s like, you just hurt us more. You just hurt yourselves more. Why would you do that?
Okay, yeah, you show that you’ve got supposedly the same ability as Moses and his God, but why would you bring more hurt on yourself? And there is something pointed about that where you resist God’s will and you show that you think you have the same power, you have the same ability, and you just hurt yourself more.
I mean, this is the definition of shooting yourself in the foot in order to make a point. Yeah. That is the folly of sin.
All right, that will do for today. So next time we’re going to do a little bit of a shift. I’m going on vacation starting tomorrow, so I’m not going to be here for a few weeks. But the Sunday school series is going to continue.
We’re first going to do two weeks of the Patterns of Evidence: Exodus DVD. It’s an excellent documentary talking about what archaeological and historical verification exists for what we’re reading about with the Exodus and the plagues of Egypt. Because the elephant in the room for Christians with this part of the scriptures is that archaeologists and historians say there’s no record of this. No historical verification of this. They say this is just something that the Bible made up.
And so Christians sometimes are like, “Well, this seems like a pretty big deal. How could it have left no record? How could there be no historical verification of this? And do we need that?” So I think you’ll find this exploration very enlightening. We’ll show it over two weeks, and then the third week, Pastor Mark will be doing the next lesson in our series focusing on the Passover.
But the next two weeks it’s going to be the Patterns of Evidence DVD. We’ll mostly just show it during the session. There probably won’t be time to discuss it because it’s kind of long—I think it’s 120 minutes or something like that. So we’ll show a portion of it each week. But yeah, the series will continue after that.
All right. So look forward to that. Let me close our time in a word of prayer.
Oh God, though this is something maybe we’ve learned about since our earliest Sunday school days, this is a fearful passage. This really happened. This is your holy power on display. Oh God, what a great God you are. You are a God not to be trifled with. Oh God, I pray that none of us would do that. Oh God, I pray that none of us would exalt ourselves.
I pray, God, that we would, just as your word counsels us, humble ourselves before you so that you may exalt us in the proper time. Oh God, let us run to you as our protector and our deliverer. Let us not spurn you and then cause you to be our judge.
Oh, thank you God for the grace that is in Jesus Christ. Thank you that the banquet of repentance is open, always, or at least for now. Lord, you’re so generous to do that, but help us not to test you in that.
Oh God, continue to work among your people today through this Sunday school lesson, through the preached word, through all the aspects of this service in our gathering together today for your glory, for the edification of your people, and for the salvation of those who do not yet know you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
All right. Thank you everyone.