In this lesson, we look at God’s ten plagues of judgment on Egypt, paying special attention to how the judgments targeted the gods of Egypt and how the Passover celebration connects to Jesus Christ.
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last week otherwise it Mike on like Sun right ok let’s review what we talked about last week last week we saw how God sovereignly raised up Moses as a deliverer for the Hebrews and at first Moses seemed like the perfect deliver he had the powerful position and the righteous desire to free all the hebrew slaves but why didn’t Moses plan of deliverance work why didn’t Moses plan of deliverance work Danny yeah yeah it wasn’t God’s timing he had a plan it was involved murdering an Egyptian and starting something like a revolution but it wasn’t God’s Way it wasn’t God’s timing and Moses even committed sin to try and bring it about and this was not the way God was going to deliver Israel and it did not work later when God showed Moses how God actually intended to deliver the Israelites Moses didn’t want to take part believing himself ill-fitted completely ill-fitted for the job but God didn’t tell Moses no Moses you’re perfect for the job you’re a great person you really are skilled you just don’t know it have confidence in yourself what does God tell Moses instead instead God says Danny exactly it was the opposite of those things you didn’t say have confidence in yourself basically have confidence in me I will be with you I will empower you I will give you the words to say don’t worry if you feel like you’re not able to do this because I am able to do this God is extremely patient and gracious to Moses as Moses protested in different ways and Moses finally chose to obey we saw for ourselves by looking at this account that section of the account of the exodus how dangerous it is to set up expectations that go beyond God’s Word don’t call something God’s will simply because it looks like it what it feels like God’s will you only know if it’s God’s will if God actually says it in his word but even when you are following God’s will as expressed in his word you must let and we must let God have his way God often does things in the world and in our lives that are far different from what we ever would have expected God is not unfaithful but his thoughts and ways are far above ours we must be willing to let go of how we think how we think things ought to go and trust that God knows what he’s doing because he will bring his promises the pass in his own good way and in his own good timing and he’ll use us as part of that part of that plan even to do this seemingly impossible because the power is not on us it is in God questions about what we talked about last week well let’s now examine God’s real mode of deliverance we’re going to be covering a lot of ground today Exodus 72 X is 12 so be ready to move it a little bit of a brisk pace much of what we discussed will be in summary fashion but we will look more closely at a couple of passages our outline will be to first look at Moses confrontation with Pharaoh resulting in the first plague on Egypt then we’ll briefly catalogue the ten plagues and what those plagues had to do with Egyptian gods and then third will look more closely at the last plague and consider its connection or consider the connection between the Passover lamb and Jesus let’s pray father you are the great god lord I pray that you would bring us back to what is full reality the reality that goes beyond what are simply our senses can sense Lord you rule you reign your turn’ll and this world is passing away and all will appear before you in the judgment well thank you that you provided a way for us thank you that you foreshadowed that even in what you did with the Israelites in Egypt in Jesus name Amen we pick up the historical account the Exodus in chapter 7 verse 8 so please open your Bibles and turn there as you turn there let me fill in some background between what happened last time we saw Moses and what’s happening now after God appeared to Moses in the burning bush Moses set out with his family for Egypt and met Aaron along the way Moses and Aaron then came to Egypt and passed on the news of God’s coming deliverance to the Hebrew elders and showed them the miraculous signs that God had given to Moses then Aaron and Moses came before Pharaoh and asked that the Israelites might be granted leave to journey three days into the wilderness and hold a feast to God Pharaoh not only refused to let the Hebrews go they used the occasion to accuse the Hebrews of laziness and therefore it made their lives even harder he decreed that the Hebrew we no longer have any straw for brick making they’d have to go find that strong and gather it for themselves but they had to make the same amount of bricks as they were making before or else they would be punished Hebrews worth it were very distressed by this and complained against Moses and Aaron and Moses cried out to God wondering why God brought hardship instead of the salvation that he had promised once again God was doing something that Moses did not expect but God assured Moses that all was happening according to God’s good plan God reminded Moses that Pharaoh will not listen at first to their request but because of that God was going to display his power in judgment on Egypt when God finished displaying his power then Pharaoh would let the people go that’s our background let’s look at verse 8 in chapter 7 and we’ll read 2 verse 25 this is the account of the first miraculous plague now the Lord 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 the Lord had commanded and Aaron through 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 the magician’s 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 the Lord had said then the Lord said to Moses Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn he refuses to let the people go go to Pharaoh in the morning as he is going out to the water and stationed yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile and shall taking your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent you shall say to him the Lord the god of the Hebrews sent me to you saying let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness but behold you have not listened until now thus says the Lord by this you shall know that I am the lord behold I will strike the water that is in the Nile with a staff that is in my hand and it will be turned to blood the fish that are in the Nile will die and the Nile will become foul and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile then the Lord said to Moses say to Aaron take your staff stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt over the rivers over their streams and over their pools and overall the reservoirs of water that they may become blood and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone so Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded and he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the site of Pharaoh and in the sight of the servants and all the water that was in denial 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 magician’s of Egypt did the same with their secret arts and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he did not listen to them as the Lord had said then Pharaoh turned and went to his house with no concern even for this so all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for wanted to drink for they could not drink of the water of the Nile seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile ok big section of text but let’s start our analysis of this text by making observations Aaron and Moses appear again before Pharaoh and performer miraculous sign Aaron staff becomes a snake Ferran asks his magicians to perform the same miracle and they do their staffs also become snakes how did they do this well the text says they did it by their secret arts however air and staff ate up the staffs or snakes of the other magicians and Pharaohs reaction was that his heart was hardened the next day where do Moses and Aaron meet Pharaoh what do they meet Pharaoh on the banks of the Nile this apparently was a regular thing that Pharaoh did going out to now each day could it be debate but probably as a part of some ritual they meet Pharaoh there Aaron stretches out the staff and all the Niles water and water available throughout Egypt turns to blood as a result the Nile starts to stink and efficient then I’ll die and finding water becomes difficult for the Egyptians but the Egyptians are able to find drinkable water how Danielle that’s right they have to go they have to dig into the ground and get get what’s underground apparently that water was not affected so they were able to have drinkable water it was just difficult to get apparently this was the water that the Egyptian The Magicians interacted with because they are able to replicate this miracle they were able to take this water and turn it into blood and once again text says Pharaoh’s heart was hardened Pharaoh’s heart was so hard that he saw all of Egypt’s water turned instantly into blood he just basically shrugged his shoulders turns around and goes into his house unconcerned ok well let’s ask a few interpretive questions how were fair with magicians able to replicate the two miracles that Moses and Aaron did after all what Moses and Aaron did was by the power of God so how are the pagan magicians able to do the same what do you think Yeah right right I think we can’t say for sure but you outlined the possibilities here I’ll repeat what you said this could be illusions and trickery I mean after all this is what magicians do today right we see magicians on TV or they do performances and it looks amazing what they’re doing but it’s all illusions it’s all slide of hand it’s all trickery Egyptian magicians ancient Egyptian myth ancient 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 stabs it’s also possible that they were able to put something in a jar or put something on a staff so that when it struck water it would turn that water into blood what look like blood but it’s also possible that they were using a coal power that they were drawing on demonic power or some combination of the two in the book of Revelation we see that demons are associated with creating deceptive signs deceptive seemingly miraculous signs so it could be simple human ingenuity and trickery but it also may be assisted with demonic power can’t say for sure but the magician’s magic is inferior to the power of God they’re not able to reverse these signs they’re they’re stabs are eaten up by Aaron staff and I’m not able to reverse the Nile turning into blood and we’ll see later on throughout these plagues that they’re even more deficient second question some say that the miracle of the Nile turning to blood wasn’t actually a miracle at all it was a naturally occurring phenomena that brought with it the other plagues for example the blood it’s not really blood it was just red algae the kind that we sometimes see in the oceans today a red tide this algae happened to multiply in the Nile and produce an anthrax virus that killed all the fish in the Nile and later forced the frogs on the land which would be the second plague but why if we pay attention to the text can that interpretation not be true several reasons but what’s one yes super exactly this explanation would only provide some explanation for why the Nile turned red but the text says that water throughout Egypt turn red the water that wasn’t connected to the Nile water and reservoirs waters even in wood and stone vessels was turning into blood any surface water any available water was turning into blood that doesn’t make sense with a bacterial invasion we can also say or we also well actually I asked you what else what else points that this couldn’t be the right interpretation yeah Rob well probably modes of sore Aaron but it says he used to strike the Nile now I don’t think that’s metaphorical there but yeah he’s actually touching the Nile and it’s an instant change it’s in the site of Pharaoh he can see it happening it’s not like you say he does this water is gradually getting red which would make sense if it were bacterial this was an instant change and happened all throughout Egypt that can’t be a bacterial invasion I think I have one more oh yeah and the texts calls it blood and there and there’s no wiggle room in the in the language for it just read it means blood what are you gonna say Daniel that’s a good question I’m not sure the the explanation as I understand it would require that the bacteria does something special to kill the things in the water like it’s not just simply that the algae is there that would kill the fish but it has to produce a virus that would kill the fish so I’m inclined to think that just because the water is red doesn’t necessarily make it toxic so that’s a good question now I have to look more into that many ways so there’s no need for us to question the miraculous nature of this or really any of the other plagues this was not as simply or what we see happen in Egypt is not simply a series of unfortunate events these were wondrous and terrifying displays of God’s power against the oppressors of Israel one more question why blood why turn the water if you dipped in the blood and not simply dry up the water or turn it into something else what do you think Danielle right yeah there is there is something about blood that is horrifying and even repulsive as you’re saying I think that’s definitely part of it yes yeah so certainly that’s going to be part of it too to repeat your comment that the Egyptians revered the Nile as a source of life and even as a holy river so by turning it to blood first of all that’s like that’s interacting with the life concept in a strange way this is it now what looks like death this is this is not something that’s alive and everything that’s in the Nile is dying that’s the opposite of what they thought the Nile would do and also exactly sure what they think about blood but we don’t we wouldn’t feel good about being near blood or getting blood on ourselves it’s like them unclean but something like that it’s like a by the by then the Nile turning into blood it’s been purified that’s the opposite of holiness I think there’s something else there tho those those are definitely I think good reasons for or they are reasonable considerations for why the Nile is turning into blood but I think there’s also an aspect of vengeance here that God is not simply showing that the river is unholy or doing something horrifying with the water but blood I believe we can refer the blood is a sign of vengeance on behalf of the Hebrews because you remember that Egyptians spilled the blood of the Hebrews not only with the policy calling for the murder of the infant boys but also and how they beat and supply very harsh working conditions for the Hebrews many probably died under those circumstances and this was a recompense this was a sign of judgment reason I suggest this is because we see something similar at the end of human history revelation 16 627 during the bold judgments it says this then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters and they became blood and I heard the Angel of the waters saying righteous are you who are and who were oh holy one because you judge these things for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets and you have given them blood to drink they deserve it and I heard the altar saying yes o Lord God the Almighty true and righteous are your judgments so a number of reasons that probably that though that the Lord chose to turn the Nile and the waters of Egypt in the blood but certainly would have been horrifying could you imagine living next to or being in a situation where all the water around you turn the blood so this is plague number one water in Egypt turns to blood but let’s now look at the rest of the plagues yes Danny hmm yeah I think that’s a great question i’ll repeat it and then i’ll comment on it you’re asking can we say that the magicians the Egyptian magicians represented their gods and that Moses and Aaron represented the true God I think so the magicians are we don’t know exactly which gods but really all the religious system and the gods of Egypt was kind of like a competition of power between the two gods really the all the plagues are going to be something like that what it’s like what can the Egyptian gods do and what can the true God do and I think you’re right part of how the part of the muse of my Pharaoh hardens his heart he says how my dishes could do the same thing I’m not really afraid of this guy but even later on when the magician’s are not able to do it he still he still like all I’m not going to not gonna let the people go and this a good comment though let’s now look at the rest of the plagues if you should have gotten a handout for today’s class a big grid if you didn’t get a handout I think Craig has them in the back we’re going to be using that now as we skim our way through the other plagues noting some pieces of information that we can fill in on this chart we’re looking at chapters 8 to 11 we’re going to look at what the plagues were what each plague was what was fair was response to that plague what was the magician’s response if they do appear and what Egyptian deity was connected to the plague you may be asking well do these plagues indeed target Egyptian gods well right before the last plague plague 10 God says Exodus 12 10 against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments i am the lord so in that plague and likely the ones before it God’s judgments are not simply against the Egyptian people but also against their gods he’s going to show or he’s going to target the realms and the aspects the gods that are said to be directly controlled by the Egyptian gods and through his judgments God’s going to show these God’s to be false completely worthless and powerless our worksheet actually list i think the the deities already in that right column is that is that correct yeah these are the one supplied by Answers in Genesis but it’s likely you should know it’s likely that more than one deity is in view with each judgment you see there are many many gods in ancient Egypt one estimate is that they were more than 1,400 lots of gods and multiple gods are often associated with the same thing for instance there are many gods associated with an aisle there are many goddesses associated with fertility so when there’s a judgment on a certain aspect of Egyptian life it’s actually hitting multiple gods some dds were though where we’re very popular at certain times very important we’ll pay attention to those deities ones that you probably heard it before like rah Isis but even beyond particular deities with these judgments there’s an attack on Egyptian religion itself because Egyptian religion centers on a concept called mott or mots or mayotte what is not well not refers to harmony order balance for you to be in a righteous Egyptian you were or what determined whether you were righteous was whether you maintained and promoted not in your personal life and your family and in the kingdom you got to promote order and balance and the gods are supposed to do that to Pharaoh included they were responsible for the universe’s not maintaining order in Egypt and all the world and holding back the forces of chaos this was why it was really important to serve and please the gods because they were not properly served than they could not or would not maintain order of the universe they would not maintain mott so we’re going to see that the concept of mott it’s completely destroyed by these judgments there’s total disorder in Egypt this was both a national and a theological Cataclysm but we will pay attention to the particular deities as well as we go through let’s fill in the row for the first plague we’ve already looked at the passage that discusses that plague the plague is listed there water turn to blood Farrah’s response his heart was hardened his heart was hardened he paid no concern how it was hardened The Magicians response is that they also made the water turn to blood they also made water turn to blood and what Egyptian deity is being judged here well among other deities of the Nile we have the god happy picture of him there happy was the god of the Niles flood I also associated with fertility he’s depicted in blue often also fat and with male and female characteristics denpa size his abundant and fertile nature but after the first plague instead of the Nile bringing fertility it’s bringing death and uncleanness there we have information on the first plague now let’s look at the second plague you notice there are some verses listed here we’re going to read the verses as we go through each of these plagues and I’ll help you fill in information that’s not in those verses but the verses should give us a general idea to help us fill in the chart so I can playing Exodus 8 verses 5 to 7 and that says verse 5 the Lord 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 we’re in stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up and cover the land of Egypt the magician’s did the same with their secret arts making frogs come up on the land of Egypt ok let’s fill in the chart let’s we got a lot to cover so we’ll do this quickly well with the plague frogs got frogs coming up all over Egypt what was fair was response well it wasn’t in the past as we read but it’s in the verses right after so I’ll help you fill it in for our at first agrees to release the Hebrews if Moses will intrigue God to remove the frogs they says I will let you go but when there was relief verse 15 Pharaoh hardened his heart and he did not listen to them as the Lord had said so at first agrees to release them but then when the frogs disappear Pharaoh recants it refuses to release them what was the magician’s response well that’s what Moses keeps on saying he says let my people go but no what did the magicians doing here go ahead and say it they do the same thing they also make frogs appear all right what dd is associated with this plague well one in particular would be the goddess Hecate the Frog goddess a goddess of fertility and childbirth she’s usually depicted as a frog or as a woman with a frogs head frogs often appeared in Egypt when the Nile flood came in and that was a source of life in abundance they needed denials floods so frogs were regarded as it as a positive animal they were a symbol of life and fertility but here instead of life and fertility Hecate’s frogs are bringing nothing but annoyance they’re getting everywhere in Egypt they’re getting into the meaning bowls I’m sure it was hard to sleep with frogs just going all over people so we have a goddess and her brood just causing trouble instead of prosperity for Egypt so that’s plagued number two frogs let’s go to the third plague excess eight verses 16 to 17 then the Lord said to Moses say to Aaron stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth then it may become nats through all the land of Egypt they did so and stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the earth and there were Nats on man and beast all the dust of the earth became Nats through all the land of Egypt the magician’s tried with their secret arts to bring forth Nets but they could not so there were Nats on man and beast I guess I read one verse extra ok what was the plague here the dust of the earth was becoming gnats or also can be translated lice either one of those things and it’s on man and beast was Pharaoh’s response well we see it down in verse 19 Pharaoh’s heart was hardened Pharaoh’s heart was hardened but we also saw in the magician’s response well actually it’s all partly the magician’s response you can also see something extra though in verse 19 what’s the magician’s response somebody said it yeah they try to do the same thing they can’t and then in verse 19 they tell Pharaoh this is the finger of God magicians try to do the same they can’t and they conclude that this judgment was the finger of God I know what gods are in mind in this plague well again there could be many but two of them to relevant gods would be gab and aqua I only had pictured one here gab they were gods of the earth that and here we see the dust of the earth becoming a plague on the Egyptians so no thanks the gods of the earth the Egyptians are troubled by the dust of the earth that’s the third plague dust becoming gnats or lice now the fourth plague extras 8 verses 22 24 let me read that now the Lord said to Moses rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh as he comes out of the water out to the water and say to him thus says the Lord let my people go that they may serve me but 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 in order that you may know that I the LORD am in the midst of the land I will put a division between my people and your people tomorrow the sign will occur then the Lord did sell and there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and the house of his servants and the land was laid waste because of the swarms of flies and all the land of Egypt ok the fourth leg is not locusts yet flies swarms of flies or it could be mosquitoes the Hebrew word could refer to either of those things but swarms of flies or swarms of mosquitoes how does fair respond we didn’t see it in the text but right afterwards we see him do something similar to what he did with the frogs he offers her first Pharaoh gives a compromise or he I suggest a compromise you can sacrificed your God but do it in Egypt Moses says nope we gotta leave fro then says ok i’ll let you leave if you just get rid of these flies but once that happened once that happens Pharaoh hardened his heart the text says and did not let the people go so we offered a compromise solution then he gave in but as soon as the flies were taken care of he refused to let people go he hardened his heart magicians and I mentioned this plague so you don’t have anything to write for them what God is pictured here well the worksheet list the God Khepri don’t not really sure why because Khepri he was a god to be sure with an insect aspects his head was actually a scarab it was actually a bug the scarab beetle but that that bug and his deity ship was associated with the Sun not what really flies or mosquitoes so I don’t know if this really is the deity in mind here we’ll skip this one yeah lien ok as the deity is being targeted in this plague okay I’ll make comment on that you mentioned the John MacArthur Study Bible this shoe and Isis as the as the goddesses being a targeted here gone and goddesses if I remember correctly shoes the god of the air so I guess that is a little bit associated and Isis she’s the goddess of a number of things we’ll talk about just a little bit later among other things the goddess of health and being bit by flies or being bit by mosquitoes is certainly not going to be very healthy for you and very annoying so that those would be relevant deities they’re really in these plagues as I said multiple deities are being affected multiple deities are being shown up by the judgments okay that’s the fourth leg now on to the fifth plague chapter 9 verses 6 to 7 verse 6 so the Lord did this thing on the next day and all the livestock of Egypt died but livestock the sons of Israel but of the livestock of the sons of Israel not one died Pharaoh a sense and behold there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead but the heart of Pharaoh was heartened he did not let the people go all right what is the plague ear death of the livestock death of the Egyptian livestock because none of the Hebrew livestock were affected and this livestock by the way including more than cows it was horses donkeys camels sheep and goats also what was fair was response his heart was hardened his heart was hardened The Magicians not mentioned in this passage again what deity is featured well among others Hathor very popular Egyptian goddess goddess Hathor she was the goddess of the sky of dance of love of beauty of joy motherhood foreign lands mining music and fertility lots of lots of things she was supposedly ruler of she’s depicted often as a cow or as a woman with cow horns you can see you there top right there the Bighorns there with the Sun disk in the middle that’s the goddess Hathor but neither she nor any of the other gods are able to prevent the egyptian livestock from dying there we have the fifth plague the death of the Egyptian livestock yes Emma she was the goddess of a number of things I’ll try yeah I’ll see him again Skye dance love beauty joy motherhood foreign lands mining music and fertility for parallel I think I read that when the Greeks encountered Egypt they connected Hathor with Aphrodite so she’s she’s a goddess similar in that way that there’s overlap between Hathor and Isis as we’ll see okay that’s the fifth plague on to the sixth extras ten or excess nine verses 10 to 12 it says so they took suit 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 magician’s could not stand before Moses because of the boils for the boils were on the magician’s as well as on all the Egyptians and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not listen to them just as the Lord had spoken to Moses all right what’s the play here boils boil / sores on man and beast pustules aching oozing pustules on man and beast Ferris response says the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart we’re seen the magicians here again what’s the magician’s response that’s right not only can I not do the play and they cannot reverse it but they can’t even stand up they can’t even stand before Moses or before Pharaoh because they’ve got these painful bores boils these sores on them so that’s the magician’s response they can’t even stand because of the boils Isis is the featured deity here there’s Isis looks very similar to Hathor over there Isis very very popular godess in Egypt goddess of health marriage and wisdom among other aspects she was extremely popular subsumed half were somewhat often depicted as a woman with a throne on her head so that thing is since she was the mother of Horus who was the god of kingship so she was connected with the throne Isis not only is a God as the goddess of health certainly in mind here but her priest and priestess is were also thought to be skilled healers but not as she nor her religious devoted are able to overcome the boils that are sent by God so Isis is shown to be powerless here there’s the sixth plague now the seventh Exodus nine verses 23 to 26 verse 23 Moses stretched out of staff toward the sky and the Lord sent thunder and hail and fire ran down to the earth the Lord rain hail on the land of Egypt so there was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail very severe such as not been in all the land of Egyptians had to become 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 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 ok what’s the sixth plague a hailstorm it says that there’s hail and fire but fire actually may mean lightning here but we have hail and fire coming down on the Egyptians and on the Egyptian crops says all all the plants of the field were destroyed now Pharaoh’s response is interesting here he first confesses that God is righteous and he and his people are the sinful ones Pharaoh also promises to send away the Hebrews to go do as they wish once Moses stops the storm Moses knows that Pharaoh is being deceitful that he’s not truly changed in heart but he does it anyways he goes and treats the Lord the storm stops and Pharaoh sins again and hardened his heart he and his servants verse 34 says says that Pharaoh and his servants hardened their hearts so magicians are part of the servants so we can list their response there they hardened their hearts along with farrah they hardened their hearts what deity is in mind here again we could say several well one to highlight the goddess newt goddess of the sky her body was actually supposed to be the sky though she sometimes depicted as a woman with a pot on her head and sometimes as a cow a lot of goddesses Egyptian goddesses their associated with cows but Newt is totally unable even has gone to the sky totally unable to protect the Egyptians from this traumatic hailstorm man and beasts were killed and the crops were destroyed that’s the seventh plague now the eighth plague exodus 10 12 and then we’ll look at verses 16 to 20 verse 12 chapter 10 then the Lord 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 land even all that the hail has left there was a little aside and the plague of the hail where it said the flax and the barley were destroyed in the hail but there was some plant that had not not grown yet so they weren’t destroyed the wheat and the spelt they ripen about a month after those other crops so apparently a month had gone by and now these other plants are growing God says bring the locusts and then look at verse 16 verse 16 then Pharaoh hardly called from Moses and Aaron and he said I have sinned against the Lord your God and again you now therefore please forgive my son only this once and make supplication to the Lord your God that he would only remove this death from me he went he went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord so the Lord shifted the wind to a very strong west wind which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea not one locus was left in all the territory of Egypt but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not let the sons of Israel go ok so the plague here a gigantic locusts swarm every green thing every fruit in the land of Egypt is eaten and destroyed what’s Pharaohs response again it’s multifaceted here but for with the plague before the section we read he gives another compromise solution he says you can leave but only the men leave the women and children behind what’s it says nope that’s no good then after the plague you saw Pharaoh confesses his sin against Moses or against God and against Moses and he once again asks Moses to intercede Moses does and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he wouldn’t let the people of Israel go so we offered a compromise solution he promised to let the people visual go but then he turned back on his promise what’s the magician’s response well here they’re not mentioned specifically but Pharaoh servants in general plead with Pharaoh before the plague even came to just let the Hebrews go because Egypt is ruined if they don’t you see that Egypt is ruined so the magicians along the other servants they plead with Pharaoh to just let the Hebrews go now what God is in mind what duty well the worksheet list Seth here also known as set and they call him the god of vegetation but when I look them up I didn’t see any connection with vegetation set is the god of storms deserts chaos and war so perhaps as locusts and desert maybe there’s a connection there but I don’t know if he’s really the correct deity to identify so we’ll skip that one as well but Egyptian deity god or goddess is able to stop these locusts all plants are destroyed in Egypt now the ninth leg X is 10 verses 21 to 23 and then 27 and 29 look at verse 21 with me then the Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand toward the sky 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 and 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 and their dwellings now down to verse 27 but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he was not willing to let them go then Pharaoh said him 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 will never see your face again right so this is the ninth plague what is the plague darkness a darkness that can be felt the plague is darkness darkness that can be felt after the plague Pharaoh offers another compromise you may go but leave your flux behind Moses again refuses and Pharaoh gets so angry the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart he drove Moses from his presence threatening to kill Moses if Moses appeared before him again so he offered a compromise but then the Lord hardened his heart and he drove Moses away clearly one God targeted in this plague is the God raw one of the most important of the Egyptian gods there were a number of gods and goddesses associated with the Sun but raw was the most important he was the Sun God and the Sun because of its position in the sky because the Sun is is dominating the landscape raw was thought to have dominion over all of creation Egyptian saw the Sun as a as a revered object it represented light warmth and growth but here in this plague the Sun was blotted out by the darkness it was a huge blow to raw and the Egyptians who trust themselves who trusted the Sun and we have the ninth plague and finally the tenth the tenth and final plague we’re actually just going to read the beginning part because after the tenth plague that people of Israel actually leave and that’s next week but we will read the intro to this tenth plague look at Exodus 11 verses 4 29 verse for Moses said thus says the Lord about midnight I am going into the midst of Egypt and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the first one of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne even to the firstborn of the slave girl who was behind the millstones all the first one of the cattle as well moreover there shall be a great cry in the land of Egypt such as has not been before and such shall never be again but against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark whether against man or beast that you may understand how the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel all these your servants will come to me and bow themselves before me saying go out you and all the people who follow you and after that I will go out and he went out from Pharaoh and hot anger that’s Moses then the lord said to moses farrow will not listen to you so that my wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt so what’s the final plague death of all firstborn including the first born of cattle you might be saying wait i thought the livestock are already dead how can more of them die what do you think something must have happened in between notice these plagues do not necessarily run right after the other there was a month gap between at least two of the plagues and we saw even after the first plague that there were seven days that that went by after the Nile turned to blood so within that time the Egyptians must have acquired some more livestock here they took it from the Hebrews or bought it from somewhere somewhere else but they had livestock and now the first one of the livestock was going to be killed as well but here we have the death of the first Moses warns fair of the coming plague but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart magicians are not not mentioned here what is the God targeted will Pharaoh himself along with all of the gods of Egypt really because this is the most direct judgment of them all Pharaoh was considered divine the representative of the gods on earth responsible for taking care of the people and for taking care of the gods this judgment struck Pharaoh directly or the would strike Pharaoh directly as it would all the people of Egypt showing all of the Egyptian gods to be completely powerless and for the order the matzav Egypt to be completely destroyed so the judgment here comes on Pharaoh the divine king and really all the gods so we’ve seen plagues 1 to 10 and these are really incredible judgments could you imagine living through these I mean just one of them would be terrifying probably make me lose my mind but these all really happened and why well God said it again and again in the text that we were reading it’s that God might show forth his glory in accomplishing a mighty deliverance on behalf of his people and a terrifying judgment of Israel’s oppressors Pharaoh was raised up specifically and his heart hardened specifically so that God could show forth his glory and power God keeps his promises and how foolish as we read how foolish it is to abandon or to oppose God any quick questions about the plagues yeah Craig that’s a great question Craig you noted that with the 4th plague and other plagues as well it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart even though other times it says the Lord hardened his heart and even further sometimes it says his heart was hardened at the passive voice meaning that they don’t tell you who’s hardening is hard what’s the significance of that I think part of the significance is that we see the intersection of man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty these are not contradicting one another this is not a paradox they are both true who’s responsible for not letting the people visual go well Pharaoh is look he’s hardening his own heart and yet we also see that this was God’s sovereign will taking place the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart so both of those things are happening there and even here and of course we see this throughout the rest of scriptures that is that is that connection between human responsibility and divine sovereignty any other quick questions ok before we end today let’s briefly consider the Passover the Passover celebration that’s instituted by God in connection with the tenth plague turn over to Exodus chapter 12 we’re going to read verses 12 13 as well as 29 and 30 which is where the Lord Institute’s this ritual first one of chapter 12 now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt this month shall be the beginning of months for you it is to be the first month of the year to you speak to all the congregation of Israel saying on the tenth of this month they’re each one to take a land for themselves according their father’s house holds a lamb for each household now the household is too small for a land than he in his neighbor nearest to his house or to take one according to the number of persons in them according to what each man should eat you want to divide the land you’re Liam shall be an unblemished male a year old you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two door posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it they shall eat the flesh that same night roasted with fire they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with the water but rather roasted with fire both its head and its legs along with his entrails and you shall not leave any of it over until morning but whatever is left of it until morning you shall burn with fire now I should eat it in this manner with your loins girded your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand and you shall eat in haste it is the Lord’s Passover for I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments i am the lord the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you live and when I see the Blood I will pass over you and no plank will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt skip down to verse 29 now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the first one of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the first one of cattle Pharaoh arose in the night he and all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt but there was no home but there was not someone dead we could say a lot about this passage well let’s just notice a few things because of our short time what kind of animal was to be used for the Passover a lamb either the Sheep where the goats what kind of lien unblemished and male also a year old but an unblemished male lamb when was the animal to be killed says on the fourteenth day of the first month a Passover celebration or the past of a ritual starts on the 10th says that’s when you bring the lamb into your house but you kill it on the fourteenth day the blood of the animal was replaced on the two door posts and the lintel of the house and when God sent his angel to destroy all the first point of Egypt the aim would pass over the homes with the blood why did God tell the Hebrews to do this well it was to serve as a memorial to the Hebrews of what God accomplished for them in Egypt how God protected them and delivered them not just from this plague but from all the plagues that were coming on the Egyptians you notice than other passage that we read that God kept making an exception for the Land of Israel they were not struck with the plagues that came on Egypt they didn’t experience the judgments so this was memorial to that and particularly the tenth plague but as you know it was also a foreshadowing of what was to come it wasn’t just an easy of that man we need blood to cover him and protect him from God judgment as has been a need since the fall since Genesis 3 the unblemished unblemished lamb of god as John calls Jesus was also slain on the fourteenth day of the first hebrew month he became a Passover land he became the Passover lamb at first Corinthians 5 makes the connection explicit speaking to believers he says Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed do we think the judgments on Edith were bad those were just a taste of the full wrath of God and we and all people outside of Christ if we’re outside of Christ we will experience that judgment unless we are covered by the blood of Jesus and delivered from our sins but if we are in Christ then we’re like those Hebrews in the houses who have the blood on the doorways we don’t need to fear the judgment the Angel of Death God passes over us and instead brings us out to be with him just like you brought the Israelites out first Corinthians 5 does note however that if Christ is your Passover lamb then you want to celebrate the feast we ought to celebrate the feast and in that context that meant not tell tolerating leaven in your house that is unrepentant sin unrepentant sin in your lives unrepentant sin in the life of the church have to be zealous enough for the Lord and caring enough about one another that we help each other put our habits of sin to death because in the Passover you had unleavened bread and in a figurative way we celebrate the Passover of Christ by getting rid of the leaven in our household getting rid of sin of course the empowers us to do that by spirit there’s much more we can say about the Passover and the Passover lamb but pretty much out of time today final comments or questions an amazing amazing happening in history and a foreshadowing of something even more amazing if you’re in Christ you’ve been covered by the Passover lamb so thank the Lord for that I meditate on that this morning take joy in that but if you’re not in Christ then you’re like Egypt just getting ready for the judgment let’s pray as we close father or sometimes we do lose sight of just how terrifying it is to be under your wrath what I thank you myself and any others who believe in you that that’s not where we are anymore we are delivered that sin no has no power on us anymore and we also are not going to suffer the penalty of sin because you suffered it your blood was shed you covered us you lifted us out from that so that when this reality fades this world and we encounter eternity it will not be the eternity of torment it will not be darkness it will not be eternal pain it will instead be eternal joy of eternal glory eternal love as we are brought to you as a bride because you are loving because you are great because you want to show forth your greatness with thank you thank you you spared us from the judgment you will you you will spare us in the tribulation when it comes then you will spare us from the final judgment on sin because of your son Jesus thank you thank you Lord God enable the spire spirit to celebrate the Feast of the Passover in that figurative way Lord not tolerating sin in our lives getting rid of the leaven so that we can just enjoy you and that we can celebrate you as you ought to be celebrated well we want to celebrate you more this morning teach us by the preaching of your word remind us and encourage us by the singing that we will do in the service and the scripture reading i paid you bless our fellowship today ng this name amen