Lesson #07

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

EXODUS 7
Lesson #07
THE PLAGUES BEGIN

• Memory Verse: Isaiah 25:8

• The battle between God and Pharaoh is about to begin. However, first Moses, the author of this book, gives us an overview of the situation.
• Read Exo 7:1-7 The overview

• “…I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.”

(1)

• Pharaoh was going to see that the power of the almighty God was behind Moses.
• In other words, Pharaoh was not going to be able to rationalize away the miracles of the plagues.
• He was not going to say, as some do today, that these were just accidental acts of nature.
• He was not going to say that there was no relationship between the plagues, Moses, and the slavery of the Israelites.
• The strength and power behind the plagues was going to be so great that it would be obvious to Pharaoh that Moses spoke for the almighty God.
• Aaron was to be Moses’ prophet.
• While Moses represented God, Aaron would represent Moses and speak for him.
• “…I will harden Pharaoh’s heart…”

(3)

• The phrase is mentioned 17 times in Exodus.
• The Hebrew text uses three different words to express the meaning of this phrase:
• =1= to fasten upon, seize, be strong, bind, restrain, prevail, force.
• =2= severe difficult, burdensome, heavy, grievous, laden.
• =3= tough, severe, cruel, make grievous, stiff-necked, hard, labor.
• Nine times God hardens Pharaoh’s heart while 3 times Pharaoh hardens his own heart, and 5 times there is no mention of who did the hardening.
• These meanings and uses indicate two aspects:
• =1= a judicial aspect to indicate that God is sovereign.
• =2= a personal aspect to indicate that man is responsible for his own thoughts and actions.
• Read Rom 9:17-24
• If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, how can Pharaoh be held personally responsible for his rejection of God?
• The process of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart still occurs today. Therefore, it is important to understand the process.
• Truths concerning the hardening of a heart:
• =1= The hardening of a heart occurs gradually over time.
• =2= The hardening of a heart is a slippery slope.
• =3= The hardening of a heart is initially controlled by the individual, and for that he is responsible before God.
• =4= The hardening of a heart eventually is controlled by God when the person steps over a spiritual line.
• =5= The final decision of the rejection of God is made by man, and for that man is responsible.
• =6= The consequence of man’s final rejection is God’s hardening of that man’s heart.
• =7= God’s hardening of a heart cuts that man off from eternity with God.

• Read Exo 7:8-13
• TEST #4 = The test is obedience in action.
• Moses continually hesitated but eventually he was obedient and did what God told him to do.
• Many Christians not only hesitate at this test but they fail it.
• Who were the wise men and the sorcerers? (11)
• From very ancient times magic, sorcery or witchcraft were common practices in the Egyptian palaces. The Pharaoh’s used these black arts to make decisions. As a result, those who practiced these black arts frequented the palace areas.
• The miracle of the rod and the serpent.
• The word, “serpent”, is translated “dragon” everywhere else in the Bible. Therefore, some theologians believe that the rod turned to a crocodile and not a snake.
• The crocodile was the Egyptian god Sobek, an evil god.
• How could the sorcerers perform the same miracles that God told Moses to perform?
• There have been many attempts to explain how the sorcerers could do the same miracles that God had performed through Moses.
• The two most logical explanations:
• =1= an effective slight-of-hand trick:
• The cobra is a common snake in Egypt. It can be made immobile if pressure is applied to the muscles at the nape of the neck. In this condition, the snake is as rigid as rod.
• =2= Satan’s power:
• Satan has a limited amount of power permitted by God. The source of sorcery (witchcraft) is Satan and his demons. Satan uses this limited power to deceive.
• What is the significance of this victory?
• We have already determined that the rod represents authority given by God to Moses.
• Previously we saw this same miracle performed in Exo 4:2-5. There is a difference, however.
• In Exo 4:2-5 it was Moses’ rod that became a serpent. In Exo 7:8-13 it is Aaron’s rod that becomes a serpent.
• What is the significance of this difference?
• The essential meaning of the message is the same. The difference is that Aaron has the same authority as Moses.
• The serpent obviously represents Satan. God gave Moses the victory when his rod, which represents his authority given by God, consumes the magician’s rod, under the authority of Satan. In Exo 7 God is giving Aaron the same authority as Moses.
• In other words, the power of God is greater than the power of Satan, no matter whose hand holds the rod.
• This means that believers in Jesus Christ have the same spiritual authority as Jesus did. That is why Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (Joh 14:12)
• This victory establishes the foundation for the ten plagues that follow. It is a warning and a prophecy that the gods of Egypt under the authority of Satan will be defeated by the power of God almighty.
• Read 1Cor 15:54
• The Introduction to the Ten Plagues:
• There are many attempts to explain these plagues either as naturally occurring events or as separate, unrelated miracles.
• Like all other scripture in the Bible, we will consider the plagues literally as miraculous events that bring about the plan of God, and therefore, they have a spiritual significance.
• Since God is not a God by accident, but by design, there is a deeper meaning in the ten plagues, which we will consider.
• It is important to notice that the length of time between the plagues is not given. They may have occurred contiguously one after the other, or there could have been some weeks, months, or years between one plague and the next.
• The specific characteristics of the plagues that tell us that these were supernatural events:
• The intensity of the plagues was beyond natural occurrence.
• Moses predicted the beginning and the ending of the specific plagues.
• The plagues discriminated specifically against the Egyptians and left the Israelites untouched.
• The plagues have an order of severity with the last being worse than the first.
• The plagues were designed to teach moral principles.
• The purposes for the ten plagues:
• =1= To demonstrate the all powerful nature of a holy God. (Exo 18:10-11)
• After generations of time in Egypt, the Israelites became accustomed to the Egyptian culture. They were saturated by worldliness.
• Remember that worldliness is sin and sin brings bondage.
• Like many people today who live a worldly life of sin, they are unaware that they can be free from the bondage their lifestyle brings.
• However, freedom can only come by means of a Holy God, Jesus Christ, who paid the price for man’s sin on the cross.
• =2= To bring about the redemptive plan of God that would free the Israelites from Egypt.
• God’s promises to Abraham could never be fulfilled through a people in bondage in Egypt.
• Therefore, because of His promise to Abraham, God would redeem His people. (Exo 2:24)
• =3= To defeat the gods of Egypt.(Exo 12:12)
• The Egyptian religion was one of the most complicated religions on earth. It was not a unified religion but consisted of a discordant mixture of many local, cultural, and political aspects surrounding hundreds of gods.
• It was a mixed system where, over time, many beliefs and gods were mixed together taking on the characteristics, names, and attributes of other gods.
• The Egyptian people were extremely religious. Their gods and their religion dominated all aspects of their lives.
• =4= To defeat the sorcerers, wise men, and pagan priests of Egypt.
• These religious leaders were a professional class of people with great power, prestige, and wealth. They became inept and unable to stand against the supreme power of Jehovah.
• =5= To defeat the Pharaohs of Egypt and accomplish the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.
• The Pharaoh was considered a god. He was Horus, the son of Hathor. As a king and a god, he had power over all the people, and the responsibility of maintaining peace, justice, and prosperity over all the nation. Jehovah and the Israelites disrupted that peace and prosperity. Through the plagues, Pharaoh was made to be impotent in the eyes of his people.
• =6= To teach the Israelites the moral lessons of separation from the Egyptian system of worldliness and idolatry.
• The Israelites were supposed to learn that worldliness and idolatry did not satisfy man’s needs or provide for them. Unfortunately they did not learn these lessons, and they were doomed to repeat them wandering in the wilderness in the book of Numbers.
• =7= To defeat the power of the Nile River in the minds of the Egyptians.
• The Nile River has always been of extreme importance to the life of Egypt in the area of transportation and trade, and in the area of agriculture. The annual flood waters of the Nile River prevent the nation from becoming an unproductive desert.
• To the Egyptian, the Nile River was the source of life itself. Therefore, it was a sacred river.
• =8= To judge the Egyptians for their treatment of the Israelites. (Exo 10:16)
• All through the Old Testament God judges those who persecute the Jews according to the promise given to Abraham in Gen 12:3. (Jos 2:8-9) This same promise is still in force in our modern-day world.
• =9= To build Moses’ character and confidence.
• Aaron played a prominent role in the process of communication between God and Pharaoh at the beginning, but that role decreased over time. By the end of the third plague, God is speaking directly to Pharaoh through Moses and Moses is directly involved in performing the miracles. By the end of the ninth plague, (Exo 11:3) it says that Moses was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt.
• The acceptance of a person’s role of leadership is directly related to his ability to trust God and his determination to obey God.
• =10= To indicate the extent of human moral responsibility. (Deu 4:33-55)
• There are ten plagues and ten commandments. The number 10 in the Bible represents man’s responsibility in light of a moral God, and God always tests according to this standard. Man is accountable to God for breaking God’s moral law.
• The ten plagues contain within them aspects of temptation to worldly compromise God’s plan.
• Remember that Egypt symbolizes the world system. The New Testament believer is told not to love the world. (1Joh 2:15)
• As we study the individual plagues, we will see that these temptations to compromise with the world are cleverly suggested.
• Read Exo7:14-25

• Plague #1 The River Turned to Blood

• “…Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.”

(19)

• There has been much discussion about the nature of the blood in the water. Was it really blood or was it a red colored soil or a red bacteria?
• Since we interpret the Bible literally, and the Hebrew word specifies literal blood, we must assume that it really was blood with its characteristic taste, smell, and texture.
• The extensive nature of this plague:
• Verse 19 tells us that not only the Nile was affected, but also the subsidiary rivers, the ponds, and water stored in containers.
• If the bloody water was that extensive, how could the sorcerers have turned water to blood if Moses had already turned all the water to blood?
• This is an intriguing question with a simple answer. The word “all” in the Hebrew language can mean the total amount of water in an absolute sense, and it can mean a majority of water in a popular sense. Evidently it is the latter meaning that is intended.
• In verse 24 the people dug into the sand near the Nile river to find drinkable water. Sand is a natural filter. They probably found a little filtered water over which they could counterfeit this miracle.
• It is interesting to notice that the Egyptians could supposedly turn water to blood but they could not turn blood back to fresh water again.
• How did the Israelites escape this judgment if all the water was turned to blood?
• The Bible does not tell us exactly how God’s people escaped this plague. Because other plagues tell us that God made a difference between His people and the people of Egypt, we can assume that God made a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites in this one as well. (Exo 8:20,22)
• There is a Biblical truth in this:
• God makes a difference between His people and those who are not His by placing a supernatural hedge of protection around His people so as not to pour His wrath upon His own people. (Job 1:10 Isa 5:5 Mar 12:1)
• Of what significance is the river that turned to blood?
• Many of the gods of Egypt were associated directly or indirectly with the Nile River. Therefore, this first plague is general in nature against all the gods of Egypt. Here are a few:

• Khnum

was the god and the guardian of the Nile River. He appears as a human with a ram’s head.

• Hapi

was the spirit of the Nile River. This is a fat god with the breasts of a woman to illustrate fertility and provision.

• Sobek

was the evil god of the crocodiles. He is pictured with a crocodile head.

• Osiris

was the god of the underworld. He was one of the greatest gods in Egypt and the Nile River was considered to be his bloodstream.

• This tells us why the sorcerers were able to change water from the Nile to blood.
• This plague lasted for 7 days. That is one complete week without fresh water.
• The number seven in the Bible symbolizes God’s completion or perfection.
• This plague in some way or another affected all the gods of Egypt and represents God’s perfect justice against pagan idolatry.
• Summary and application:
• For the believer in Jesus Christ who understands the Bible by faith, the small details of these miracles are interesting but not important in the broad scheme of the intended message. What is the intended message?
• Jehovah, the one true almighty God, loves and cares for His people in marvelous ways that can’t always be explained. However, that provision and protection can be felt and experienced by those who know Jesus Christ by faith as their Lord and Savior.

HOMEWORK
EXODUS 8
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Exo 7
• How strong is your faith? Do you believe that God did the miracles in Chapter 7 just as the Bible states it, or do you believe Moses used some natural phenomena on which he placed a spiritual interpretation? Give a reason for your answer.

• Preparation for Exo 8
• Read Exo 8:1-15 The Second Plague – frogs
• What difference do you notice between the power of God and the power of the sorcerers?
• Read Exo 8:16-19 The Third Plague – lice
• What is the difference between this plague and the previous one?
• Read Exo 8:20-32 The Fourth Plague – flies
• Which words by Pharaoh are a temptation to Moses to compromise God’s plan?

• Memory Verse: Exo 8:23