---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Dusty Hanson
Berean's,
This week we will look at Exodus 10 & Exodus 11.
Review - How many plagues? How many times Pharaoh asked Moses & Aaron to stop? When do our sins consequences change our actions or heart?
Exodus 10:3-11: How bad must it be for Pharaoh's servants to ask of Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go? Look at some verses of Hardening the Heart (Exodus 4:21, 7:13, John 12:40, and Romans 9:18)
Look at some verses of Being Humbled (1 Kings 21:29 (Ahab), 2 Chronicles 34:27 (Josiah), James 4:10, and 1 Peter 5:6). Why does Pharaoh ask who is to go? What does this tell you about Pharaoh? (Exodus 8:8, Exodus 8:25, and Exodus 10:8)
Exodus 10:12-20: Locusts (Joel 1:4, Revelation 9:3) Is it time for the Egyptians to leave Egypt, rebel against Pharaoh? What would make you leave?
Exodus 10:21-29: Darkness (Psalm 105:28, Revelation 16:10) Remember the separation between the Hebrews & Egyptians (Exodus 8:22), verses 28-29 (Pharaoh's response, Moses's response) Look at Hebrews 11:27.
Hebrews 11:1-3: Why 10 plagues? What have we learned in Exodus 3:22, 12:35-36. Why was Moses greatly esteemed? (Psalm 106:46 & Deut 34:10-12)
Hebrews 11:4-8: Why the 1st born? Look at Exodus 12:29, Hebrews 11:27, and Isaiah 63:17.
God wants our heart and we need to humble ourselves. What does humbling ourselves look like?
Another great article about Exodus and Moses and how you can't be to old to be used by God!
Daily encouragement and inspiration to draw closer to God each day.
Appealing (Ex. 10:1-20)
When God gave Moses the instructions for his next meeting with Pharaoh, He added another reason for the great display of His wonders in the plagues: that the Jews might be able to tell the generations to come about the awesome power of their great God.
This purpose was also written into the Passover Feast (Ex. 12:26-27; Ex. 13:8,14,15). Whether in the family or the local church, it's good for each new generation to learn and appreciate the way God has worked on behalf of previous generations. Recalling and giving thanks for God's wonderful deeds is one of the basic themes of the Book of Deuteronomy, including what the Lord did to Pharaoh (Deut. 4:34; 7:18-19; 26:5-8; 29:1-3).
Interrogation (Ex. 10:3-11) Three questions summarize this confrontation with Pharaoh. First, Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh how long he was going to persist in his pride and refuse to humble himself before God. It took a great deal of courage to tell any ancient ruler that he was proud, but especially the king of Egypt who was honored as a god. However, Moses and Aaron knew that the Lord would protect them and fulfill His word. They warned Pharaoh that if he failed to obey, vast swarms of locusts would come into the land and destroy everything that hadn't already been destroyed by the hailstorm. Moses and Aaron didn't wait for an answer or another false promise; they delivered their message and walked out of the palace.
The second question came from Pharaoh's officers, "How long shall this man be a snare to us?" (Ex. 10:7)They suggested that Pharaoh had been wrong in not letting the Jews go, and they even dared to remind him that his anti-Jewish policy had ruined the land of Egypt. The officers certainly were brave to talk this boldly to Pharaoh, but the nation was in desperate straits and somebody had to do something. What harm could come from the Jewish people temporarily leaving their work and going on their journey? Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron back to the palace and asked the third question: "Who are the ones that are going?" (Ex. 10:8) Moses made it clear that God wanted everybody to take this three-day journey. This included all the men, women, and children, the young and the old, and also the flocks and herds that would be needed to provide sacrifices for the Lord. Pharaoh offered to let only the men go on the journey, knowing that he could hold their families hostage and guarantee their return to Egypt, but it was a compromise that Moses and Aaron rejected.
In his angry response (Ex. 10:10-11), Pharaoh blasphemed the name of God. Literally, he said, "May the Lord be with you if I ever let you and your children go!" The Living Bible paraphrases it, "In the name of God I will not let you take your little ones!" Pharaoh interpreted their request as an evil plot to secure their freedom from Egyptian bondage. If all the Jewish men left with their families and livestock, they'd never have to return!
That was the end of the interview, and Pharaoh commanded his officers to drive Moses and Aaron out of the palace. As far as he was concerned, he was finished with Moses and Aaron and would never again listen to their messages from the Lord. However, God had other plans, and before long, Pharaoh would again be appealing for deliverance and relief.
Invasion (Ex. 10:12-15). God had seen and heard the entire interview and was prepared to respond to Pharaoh's blasphemy and disobedience. When Moses lifted his rod toward heaven, God sent an east wind that blew for the rest of that day and all through the night. It brought vast swarms of locusts into the land, and they began to devour all the vegetation that had survived the previous plague (Ex. 9:32). Since the creatures attacked "all the Egyptians" (Ex. 10:6), the inference is that Israel escaped this devastating plague.
If vocabulary is any indication of significance, then the locust was a significant creature in the Old Testament world, for there are at least eleven different Hebrew words in Scripture referring to it. The Jews were permitted to eat certain species of locusts (Lev. 11:20-23; Deut. 14:19-20; see Matt. 3:1-4), but for the most part, they hated the creatures because of their ability to strip the vegetation from an area with incredible speed. The Israelites used the locust swarm to describe anything that quickly invaded and devastated their land (Judges 6:5; 7:12; Isa. 33:4; Jer. 46:23; Jer. 51:14, Jer. 51:27), and the Prophet Joel compared the locusts to an invading army (Joel 1-2; see Amos 7:1-3).
Intercession (Ex. 10:16-19). If Pharaoh's officers thought that Egypt was already ruined (Ex. 10:7), then what was their opinion of the situation after the locusts arrived? Within a brief time, no vegetation was left anywhere in the land, and the creatures were invading the houses as well as the fields (Ex. 10:6). It was the most devastating natural calamity to hit the land of Egypt in all Egyptian history. In destroying the vegetation, God not only left the land bankrupt, but He triumphed over Osiris, the Egyptian god of fertility and crops. He also proved that He had control over the wind.
Once again Pharaoh sought for relief without repentance, and God mercifully granted his request. God proved His greatness by reversing the winds and carrying all the locusts into the Red Sea. Within a short time, He would put Pharaoh's army into the Red Sea, and then the Israelites would be free to march to their Promised Land.
Threatening (Ex. 10:21-29)
We don't know how long after the locusts left Egypt that God sent the ninth plague, but the darkness over the land for three days proved that Jehovah was greater than Ra (or Re) and Horus, both of whom the Egyptians revered as sun gods. The darkness wasn't the natural result of a sandstorm but was a miracle from the hand of the God of the Hebrews. There was light for the Israelites in the land of Goshen, just as there would be light for them as they marched out of Egypt (Ex. 14:19-20). The people of the world (Egypt) walk in the darkness, but the people of God walk in the light (John 3:19-21; 1 John 1:5-10).
Always ready to call for help when he was in trouble, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and made one more offer. The Jews could go on their journey to worship the Lord, but they couldn't take their flocks and herds with them. Pharaoh's plan was to confiscate all their livestock to replace what he had lost in the plagues, and then send his army to bring the Jews back to Egyptian slavery. Moses and Aaron rejected the offer, not only because they saw through his crafty plan, but because they knew that Israel had to obey all the will of God.
Pharaoh was a proud man, and proud people don't like to be outwitted by those whom they consider their inferiors. Moses and Aaron had refused his four offers and had insisted that he let the Israelites go. These two humble Jews had proved themselves more powerful than the exalted Pharaoh of Egypt, a son of the gods. By His mighty judgments, the God of the Hebrews had brought the great nation of Egypt to its knees; and both the leaders and the common people in the land held Moses in high regard (Ex. 11:3).
Pharaoh was a beaten man, but he wouldn't admit it. Instead, he used his authority to try to intimidate Moses. He warned Moses that if he came back into the palace to see Pharaoh, he would be killed. There were to be no more official audiences before Pharaoh. But before Moses left the throne room, he delivered God's final warning about the last plague, the death of the firstborn (Ex.11:4). There's an unfortunate chapter division here, for it's likely that Moses delivered his final speech between Ex.10:28 and Ex. 10:29, and then he left the throne room in great anger. It is this incident that is referred to in Hebrews 11:27. Moses wasn't afraid of the wrath of Pharaoh as he organized the Jewish people and led them out of Egypt, for he knew that God would defeat Pharaoh and his army. Pharaoh had threatened to kill Moses, but God was going to slay every firstborn son in the land of Egypt and then drown Pharaoh's crack troops. In spite of what Pharaoh said about not seeing Moses, on Passover night, Pharaoh would once again call for Moses and plead for his help (Ex. 12:31). The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is a warning to all of us. If the sinful human heart doesn't respond by faith to God's Word, it cannot be transformed by the grace of God (Ezek. 36:26-27; Heb. 8:7-13). Instead, it will become harder and harder the longer it resists God's truth. No matter how often God may send affliction, it will only provoke more disobedience. In the last days, when God sends His terrible judgments on the world (Rev. 6 to Rev. 16), The parallels between the plagues of Egypt and the judgments in the Book of Revelation are worth noting: water turned to blood (Rev. 8:8; Rev. 16:4-6), frogs (Rev. 16:13), painful sores (Rev. 16:2), hail and fire (Rev. 8:7), locusts (Rev. 9:1), and terrible darkness (Rev. 16:10). people will curse God and continue in their sins, but they will not repent (Rev. 6:15-17; Rev. 9:20-21; Rev. 16:9, 11). There will be a whole world full of men and women like Pharaoh who will behold God's judgments and still not repent. "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" Heb. 3:7. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).
Chapter Four.
One More Plague
Exodus 11:1-13:16
This section of the Book of Exodus focuses on an unpopular subject: death. King Jehovah (Ps. 95:3) was about to confront King Pharaoh with another king—death, the "king of terrors" (Job 18:14). The last enemy, death (1 Cor. 15:26), would visit Egypt with one last plague and deliver one last blow to the proud ruler of the land. In one solemn night, all the firstborn sons and all the firstborn livestock in Egypt would die, and there would be a great cry throughout the land (Ex. 11:6; Ex. 12:30). Only then would Pharaoh let God's people go. However, death wouldn't visit the Jews and their livestock in the land of Goshen, because the Israelites belonged to the Lord and were His special people. In the land of Goshen, all that would die would be innocent yearling lambs, one for each Jewish household. This night would mark the inauguration of Passover, Israel's first national feast. In this chapter, we want to examine five different aspects of the Passover event.
This section of the Book of Exodus focuses on an unpopular subject: death. King Jehovah (Ps. 95:3) was about to confront King Pharaoh with another king—death, the "king of terrors" (Job 18:14). The last enemy, death (1 Cor. 15:26), would visit Egypt with one last plague and deliver one last blow to the proud ruler of the land. In one solemn night, all the firstborn sons and all the firstborn livestock in Egypt would die, and there would be a great cry throughout the land (Ex. 11:6; Ex. 12:30). Only then would Pharaoh let God's people go. However, death wouldn't visit the Jews and their livestock in the land of Goshen, because the Israelites belonged to the Lord and were His special people. In the land of Goshen, all that would die would be innocent yearling lambs, one for each Jewish household. This night would mark the inauguration of Passover, Israel's first national feast. In this chapter, we want to examine five different aspects of the Passover event.
Passover and the Egyptians (Ex. 11:1-10)
The people of Egypt had been irritated by the first six plagues, and their land and possessions had been devastated by the next two plagues. The ninth plague, the three days of darkness, had set the stage for the most dreadful plague of all, when the messengers of death would visit the land. "He unleashed against them His hot anger, His wrath, indignation and hostility—a band of destroying angels" (Ps. 78:49, niv).
Moses heard God's Word (Ex. 11:1-3). These verses describe what happened before Moses was summoned to the palace to hear Pharaoh's last offer (Ex. 10:24-29). Moses' speech (Ex. 11:4-8) was delivered between verses Ex. 10:26 and Ex. 10:27, and it ended with Moses leaving the palace in great anger (Ex. 10:29; Ex. 11:8).
God told Moses that He would send one more plague to Egypt, a plague so terrible that Pharaoh would not only let the Israelites go but would command them to go. Pharaoh would drive them out of the land and thus fulfill the promise God had made even before the plagues had started (Ex. 6:1; see Ex. 12:31-32, 39).
Moses told the Jewish people that the time had come for them to collect their unpaid wages for all the work they and their ancestors had done as slaves in Egypt. The Hebrew word translated "borrow" in the Authorized Version simply means "to ask or request." The Jews didn't intend to return what the Egyptians gave them, for that wealth was payment for an outstanding debt that Egypt owed to Israel. God had promised Abraham that his descendants would leave Egypt "with great substance" (Gen. 15:14), and He repeated that promise to Moses (Ex. 3:21-22). God had given His servant Moses great respect among the Egyptians, and now He would give the Jews great favor with the Egyptians, who would freely give their wealth to the Jews (12:36-37).
Moses warned Pharaoh (Ex. 11:4-10). This was Moses' final address to Pharaoh, who rejected it just as he did the other warnings. Pharaoh had no fear of God in his heart, therefore, he didn't take Moses' words seriously. But in rejecting God's word, Pharaoh caused the finest young men in the land to die and therefore brought profound sorrow to himself and to his people.
Two questions must be addressed at this point: (1) Why did God slay only the firstborn? (2) Was He just in doing so when Pharaoh was the true culprit? In answering the first question, we also help to answer the second.
In most cultures, firstborn sons are considered special, and in Egypt, they were considered sacred. We must remember that God calls Israel His firstborn son (Ex. 4:22; Jer. 31:9; Hosea 11:1). At the very beginning of their conflict, Moses warned Pharaoh that the way he treated God's firstborn would determine how God treated Egypt's firstborn (Ex. 4:22-23). Pharaoh had tried to kill the Jewish male babies, and his officers had brutally mistreated the Jewish slaves, so in slaying the firstborn, the Lord was simply paying Pharaoh back with his own currency.
Compensation is a fundamental law of life (Matt. 7:1-2), and God isn't unjust in permitting this law to operate in the world. Pharaoh drowned the Jewish babies, so God drowned Pharaoh's army (Ex. 14:26-31; 15:4-5). Jacob lied to his father Isaac (Gen. 27:15-17), and years later, Jacob's sons lied to him (Gen. 37:31-35). David committed adultery and had the woman's husband murdered (2 Sam. 11), and David's daughter was raped and two of his sons were murdered (2 Sam. 13; 18). Haman built a gallows on which to hang Mordecai, but it was Haman who was hanged there instead (Es. 7:7-10). "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7, nkjv).
As to the justice of this tenth plague, who can pass judgment on the acts of the Lord when "righteousness and justice are the foundation of [His] throne"? (Ps. 89:14, niv) But why should one man's resistance to God cause the death of many innocent young men? However, similar events happen in our world today. How many men and women who died in uniform had the opportunity to vote for or against a declaration of war? And as to the "innocence" of these firstborn sons, only God knows the human heart and can dispense His justice perfectly. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25)
When you read the Book of Genesis, you learn that God often rejected the firstborn son and chose the next son to carry on the family line and receive God's special blessing. God chose Abel, and then Seth, but not Cain; He chose Shem, not Japheth; Isaac, not Ishmael; and Jacob, not Esau.
These choices not only magnify God's sovereign grace, but they are a symbolic way of saying that our first birth is not accepted by God. We must experience a second birth, a spiritual birth, before God can accept us (John 1:12-13; 3:1-18). 198The firstborn son represents humanity's very best, but that isn't good enough for a holy God. Because of our first birth, we inherit Adam's sinful nature and are lost (Ps. 51:5-6); but when we experience a second birth through faith in Christ, we receive God's divine nature and are accepted in Christ (2 Peter 1:1-4; Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:9).
Pharaoh and the Egyptian people sinned against a flood of light and insulted God's mercy. The Lord had endured with much long-suffering the rebellion and arrogance of the king of Egypt as well as his cruel treatment of the Jewish people. God had warned Pharaoh many times, but the man wouldn't submit. Jehovah had publicly humiliated the Egyptian gods and goddesses and proved Himself to be the only true and living God, yet the nation would not believe.
"Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Ecc. 8:11, nkjv). God's mercy should have brought Pharaoh to his knees; instead, he repeatedly hardened his heart. Pharaoh's officials humbled themselves before Moses (Ex. 3; 8); why couldn't Pharaoh follow their example? "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18, nkjv).--Wiersbe, Warren W. [1]
Moses heard God's Word (Ex. 11:1-3). These verses describe what happened before Moses was summoned to the palace to hear Pharaoh's last offer (Ex. 10:24-29). Moses' speech (Ex. 11:4-8) was delivered between verses Ex. 10:26 and Ex. 10:27, and it ended with Moses leaving the palace in great anger (Ex. 10:29; Ex. 11:8).
God told Moses that He would send one more plague to Egypt, a plague so terrible that Pharaoh would not only let the Israelites go but would command them to go. Pharaoh would drive them out of the land and thus fulfill the promise God had made even before the plagues had started (Ex. 6:1; see Ex. 12:31-32, 39).
Moses warned Pharaoh (Ex. 11:4-10). This was Moses' final address to Pharaoh, who rejected it just as he did the other warnings. Pharaoh had no fear of God in his heart, therefore, he didn't take Moses' words seriously. But in rejecting God's word, Pharaoh caused the finest young men in the land to die and therefore brought profound sorrow to himself and to his people.
Two questions must be addressed at this point: (1) Why did God slay only the firstborn? (2) Was He just in doing so when Pharaoh was the true culprit? In answering the first question, we also help to answer the second.
In most cultures, firstborn sons are considered special, and in Egypt, they were considered sacred. We must remember that God calls Israel His firstborn son (Ex. 4:22; Jer. 31:9; Hosea 11:1). At the very beginning of their conflict, Moses warned Pharaoh that the way he treated God's firstborn would determine how God treated Egypt's firstborn (Ex. 4:22-23). Pharaoh had tried to kill the Jewish male babies, and his officers had brutally mistreated the Jewish slaves, so in slaying the firstborn, the Lord was simply paying Pharaoh back with his own currency.
Compensation is a fundamental law of life (Matt. 7:1-2), and God isn't unjust in permitting this law to operate in the world. Pharaoh drowned the Jewish babies, so God drowned Pharaoh's army (Ex. 14:26-31; 15:4-5). Jacob lied to his father Isaac (Gen. 27:15-17), and years later, Jacob's sons lied to him (Gen. 37:31-35). David committed adultery and had the woman's husband murdered (2 Sam. 11), and David's daughter was raped and two of his sons were murdered (2 Sam. 13; 18). Haman built a gallows on which to hang Mordecai, but it was Haman who was hanged there instead (Es. 7:7-10). "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7, nkjv).
As to the justice of this tenth plague, who can pass judgment on the acts of the Lord when "righteousness and justice are the foundation of [His] throne"? (Ps. 89:14, niv) But why should one man's resistance to God cause the death of many innocent young men? However, similar events happen in our world today. How many men and women who died in uniform had the opportunity to vote for or against a declaration of war? And as to the "innocence" of these firstborn sons, only God knows the human heart and can dispense His justice perfectly. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25)
When you read the Book of Genesis, you learn that God often rejected the firstborn son and chose the next son to carry on the family line and receive God's special blessing. God chose Abel, and then Seth, but not Cain; He chose Shem, not Japheth; Isaac, not Ishmael; and Jacob, not Esau.
These choices not only magnify God's sovereign grace, but they are a symbolic way of saying that our first birth is not accepted by God. We must experience a second birth, a spiritual birth, before God can accept us (John 1:12-13; 3:1-18). 198The firstborn son represents humanity's very best, but that isn't good enough for a holy God. Because of our first birth, we inherit Adam's sinful nature and are lost (Ps. 51:5-6); but when we experience a second birth through faith in Christ, we receive God's divine nature and are accepted in Christ (2 Peter 1:1-4; Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:9).
Pharaoh and the Egyptian people sinned against a flood of light and insulted God's mercy. The Lord had endured with much long-suffering the rebellion and arrogance of the king of Egypt as well as his cruel treatment of the Jewish people. God had warned Pharaoh many times, but the man wouldn't submit. Jehovah had publicly humiliated the Egyptian gods and goddesses and proved Himself to be the only true and living God, yet the nation would not believe.
"Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Ecc. 8:11, nkjv). God's mercy should have brought Pharaoh to his knees; instead, he repeatedly hardened his heart. Pharaoh's officials humbled themselves before Moses (Ex. 3; 8); why couldn't Pharaoh follow their example? "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18, nkjv).--Wiersbe, Warren W. [1]
Appendix / Bibliography
[1] Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary – Pentateuch. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2001. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
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