Chronological Bible Study – Feb 1
What I Noticed Today (Exodus 7-9)
Exodus 7
Chapter 7 God commands Moses to speak to Pharaoh again, and the first plague is sent to Egypt.
In verses 1-13, God commands Moses and Aaron to speak to Pharaoh again:
- God told Moses he would make him seem like a god to Pharaoh and Aaron will be your prophet. You must say what I command you, and Aaron will speak it to Pharaoh.
- But, says God, I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs (miracles) in Egypt.
Note: This phrase “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” is another case of God predicting Pharaoh will be stubborn and not let the people go despite all the plagues that will come.
- Pharaoh will not let you go, but I (God) will bring My people out of Egypt by great acts of judgment. Then the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.
- So Moses and Aaron did this. Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron was 83 years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.
- The Lord told Moses and Aaron when Pharaoh tells you to perform a miracle throw your staff down, and it will become a snake.
- Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh, and Aaron threw down his staff, and it became a snake. Then Pharaoh called in his magicians, and they did the same thing. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them.
Note: God demonstrated His power over the magicians and their secret arts (perhaps Satan) when Aaron’s staff ate their staffs.
Exodus 7:14 – 12:36 The Ten Plagues
God poured out ten judgments upon Egypt. There are three groups of three plagues, with a final tenth plague. The 1st, 4th, and 7th plagues begin with “In the morning.”
The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood
In verses 14-25, the first plague is sent to Egypt.
- God instructs Moses and Aaron to confront Pharaoh the next morning while he is by the Nile river. Strike the river with the staff and the Nile will turn to blood. The fish in the Nile will die, it will stink, and they will not be able to drink from it. Then have Aaron lift the staff and the water throughout Egypt will turn to blood; all the rivers, tributaries, streams, even their reservoirs.
- Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord instructed and the Nile turned to blood, the fish died, and all the water in Egypt turned to blood.
- But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing through their occult practices.
- Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, he would not take this to heart and returned to his palace.
- Egyptians had to dig wells for water because all the water in the Nile was unfit to drink. This lasted for seven days, before the second plague.
Note: Several times in these chapters we see the phrase, “Let my people go that they may serve me.” The Hebrew word translated serve is ‘abad. Some translations translate the word ‘abad as worship, so in some translations, the verse reads “Let my people go that they may worship me.”
Some additional thoughts for consideration:
- Moses finally answers God call on his life and experiences some surprising success when the people believe him, but that initial support turns to anger and bitterness when they face the trials of persecution from Pharaoh.
- We often experience similar situations when answering God’s call on our life. We see initial success, followed by a period of struggle and trial. We must trust God and remain faithful to Him if we expect to be successful.
Exodus 8-10
These chapters cover eight of the ten plagues that God brought to Egypt (frogs, gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness). There is an escalation in the severity and consequence in the plagues, but Pharaoh remains unwilling to let the Israelites go.
Exodus 8
The Second Plague: Frogs
In verses 1-15, the second plague is sent to Egypt:
- The Lord told Moses to go tell Pharaoh; God wants Pharaoh to let His people go to worship Him. Otherwise, He will send a plague of frogs throughout the land.
- Then the Lord told Moses to tell Aaron to stretch out his hand with his staff and frogs came up out of the Nile covering the land.
- The magicians also brought frogs up onto the land.
- Pharaoh summoned Moses and told him to ask God to remove the frogs and then he would let the people go to worship God.
- Moses allowed Pharaoh to pick the time when the frogs would leave, and Pharaoh chose the next day.
- Moses cried out to God for help, and the next day all the frogs died. They piled the frogs up in heaps.
- But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he refused to let the people go.
Note: Frogs lived in the Nile and would normally appear in December when waters receded, but this was August, so this was clearly from God. The frogs would normally stay near the river, but in this case, they invaded all the land, even into the houses. Egyptians considered the frogs as having divine power, yet they became a curse to the people of Egypt.
The Third Plague: Gnats
In verses 16-19, the third plague is sent to Egypt:
- Then the Lord told Aaron to stretch out his staff, strike the dust of the earth, and it will become gnats throughout the land.
- They did this, and there were gnats throughout the land.
- The magicians tried to produce gnats but they could not.
- The magicians told Pharaoh this was from God, but Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he would not listen.
Note: The third plague of gnats came without warning.
The Fourth Plague: Swarms of Flies
In verses 20-32, the fourth plague is sent to Egypt:
- The Lord told Moses to tell Pharaoh; God wants Pharaoh to let His people go to worship Him. Otherwise, He will send a swarm of flies throughout the land, but the land of Goshen where My people live will not be affected. This way Pharaoh will know it is Me.
- The next day swarms of flies appeared everywhere except the land of Goshen.
- Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and told them to sacrifice to God but stay in Egypt.
- But Moses said, no, their sacrifices were abhorrent to the Egyptians, they must go three days’ journey into the wilderness.
Note: Moses’ concern about the Egyptians stoning them if they sacrificed bulls or cows stems from the fact that the Egyptians thought bulls and cows represented Egyptian deities.
- Pharaoh said he would let them go, but not very far if Moses would appeal to God for him.
- When Moses left Pharaoh, he appealed to God, and the flies left the next day, but Pharaoh changed his mind and would not let the people go.
Note: This plague demonstrates God’s power in separating the plague from the Israelites, and Pharaoh’s inability to protect his people. Pharaoh tried to negotiate with Moses; sacrifice in the country, then sacrifice but don’t go very far.
Exodus 9
The Fifth Plague: Death of Livestock
In verses 1-7, the fifth plague is sent to Egypt:
- The Lord told Moses to go tell Pharaoh; God wants Pharaoh to let His people go to worship Him. Otherwise, the next day He will send a plague against the livestock (horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks) in the fields throughout the land, except for the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived.
- The next day the Lord sent the plague against all of the Egyptian livestock. They all died, but none of the livestock of the Israelites died.
- Pharaoh’s confirmed that none of the Israelites livestock had died, yet his heart was hard, and he still would not let the people go.
Note: The word “all” referring to the livestock (verse 6) raises the question that if all the livestock died where did the livestock come from that are referred to in verse 10? The word “all” may either be a figure of speech suggesting a large quantity, or it may be that the livestock in the fields died, but livestock in shelters lived.
The Sixth Plague: Boils
In verses 8-12, the sixth plague is sent to Egypt:
- Then the Lord told Moses and Aaron to take handfuls of soot and throw it up in the air while Pharaoh is watching and it will become boils on man and beast throughout the land.
- The magicians could not stand before Moses because they and all the Egyptians were covered with boils.
- But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he would not let the people go.
The Seventh Plague: Hail
In verses 13-35, the seventh plague is sent to Egypt
- The Lord told Moses to go to Pharaoh the next morning and tell Pharaoh; God wants Pharaoh to let His people go to worship Him. Otherwise, He will send all His plagues against Egypt, so you will know there is no one like Me in all the earth. I (God) could have obliterated you, but I have let you live to show my power and make My name known in all the earth.
- Tomorrow at this time I (God) will rain down hail in Egypt. Bring your cattle into shelters, for whatever is not sheltered will die from the hail.
- Pharaoh’s officials who feared the Lord brought their servants and animals into a shelter and those who did not fear the Lord left their servants and livestock outside.
- The Lord told Moses to stretch out his hand toward heaven, and there was hail, thunder, and lightening throughout the land of Egypt. The hail struck down man and beast, and shattered trees in the field.
- Only the land of Goshen was untouched.
- Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and repented, saying he had sinned, that Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are guilty.
- Pharaoh told Moses he and the people could go.
- Moses said when he left the city he would ask God to stop the hail, so you will know that the earth belongs to God. But I (Moses) know you (Pharaoh) still do not fear God.
- When Moses left the city, the hail and rain stopped.
- But when Pharaoh saw the hail and rain had stopped he sinned by hardening his heart and would not let the people go.
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Tomorrow: Day 33 Exodus 10-12
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