Transcendence 2

Four: Plagues

In order to prepare Moses for what would happen when he and Aaron approached Pharaoh again to ask to take the Hebrew people out of Egypt God told Moses Pharaoh will ask him to prove himself by performing a miracle. He explained that when Pharaoh asks for the miracle he should then tell Aaron to throw his staff down and it will become a snake.

Just as God had said Pharaoh asked for the miracle as proof, and when he did Aaron did what Moses told him, just as he was shown to do. He threw the staff down, and it became a snake. The shocker was not the miracle though, but the fact that Pharaoh was unimpressed. He summoned wise men, sorcerers and Egyptian magicians who used their secret arts to do the exact same thing with their staff. God used the opportunity to show off, because it was then that Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Still Pharaoh continued to be stubborn and refused to listen, just as God had forewarned he would.

God knew Pharaoh would not be willing to let go of the slaves. He was accustomed to having their services and enjoyed the benefits very much. Seeing just one miracle would not change his mind. The Lord told Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding. He refuses to let my people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. Then say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. Until now you have not listened. But you will know that I am the Lord. With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die and the river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink the water.'"

Moses did exactly what the Lord directed him to. Once he was told and still refused to let the people go the Lord directed Moses to tell Aaron to stretch out his arm over the waters of Egypt, over the streams and canals, over the ponds, and over all the reservoirs, and they will turn to blood. Blood will be everywhere, even in the wood buckets and the jars. Aaron did just as he was told, and everything happened just as God said. A scary and disgusting sight, all water running red with blood. No clean water to be found anywhere.

Yet, again Pharaoh was not impressed. It wasn't long until the magicians and sorcerers were able to do the same thing. Pharaoh continued to be unfazed by it all. Instead he went into his palace and did not take any of it to heart. He did not have the least bit of intention to fear their God, nor let his slaves go.

The plague though caused terrible hardships on the people. The Egyptians had to work long hours and dig along the Nile to get drinking water because they could not drink the stinky, bloody water of the river. 

Seven days later God told Moses to warn Pharaoh if he does not listen He will plague the entire country with frogs. Frogs will fill the Nile. They will come into their homes, their beds, their ovens, and kneading troughs. Moses was to tell Aaron to stretch out his hand over the waters, streams, canals, and ponds and make multitudes of frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

Aaron did just as he was told and frogs came up from all over. Which was a scary sight and may have been impressive until the magicians figured out a way to do the same thing and made frogs come up on the land. (God knew this would happen - he wasn't quite finished making the Egyptians suffer. He had plenty more plagues in mind. )

They frogs were not easy to deal with. They were everywhere, on the tables, in the beds and anywhere they looked. They couldn't get away from them. Before long Pharaoh became frustrated and called for Aaron and Moses. He exclaimed, "Pray to the Lord your God to take the frogs away and I will allow the people to go offer sacrifices." (This statement from Pharaoh shows that he knows in his heart that the God of the Hebrews does exit, the one and only mighty God had caused both the blood and the frogs. He may have started to fear, a little, but for the most part he was prepared to say what he needed to in order to get what he wanted.)

Moses replied, "Pick the time and I will pray." To this Pharaoh chose the next day. So Moses told him, "I will pray tomorrow. And you will know there is no one like the Lord our God. The frogs will leave except for the ones in the Nile where they belong.

Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs and the Lord did as Moses asked. The frogs died, they were piled into heaps and the land reeked of them.

Once Pharaoh saw there was relief he again went back to his old ways and refused to open his heart to God. He refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. He refused to let the people go.

Then God told Moses to tell Aaron to stretch out his hand and strike the dust of the ground with his staff. When he did gnats came among men and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. This time was different because when the magicians tried to produce gnats they couldn't. They told Pharaoh the gnats surly came from God. Still Pharaoh remained stubborn and refused to listen.

God then told Moses to meet Pharaoh at the water again and warn him that if he doesn't let His people go the next plague will be flies. The Egyptian people, the men, the homes and even the ground will be covered in flies. This time will be different though, for there will be a distinction between Egyptian people and God's people. For when the flies come, they will not be in Goshen where God's people live. With this separation of God's people from Egyptians, Pharaoh and all of Egypt will see proof that the Lord, who is in the land, is making these things happen.

God made it happen. The flies swarmed everywhere, even in Pharaoh's palace. The land was covered by them.

Pharaoh felt frustrated that the gnats and flies were ruining his land. He finally gave in and summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go sacrifice to your God here in the land."

Moses replied, "That would not be right. The sacrifice we make to our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. Will they not stone us? We must take a three-day journey to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God in the desert as he has commanded us."

Pharaoh answered, "I will let you go, but do not go very far. Also, pray for me." (Here we see a pull and a tug on Pharaoh's hard heart. He's believing, fearing, and having faith that prayer could change things even for him. This had to sound like great news to Moses.)

Moses wasn't sure Pharaoh was being truthful, he had burned him before. He replied, "Very well, I will pray tomorrow to God and he will take away the flies. But, be sure you do not act deceitfully as before."

The next day Moses prayed and God removed the flies. Very soon after that Pharaoh forgot about the misery the flies made, he wasn't willing to give up the hard workers he had came accustomed to, he made a hard hearted decision and again told them they could not go.

The Lord told Moses to warn Pharaoh that if he does not let the Hebrew people go worship then His mighty hand will bring a terrible plague on the livestock of the Egyptian people. The horses, donkeys, cattle, camels, sheep, and goats will all die. He told Moses there will, once again, be a distinction between Israel and Egyptian livestock - no animal belonging to the Israelites will die. The Lord set a time for the very next day and just as he warned it was so. All of the livestock belonging to the Egyptians died. The people were afraid, they feared for their lives, they worried they would surely starve to death. It was a very scary time for them.

Beyond the devastation was the fact that Pharaoh himself confirmed that not one of the Israelites' animals had died. The distinction had been made and had came directly from God, even he could see it clearly by this time.

Still, cheap labor was needed so the stubborn, greedy, hard hearted Pharaoh refused to let them go.

(Life Question:  Have you even said whatever it took to get what you want, not minding whether it was true or not, not minding whether it hurt anyone or not?  What was the outcome? Being truthful even when the outcome will not give us what we want will always be best. As we saw with the Pharaoh worse things can definitely come from the lie. )