God
promised Abraham multiple descendants and a homeland to bless the world
(Gen.12:1-3). Abraham’s grandson Jacob
and his twelve sons end up in Egypt where they multiplied but they became
enslaved. They cry out and God remembers His covenant (Exodus 1:6-12, 2:16-25)
and called Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. After spending 40
years as a shepherd, the Lord called Moses to rescue the Israelites out of
Egypt. Through His mighty acts of judgment the Lord would redeem Israel. Moses
was to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go even though Pharaoh would not
listen and through this process the Lord would show His superiority over the
gods of Egypt and reveal Himself to both the Israelites and the Egyptians.
Pharaoh stubbornly resisted the Lord’s requests but the Lord orchestrated
the plagues in order to multiply His mighty acts so that Israel (6:6-7), their
children (10:1-2), Egypt (7:3-5) and all the earth (9:16) might know that the
Lord is God. Watch the video or listen to the audio of the first six plagues
then read the comments below. https://www.dropbox.com/s/dz2zmb6xm7bxw4v/19-20.%20The%20First%20Nine%20Plagues..MP3?dl=0
1-3 ‘The Plagues of Blood,
Frogs and Gnats’.
The Lord was concerned for the Israelites and
sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to let the Lord’s people go. The Lord wanted to free His people from slavery
to Pharaoh so they could worship the Lord. In these first three plagues the Lord began
to reveal that He alone was the ‘true Lord and
God’ (Exodus 7:5, 16-17). The Lord sent
Moses to confront Pharaoh to let the Israelites go to worship the Lord.
Then the Lord turned
the water of Egypt to blood and while the Egyptian magicians did the same thing
by their magic arts they could only make the matters worse (7:22). But
Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he wouldn’t listen so Moses warned Pharaoh and
then the Lord plagued
Egypt with frogs. The Egyptian magicians again did the same thing but Pharaoh
needed Moses to pray to the Lord to
remove the frogs (8:10-14). Pharaoh hardens his heart and without further
warning the Lord turned
the dust of the ground to gnats. When the magicians couldn’t reproduce the
gnats they concluded this was the ‘finger of God’, but Pharaoh’s heart was hard
and he wouldn’t listen. (8:17-19)
4-6 'The Plagues of Flies, on
Egypt’s Livestock, and Boils'.
7-9 'The Plague of Hail,
Locusts and Darkness over Egypt'.
In the next three plagues the Lord would
send the full force of His plagues against Egypt so that it would be known that
there is no one like the Lord in
all the earth. The Lord could
have wiped Pharaoh and Egypt off the earth but the Lord actually raised you up Pharaoh so that
the Lord’s name
might be proclaimed in all the earth (Exodus
9:14–16). The Lord has
Moses confront Pharaoh to
let Israel go or Pharaoh would have to face the most severe hailstorm ever seen
in Egypt. The Egyptians are warned to shelter everything
in their fields but only those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord sheltered their slaves and livestock.
Moses stretched out his staff and the hail struck both men and animals and beat
down everything in the fields. But it didn’t hail where the Israelites were
staying in Goshen. The Pharaoh acknowledged that he had sinned and he wanted
Moses to pray. Moses prayed, the hail stopped but Pharaoh hardened his heart
and he would not let the Israelites go (9:33-35).
Then Moses was to go to Pharaoh, but the Lord would harden Pharaoh’s heart so that the Israelites could tell their children how the Lord struck Egypt with miraculous signs. The Lord would send the worst locust plague ever to occur in Egypt. Pharaoh’s officials pleaded with Pharaoh to let the Israelites go for they realized that Egypt was in ruins. Pharaoh tells Moses to go worship the Lord their God, but Pharaoh wanted to know who would go. Moses said that their young and old, their sons and daughters and their animals would all go, but Pharaoh would only let their men go. So Pharaoh had Moses driven from his presence. Then the Lord caused a strong east wind to blow a mass of locusts into Egypt that devoured everything remaining after the hailstorm. Then Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh admitted that he had sinned. Pharaoh asked for forgiveness and he wanted Moses to pray that the Lord would remove the locusts. Moses prayed and the Lord sent a strong west wind carrying the locusts into the Red Sea but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go.
With no further warning Moses stretched out his hand skyward and total darkness covered Egypt for three days, but the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. Pharaoh summons Moses to let the Israelites go and worship the Lord with their women and children. But Pharaoh wouldn’t let the Israelites take their flocks and herds with them, but Moses said that they would need to use their livestock in their worship. The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh ordered Moses out of his sight and to never return again. The Lord would send one ‘last plague’ and this time Pharaoh would actually let the Israelites go. The Israelites were to ask their Egyptian neighbors for articles of silver and in this way they would plunder Egypt (Exodus 3:21-22). At midnight the Lord would strike down every firstborn son in Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh to that of the firstborn of the slave girl and even the firstborn cattle would die. There would be such loud wailing heard throughout Egypt like never before in their history. The Lord would make a distinction between Egypt and Israel so that not even a dog belonging to the Israelites would bark. Then Pharaoh, the Egyptians, the Israelites and their offspring would all know that the Lord is God and that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel (Exodus 7:5, 8:10, 22-23, 9:14, 10:1-2). Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go.
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