December 18, 2020
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in some Exodus? Here’s today’s reading:
Exodus 8 (NIV)
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country.........Continue Reading
Come On Pharaoh! His own hard heart and stubborn behavior is putting his people in such a terrible position! Frog, gnats, flies…at this point I would be throwing out the Israelites let alone making them stay!
God’s power is so evident and Pharaoh’s pride even more evident!
Three interesting things happen in this chapter amongst the great miracles that God performs that will be a testimony for the ages of what He can do. First God allows Pharaoh to set the time when the frogs are done. This shows that when we are following God’s ways that we too will have input into how things unfold. And although Pharaoh says he will release the people, once there is relief and the frogs are gone he changes his mind. It is not unlike us who follow God when things are bad but then forsake Him when things improve.
The second thing is that the magicians can’t replicate the gnats. There are always limits and gaps in satan’s power and in the answers the world develops to replace God. So the world will get to the point where they are confronted with, this is the hand of God. It is reminiscent of when every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. There will always be a point that God’s person and power are undeniable.
The third thing is that for the plague of flies, God protects His people. What a greater expression of power to draw a line and say flies are here, but will not be there. It is reflective of God’s ability and willingness to protect His people even as He is teaching the world a lesson. Even more reason to make sure we are following God.
And Pharaoh will also learn that you can’t make deals with God. But notice at this point, the request is only for them to go and make sacrifices and then presumably return. But for Pharaoh that makes the slaves out of his control and his pride can’t handle that. And so he hardens heart toward God and His people.
Exodus 8
This particular chapter in Exodus reminds me that as God hardened pharaohs heart as he also hardens hearts of our neighbors who are not open to Gods word, Another point that stuck out is the fact that pharaohs magician were similar to those that are today practicing witchcraft and fortunetelling showed Magical powers that were not of God, creepy stuff. I get a kick out of Moses arguing with God, we do that ourselves at least I know I have. And what became very clear is that God used Pharaoh’s hard heart to show Moses that God had it under control
I made a Couple of typos in my last response , sorry about the the typos, and as I completed my response , I felt or should I say realized that I am so privileged to be able to have the word of God available to me
I caught the typos…just let me know if I got it right! Great to see your able to post, Steve!
Exodus 8
Exodus 8
Exodus 8
22“ ‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’ ”
24And the Lord did this.
It’s interesting how the magicians can duplicate some of the plagues, but not all. My question is, how does Pharaoh know which frogs are from God and which are from Pharaoh’s magicians? I would think that he would be extremely annoyed that his magicians were creating MORE plague upon the people instead of eliminating it.
It seems that Pharaoh hardens his own heart in these verses.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said.
19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.
31 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained. 32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.
Exodus 8