December 19, 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 9 (NIV)
The Plague on Livestock
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”.........Continue Reading
The plagues show such amazing power and control! God unleashes these crazy plagues and yet show such restraint to protect the Israelites each time. God is always in control even when things seem out-of-control and we need to trust in His power, provision, and in His plan!
Pharaoh is just so sad, prideful, and stubborn but I can’t say it isn’t a familiar position to be in when we are fighting God’s plan because we think it is not our own plan. Just so shocking to allow such horrible things to happen to the people he rules over.
15For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16But I have raised you up9:16 Or have spared you for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Just one of many examples of the power of our Lord!
Exodus 9
27Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”
29Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. 30But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.”
God shares his exact intent with Pharoah through Moses.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me, 14 for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. 15 Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth. 17 As yet you exalt yourself against My people in that you will not let them go. ”
I still find it interesting that the hardening of Pharoah’s heart fluctuates. Sometimes God hardens it, but sometimes Pharoah hardens it.
Another thing I was wondering was if there was any documentation of these events in Egyptian artifacts. The Ipuwer papyrus seems to speak of some of these events, although Wikipedia says it is disputed.
In some ways there is an intensifying of the plagues here. It is the first time life itself is threatened although it be livestock’s and then the bodies of the Egyptians are directly affected with the boils. It is at this point that God lays things out for Pharaoh as Amy points out above. The most telling is that God says that He has raised Pharaoh up for this so that he and the Egyptians and the whole world would know of God and His power. It is interesting that movies have been made in our modern day that reflect this truth. He also let’s him know that they have not experienced yet the full bore of what God will do and even though they will experience it now, it could still be worse. God could just wipe them off the planet, so on some level these plagues show God’s restraint.
And there was certainly something different about this hail. Once again life is taken for those who do not heed God’s warning (how merciful He was to tell him to take in the remaining livestock and slaves). And Pharaoh expresses a deeper sense of his responsibility for it. Although, once again Pharaoh changes his mind once Moses stops the plague. It is interesting and a thing of grace that the wheat harvest is not affected. So even though God brings judgement, He expresses care in the midst of it.
Exodus 9