May 23, 2017
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Reading along with us in Exodus? Here’s today’s reading:
Exodus 7 (ESV)
And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh… Continue Reading
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Reading in Hebrews chapter 4 today to review for our Bible Study tonight.
Pharoahs heart was hard
Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded.But the magicians did the same things and Pharaoh heart became hard and he wouldn’t listen. Instead he turned away and did not take this into his heart.
And so the plagues begin. It is interesting to see the back and forth between God hardening Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh hardening his own heart, as well as signs that the magicians of Pharaoh can replicate and those that they can’t. And consider the power they relied on to do that? How Satan has to be behind it and how steeped these magician’s were in the worship of falsehood that Satan would grant that power. Remember he will do signs at the end of time as well to deceive the nations into thinking he is the true god.
v 23 is scary…”Instead he (Pharaoh) turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.”
I reread Exodus 6 tonight before continuing on to Exodus 7, and this time noticed vv. 2 and 3 of Chapter 6: “God spoke further to Moses and said to him, ‘I am the LORD; 3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.'”
I went to BlueLetterBible.org and plugged this verse in. It turns out that “the LORD” is translated from הָיָה (YHWH, Yahweh, or Jehovah). According to Strong’s, the word means “(the) self-Existent or Eternal.” Interestingly, in Exodus 3:14, “I AM” is translated from the same word. “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Where you see “God Almighty” here in Exodus 6, that’s from שַׁדַּי (El Shaddai). I found some commentary on the possible etymology of the word “shaddai” when I looked deeper.
Each of these names for God reveals something about God’s character, or His attributes. Here’s a cool breakdown of the different names for God, what they mean, and where they’re found in Scripture: https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/name_god.cfm
And in Chapter 7, how about verse 3!! “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.” And vv. 4-5: “When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”
This reminds me of Isaiah 45:21-25 –
“Declare and set forth your case;
Indeed, let them consult together.
Who has announced this from of old?
Who has long since declared it?
Is it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A righteous God and a Savior;
There is none except Me.
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
I have sworn by Myself,
The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.
They will say of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’
Men will come to Him,
And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
Will be justified and will glory.”
And as far as the plagues go, how interesting that it wasn’t just the Nile itself that turned to blood, but even the water in stone and wooden vessels (v. 19)!