Day 19. Exodus 7-9

Exodus 7-9

Exodus 7

¹And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

Moses is the prophet of god. Aaron is the prophet of Moses.

                      WITWER
           But you call this room the
           "temple".

                     ANDERTON
           Just a nickname.

                     WITWER
               (nods, then)
           The oracle isn't where the power is
           anyway.  The power's always been
           with the priests.
               (looks at the Precogs)
           Even if they had to invent the
           oracle.

³And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

God, being all powerful, could have just made it so that the pharaoh let the people go. He chose not to do that. In fact, he MADE pharaoh not let the people go.

⁴But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

⁵And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

God wanted to do terrible things to Egypt. He really hadn't gone out on a killing spree since Sodom and Gomorrah. (Although he did kill Er and Onan, but that's just two people and not really a "spree".)

⁷And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

Moses was 80, Aaron was 83. Aaron was 3 years older than Moses. It's possible that as a three year old, he remembered his brother being born. How much do you remember from when you were three? It's more likely he was informed Moses was his brother.

⁹When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.

Why didn't Moses do the stick trick the first time he went to pharaoh?

¹⁰And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

"Went in unto" means they went and saw him. It doesn't mean what it's meant almost every other time it's been used. Although, pharaoh and Egypt did get f---ed out of the whole thing.

¹¹Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

¹²For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

Any magician could do the stick to snake trick, when Aaron's rod ate the others, that's where the cool mojo happens.

¹⁵Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.

That's when Moses turned the water into blood.

²⁰And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

²¹And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

Here we have plague #1. The blood.

²⁴And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

²⁵And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.

Apparently it didn't affect wells.

Oh, Pharaoh's magicians could also turn water into blood, so that's why he didn't let the people go. In addition to the hardening of the heart.

Exodus 8

¹And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

²And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:

³And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs:

Plague #2. Frogs. It's not hard to figure out that the next plague would be frogs. If the river is turned to blood, and the frogs can't stay in the river, they are going to come out of the river.

The magicians also were able to make frogs.

⁸Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD.

At this point, pharaoh realized he was getting no production from anyone in the country, so he might as well let the Hebrews go do their rituals in the desert.

⁹And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only?

¹⁰And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God.

Pharaoh wanted the frogs to die the next day.

¹²And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.

¹³And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields.

So all the frogs died. It probably didn't help that frogs have to have wet skin, and that they will die in about 3-9 days without water.

¹⁴And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.

Lets just throw these frogs in piles... that's a great idea.

¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

Since the frogs died, the place got nice, so pharaoh changed his mind.

¹⁶And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁷And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

Plague #3, lice. Wow, large piles of rotting frogs lead to lice.

¹⁸And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.

They should have tried to make lice on a pile of frogs.

¹⁹Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

The magicians actually said they couldn't make lice, so that must mean GOD did it. If that's so, then why did pharaoh refuse the order of the LORD?

²⁰And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

²¹Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.

Plague #4, flies. The rotting carcasses of the frogs first led to lice, then to larger flies.

Pharaoh didn't like the flies.

²⁵And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.

Pharaoh asks, "can't you just do your sacrifices here?"

²⁶And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?

²⁷We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us.

Apparently the Hebrew sacrifice would be an abomination. Were they still doing sheep? So Moses says, we'll go out into the wilderness.

²⁸And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.

²⁹And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.

Wow, did you read that? In Exodus 8:29, Moses chastises the pharaoh saying that he should not "deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice". Meanwhile, Moses is dealing deceitfully with Pharaoh, since he intends to lead the people to Canaan, and not to just take them out into the wilderness.

³¹And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one.

³²And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

Noooo. Really?

Exodus 9

God tells Moses to go to pharaoh ... again.

²For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,

³Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.

Plague #5, disease. Murrain is an infectious diseas of cattle and sheep, it means "death".

⁴And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel.

Israel's stuff would be ok, Egypt's would all die.

⁶And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.

⁷And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

All of the cattle died from infection. Would an infestation of flies lead to disease, perhaps the disease was picked up from the carcasses of the dead frogs.

⁸And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.

⁹And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.

Plague #6, boils. Apparently, whatever the disease was that killed the livestock, also causes boils in humans.

¹²And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses.

God wasn't done yet, anytime Pharaoh might have thought about letting the people go, god hardened his heart.

¹⁸Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.

Plague #7, Hail.

²³And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

Not regular hail, FIRE HAIL!

²⁴So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

I don't think there's been fire hail since then either.

²⁶Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.

Did the Hebrews even realize that half the plagues were going on?

Pharaoh didn't like the fire hail, so he asked Moses to make it stop. Moses did.

³¹And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.

³²But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up.

Barley was in the ear? Maybe barley is in ears. So "corn" during Joseph's time could have been barley.

Barley and flax were ready for harvest, since they were mature, the fire hail killed it. The wheat and rye were still young and were able to bounce back from the beating.

³⁴And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

³⁵And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.

Pharaoh changed his mind.

Points to ponder:

1. If anyone can do the trick, then it's not a miracle.

2. If god could harden pharaoh's heart, why didn't he just soften it to begin with?

3. Blood, frogs, lice, flies, dead livestock, boils, and FIRE HAIL, and none of these were actually enough to convince pharaoh to let the people go... not to let them LEAVE, to let them have a week off!

4. Moses was god's mouthpiece, he spoke lies directly to the pharaoh. The words sent by god. It was god who was telling lies.