Exodus 8-9:
“The Second Through The Seventh Plagues Are Poured Out Upon Pharaoh And The
Egyptians”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked at chapters 6 and 7 of Exodus.
1.1.1. Moses and Aaron now
performed their first miracles for Pharaoh in hopes of getting him to release
the Israelites to go and to be able to sacrifice to their God.
1.1.2. We looked at the reasons why
the Lord brought about these plagues:
1.1.2.1.They gave a public
manifestation of the mighty power of the Lord God.
1.1.2.2.They were a Divine
visitation of wrath, a punishment of Pharaoh and Egyptians for their cruel
treatment of the Hebrews.
1.1.2.3.They were a judgment from God
upon the gods (demons) of
1.1.2.4.They demonstrated that
Jehovah was high above all gods.
1.1.2.5.The furnished a complete
testing of human responsibility.
1.1.2.6.There was a time interval in between each of these
signs which was allowed by the Lord in order to give Pharaoh and the Egyptians
time to repent.
1.1.2.7.They were a solemn warning
to other nations, that God would curse those who curse the Israelites.
1.1.2.8.These miraculous plagues
were evidently designed as a series of testings for
1.1.3. We saw that the plagues came in three sets of three
judgments. With the first and second
judgment of each set Pharaoh is warned, but with the third of each set there is
no warning at all.
1.1.4. We noted also that each of the
plagues are successively more serious and with greater severity in their
consequences.
1.1.5. We saw that the Lord
answered Moses’ prayer by making several declarations concerning how He planned
to deliver
1.1.6. We saw that a week elapsed after
this first plague ended before the Lord told Moses to again go to Pharaoh and
perform another plague. The Lord gives
Pharaoh with each plague some time to repent of his sins and turn back to Him. The Lord “is not willing that any perish
but that all come to repentance,” as the scripture tells us. Also, we see in these plagues that even in
judgment that the Lord is merciful.
1.1.7. We saw that each of the
plagues upon the Egyptians involved the Lord judging the gods of Egypt, and in
the first plague that was performed of turning the Nile River into blood, Chuck
Missler has written the following about how God was judging the gods of the
Nile: “…the numerous gods of the river: Osiris, one of the chief gods of
Egypt, was first of all the gods of the Nile. He, with his companion, the
mother god, Isis, and their child, Horus, were human-headed gods (in contrast
to the many that had heads of birds, beasts, and reptiles). There were other
gods of the Nile, too: Hapimon in the north, and Tauret at
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at chapters 8 and 9 of Exodus.
1.2.1. In our last study, we looked
at how why God brought the plagues upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, as we
considered the symbolisms of them. The
book is symbolic of salvation for the believer in Christ, as it is a book about
deliverance. But, the book also
parallels many things that will occur during the 7 year Tribulation of the book
of Revelation, and, I have taken this list of parallels from Arthur Pink’s
Exodus commentary:
1.2.1.1.During the Time of Jacob’s Trouble Israel shall again be sorely oppressed
and afflicted
(Isa. 60:14 and Jer. 30:5-8: “14 “The sons of those who afflicted you will come
bowing to you, And all those who despised you will bow themselves at the soles
of your feet; And they will call you the city of the Lord, The
1.2.1.2.They will cry unto god, and He will answer (Jer. 31:18-20: “18
“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have chastised me, and I was
chastised, Like an untrained calf; Bring me back that I may be restored, For
You are the Lord my God. 19 ‘For after I turned back, I repented; And after I
was instructed, I smote on my thigh; I was ashamed and also humiliated
Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ 20 “Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a delightful child?
Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him, I certainly still remember
him; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him,”
declares the Lord.”).
1.2.1.3.God will command their oppressors to, Let them go (Isa. 43:6: “6
“I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not
hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends
of the earth.”).
1.2.1.4.God will send two witnesses to work miracles before their enemies (Rev. 11:3-6: “3
“And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will
prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two
lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out
of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he
must be killed in this way. 6
These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during
the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them
into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.”).
1.2.1.5.Their enemies will also perform miracles (Rev. 13:13-15: “13
He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven
to the earth in the presence of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of
the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast,
telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the
wound of the sword and has come to life. 15 And it was given to him to give breath to the
image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause
as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”).
1.2.1.6.God will execute sore judgments upon the world (Jer. 25:15, 16: “15
For thus the Lord, the God of
1.2.1.7.God will protect His own people from them (Rev. 7:4; 12: 6,
14-16: “4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed,
one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of
Israel…6 Then the woman fled into
the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would
be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.…14 But the two wings of the great
eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her
place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the
presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured
water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her
to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its
mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.”).
1.2.1.8.Water will again be turned into blood (Rev. 8:8; 16:4, 5: “8
The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain
burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood,…4 Then the third angel poured
out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became
blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying,
“Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these
things.”).
1.2.1.9.Satanic frogs will appear (Rev. 16:13:
“13 And I saw coming out
of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the
mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.”).
1.2.1.10.A plague of locusts shall be sent (Rev. 9:2-11: “2
He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the
smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of
the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke
came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the
earth have power. 4 They were told not to
hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the
men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to
torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion
when it stings a man. 6 And in those days men
will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees
from them. 7 The appearance of the
locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be
crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. 8 They had hair like the hair of women, and their
teeth were like the teeth of lions. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron;
and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses
rushing to battle. 10 They have tails like
scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five
months. 11 They have as king over
them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek
he has the name Apollyon.”).
1.2.1.11.God will send boils and blains (Rev. 16:2:
“2 So the first angel went
and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant
sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.”).
1.2.1.12.Terrible hail-stones shall descend from heaven (Rev. 8:7: “7
The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they
were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third
of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”).
1.2.1.13.There shall be awful darkness (Isa. 60:2; Rev. 16:10: “2
“For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples;
But the Lord will rise upon you
And His glory will appear upon you…10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the
throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their
tongues because of pain.”).
1.2.1.14.Just as Pharaoh hardened his heart so will the wicked in the day to
come (Rev.
9:20, 21: “20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these
plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship
demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of
wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;
21 and they did not repent
of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their
thefts.”).
1.2.1.15.Death will consume multitudes (Rev. 9:15: “15 And the four angels, who had been prepared for the
hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third
of mankind.”).
1.2.1.16.
1.2.2. In our study today, we are going
to look at the second through the seventh plagues that were poured out upon the
Egyptians by the Lord through Moses and Aaron.
We will see that with each plague that although Pharaoh is confronted
with the power and glory of God that he chooses to harden his heart against the
Lord, just as the Lord told Moses that he would do.
1.2.3. We will also see that time
and time again when Pharaoh experiences the judgment of God that he will
promise to let the Israelites go to worship their God, only to renege on his
promise when the plague is removed and things get back to normal. He is like many people who promise to follow
the Lord and do His will if He answers their prayer and helps them in some
trouble, however after the Lord answers their prayer they don’t follow through
on their promise and commitment.
1.2.4. Moses’ confidence in God will grow with each plague.
2.
VS 8:1-6 - “1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus
says the Lord, “Let My people go,
that they may serve Me. 2 “But if you refuse to let
them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs. 3 “The Nile will swarm with frogs, which will come
up and go into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed, and into the
houses of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and into your
kneading bowls. 4 “So the frogs will come
up on you and your people and all your servants.” ’ ” 5 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the
rivers, over the streams and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the
Aaron was to stretch out his staff over the streams and pools and make frogs
come up on the land of Egypt, and Moses and Aaron did so
2.1.
In this second plague,
the Lord told Moses to go to Pharaoh and to tell him to let His people go, but
because he has refused to do this, He is going to smite the whole territory
with frogs.
2.2.
The frogs are going to come up upon the land from the
2.3.
The Lord then tells Moses to tell Aaron to ‘stretch out your hand
with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and over the pools, and make
frogs come up on the
2.4.
Chuck Missler has written the following about how the Lord was judging
the gods of the Egyptians through this plague:
“The second of the wonders
further proved the powerlessness of the gods of
2.5.
Frogs are not too bothersome normally, they croak and their bodily
functions can cause a mess, but other than that they don’t cause too many
problems. However, if frogs were to be found
everywhere and the land were to be inundated with them such that you could not
go anywhere without running into them, this would be a different story. All aspects of the Egyptian’s daily lives
were impacted by these frogs. Also, when
frogs die they stink.
2.6.
Yet again, the stench created by dead frogs all over the land “symbolized
the stench in the nostrils of God of all false religion and idols” that
people place in their life over God and His rightful place and the worship of
Him.
2.7.
We are told in the
book of Revelation that just as happened to the Egyptians here that when the
Lord is judging the nations of the earth during the 7 year Tribulation that He
will again cause frogs to appear: Rev. 16:3.
3.
VS 8:7 - “7
The magicians did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up on
the
3.1.
In our previous
study we considered the fact that we should accept that these were real
miracles that were performed by Pharaoh’s magicians, though there may have been
some slight of hand types of things that occurred when they attempted to mimic
the plagues performed by the Lord in
3.2.
The magicians
were able to also make frogs ‘come up on the
4.
VS 8:7-14 - “8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and
Aaron and said, “Entreat the Lord
that He remove the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people
go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”
9 Moses said to Pharaoh,
“The honor is yours to tell me: when shall I entreat for you and your servants
and your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, that they
may be left only in the
4.1.
We see here that
Moses is now getting more and more comfortable in his role as the deliverer of
God’s people as he even allows Pharaoh to determine when the plague will
end. Moses’ confidence in God grows with
each plague.
4.2.
Pharaoh finally can take the frogs no more, so he calls for Moses and
Aaron and requests that they ask the Lord to remove the frogs from him and from
the people.
4.3.
It is interesting here that Moses decides to let Pharaoh himself choose
what day and time that the frogs should ‘be destroyed’ from their
houses, and so that they would be ‘left only in the
4.4.
When Moses and
Aaron leave Pharaoh’s presence they then cry out to the Lord in prayer asking
Him to destroy them at the day and time selected by Pharaoh. The Lord answers Moses’ prayer and ‘the
frogs died out of the houses, the courts, and the field.’ They took all of the dead frogs then and ‘piled
them in heaps.’
4.5.
Note how with
this second plague that just as with the water turned into blood and the fish
dying, that ‘the land became foul.’
Again, this stench from this plague symbolized the stench of the sin in
the hearts and lives of the Egyptians, and it should have been a hint to them
that they ought to repent and be saved.
5.
VS 8:15-17 - “15 But when Pharaoh saw that there
was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 16 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of
the earth, that it may become gnats through all the
5.1.
When the frogs died out and began to get piled up, ‘there was relief.’ Because the Lord had turned down the heat on
Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go and worship Him, Pharaoh again ‘hardened his
heart and did not listen to them as the Lord had said.’
5.2.
Now, note that in this third plague that Moses and Aaron were not told
to go to Pharaoh and give him a word of warning from God. As was mentioned in our previous study, the
third of each of the three sets of nine plagues is not preceded by a warning
from the Lord.
5.3.
With this third plague,
Aaron simply takes his staff and stretches it out and then strikes the dust of
the earth, and gnats came out
of nowhere. You have heard of “dust
mats” before, but these are “dust gnats.”
5.4.
Gnats can be very annoying when they are in abundance, as I have
experienced a few times when I have been out fishing. When you are swatting a gnat or brushing them
out of your face continually it can become sort of maddening. But, my experience with gnats is nothing like
what Pharaoh and the Egyptians went through with this plague.
5.5.
Chuck Missler has written the following about how the Lord was judging
the gods of the Egyptians through this plague:
“The third of the judgments on
5.6.
The gnats seem to symbolize the uncleanness of the Egyptians in their
sin, and really all unbelievers in their sin, regardless of how religious they
may be. The laws regarding uncleanness
in the ceremonial law of Moses indicate how that unclean we all are when we are
in our sin. h
6.
VS 8:18-19 - “18 The magicians tried with their
secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not; so there were gnats on
man and beast. 19 Then the magicians said
to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and
he did not listen to them, as the Lord
had said.” - Pharaoh’s magicians
were not able to turn the dust to gnats and admitted to Pharaoh that the gnats
had come about by the finger of God
6.1.
The Devil and his hoardes dot have free reign to do whatever they
will. The Lord gives very specific
limitations to what these beings are able to do to people. Previous to this we saw that the magicians
had been able to perform through their own arts, and under demonic power, each
of the plagues and signs that Moses and Aaron had performed. However, the Lord does not allow the magicians
to be able to turn dust into these gnats.
6.2.
The magicians of Pharaoh are confounded when they cannot mimic these
plagues performed by Moses, and thus they declare, ‘This is the finger of
God.’ According to God’s decree, the
magicians will not be able to mimic any more of the plagues that Moses poured
out upon the Egyptians.
6.3.
Again we see that though Moses should have learned that the Lord is God
and that it is futile to try to resist Him and His will for your life, that
instead he chooses to harden his heart against the Lord.
7.
VS 8:20-24 - “20 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and present
yourself before Pharaoh, as he comes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus
says the Lord, “Let My people go,
that they may serve Me. 21 “For if you do not let My
people go, behold, I will send swarms of insects on you and on your servants
and on your people and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians will
be full of swarms of insects, and also the ground on which they dwell. 22 “But on that day I will set apart the land of
Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of insects will be there,
in order that you may know that I, the Lord,
am in the midst of the land. 23
“I will put a division between My people and your people. Tomorrow this
sign will occur.” ’ ” 24 Then the Lord did so. And there came great swarms
of insects into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the
land was laid waste because of the swarms of insects in all the
7.1.
Here we see the beginning of the second set of three plagues. Beginning with this plague we see a
differentiation or ‘division’
between the Egyptians and the Israelites. The plagues will no longer affect the
Israelites as they will not enter the
7.2.
The Lord again sends Moses to get up early in the morning and present
himself before Pharaoh and tell him to let His people go that they may serve
Him. And, if he will not let them go to
serve Him then the Lord promises to send ‘swarms of insects’ on you and
onto your people, and ‘into the your houses and the houses of the Egyptians.’
7.3.
Moses is to tell Pharaoh that this plague will begin on the very next
day, or ‘tomorrow.’
7.4.
We read that ‘the Lord did so’ just as He said He would and that
‘there came great swarms of insects into the house of Pharaoh and the houses
of his servants and the land was laid wasted because of the swarms of insects.’ The fourth
plague is a swarm of insects
that go into all of
7.5.
We can image the “Arachnophobia” that there must have been
amongst Pharaoh, his household, and all of the Egyptians when there were
insects crawling everywhere.
7.6.
Chuck Missler has written the following about how the Lord was judging
the gods of the Egyptians by sending this plague:
“The
fourth of the plagues were "swarms" ("of flies" is not in
the original). The word is `arob, a swarm, possibly suggesting
incessant motion. The deification of the scarab beetle is still conspicuous -
even today - in the jewelry and artifacts celebrating ancient
This is particularly bizarre since the scarab is actually a dung beetle. The
insect is about the size of a nickel and feeds on dung in the fields or the
side of the road. When animals defecate, these insects swarm from their holes
in the ground and collect their provender for future meals by forming it into
round balls about the size of golf balls, which they roll across the ground to
their underground dwellings. Since they seemed to "come from
nowhere," and perhaps because these perfectly round balls were possibly
associated with the sun, these beetles became associated with creation.
The plague of swarms of scarabs, with mandibles that could saw through wood,
and destructive qualities worse than termites, must have caused extreme
consternation since they were so venerated and thus were not to be interfered
with! Pharaoh called Moses, pleaded for a cessation, hinted at the possibility
of compromise, and even asked to be prayed for. But God doesn't compromise; the
judgments continued.”
7.7.
There seems to be
symbolism here in this plague of insects in that people who are living in their
sin are just “creepy” and they can be “real pests!”
8.
VS 8:25-29 - “25 Pharaoh called for Moses and
Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 26 But Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we
will sacrifice to the Lord our God
what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what is an abomination
to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not then stone us? 27 “We must go a three days’ journey into the
wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord
our God as He commands us.” 28
Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only
you shall not go very far away. Make supplication for me.” 29 Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you,
and I shall make supplication to the Lord
that the swarms of insects may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from
his people tomorrow; only do not let Pharaoh deal deceitfully again in not
letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”” - Pharaoh called for Moses and
Aaron and told them to go and to sacrifice to the Lord within the land, but
Moses told Pharaoh that it would not be right to do that for they would
sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians, they must go a three day’s
journey away to sacrifice, then Moses promised to make all of the insects go
away from Pharaoh and his servants, but warned Pharaoh to not be deceitful in
his promises again to let the people leave to sacrifice
8.1.
When the plague of insects has gotten absolutely maddening, both for
Pharaoh as well as the rest of the Egyptians, Pharaoh calls for Moses and
Aaron. When they appear before him he
tells them to go ahead and ‘sacrifice to your God.’ However, he refuses to all them to go the
three day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice, saying for the people to go
‘within the land’ to do their sacrificing.
8.2.
However, Moses tells Pharaoh that this is unacceptable because if they
do that then they will be making a sacrifice but offending the Egyptians in the
process, for their sacrifice would be ‘an abomination to the Egyptians.’ He tells Pharaoh that if they sacrificed in
this way that the Egyptians would ‘stone us.’
8.3.
Pharaoh then
feigns accepting their demand telling them that he will let them go to
sacrifice to the Lord their God ‘in the wilderness,’ but in saying this
he is acting ‘deceitfully again’ because he is ‘not letting the
people go to sacrifice to the Lord.’
8.4.
Pharaoh asks
Moses and Aaron to: ‘Make
supplication for me.’
9.
VS 8:30-32 - “30 So Moses went out from Pharaoh
and made supplication to the Lord.
31 The Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the
swarms of insects from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people; not one
remained. 32 But Pharaoh hardened his
heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.”
- Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and the Lord
removed the swarms of insects from Pharaoh and his servants, but then Pharaoh
hardened his heart to the Lord and refused to let them go
9.1.
Moses and Aaron leave Pharaoh and Moses makes ‘supplication to the
Lord’ for Pharaoh, and the Lord does as Moses asks when He ‘removed the
swarms of insects’ from Pharaoh and his servants and from his people, such
that not one insect remained.
9.2.
Surprise, surprise, Pharaoh ‘hardened his heart this time also and
he did not let the people go’ to sacrifice to the Lord their God.
10.
VS 9:1-6 - “1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and speak to him, ‘Thus
says the Lord, the God of the
Hebrews, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 2 “For if you refuse to let them go and
continue to hold them, 3 behold, the hand of the Lord will come with a very severe
pestilence on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the
donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks. 4 “But the Lord
will make a distinction between the livestock of
10.1.
The Lord again tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and to tell him that the
Lord says to let His people go that they may serve Him. He tells them to then tell Pharaoh that if he
refuses to let them go that the hand of the Lord will come upon him with ‘a
very severe pestilence on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses,
on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the herds.’
10.2.
Again, the Lord promises to ‘make a distinction’ between the
livestock of the Egyptians and the Israelites, and that ‘nothing will die of
all that belongs to the sons of
10.3.
The tells Moses to tell Pharaoh that there is going to a ‘definite
time tomorrow’ that the Lord will do this thing. The Lord actually ‘did this thing on the
next day and all the livestock of
10.4. This was the fifth
plague that the Lord sent upon the Egyptians through Moses and Aaron,
the killing of the livestock
in
10.5. We are told how that this plague actually came about
just as the Lord said that it would, and also not one of the livestock that belonged
to the sons of
10.6. Chuck Missler has written about how the Lord was
judging the gods of the Egyptians through this plague:
“The
fifth plague was against the domestic animals of
The plague was a "murrain," a contagious disease among the cattle,
and even the sacred bulls in the temple died. Other domestic animals were
sacred also, and their images adorned many of the idols, such as
10.7.
There may be
symbolism here in these livestock of the Egyptians being killed of the fact
that the burdens of the Egyptians in their sin were not the Lord’s burdens.
11.
VS 9:7-11 - “7 Pharaoh sent, and behold, there
was not even one of the livestock of
11.1.
Notice here that Pharaoh went and checked to see that what Moses had
told him would happen did in fact happen, ‘there was not even one of the
livestock of
11.2.
We learn that yet again ‘the heart of Pharaoh was hardened’ and
that he yet again refused to let the Israelites go to sacrifice to the
Lord.
11.3.
Notice here that in this sixth
plague of the book of Exodus, the boils
that broke out on all of the Egyptians but not on the Israelites, that
the Lord did not tell Moses to go and to warn Pharaoh and the Egyptians and
give them the time to repent before the judgment came. This is again what happened with the last of
each of the three sets of plagues.
11.4.
This plague ensued when Moses ‘took soot from a kiln’ that
happened to be present there with Moses and Pharaoh, and then threw it up into
the air saying it would ‘become fine dust over all the
11.5.
Notice that not only were Pharaoh’s magicians not able to mimic this
plague but also the boils ‘were on the magicians’ just as they were on
the rest of the Egyptians. In fact, the
Lord caused the boils to be so severe on these magicians that it ways that they
‘could
not stand before Moses because of the boils.’
11.6.
Chuck Missler has written the following about how that the Lord was
judging the gods of the Egyptians through this sixth plague:
“The
sixth wonder was manifested against the bodies of men. The plague of shechiyn,
translated "boils", may hide something more terrible. The root means
"burning," and the same word can be translated as leprosy, and as the
Egyptian botch, which was declared to be incurable.
Among the gods to which cures would have been ascribed were Thoth, the
ibis-headed god of intelligence and medical learning, and Apis, Serapis and
Imhotep. Here even the magicians did not escape and could not carry on their
priestly functions. It was their custom to take the ashes of human sacrifices
and cast them into the air. Borne by the wind over the milling populace, they
were viewed as a blessing. (It is inferred by some that this heathen custom was
the source of the practice of putting ashes on the forehead on the first day of
Lent.) Moses launched this plague with a parody of this practice, and may even
have had access to the very furnaces used in the sacred precincts of the royal
temple.”
11.7.
Leprosy in the
scriptures is symbolic of sin, and perhaps there is symbolism here regarding
the sin in the heart of the Egyptians.
11.8.
We are told in
the book of Revelation that just as happened to the Egyptians here that when
the Lord is judging the nations of the earth during the 7 year Tribulation that
He will again cause boils to appear upon men:
Rev.
16:2.
12.
VS 9:12-19 - “12 And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to
them, just as the Lord had spoken
to Moses. 13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in
the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let My
people go, that they may serve Me. 14 “For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your
servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in
all the earth. 15 “For if by now I
had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would
then have been cut off from the earth. 16 “But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you
to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name
through all the earth. 17 “Still you exalt yourself
against My people by not letting them go. 18 “Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will send a
very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was
founded until now. 19 “Now therefore send,
bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man
and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home, when the hail
comes down on them, will die.”’”” - The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did
not listen to them, then the Lord told Moses to go to Pharaoh in the morning
and tell him to let My people go that they may serve Me, for this time tomorrow
I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, at this
time tomorrow He will send a very heavy hail upon the land of Egypt such as has
not been seen in Egypt before, and whatever is left in the field shall die
12.1.
Here we see that ‘the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart’ and thus he
‘did not listen to them,’ and thus happened just as the Lord said that
it would happen.
12.2.
Here now we begin the third set of three plagues that the Lord poured
out against the Egyptians.
12.3.
The Lord tells Moses to go early in the morning to Pharaoh and tell him
to let His people go that they might serve Him.
Notice here how that the Lord tells Pharaoh through Moses why He has
been dealing with Pharaoh in the way He has, it was so that He might show
Pharaoh ‘My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth’:
‘“For this time I will
send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may
know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. 15 “For if by now I had put forth My hand and
struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off
from the earth. 16 “But, indeed, for this
reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order
to proclaim My name through all the earth.’
12.4.
Here in this
plague poured out upon the Egyptians the Lord tells Pharaoh through Moses what
He is going to do: ‘about this time tomorrow,
I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the
day it was founded until now.’
12.5.
The interesting thing about this plague is that the Lord tells Pharaoh
that those who took their livestock out of the fields and stayed out of the
fields themselves would be spared from this hail. Evidently, not only Pharaoh but also the
Egyptians were to some extent made aware of what the Lord planned to do with
this plague and thus if they were wise enough to believe God about what He
promised to do and act accordingly they could escape the wrath of God in this
plague.
12.6.
The Lord has told mankind in the New Testament that they do not have to
suffer the torment of hell if they simply will believe in Jesus, just as John
3:16 tells us: “For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish but have everlasting life.”
It is amazing to me that people today do not at least investigate that
claim a little. A promise like that is
worth investigating.
13.
VS 9:20-21 - “20 The one among the servants of
Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord
made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses; 21 but he who paid no regard to the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock
in the field.” - Those of
the servants of Pharaoh who feared the Lord made his servants and livestock go
into the houses, but the others left his livestock in the field
14.
VS 9:22-26 - “22 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky,
that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every
plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.” 23 Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and
the Lord sent thunder and hail,
and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord
rained hail on the
14.1.
This is now the seventh
plague that the Lord poured out upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, that of
giant
hail that fell
on all of Egypt except the land of Goshen where the Israelites were.
14.2.
The Lord now tells Moses to take his staff and stretch it out towards
the sky that ‘hail may fall on all the
14.3.
Notice the description of this plague and how that there was hail mixed
with ball lightening that would roll along the ground: ‘…the Lord rained hail on the
14.4.
Chuck Missler has written the following about how that the Lord judged
the gods of the Egyptians through this plague:
“
"I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are
wicked. Intreat the Lord that there be no more mighty thunderings ["voices
of Elohim"] (Exodus 9:27,28)."
(The French have a phrase for one who speaks with spiritual language but whose
heart is far from God: le patois de Canaan, the dialect of
14.5.
The hail devastated the trees, plants, animals and anything that was
standing out in the fields of the people in
14.6.
Notice here that no hail fell upon the Israelites living in the
14.7.
We are told in
the book of Revelation that just as happened to the Egyptians here that when
the Lord is judging the nations of the earth during the 7 year Tribulation that
He will again cause hail to fall upon men:
Rev.
8:7.
14.8.
Symbolism may exist in this hail falling on the Egyptians in that
people in their sin will not escape the judgment of God, for one day it will
smash them flat..
15.
VS 9:27-33 - “27 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and
Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time; the Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the
wicked ones. 28 “Make supplication to the
Lord, for there has been enough of
God’s thunder and hail; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” 29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I go out of the
city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord;
the thunder will cease and there will be hail no longer, that you may know that
the earth is the Lord’s. 30 “But as for you and your servants, I know that you
do not yet fear the Lord God.” 31 (Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the
barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 32 But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for
they ripen late.) 33 So Moses went out of the
city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to the Lord; and the thunder and the hail ceased, and rain no longer
poured on the earth.” - Pharaoh
sent for Moses and Aaron and told them that he had sinned and that the Lord is
the righteous One and he and his people are the wicked ones, then he asked
Moses and Aaron to make supplication to the Lord for him to make the thunder
and hail cease, and Moses told Pharaoh that as soon as he left the city the
thunder and hail will cease, and the flax and the barley were ruined for the
Egyptians
15.1.
Here we see that for the first time that Pharaoh confesses that he has
‘sinned this time.’ He admits
that ‘the Lord is the righteous one’ and that he and the Egyptians were
‘the wicked ones.’ Evidently,
Pharaoh was realizing how that he was hardening his heart and refusing to
believe in the Lord in spite of the fact that the Lord was revealing Himself
and His power and glory to him time after time through these prophesies of
Moses and plagues.
15.2.
Pharaoh asks Moses yet again to ‘make supplication to the Lord´
because he is tired of the thunder and hail that has been occurring. Further, he promises that he will let the
Israelites go.
15.3.
Moses tells Pharaoh that this time as soon as he heads out of the city
that he will spread out his hands to the Lord and ‘the thunder will cease
and there will be hail no longer.’
In this way, Pharaoh will ‘know that the earth is the Lord’s.’ Well, Pharaoh will know but he will continue
to suppress that knowledge.
15.4.
Moses tells Pharaoh that he knows ‘that you do not yet fear the Lord.’
15.5.
We read here that ‘the flax and the barley were ruined´ because
of this hail, but that the flax and barley were not ruined because they ripen
late.
15.6.
Moses went outside the city and lifted up his hands to the Lord and ‘the
thunder and the hail ceased and rain no longer poured on the earth.’
16.
VS 9:34-35 - “34 But when Pharaoh saw that the
rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his
heart, he and his servants. 35
Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of
16.1.
Ah, but yet again we see that when the plague had subsided that ‘Pharaoh’s
heart was hardened,’ and again he ‘did not let the sons of
16.2.
This all happened again ‘just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.’
17.
CONCLUSIONS:
17.1.
The Lord told Pharaoh that the reason why He had sent these plagues
against the Egyptians is that He wanted Pharaoh to know that there is no God
like the Lord, and so that Pharaoh would see God’s power, plus, the Lord wanted
to proclaim His Name in all the earth.
Do you see God’s power and are you willing to proclaim His Name in all
the earth?