Exodus-7-8

READ: Exodus 6:28-30 & Exodus 7:1-7

²⁸ On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ the Lord said to Moses, “I am the Lord; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.” ³⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?”

Ch. 7: 1-7 – Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

7 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.

V.1 – “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh”  –  Moses will be God functionally both to Pharaoh and to the Israelites. 

“In Pharaoh’s eyes he views himself as ‘a god’, a divine being.  So by calling Moses God, Yahweh is beating Pharaoh at his own game.  It is not the king of Egypt who is god; rather, it is this shepherd and leader of slaves who is God.  And this Moses-God defeats pharaoh in a manner that leaves no doubt as to the true nature and source of his power:  He controls the elements, bugs, livestock, fire from heaven, and the water of the sea; he even has authority over life and death.  Moses is not simply like God to Pharaoh.  He truly is God to Pharaoh in that God is acting through Moses. “   Quote: J. Elis…. NIV Application Commentary

This event demonstrates the type of intimacy that God intended to have with all humanity but that was lost in the garden.  Moses as God is a striking example of “Adam-like” activity.  Moses is truly human and God is working through him.  His true humanity is displayed precisely in his intimacy with God.  He was called by God to mediate God’s image to the enslaved Israelites.  God wanted to deliver them from their present condition to one of intimacy with him.    This intimacy is already displayed in the person of Moses, through whom  God will not only save the nation now and later at Mount Sinai reveal his will to them for how this intimacy can be sustained.  It is sustained via the law and the tabernacle which are expressions of God’s holiness.

Moses takes on an ‘image-bearing’ role as seen by prophets, priests, and kings representing God to the people.  Moses as God would be the most striking Old Testament example of regaining the glory that humanity once had in the garden as the bearers of God’s image. 

Moses and most importantly Christ exemplifies what God intended for humanity; perfect image-bearers (to bring praise and glory to God). 

God repeats his directive to go back to Pharaoh and make the same request.  He also tells them that Pharaoh will harden his heart and by stubborn about realizing them until He has stretched out His hand against them.

Moses will be God directly to Pharaoh  –  that is Moses will be an authority figure to Pharaoh rather than just to Aaron.  Pharaoh will know that Moses is God’s representative and thus someone to reckon with.

God will use this opportunity to show Egypt his might.  God will toy with this ‘mighty’ nation and its godlike king, and by doing so will leave no doubt that it is he who fights the battle- note:7:5

Moses and Aaron should understand the recurring setbacks they experience by Pharaoh’s repeated refusals as being well within the parameters of God’s plan of deliverance.     Key is “I Am”

Exodus 7:8-13(ESV)
⁸Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 
⁹“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” 
¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 
¹¹Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 
¹²For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 
¹³Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Hebrew word “ot” usually connoting “Miraculous sign”.   The 10/11 signs of sovereignty as a demonstration, rather than a plague, since only harm it involved was the loss of a small number of things.  All eleven signs humiliated the Egyptians and proved Yahweh’s power over them.  These built in intensity until the last one that caused the death of the firstborn of man and beast.   Passover – became the memorialization of this event for the nation of Israel.

The Magicians of Pharaoh’s staff was able to duplicate (in a small scale) the first three.  (Staff, Blood & Frogs)   We can assume it was by magical deception they performed these things.  It gave the onlookers a chance to reject that it was Israel’s God and Pharaoh turned his back on their release. 

Moses staff turned from wood to a living animal.  The Magicians turned their staffs into a snakes.
V. 11 ‘by their ‘secret arts’ “trickery”  (or with help of Satan) – 

Moses snake ate the others show the superior of Moses’s one.  An act that they could not duplicate.  It also showed an act uncommon among most snakes to eat one-another. 

God’s purpose was to start small.  It also showed Moses and Aaron what resistance they were up against. 

Exodus 7:14-24(ESV)
¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 
¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent. 
¹⁶And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. But so far, you have not obeyed.” 
¹⁷Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood. 
¹⁸The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”’” 
¹⁹And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”
²⁰Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. 
²¹And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 
²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 
²³Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. 
²⁴And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.

All surface source of water was affected by the plague.  All people were affected and they had to dig for underground drinking water.  Starting with the god of the Nile it starts the demonstration to the Egyptians that their gods were not in control or had any power.  They looked at the god of the Nile as the ‘source of life’ that was now turned to a ‘source of death’. 

Plagues 1-4-7 begin with an outdoor morning confrontation with Pharaoh, as opposed to a court confrontation with him as for plagues 2-5-& 8.  With no confrontation with plagues: 3-6-9. 

Outside:           1-4-7

In Court            2-5-8

None                 3-6-9

V.16 –   Moses is clearly the reprehensive of “Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews” .   AND so far you have not obeyed (listened).

V.17 – “By this you will know that I am the LORD”, the Kind of the universe.  
Pharaoh knows it is the LORD (Yahweh), but refuses – he takes a stand against Yahweh. 
The signs caused him to take a stand against Yahweh and thus hardens his heart against the True God. 

V.18- The declaration of what will happen to the Nile, your god of life.

Quote:  NAC:  Six considerations should be kept in mind in the analysis of this plague: (1) “Blood” is a color in Hebrew as well as a substance, just as in English, and no firm data exist for the interpreter to differentiate in this story between the possibility that the Nile and other surface water turned to actual blood from the possibility that the waters turned—for whatever reason—“blood” in color.³⁸ (2) No special theological overtone is present relative to the “blood” here; it is not a foreshadowing of “the blood of Christ that flows” or any such thing. (3) The important punishment element in the plague is neither the substance nor the color but the pollution of the water, rendering it not merely undrinkable for humans but deadly to fish. (4) Yahweh’s implied control over “Nile” (the Nile river god) could hardly have been missed by any thoughtful Egyptian considering the meaning of this plague. (5) Aaron’s staff was not merely a simple visual device but a symbolic reminder that God, not Aaron or Moses, was actually performing the miracle of the plague.⁴⁰ (6) The plague may well have imitated a natural phenomenon by which some parts of the Nile sometimes turned reddish, but it does not appear to have been merely a natural phenomenon in light of the immediacy of the result and its extent.

There was an instant change to ‘blood red’ water – so people that say reddish salts from up river caused it would have to say that at one minute it was normal water and the next red.  If things flowed down into it, it could take weeks to get the color of red.

It was a great inconvenience for the people to obtain drinking water from new wells.

The magicians duplicated it, but could not reverse it.

Exodus 7:25(ESV)
²⁵Seven full days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

Exodus 8:1-15(ESV)   – 2^nd plague – ‘frogs’
^1  £Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 
²But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs. 
³The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people,^£ and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. 
⁴The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.”’” 
^5  £And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt!’” 
⁶So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 
⁷But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
⁸Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 
⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, “Be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” 
¹⁰And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. 
¹¹The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile.” 

Exodus 8:12-15(ESV)
¹²So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh.^£ 
13And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 
¹⁴And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. 
¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

  V.1-4 – Moses and Aaron go to the court and tell Pharaoh that if you don’t let my people to God would bring a plague of frogs into all areas of Egypt and their homes.   A warning, Pharaoh could have avoided it for himself and his people.

This was a greater inconvenience and problem, but not life threatening.  It was a gross manifestation of all places where humans lived.  Disgusting frogs in one’s living areas.   They slept on the floor, so in their beds as well.

V.5-7 – The result and extent of the frogs over Egypt.

Two characteristics of this plague that would make it more than a mere natural result of the Nile being polluted.  The number of frogs was enormous beyond all natural explanation and did not just stay by the Nile.  They  ‘covered the land’ it would be more than just the replacement of frogs usually found in Egyptian bodies of water. 

V. 8-11 –  This plague was to the point was to the point that Pharaoh should have admitted that there was a powerful God behind the demands voiced by Moses.  He refused to believe even this paradigm (pattern) for all people. Yet he was driven to request Moses to “pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people” – implies as well as he knew that Yahweh was in existence and could control parts of nature the Egyptians previously thought were the sole province of their own gods. 

Moses said he would pray to his God – it would require an intercession with God.  He was confident that God would answer his prayer and V.11 states that tomorrow the frogs will be left only in the Nile. 

V.12-14  – in this 2^nd plague it demonstrates God’s gracious willingness to respond to Moses’ intercessory prayer.  Thus, these verses describe the power of prayer by a faithful servant of God when he prays in accordance to his Master’s will. 

The frogs died off suddenly and was enough to be gathered in heaps to decompose and smell.  This sudden death of all the frogs would again show God’s power.  In their death they revealed their enormity of frogs.  They saw rapid arrival and death of frogs.

V. 15 – ¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Exodus 8:16-32says:

¹⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’” 
¹⁷And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. 
¹⁸The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. 
¹⁹Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

These were 2 winged biting insects, including mosquitoes and the broader term ‘gnats’ .  A massive superabundance of these pests and their Effect was that they were very annoying and disturbing the Egyptians without serious harm.  

V.19  –  This time, the failure of the magicians came an end to their tricks/fraud.    No way could they gather a swarm of these gnats and release them in sufficient number to cause an illusion of successfully repeating the action.   They were forced to say “this is the finger of God”.  They confessed that the plague was divine in origin, not human. 

Exodus 8:20-32  –  Flies

²⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 
²¹Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. 
²²But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.^£ 
23Thus I will put a division^£ between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.”’” 
²⁴And the Lord did so. There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants’ houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by the swarms of flies.
²⁵Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 
²⁶But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? 
²⁷We must go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us.” 
²⁸So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. Plead for me.” 
²⁹Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 
³⁰So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 
³¹And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. 
³²But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.

A differentiation

Moses goes before Pharaoh and asks that he let the people go or he would bring swarms of flies upon them. 

V.22  “I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell,….”

God continues to act in abnormal ways that were ominously frightening for the Egyptians, wonderfully reassuring for the Israelites and clearly evidential of a divine mighty act in service of a divine demand.

V.24 – the land was ruined by the flies….  It was an intolerable pestilence in a proportion impossible without God’s invention.  Even to program the flies not to cross into Goshen would prove a gigantic point.

V.25 – Pharaoh’s first concession…  He expresses a willingness to let the Israelites have a special religious holiday as long as held in Egypt.  He was offering a real and clearly defined option in order to get relief from the flies.   (Like a national holiday for the Israelites.)

Some ‘cracking’ is beginning to appear in Pharaoh.    These plagues have continued to intensify in annoyance and discomforts to the people. 

V.27 – NO, we must take a 3-day journey into the wilderness in order to offer a proper sacrifice to our God.  It cannot be on Egyptian soil.  This request is they want to be far away from Egypt and it’s rule.

 – Israelite animal sacrifices were an abominable act to the Egyptians.  With such animosity toward them from the Egyptians it would make no sense to do it here in Egypt. 

V.28 – 2^nd – concession – Okay –don’t go far away…  Pharaoh’s words “now pray for me” would indicate that this plagued had touched him personally.  The people were ‘being driven crazy’ by the swam of flies. 

V.29 – let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go…

V.30 Moses prays for deliverance from the flies on Egypt.  But Pharaoh’s heart hardens against them.  The unreliability of Pharaoh is now seen.  No wonder he pursued them after their release.