Author: Sandra Hughes

After all the rules for the Passover were given Moses brought all the elders of Israel together and told them to go pick out their lambs, slaughter the lambs, then take a bunch of hyssop, to be used as a paint brush, dip it in the blood of the lamb and paint the doorposts and the lintels.  After that was accomplished they were to close the door and stay inside until morning. Moses’s explanation to them was when the Lord goes through to smite the Egyptians, He will see the blood  and not let the Destroyer enter and smite the first born.

It’s interesting that God wants the Israelites to teach their children the meaning of all that is going on. God encourages the education of children, especially when it comes to God and His will for our lives. There are actually four verses in the first five books of the Bible commanding the education of the children on the Exodus.

On Passover when the child raises the question regarding the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, they are to be told “because He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, but saved our houses.” The questions and answers weredesigned to have them grow up knowing God’s power to both destroy and to save. We are all to fear God, it is the basis of morality. Psalm 111:10 tells us “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

Those Israelites must have felt the fear of God because they obeyed and did what Moses told them.It was in the middle of the night that God struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt who did not have the blood on their doorposts. And this death included the cattle. Pharaoh arose in the night, with all his courtiers and all the Egyptians because there was a loud cry in Egypt; for there was no house where there was not someone dead. That was when Pharaoh declared the Israelites were to leave. His words were, “Up, depart from among my people, you and the Israelites with you! Go worship the Lord as you said. Take your flocks and you herds, and be gone!”

And then what did Pharaoh do?  He asks, “May you bring a blessing upon me?”

A presumptuous man, if nothing else.  But I suppose he could ask for some pittance of self-aggrandizement, after all God already told the Israelites to ask for all the gold and silver the Egyptians owned.  Actually, by the time Pharaoh 
‘let the people go’ they had stripped the land of Egypt of all their wealth and God had even taken their first born sons. It’s hard to imagine just how difficult life would be for the Egyptians with their wealth gone and their free labor gone.

That exodus of the Israelites would take 600 thousand men, not to mention the women and the children.  Can you imagine how bereft the Egyptians felt with all this gone? Then Scripture says, “a mixed multitude went up with them.  These would be added to the number of Israelites who left.  And the Israelites also took their livestock.”

The Israelites lived in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years to the day.  But only about two hundred of those years had they lived as slaves.  When they finally got out from under the heavy hand of Pharaoh, they left without preparation.  Can you imagine uprooting your entire family without packing and without food provisions?  All they had to eat was the unleavened bread they had been instructed to eat. The law of the Passover said no foreigner shall eat of it. A slave could eat of it once he was circumcised. Hired laborers could eat of it. It was to be eaten in one house, nothing of the Passover meal could be taken outside the house. Every man who eats it must be circumcised. Then God said “one law shall be for the citizen and the strange who dwells among you.” It was unique in the world that both citizens and non-citizens would be treated equally under the law.

All those Israelites obeyed God’s laws regarding their exodus.  And that very day the Lord freed the Israelites from the land of Egypt, troop by troop.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 32
⇛ return to Exodus

The blood placed on the posts of the door frame and the lintel was ‘for the Jews and not for God.’

In my naïve thinking, having heard this story from the time I was a small child until now, I was under the perception that that blood was placed there so God could see who was faithful to Him. But that turns out to be a joke when we realize God said it was a sign for the Jews and not for Himself. It was there to assure the Israelites that they will be spared in spite of the death that will be taking place all around them. As well as saving the Jews from destruction, God is a teacher to them. Remember all those things we all were forced to memorize in school?

Well, God has SIX things He told the Jews to remember or memorize, and they do it right up to this day.
The FIRST was the Sabbath, “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”
The SECOND was the Exodus. “You shall not eat anything leavened with it…so that you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt as long as you live.”
Number THREE was Receiving the Law at Sinai, “So that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eves…. and make them known to our children and your children’s children, the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb….”
The FOURTH was “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey after you left Egypt, how, undeterred by fear of God he… cut down all the stragglers in your rear.”
FIVE was The Golden Calf and other incidents in which the Israelites angered God.  “Remember, never forget, how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness.”
And finally the SIXTH remembrance was, God’s punishment of Miriam for speaking ill of Moses. “Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.”

Not only would it be difficult for me to remember all these things, but I must admit I don’t recall ever hearing of some of them in the first place. How very much easier we have it as grace believers.  Yes, there are verses we know by heart and concepts that we know even better, but basically it’s important to understand, and believe: “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him  shall not perish but have everlasting life.” And then added to that:  “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”

After God tells the Israelites to remember the Passover, He adds; you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. And the interesting part of that entire scenario is whether today’s Jews remember their God or not, they do remember to celebrate the Passover. Added to the remembrance through celebrating Passover the Jews were given another instruction. That instruction was to eat unleavened bread for seven full days. In fact the instruction was extended to include that they must remove all leaven from their houses.

Leaven is a substance, such as yeast, used to produce fermentation in dough or in a liquid. It includes anything that modifies or lightens, such as baking powder that is used to produce a gas that lightens the dough. It mingles with or permeates whatever it is introduced to. Fermentation is a form of decomposition and therefore represents decay and death. Not only were they to remove all leaven from their homes, but Scripture says, “Whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.” Being cut off is one of the most severe punishments in the Torah. There is some confusion as to what being “cut off” means but the consensual thought is it would be to “cut off from God and His people.”

Some Jewish people still practice the prohibition of yeast for seven days, others may think of it as a quaint ritual or as simply pointless. But nonetheless the Torah says, “You shall celebrate a sacred occasion on the first day, and a sacred occasion on the seventh day.”

How much easier Christ’s death has made it for us.  “For by grace are ye saved through faith… lest any man should boast.”

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 31
⇛ return to Exodus

God’s first rule to the Israelites, before He took them out of Egypt, was to sacrifice a lamb; but not just any lamb.  It had to be a yearling, without blemish. Take note, this was a sacrifice to God so it had to be perfect. It could not be their least desirable animal.  If it were the least desirable it would not be a sacrifice. The definition for sacrifice in our world has the definition of a loss or something you give up, usually for the sake of a better cause. How often have you thought of the sacrifices parents make for the sake of their children?  All a parent has to do is to remember the time and sleep they gave up to rear a child. Even forgetting the financial cost, it is a sacrifice to take total care of another human being. But in the realm of worship a sacrifice is the act of offering something to a deity in propitiation, which is the act of gaining or regaining favor or goodwill of someone or something, such as the ritual slaughter of an animal or person. Or the sacrifice could be used to give homage, respect or reverence to God, or even to someone like the Pharaoh who thought he deserved the treatment that was reserved for God.

This sacrifice was the ritual slaughter of an animal to show total respect for God. On the fourteenth day of the month they weren’t allowed to slaughter it until twilight at the end of that day. From the slaughtering of the sacrifice they were to take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts, and on the lintel of the door fame, or the top board of the door frame. That blood was to show the Egyptians that they were killing one of the Egyptian gods and flaunting their action.  They were showing respect to their own God and total disrespect to an Egyptian god.

That very night they were to roast the lamb over an open fire and immediately eat it. It is thought that roasting would be the quickest way to cook that meat but it had a second advantage. Roasting over an open pit would be the surest way to remove all the blood from the meat.  Remember, they were not permitted to eat blood.  Later, the Lamb of God would sacrifice His blood for our sins. If there were any lamb leftovers they were not permitted to eat them the following day.  Now not only were they instructed how they were to eat that lamb, but they were instructed as to their attire while eating that meal. They were to eat it with their loins girded, their sandals on their feet, and have their staff in their hand.  Not only that, but they were to eat in a hurry.  No dawdling over this meal! And not only that, but they were not permitted to eat the leftovers the next day.  They had better eat them all or dispose of them.

Then God tells them why these instructions were so very important:  That night God will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first born of Egypt, both man and beast. But then He goes one better and says, “I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt.”  This is evidently meant to convince them and us that only God is God and other gods are false.

The sad part of the situation today is that even though every nationality recognizes a god, they don’t know who the God of creation, the God of the Bible, and the one true God is. That truth applies to people in every country of the world God created. In our own nation one out of every four people do not believe in organized religion. These people call themselves the nones.  We are told we need to get used to the nones and their practices because they claim they are not going anywhere, and some believe that in the coming years they may even dominate the cultural landscape. As well as the nones we have people who say they have faith, just not in a God who judges peoples actions. Faith in the one true God has been replaced by ‘spirituality’. A lot of people won’t say the word God because that’s not popular.  But they will say universe.

And of the ones who do believe in religion, well, it is not even God who they believe in. One of the religions that is extremely popular is yoga!  After all the main focus of yoga is meditation because when you are performing the poses, you are meditating and that’s very spiritual in their minds. We look back at the Egyptians and wonder at their lack of knowledge of the One True God and yet we must look around and realize many of us who live in the Christian Nation of the United States of America are no better off than the Egyptians were.

When we go back to the Bible narrative, it says, after telling the Israelites what they were to sacrifice and how they were to do it, God gave more instructions. Those instructions about being dressed for flight when they ate. He informed them that that night He would go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first born in the land of Egypt, including both man and beast. He also said he would mete out or easier to understand, He would pass out in measure, punishments to all the gods of Egypt.

He continued with, ‘the blood on the house where you are staying shall be a sign to you when I see the blood I will pass over you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.’

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 30
⇛ return to Exodus

Prior to the tenth, and the most dreaded plague, God tells Moses and Aaron the list of laws that the Israelites must follow. God has foresight.  He knows that man does not always understand or even listen and it seems very plausible that He is preparing them for their journey out of Egypt. Because God is taking them out of a country they have lived in for over four hundred years and have been slaves in that country, to the Egyptian master, for a little less than 200 years, He wants them to know they will be responsible to Him in their behavior.

Today we use the term, “Freedom is not free.” With freedom comes responsibility. Without responsibility and rules we would end up in anarchy. Following God’s laws will be their responsibility. You can probably imagine what the very first law God gave to Moses was before they left Egypt, it was the law of celebrating Passover.

God said, “This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months. It shall be the first of the months of the year for you.” This month that God is talking about is Nisan. Which is the spring month that includes Passover. It is celebrated as a time of rebirth, renewal, new beginnings, and the Creator of the world. It would be their first “Happy New Year”.

But actually, the Jewish calendar has two different first months. The other is called Tishrei, the autumn month that includes Rosh Hashanah, which is also the New Year. In the Jewish Torah, they celebrate two New Years. Passover takes our minds to when Jesus Christ said, “You are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” He continued by saying, “Whoever sins is a slave of sin.”

That concept is as true today as it was at the time of Moses, and all throughout history. Freedom is a process, not a destination. It is a promise from God’s Word. Maintaining your freedom requires good choices. Once set free, good choices help us remain free. God wanted those Israelites to know they would be responsible for their own freedom. He would set them free but they would have to keep their own freedom. God will not take them out of Egypt until they reaffirm their connection with Him. Then they will only remain free by worshipping God and following His rules. It is a requirement that the Israelites will worship their God.

That all begs the question, “How does one worship God?”

Yes, we can do it corporately in a religious service, but the Bible continually tells us that we worship God with our ethical behavior. Micah 6:8 makes it clear when it says, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”

The Law is actually there to remind the Israelites they are being liberated from Egypt in order to serve God. After that reminder, God tells them that in order to worship, it requires a sacrifice. In ten verses God outlines the law of the Paschal sacrifice. The first thing we have to know to keep the law is that the word Paschal is nothing more than the Hebrew word for Passover. The entire community must partake of this celebration. On the tenth day of each month every family, or every household shall take a lamb. The only exception is if a family is too small for a lamb, they may share it with another family.

With understanding we can know that the requirements God places on His people are not frivolous, they are an object lesson to teach even the dumbest of His chosen, and they are even meant to teach the Egyptians and anyone else who cares to learn. The lamb was one of many animals worshipped as gods by the Egyptians.  So now the Israelites must slaughter a god of their oppressors. If we remember our first lesson on the plagues, we learned the plagues were not an attack on the people but an attack on the false Gods. The plagues were to prove God was more powerful than their false Gods. Today some people tend to believe the sacrifice of those animals was inhumane. But If anyone objects to the sacrificing, or killing, of these animal we must just remember the sacrificed animals were eaten.

That begs the question, “Who are we to object to eating unless you are a vegetarian. Added to that is the fact that it is an object lesson for Christians. Scripture says, “Jesus Christ is the lamb of God that was sacrificed for our sins.”

Of course we know that sacrificial lamb had to be spotless, without blemish, a male that was taken either from the sheep or from the goats. It must be watched over until the fourteenth day of the month. God’s orders are to be followed precisely. How much easier we have it today. To please God all we have to do is believe in Jesus Christ.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 29
⇛ return to Exodus

The Israelites obeyed the Lord and they went to their Egyptian neighbors and asked for objects of silver and objects of gold. And what does God do? Well, Scripture says he disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people. In other words He gave the Egyptians a tendency, toward the Israelites, to give them gold and silver. We can only assume that left to their own devises the Egyptians would not be inclined to give the Jews their valuables.

There are theories as to why that happened but among the many theories is that of Josephus, a name we are used to hearing in our church. He was a first century Romano-Jewish historian, who believed the Egyptians were willing to give the Israelites anything they requested, including their most valuable possessions, just to finally get rid of them. But then we still have the question as to how does that fit with Scripture when it tells us God disposed their hearts favorably toward the people. However, just because we don’t know exactly how God changed their hearts at this moment, what we do know is it could only be accomplished by an all-powerful God.

Following that thought we then have the verse that follows after, that says, “Moses himself was much esteemed in the land of Egypt, among Pharaoh’s courtiers and among the people”.  In spite of every plague that came upon the Egyptians, they had great respect for Moses. Then we come upon another paradox. Moses had told Pharaoh he would never see his face again, and now Moses is speaking to Pharaoh. Thus we see Moses did speak again to Pharaoh, although the message was not good. In fact, it may be the worst message Moses ever had to give to Pharaoh. Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: Toward midnight I will go forth among the Egyptians and every first born in the land of Egypt shall die. The first born male in Pharaoh’s family right on to the first born male in the slave girls family, and the first born among all the cattle.”

It all sounds so very cruel to kill all the firstborn under Pharaoh’s control, but then we have to remember this is not an arbitrary decision by a pouting God.  Back in Exodus 4 verses 22 and 23 God told Moses: “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:  And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”

And then we get an euphemism that is not really familiar to us.  Pharaoh is told, “Not a dog shall snarl at any of the Israelites, at man or beast, so you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.”

Moses ends his conversation with Pharaoh by telling him all his courtiers would come and bow low to Moses and tell him to depart with all that was his. After all the warnings to Pharaoh, Moses got angry and left Pharaoh’s presence.  And as sad as it turns out to be, God warned Moses that Pharaoh would not listen to him “so God’s marvels may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

In spite of the fact that Moses and Aaron had performed all these marvels before Pharaoh, God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he would not let the Israelites go.  Pharaoh was not about to turn loose of all these productive workers he did not have to pay. It’s obvious it is going to take something earth shatteringly horrible to change Pharaoh’s mind.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 28
⇛ return to Exodus

We have looked at the first eight plagues placed on Egypt because the Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go worship their God. Now at number nine we have reached the plague of darkness. God told Moses, “Hold out your arm toward the sky that there may be darkness upon the land of Egypt”.

Some scholars claim the darkness in Egypt was caused by a solar eclipse. But once again we have the choice of either believing God or just believing the world that it was a scheduled solar eclipse that Moses used for his own purposes. The problem becomes apparent when we learn that the darkness did not cover the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. And let’s face it, Goshen was in the land of Egypt and was the home of the slaves who were the Israelites. Goshen is a region in northeast Egypt along the eastern Nile Delta. The extent of the region is uncertain. Saying the eclipse covered the land of Egypt except for Goshen would be equivalent to saying day and night are reversed at every city or state line border.

Further testimony against it being simply a solar eclipse is the fact God created a darkness that can be touched. Or said another way, ‘the darkness was so oppressive you could feel it’. The darkness could be felt both physically and spiritually, it took away their perception, their ability to recognize others and their ability to make progress. That darkness descended upon all the land of Egypt for three days. People could not see one another, and for three full days, no one could get up from where they were, while ALL Israelites enjoyed light in their dwellings. This evidently panicked Pharaoh. He summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the Lord and even your children may go with you.”

But once again, Pharaoh being Pharaoh, he insisted their flocks and herds must be left behind. Moses being Moses, and having gained confidence with all the Lord had done for the Israelites, answered, “You, yourself, Pharaoh, must provide us with sacrifices and burnt offering to offer up to the Lord our God.” And then Moses added, “Our own livestock, shall go along with us, not a hoof will be left behind.”

Moses’s intention was to have enough animals to worship the Lord while not knowing what they would need until they get there. With that being said by Moses, the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh would not let them go.

Pharaoh then told Moses, “Be gone with you!
Don’t you dare see me again!
You have no rights, You are not my kin.
If you hear from me a simple sigh,
and you look at my face, You will surely die.”

Moses replied, “You have spoken rightly, I will not see your face again.”

Actually, there was no point in seeing each other again. They did all that negotiating and neither were prepared to lighten their stance. It was time for God to take the Israelites out of Egypt. Then the Lord told Moses He would bring one more plague upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt, and then Pharaoh will let you out of here, one and all! God then instructed Moses to tell his people to ask their neighbors if they could  borrow objects of silver and objects of gold.

And of course it sounds good to say you want to borrow something, but it’s not really borrowing when the Israelites will be leaving this land and they will be returning nothing. Now we know God is never deceptive and asking to borrow when there is no plan to return is truly deceptive.

That’s why we have language scholars. Actually the instructions in Hebrew says, “Tell the people to ask for silver and gold items, and to say please.” That was not such a bad idea since the Israelites had diligently worked for the Egyptians and were never paid for their work. So these objects were really due them. Giving to them was surely aided by the fact that the Egyptians were traumatized by the plagues and now they only wanted to get the Jews out of their land anyway they could.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 27
⇛ return to Exodus

In Chapter 10 God tells Moses to once again go to Pharaoh. But the interesting part is the reason why God is sending Moses back to Pharaoh. This time God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh because God has hardened Pharaoh’s heart and now wants to display God’s signs among the Egyptians.  God is making a mockery of the Egyptians to show that He is the Lord. God is giving the Jews a lesson that can be recounted to their sons and their son’s sons.  God is actually instructing the Jews to tell generation after generation about God’s miracles when He was taking the Jews out of Egypt. But it is not only a lesson for the Egyptians and the Israelites, it is a lesson for the whole world through all the generations.  That is why God has preserved the Old Testament writing for us.  These writings give proof that God is The Supreme Being and we are to have no other gods before him.

Following God’s instructions, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and asked how long it would take for Pharaoh to humble himself before God? They followed up that question with an instruction from God, “Let My people go.” IF not, tomorrow you will be converged upon with locusts. Those promised locusts are going to cover the land so it will not be able to be seen, and they will devour all the grain in the field, that was left after the hail, and they will even eat away the trees that were left. And then it gets much worse than that. Those locusts will fill the palaces and the houses of the courtiers and of all the Egyptians. No one has ever seen before such a plague as this. Without waiting for an answer, Moses turned and left.

Pharaoh’s courtiers appealed to Pharaoh.  They asked how long Pharaoh would let this be a snare to them.  They advised Pharaoh to let the people go worship the Lord their God.  They asked, “Are you not yet aware Egypt is lost?”

With that Pharaoh evidently decides to bargain with Moses.  He said, Go, worship the Lord your God,” but then he questioned, “Who are the ones to go?”

Foxy old Pharaoh, he wants to hold the ace card! For Pharaoh being humble is just too hard.  If only a portion of those Israelites go,  He can still be running the complete show. They will surely come back to be with those  who were left behind and were not chose. But Moses would not be controlled.  His answer was “We will all go, young and old, for we must observe the Lord’s festival.”

Pharaoh sarcastically answers Mosses request with, “The Lord be with you the same, as I mean to let your children go with you.  Clearly you are bent on mischief.”

The word in Hebrew that was translated mischief actually translates to evil.  Pharaoh is accusing Moses that he wants his people to leave so they can do something evil – evil like wanting to be free. And while Pharaoh is making accusations to Moses he still doesn’t believe God has total power and he is rude and obnoxious to Moses, disregarding his own advisors advice. He told Moses, “You menfolk go worship the Lord, since that is what you want.”  And then Moses and Aaron were kicked out of Pharaoh’s presence.

And of course it was inevitable that God told Moses to hold out his arm over the land of Egypt for the locusts.   The Lord drove an east wind over the land all that day and all night; and when morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts. With hindsight, remembering what we have learned about the plagues earlier, we can see God uses natural forces to bring devastation upon Egypt.

It’s kind of a test.  Anyone can believe either the plagues were by nature or by the Hand of the Lord. Today we still have the same conundrum the Egyptians had, was it coincidence or was it God? Throughout the years many, many people have made the mistake of not believing God has power. Even when it comes to our own existence we have to make the choice whether we evolved from a big bang or God created us.

Because of Pharaoh’s unbelief locusts invaded his land. They settled in the territory of Egypt in a thick mass. They hid all the land from everyone’s view, they ate everything green, not just a few. Nothing was left of grasses or green they ate all the fruit which could be seen.

And you probably can’t even imagine what happens next!  –  You are probably right! Pharaoh hurriedly summoned Moses and Aaron and humbly said, “I stand guilty before the Lord your God and before you.

But there is a hidden problem here in Scripture.  We believe if we sin we can repent before God and he will forgive us.  Polytheists, those who worship more than one God, believe they can sin before only one god while doing nothing wrong in the eyes of another god.  This is why it is so easy to say if he did anything wrong before the Jew’s God,  he is not guilty before any of his own gods. “Forgive my offense just this once” says Pharaoh.  He continues with, “Plead with the Lord your God that he remove this death from me.”

Moses did as Pharaoh requested and God caused a shift in the wind to the west and cleared all the locusts from the territory of Egypt – Not one was left!

And of course experience teaches us, that once again it is not Pharaoh hardening his heart, it is God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 26
⇛ return to Exodus

At first Pharaoh of Egypt hardened his own heart against the Jew’s God.  But then God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he could not change his mind as the plagues worsened.

This meant that not only did he not heed what Moses and Aaron said but he also would not heed what his own advisors told him.

His advisors got anxious to get rid of the Israelites and their terrible plagues before more bad fortune befell the Egyptians.

The magicians, in particular, wanted rid of them. They were no longer able to duplicate the plagues, but they were also not able to get rid of them. This conundrum is ruining their reputations.

Pharaoh is nothing more than an evil ruler who is bringing destructions on the people he claims to represent and love. Pharaoh’s stiffened heart continued to create problems.

Once again the Lord told Moses, “Early in the morning, present yourself to Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews,  Let my people go.”

God then threatened to send all the plagues upon Pharaoh and all his citizens.  He told Pharaoh He could have erased them from the face of the earth entirely.  But He spared them in order to show His power and for the purpose of spreading God’s name throughout the whole universe.

After which, God told Moses to tell Pharaoh God would rain down a very heavy hail of which they had never seen in their life.  Then Pharaoh was to announce to ALL the people that they must bring all their livestock and anything of value inside under shelter.

This instruction creates a conundrum.  During a past plague we are told “all the livestock of the Egyptians died”.  No one really knows why or how there are more livestock to take inside.  And I am certainly not going to argue with the scholars guessing at the meaning.

Now we all know God even warned that anyone who did not take cover would be killed by the hail. With hindsight we can see the irony.  Here was the ‘most high’ leader of the land having to follow the orders of the Israelites God.  It must have been a very humbling situation.

Remember, they were warned that every man and beast that remained outdoors would be killed. But as human nature would have it, there were those who did not obey the Lord and they left their slaves and cattle outdoors.

Moses was told by God to hold out his arms toward the sky that hail might fall on all the grasses of the field in Egypt.

When Moses held out his arms, hail, thunder and lightning fell down upon the land of Egypt.  The sad part of this situation was it was not just the livestock that were killed, but also the Israelite slaves that took care of the livestock.

The slaves were not evildoers but they had the misfortune of living with the evil doers and therefore were caught in the punishment.

Not only did the hail strike down all that were in the field but it also struck down all the grasses of the field and shattered all the trees of the field. And as promised, there was no hail in Goshen, where the Israelites lived.

Of course, Pharaoh was up to his old tricks.  He sent for Moses and Aaron and said: “I stand guilty this time. The Lord is right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead with the Lord that there may be an end to God’s thunder and hail.”

Moses answered that he would plead with the Lord to stop the hail, but then he added, “I know that you and your courtiers do not yet fear the Lord.”

Scripture tells us the flax and the barley were ruined, as they were ripe for harvest, but the wheat and the emmer, which is another type of wheat, were not ruined because they were late crops.

Moses did as he said he would and the hail and thunder ceased. It was wonderful for Pharaoh to be believed. The problem was he could not be believed. He reverted back to his old guilty ways.

We all know people like that. Humble when they are caught and punished, repentant when they have no choice, but quickly return to their old ways when they think they got away with it. And low and behold, his courtiers were exactly the same way.

Once again Pharaoh’s heart stiffened and he would not “let the people go”!

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 25
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God has logic in everything he does. When it comes to the plagues on the Egyptians they are divided into a pattern of three sets of three and then the Judgement which is the only one in the fourth set.

In the first set Pharaoh was warned of the first two plagues which were the Water to Blood, and next the Frogs. Pharaoh was not warned about the third plague in the first set of three which was the Lice. In the second set Pharaoh was warned about the first two, but not the third. The second set containing three plagues began with the fourth plague of insects everywhere. In the third set of threes he was warned once again, about the first two plagues​ but not the third. And he certainly wasn’t warned about the one in the fourth set which was the judgement. Some people think the forth plague of insects were flies. But not just any fly, flies that bore into the skin and lay eggs under the skin.

If the fourth plague is interpreted as flies, it fits within a speculative framework of the Ten Plagues of Egypt being linked to scientific climate change. There is a theory which promotes a climate in warming that says, “Biting flies, having hatched in soil heavily polluted with animal urine and feces, would have become abundant with warming weather, and the flies would have easily bred in a land strewn with frog corpses.”

But if we are going to believe the plagues were all natural forces of climate and climate change, we have to take power away from God. Actually, that theory would only make God nothing more than a fortune teller. But we know God is all powerful and He is capable of making and moving nature to use for His needs. God actually brought the plagues, for his purpose of freeing His people.

The fifth plague, the second in the second set of three’s, was the killing of the livestock owned by the Egyptians. We start Chapter nine of Exodus the same way we did so many times before. God once again laid it on the line: Pharaoh must let God’s people go, submission to God he must show. If Pharaoh refuses to submit, it won’t be pretty Moses admits. God will strike Egyptian livestock in the fields. No harm to Israelites livestock he will yield. This plague was laid out completely.  It will include horses, asses, camels, cattle, and sheep.  They will be struck with a very severe pestilence.

We remember the Egyptians worshipped almost everything, and had a god for everything. Remember, we know God was not attacking the Egyptian people, He was proving the impotence of the Egyptian gods. He is reaffirming only the God of the Israelites is divine and nothing else in nature is,​ even if they call them gods. Then He did what He did prior to the last plague. God made it known that there is a difference between the livestock of the Egyptians and the livestock of the Israelites when He said, “nothing shall die of all that belongs to the Israelites”.

It seems this is a first between the Egyptians and God. But this time, for the first time, He tells them even more. This time he tells them the plague will be tomorrow. And God being true to his word struck all the livestock the very next day. All the livestock of the Egyptians died but not one of the livestock of the Israelites died – NOT ONE BEAST. Pharaoh at least had a curiosity about God.​ He inquired if any of the livestock of the Israelites had died. And even though none had Pharaoh remained stubborn against God and the Israelites.

But now for the sixth plague, the third in the second set of threes, God told Moses and Aaron to go to the kiln and take out handfuls of soot. They were to throw those handfuls of soot in the air, in front of Pharaoh. They were told, It shall become a fine dust all over the land of Egypt. Moses threw it toward the sky and it caused an inflammation breaking out in boils on both man and beast. The magicians didn’t even try to duplicate or to dispel this plague as they were also covered with inflammation, and hurting, the same as all the Egyptians. We are not told this time that Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and the Israelites. Pharaoh didn’t have that chance. God stiffened Pharaoh’s heart first.

And now Pharaoh has time to decide what he wants to do with the Israelites. Their fate, at this time, is directly in the hands of Pharaoh. Pharaoh had much opposition to his decision. The magicians were particularly eager to change Pharaoh’s mind. They evidently realized this God had far greater power than they did with their illusions, and it was obvious God had far more power​ than Pharaoh did.

The Lord said to Moses, “Early in the morning, present yourself to Pharaoh and say to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews; Let my people go to worship me. For this time I will send all my plagues upon your person, and your courtiers, and your people. In order that you may know​​ THERE IS NONE LIKE ME IN ALL THE LAND.”

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 24
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They worshiped the frogs​​​​​​ until they got them in abundance then they were convinced the frogs were redundant. Do away with the frogs and Pharaoh will respect God’s request. But low and behold he didn’t pass the test. As soon as he got just what he wanted his power to say no was immediately vaunted. In his land the Jews must stay. He was convinced he would have his own way.

Well poor Pharaoh, he forgot who he was up against. Once again he forgot Man rules but God overrules. And when Pharaoh said no, God said, “Pharaoh you have not yet learned from experience who my people are, and more importantly, who I am”.

That’s when God brought on the next plague. God told Moses, “Say to Aaron,​​​​​ hold out your rod and strike the dust of the earth and it shall turn to lice throughout the land of Egypt.”

And they did! In fact all the dust of the earth turned to lice throughout the land of Egypt. I guess you could cope with walking on lice but having the habits that lice have, they didn’t stay under their feet! Those lice took abode on man and beast! The interesting fact is that those wonderful magicians were unable to make more lice or to make the lice disappear. This evidently made a real impact on the magicians because they told Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God!”

Was Pharaoh affected?​​​​​​​ He surely was. His heart became more stiffened. Then the Lord said to Moses,​​​​​ “Early in the morning present yourself to Pharaoh, as he is coming out to the water, and say to him: Thus says the Lord, Let My people go that they may worship me. And if you do not let My people go, I will let loose swarms of insects against you.”

In Hebrew, God is telling Pharaoh either send the Israelites, or God will send another plague. This is where God tells us He will set apart the region of Goshen where His people dwell, and they will not have the swarms of insects. And then for the very first time God makes a distinction between​​​​ the Egyptians and the Israelites and the time of the plague is fixed! In fact, God said “I will make a distinction between my people and your people,​​​​​ and tomorrow this sign shall come to pass.”

And He did just what He said He would do. Heavy swarms of insects invaded Pharaoh’s palace and the houses of his courtiers;  throughout the country of Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of insets. And then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and told them to sacrifice to their Lord within the land. This of course, is not God’s instructions. So, Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh it would not be right to do this. They told Pharaoh that what they​​​​ sacrificed to the Lord would be untouchable and reprehensible to the Egyptians. And if they saw that we sacrifice, and that we worship, it would incite violence from the Egyptians. They told Pharaoh ​​​​​​​​they had to go a distance of three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord God, as He had commanded. Pharaoh decided he would let them sacrifice in the wilderness, but they must not go very far, and Pharaoh wanted them to plead for him. Because of Pharaoh’s repentant attitude Moses said, “I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of insects depart tomorrow from Pharaoh and his courtiers and his people, that the swarms of insects may leave you.”

And Moses did just that.​​​​​​ But you surely remember this Bible story and you already know Pharaoh became stubborn again or still, as the case would have it, and would not let the people go. Once Pharaoh got his own way​​​​​ he hardened his heart against the God of Israel and against all the Israelites. It is reasonable to believe that the Egyptians thought that the God of the Jews was their enemy. But that is not so. It is their own Pharaoh who is the real enemy of his people.

How sad that even in our “enlightened age” we have enemies who do not care about our welfare. Scripture teaches that we face three foes:

• the World
• the Flesh
• the Devil

And many times I believe​​​​​​ I can be more specific and say our governing leaders can be, and are, on many occasions, our enemies. It may not be as easy to see​​​​​ as the plagues were but we are plagued none the less.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 23
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1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.