Tuesday
Tuesday
The Challenge to Pharaoh
And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.
Exodus 7:5
Moses and Aaron went boldly to Pharaoh, and in the name of Yahweh demanded the release of the Israelite slaves. But they had been warned that Pharaoh would refuse to humble himself. The narrative sometimes attributes his stubbornness to God (e.g., “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” [v. 3]) and sometimes to Pharaoh himself (e.g., “He hardened his heart and would not listen” [8:15]). We do not have to choose, for God hardens those who harden themselves.
Moses had brought his staff with him, and whenever he stretched it out, a fresh judgment fell on the Egyptian population. There were successively ten so-called plagues. The waters of the Nile were turned into blood, and frogs overran the land. Next came the plagues of gnats and of flies, followed by a killing disease afflicting livestock and boils afflicting man and beast. A hailstorm destroyed crops and stripped trees, and a huge swarm of locusts consumed whatever the hail had left. A strange darkness crept over the land, and as a terrible climax, the firstborn of all human beings and animals died.
Consider the nature and purpose of these plagues. They were not all supernatural. For example, the plague of locusts was a common natural phenomenon. The miraculous element lay in the timing, that they were blown in by an east wind at the exact moment when Moses lifted his staff.
What was their purpose? Partly to bring judgment on the recalcitrant Egyptians and partly to persuade Pharaoh to release the Israelites, but supremely, God said that “you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth” (9:14). Throughout these chapters the simple refrain keeps ringing out—“that you may know that I am the LORD.” We could have no higher ambition than this.
For further reading: Exodus 7:1–7