September 28, 2007

  • Discovering God’s Character



    Exodus 7-10 – The Match of Wills

    The Lord begins this chapter commanding Moses and Aaron to confront
    Pharaoh even though He Himself will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that He
    can multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and then bring out Israel.  So Moses and Aaron did this. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83. They are to tell Pharaoh to let His people go into the wilderness to worship Him.

    The Lord tells Moses and Aaron that Pharaoh is going to challenge them to a “miracle” battle.  This will be the famous “stick turned into serpent” scene.
    Aaron throws down his staff and it becomes a serpent. The magicians of
    Egypt do the same thing yet Aaron’s serpent swallows the others up. 
    Yet as we see Pharaoh is not impressed by this. In fact, one would have wondered if he was even paying attention. We are told
    that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. We should look closely here to
    clearly understand what that really means.

    The Lord tells Moses. Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn. He refuses to let
    the people go. Now we have an interesting thing to consider here. How
    can Pharaoh’s heart be stubborn when God is hardening it? I’ll bet you’ve wondered that before. Actually, it
    is not a difficult thing at all. If we understand that it is only God that
    brings wisdom or knowledge or realization of any given thing to us, its
    not hard to understand that a stubborn heart is only doubly resistant
    to hearing the truth. The fact that God isn’t letting any light shine
    in that dark stubborn heart doesn’t help a thing. Another way to say
    this is that God is preventing truth from reaching Pharaoh’s heart so
    that he’d realize something and change. Let’s look at a New Testament version of something much like this.


    The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all,
    able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those
    who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading
    to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and
    escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to
    do his will.     II Timothy 2:24-26 (NASB)

    It is the Lord that stands at the gateway to our hearts and can
    overrule our own selves with truth that would come shining in. So all
    God had to do with Pharaoh is “keep the light of truth turned off” to his heart and understanding to accomplish
    this end. Now does it make more sense when in Hebrews it says


    “while it is said, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME."     ? Hebrews 3:15 (NASB)

    So God can rightfully say that Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn and He can harden his heart at the same time.

    Rather than go over the next few plagues individually since most of
    them are going to turn out the same each time, I list the plagues in
    order and then list some things about them where God is doing something
    different or something new is happening. As always it is good to read
    the passages first and then note the significant points.

    The list of miracles/plagues are: (leaving out the very last one)
    1.    The staff turning into a serpent.
    2.    The Nile water’s becoming blood even that found in containers.
    3.    The plague of the frogs
    4.    The plague of the gnats
    5.    The plague of the flies
    6.    The plague of pestilence of the livestock
    7.    The plague of boils
    8.    The plague of thunder and hail
    9.    The plague of locusts
    10.    The plague of darkness

    The significant things noted about each of the miracles
    1.    Staff into Serpent - The magicians were able to duplicate it with secret arts. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.
    2.    Changing water into blood - The magicians were able to duplicate it with secret arts. Pharaoh’s heart was  
           hardened.
    3.    The plague of frogs – Again, the magicians were able to duplicate
    it with secret arts. God did not harden
           Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh
    responded but deceitfully and then hardened his own heart.
    4.    The plague of gnats - The magicians could not duplicate it with
    secret arts and quit trying after this. They warn
           Pharaoh saying “this
    is the finger of God.” Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.
    5.    The plague of flies – God has plague only affect Egyptians, not
    Israel. God did not harden Pharaoh’s heart.
           Pharaoh responds
    deceitfully. He tried to negotiate a compromise that wouldn’t work. Pharaoh
    hardens his
           own heart.
    6.    The severe pestilence of the Egyptian livestock in the field –
    God again has the plague only affect Egyptians,
           not Israel. Pharaoh
    even sends someone to check to see if it is true. Pharaoh’s heart was
    hardened.
    7.    The plague of boils – now the magicians also contract this along
    with every other Egyptian. The Lord
           hardened Pharaoh’s heart and did
    not listen to Moses and Aaron.
    8.    The plague of thunder and hail – God faces off with Pharaoh,
    telling Him that He could have destroyed him
           and his people but has
    left them as a witness to His power and to proclaim His name through
    all the earth.
           Now God changes how the judgment will come down. If
    those who fear His words will hide their servants
           and livestock during
    the hail, they will live. If not, they will die. Israel was spared
    again. God did not harden
           Pharaoh’s heart beforehand but Pharaoh acts
    deceitfully and then hardens his heart. Then God hardens his
           heart,
    too, and of course, Pharaoh won’t let Israel go.
    9.    The plague of locusts – the worst plague of locusts ever.
    Pharaoh’s servants begin to object. God is turning
           the hearts of his
    subjects.  Pharaoh attempts to show strength yet negotiate by only
    letting the men go. Moses
           refuses. Locusts destroy everything the hail
    didn’t destroy. Pharaoh responds but again acts deceitfully. God

           destroys the locusts by blowing them into the Red Sea. Now the Lord
    hardened Pharaoh’s heart again and
           would not let Israel go.
    10.  The plague of darkness – Moses doesn’t even talk to Pharaoh and
    the plague of darkness that can be felt is
           issued. Pharaoh responds
    telling Moses the people can go but must leave the livestock. After having lost all

           his to his folly, He wants Israel’s. Moses tells him no way they will
    take the livestock, too. The Lord hardens
           Pharaoh’s heart and did not
    let them go. Pharaoh gets angry and says if he ever sees Moses face
    again, he
           will die. Moses says he is right. Pharaoh will never see his
    face again.

    The match is nearly over between God and Pharaoh. The score? God 10,
    Pharaoh 0. God even let up on him and Pharaoh still acted foolishly and
    as it was said in another post, God used this to His advantage to
    broadcast His greatness everywhere. Does this account still tell us
    this same message today?  It certainly does. The account reminds us of
    God’s power. It also reminds us of His control over His power and it is
    exacting. It also tells us that those who would attempt to oppress His
    own will be dealt with appropriately and that He is also fully capable
    of protecting His own from any sort of judgment designed for those who
    have rejected him.

    The one thing that I find about these passages is that while Pharaoh
    was a wicked man and received righteous judgment perfectly fitted for
    him, it gives no comfort to know he was judged. You see, all of us,
    without Christ as our redeemer are just like Pharaoh. We think we are
    the king of our lives and our subjects should obey us over everything
    else. It doesn’t matter if we are a ruler of a country, the president
    of a company, or a parent in a home. When we forget that the Lord is
    the Lord and not us, we can abuse those under us because we have the
    power to do so and we find ourselves doing things that are not pleasing
    in the sight of God.  Would it be any surprise that the Lord would hear
    the cries of the heart of those being oppressed and one day we will
    find ourselves undone with no way of escape?  This is the lesson of
    Pharaoh.  It is a warning to us. May we instead practice justice,
    mercy, humility, and faithfulness. These are pleasing in God’s sight.
    Mr.Vee