Most of the 10 plagues are covered in today’s reading, and they are familiar. But I just realized some things I didn’t know before…
I was sure that it was Charlton Heston who struck the Nile river with his staff while Pharaoh watched, and it turned into blood. But the Bible says it was Aaron who did it. In fact, In these three chapters, Moses never picks up the staff a single time. I have to confess, I hadn’t seen that before. I thought Moses was at least carrying the staff, and at times handed it to Aaron to perform a miracle. I thought Moses was the one using it as a walking stick and the “Rod of God”. But in 7:8,10 and 19 the Moses says to Aaron “take YOUR staff…” I have to believe this was the same staff that God told Moses to throw down, and it became a snake. (by the way, snake is an interpretation….the actual word in Hebrew means “sea monster” when it’s used in other places.)
I notice today God’s incredible patience. Think of this: Pharaoh has been persecuting the people for years, and recently he has made even more brutal and unfair demands upon them. And instead of simply wiping him off the face of the earth, God gives him warnings.
Take a look at these warnings carefully, because they tell us something about how God works. The first sign doesn’t cause any harm to anyone, a staff turns to a monster, and then back again. If you obey, zero property loss, zero casualties. The first plague is incredible, even a greater exercise of power than the first sign, but no one dies. You can still get water, but you have to dig for it. It created an inconvenience, but not insurmountable. And besides…there were people around Pharaoh doing their best to explain it away.
And so it goes with each plague. The plagues become more and more intense, and create more and more discomfort. Then the crops are lost, and people begin to be injured and killed. Refusal to obey God is causing the situation to escalate. You wonder why Pharaoh continued to have a hardened heart…maybe it’s because he couldn’t see the end of the story like you and I can. With each plague he may have thought “I’ve survived the worst that Moses could muster…it’s over”
Pharaoh is resisting as are his officials, but God is having an impact on the community. When Moses says that there will be a hailstorm, many of the people summon all their workers and animals in from the fields. Listen: there are rewards for obedience, even in the middle of God’s growing anger.
Here’s something else I noticed:
Aaron performs the first three miracles using the staff. The next two are simply spoken by Moses. Then the next two, the plagues of boils and hail…are both done by Moses himself. Not only is the severity of the plague escalating, so is the revelation that the power comes from God. First God (represented by Moses) works through someone else, then through nature or seemingly no one…and then we begin to see works directly from God’s hand. That is wonderful if we are talking about blessings, and terrifying if we are talking about punishment.
God loves Pharaoh, and the people of Egypt. He doesn’t want them to suffer, but He is going to have his way regardless. Obedience would have brought blessings…history would have been radically changed. But God knew that Pharaoh’s heart wasn’t set on obedience. Pride and arrogance and a spirit of unteachableness (is that a word?) were going to derail this leader…and his whole country. Several hundred years earlier the humility and wisdom of Joseph had made Egypt into a world power… now pride, fear and arrogance were going to unravel it.
God works the same way today. Even when we are sinful and disobedient, God loves us. He cares about us and wants to move us into his family, and into his blessings. But we must be obedient, which requires surrender, humility, sacrifice. Sure, it will look like loss at the beginning, but it really isn’t. It’s actually gain. Your unrepentant spirit may say “this is losing” but trust me, you are actually winning.
That’s what the devil does, he tries to convince us that winning is really losing, that victory is really defeat, and that arrogance is really power. Pharaoh is listening to the devil, and he is about to wear out God’s patience. and that’s a place that you do not want to go…
Faithfully,
PR