Exodus 9-11
Sunday Evening Bible Study
February 23, 1997
Introduction
Four over four hundred years, the descendants of Israel have been in Egypt.
Now, as a nation of slaves, God has heard their cry for deliverance, and sent a reluctant man, Moses, to deliver them.
The long, hard process of deliverance has begun through the working of miracles.
At first the Egyptian magicians were able to copy the miracles, but the last few plagues have gone unmatched, as the Egyptians have realized that God is against them.
Several times we've seen Pharaoh get close to letting the people go, and then change his mind, hardening his heart.
We've been through four plagues, with six to go.
Exodus 9
:3 thy cattle
The 5th plague.
Egyptian gods:
Apis was a god who looked like a bull, the god of fertility.
Hathor was a woman who had the head of a cow, or sometimes just the horns of a cow, was the goddess of love, beauty, and joy.
I guess they had a different concept of beauty that we do.
:3 a very grievous murrain.
A terrible plague
Horses were a comparatively recent and highly prized importation into Egypt. The death of all these various animals would have affected transportation, agriculture, and worship (because cattle were sacred).
:7 the heart of Pharaoh was hardened,
Will he ever get the picture?
:9 a boil
blains - sores
6th plague
Egyptian gods:
Sekhmet, goddess with power over disease
Sunu, the pestilence god
Isis, goddess of healing
:11 the magicians could not stand before Moses
They too had the boils.
:12 the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh,
Some people try to make it a big deal that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
But as you have seen, God only hardens it after Pharaoh himself hardens it many, many times.
Lesson:
Don’t keep hardening your heart!
You may get to a point of no return!
If you keep saying no to God, you may get to the point where God says, "Fine, if you don’t want me, then you can’t have me."
:13 Rise up early in the morning,
It's interesting to see how many things happen "early in the morning" in the Bible.
:16 for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power;
God is going to use the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart to show the world just how powerful He is.
:18 hail,
The 7th plague.
Egyptian gods:
Nut, the sky goddess.
Osiris, god of crops and fertility.
Set, god of storms.
:20 He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh
Here’s an interesting plague, where God gave the Egyptians a chance to escape the damage.
Some of Pharaoh’s servants were smart and obeyed the Lord.
Note:
These people didn't become Israelites, they just realized it was smart to obey what the Yahweh said.
:23 fire
Lightening
:26 was there no hail.
God’s mercy on Israel.
:27 I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
Do you think he really means it?
Do you think he's going to stick with it?
Lesson:
Words are cheap, it's lasting changes that count.
We are saved by faith, by trusting in the Lord to pay for our sins.
But if we've genuinely trusted in the Lord, there will be actual changes to our lives as well.
(James 2:18 TLB) But someone may well argue, "You say the way to God is by faith alone, plus nothing; well, I say that good works are important too, for without good works you can't prove whether you have faith or not; but anyone can see that I have faith by the way I act."
That's why often the Bible talks about us judged according to our deeds. Our deeds prove what kind of faith we have.
:30 I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God
Moses knows. He can tell it's not genuine.
:32 the wheat and the rie were not smitten
Not all the crops were destroyed.
These crops were still young enough and flexible enough to survive the hail.
:34 hardened his heart,
He’s still at it.
:35 neither would he let the children of Israel go;
As you can tell, sometimes it takes a while for deliverance to happen.
They've been through 7 plagues already.
Lesson:
Deliverance isn't always immediate.
Some people are delivered overnight, but with others, it takes quite a while.
Moses and Aaron haven’t quit yet, they're sticking with it.
Be patient and see it through to the end.
Exodus 10
:2 that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son,
With this plague, there's going to be some attention to Israel.
They're going to be awed at what God has done, and they need to be sharing it with others.
Lesson:
Deliverance is to be shared.
It's not meant to be a "personal" thing.
We need to be sharing with our kids and our grandkids about what God has done in our lives.
:4 locusts
This is now the 8th plague.
Egyptian gods targeted:
Nut, the sky goddess
Osiris, god of crops and fertility
Set, god of storms
:4 coast
territory
:5 the residue of that which is escaped,
The hail had caused quite a bit of havoc in the Egyptian fields, but hadn't ruined quite all the crops.
Everything that's left will be eaten by locusts.
:7 Pharaoh's servants
Pharaoh is now getting some pressure from his advisors.
They don't like what's been happening to them.
:7 let the men go
This is another compromise.
What they're offering is for just the men, not the women and children to go.
If the women and children stay behind, then the men will come back.
Here is the Pharaoh's (and Satan's) third offer of compromise.
The other two were:
2. you shall not go very far (8:28), don't get too fanatical about following the Lord.
Lesson:
God cares for your family
Now the issue is:
If you really have to serve the Lord, then fine, but don't try taking your family with you.
Satan would have us fall into that horrible trap about "not forcing religion on our children", but "we're going to let them make up their own mind".
(Deu 6:6-7 KJV) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: {7} And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
:10 your little ones: look to it
(Exo 10:10 NASB) Then he said to them, "Thus may the LORD be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Take heed, for evil is in your mind.
:14 over all the land of Egypt,
A swarm may have an average density of 130,000,000 locusts per square mile. They can denude hundreds of square miles quickly, bringing horror, despair, and terrible economic consequences to the inhabitants.
:16 I have sinned
Again, beware of people using spiritual language.
It's actions that count, not words.
:21 darkness
The 9th plague
Against these Egyptian gods:
Re, the sun god (and one of the chief Egyptian deities)
Horus, a sun god
Nut, a sky goddess
Hathor, a sky goddess
:21 darkness which may be felt.
The language is a little unclear here.
Some have suggested that this could be a massive sand storm, blocking out the sun, and able to be felt at the same time.
:23 Israel had light in their dwellings.
If this had been some sort of eclipse (unusual to last for three days), it would have been even stranger since it didn't affect Goshen, but only the rest of Egypt.
:24 only let your flocks and your herds be stayed:
Here's the fourth compromise:
What were the flocks and herds to the Israelites? It was their livelihood, it was their material possessions.
Lesson:
God wants your money.
I know I sound like a money-grabbing preacher when I say this, but it's the truth, and in reality, I have no idea who gives how much to the church, so I'm not talking about YOU!
One of the best tests of your faith is to see how it affects your wallet.
We are basically selfish people, and we want to keep all our money under our control.
But God wants to turn us into selfless people, people who are willing to be concerned for others, people who are willing to let God control our wallet.
Let's take an offering (just kidding!)
:26 we know not with what we must serve the LORD,
In other words, Moses is saying that we don't know what God's going to ask us to sacrifice or give to Him, and so we're going to keep all our resources available to Him.
:29 I will see thy face again no more.
Keep in mind, Moses hasn't left Pharaoh's presence yet. He's still with Pharaoh through chapter 11.
Exodus 11
:2 let every man borrow of his neighbour,
borrow - sha'al - to inquire; to request; to demand; ask
It kind of sounds like lying to "borrow", but they're asking donations.
Moses had been promised by God that when the people went out of Egypt, they would not go out empty-handed. (Exo 3:22)
In a way, the Israelites are going to be collecting their "back wages" for all their years in bondage.
Lesson:
Restoration - God provides
Joe 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
:3 the LORD gave the people favour
Sometimes we think that people only abhor Christians who stand up for their principles.
I think that people want to see men and women who are unwilling to compromise, who are sold out to their God.
:5 firstborn
This is going to be the 10th and final plague.
Judgment against:
"Min" god of reproduction;
"Heqet", goddess who attended women at childbirth;
"Isis" goddess who protected children;
Pharaoh's firstborn son, considered a god.
:7 against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue,
A proverbial saying meaning that no one would offer the least resistance when Israel left Egypt (cf. Josh. 10:21).
Exodus 12
:2 the beginning of months
There are two Jewish calendars, a civil calendar, and a religious calendar.
The Civil calendar was the official calendar of kings, childbirth, and contracts.
The Sacred calendar was how the different festivals and feasts were figured.
The Passover took place in the seventh month of the civil calendar, but it now becomes the first month of a new calendar, the religious calendar.
This month was called by its Canaanite name Abib (cf. 13:4), meaning "ear" (because the grain was in the ear), though it was later called by the Babylonian name Nisan (cf. Neh. 2:1).
This deliverance is going to be such a momentous occasion, that it will totally reorient their life.
It's similar to being "born again".
It's getting a fresh start.
:3 every man a lamb,
The Passover instructions began with the choosing of a lamb, could be a baby sheep or a baby goat, either were acceptable.
:5 without blemish, a male
The Lamb had to be spotless, almost as it were, without sin.
It had to be a male.
There's a picture building here.
:6 keep it up until the fourteenth day
There's several theories as to why the lamb was chosen on the tenth, and sacrificed on the fourteenth.
I wonder if it is so the family will become attached to it, so the sacrifice will be harder, so the sacrifice will mean more.
If it doesn't cost you anything, it isn't a sacrifice.
:6 the whole assembly
In other words, everybody kills their lambs at the same time.
:7 strike it on the two side posts …
They were to paint the door frame of their houses with this blood.
Anyone who came into their house would have to come through the blood.
The blood was covering the house.
Exodus 13