We will be looking at two of the plagues this week. The third plague – gnats. And the fourth plague – flies. Little tiny bugs. Both give me the shivers. I don’t know about you, but bugs bug me (pun intended). We live in South Louisiana and both gnats and flies are in great supply here. Both are irritating and pesky. I don’t know about you but if you are familiar with either one, just multiply those tiny little bugs by the hundreds of millions and you might have an idea of how much the Egyptian suffered.
Tag: Pharaoh
FROGS! EVERYWHERE!
It had been seven days of blood. Now the Nile has been restored. But still, Pharaoh would not let the people go. The Bible tells us he hardened his heart. Moses and Aaron spoke to Pharaoh, asking that he “. . . Let my people go, so that they may worship Me.” Then, he was told exactly what would happen if he did not let them go. God was very specific with the details of what was coming. Frogs, everywhere. In the palace, in the bedrooms, on the beds, in the houses of officials and people and into the ovens and kneading troughs. In other words, you won’t be able to move without stepping on a frog.
A RIVER OF BLOOD
as we learned before, Pharaoh believed he was descended from the supreme god. He believed that he had power over all facets of Egyptian life. He had magicians and wise men who could perform ‘miracles’. Whether these came by illusion or from demons is not told in the scripture. However, they could reproduce some of the things that God sent upon the Egyptians. But they could not reverse anything that God sent. God would soon show them that their gods had no power. One by one, the gods would fall.
LET MY PEOPLE GO
Moses had a simple message. This is what God says, “Let my people go.” But Pharaoh was having none of it. Instead, he made it harder for the Israelites to make the bricks that they were forced to make for the Egyptians. God told Moses to go to the people and tell them that God had heard their suffering and remembered the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To tell them that He would free them and lead them to the land promised to the patriarchs. Moses passed this message on to the people and they would not listen to him because they were discouraged. They had had hope and all it got them was more work.
NEVER HEARD OF HIM
By this time, the Israelites have descended into abject slavery. They were forced to make bricks. Their newborn sons were being thrown to the crocodiles. Those that were fortunate enough not to be making bricks were household or field slaves with nothing of their own. Their whole lives were dedicated to making the lives of the Egyptians easy. It was into this that Moses arrived to bring the hope of freedom.
I KEEP MY PROMISES
God has identified Himself as the eternal God. The God of the ancestors of those Israelites who were now suffering in Egypt. He has confirmed that He has not forgotten them. He is stating that now is the time for the promise of deliverance to be fulfilled. Moses, who once may have thought he could deliver his people, has learned that he can do nothing without God. That he must walk in the path that God lays out for him and for the people of Israel. God now begins to tell Moses what will happen in general terms. The specifics will be seen as time unfolds.