Lord Over the Heavens

Exodus 9:13-35

We have come to the seventh plague; the first of the third group of three. Plagues seven, eight and nine are hail, locust and darkness. These all come from the sky with the locusts being carried into the land by wind.

We have been considering how the various plagues show God’s judgment on the various Egyptian gods. However, we have also been considering how each plague called for Pharaoh and his people to repent. God was educating the Egyptian people about His nature and persuading them to turn away from their meaningless, empty religion.

Slavery comes in many forms, physical slavery to a human master, while evil, is not the worst form of slavery. Egypt was in slavery to false gods and false religion, and it was under the power of the evil one. Truly, Egypt’s slavery was worse than Israel’s slavery was.

We must train ourselves to think in terms of the eternal and not limit our thinking, plans and ambitions to this physical world. God calls us to fix our minds on heavenly things.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:2 ESV)

God is working to save the Egyptians from their slavery to false gods, and we see this happening in the case of the seventh plague. In Exodus 9:20, Moses tells us:

Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses... (Exodus 9:20 ESV)

Some among the servants of Pharaoh feared the word of the Lord. This is part of God’s purpose in the plagues. God is working to deliver His people, and at the same time He is working to deliver the Egyptians. For this reason, God is pointing out the powerlessness of the Egyptians deities.

In preparation for this seventh plague, God addresses Pharaoh through Moses and says:

Let My people go, that they may serve Me, for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. (Exodus 9:13-14 NKJV)

In Exodus 9:14, God says, “I will send all My plagues to your very heart.” Pharaoh has hardened his heart against God and now God is zeroing in on Pharaoh’s heart. God is also warning that from this point the plagues are going to take on an increased intensity.

God states His purpose in doing this. He says, “...that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth.”

At this point, God also makes it clear that Pharaoh and Egypt were entirely at God’s mercy, and at any time God could destroy Egypt. He says:

For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. (Exodus 9:15 ESV)

God is not learning as He goes. He stated at the outset that Pharaoh would not let the people go. Pharaoh is the one who is learning as he goes. Part of the Egyptian religious system was the teaching that Pharaoh was a god who maintained the order of his kingdom.

God says to this man who declared himself a god:

But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. (Exodus 9:16-17 ESV)

First, God declares that it was God who raised Pharaoh up or kept him alive. Second, God declares that He did this to show His power so that the Lord’s name would be proclaimed in all the earth.

The proclamation of the Lord’s name in all the earth is so that all men might come to a knowledge of the truth and be delivered from their slavery to false gods and religion.

However, the problem is that Pharaoh was still exalting himself. He continued to maintain his identity as a god.

Egypt had many gods. These gods were all born or created from one god who existed in waters of chaos. This first god created “Shu” and “Tefnut,” the god of air and the god of light respectively. These two were the parents of “Nut” and “Geb.” “Nut” (pronounced Newt) was the goddess of the sky, and “Geb” was the god of earth. Variations of these names and details abound so that it is unclear what was actually taught. However, let’s compare this with what God tells us happened.

Genesis 1:1-8 says:

 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. (Genesis 1:1-8 ESV)

In the years after the flood, the Egyptians had replaced the Genesis account with their own made up fables. Their gods were like people and behaved like people. So much so, that Pharaoh was considered a god. Even in their apostasy and deceit, there was some truth. Genesis 1 describes the cosmos as water and chaos before God brought order. And, God did create light first and then established the sky.

We also have replaced the Genesis account with fables of our own making. In the name of scientific observation, we have posited impossible scenarios. With our magical thinking, we have leapt form bird’s beaks changing to birds developing from fish. What is worse is we tell each other that we are gods, and each of us needs to get in touch with our inner god.

When Paul spoke to the Athenians, the smart people of his day, he said,

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:24-31 ESV)

This passage says, “...now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” This is the message that Moses had for Pharaoh. Pharaoh needed to repent, stop exalting himself and recognize that the Lord is God and there is no other. This is the message that Jesus preached. “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

God told Pharaoh and his servants what would happen. Those who feared the Lord took action and protected their livestock and servants. Those who had no regard for the Lord left their livestock and servants exposed and whatever was in the field or out in the open died.

It will be the same for us.

God has warned us what is coming. He has told us that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that comes judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)

In Exodus 9:21 it says:

but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field. (Exodus 9:21 ESV)

This phrase “did not pay attention” is literally “did not give heart” in the Hebrew original. Like Pharaoh who closed his heart, these people closed their hearts. They quite literally had to ignore reality. I cannot help but wonder at those who will not acknowledge the reality of what is going on after six devastating plagues, but this is common. The Scripture warns us:

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. (Matthew 7:13 ESV)

As the Plague takes place, Pharaoh panics as he sees the great destruction. He sent and called Moses and Aaron and said:

This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. (Exodus 9:27 ESV)

Pharaoh seems to recognize that he is in the wrong, but we soon see that he has not changed his mind. He still hardens his heart and will not let the people go.

God sends His messengers to both educate and call Pharaoh to repentance, but Pharaoh refuses and in refusing Pharaoh remains enslaved to false gods that cannot deliver him.

God confronted many false gods. This time He is confronting Nut, the goddess of the sky. She should have been able to deliver or protect Egypt, but God demonstrated that He is Lord over the heavens. There is no one like the Lord in all the earth.

God confronts the false gods in our lives as well. Some of us trust more in our bank accounts than in God. Money would be our false god. Some of us trust more in our doctor than in God. Health would be our false god. Some of us seek relationships more than God. Love would be our false god.

In our trusting in our false gods, we go through terrible devastating trials, but we refuse to repent. We love our sin and will not give it up, just as Pharaoh loved his sin and would not give it up.

If you have a sin that you are choosing over God, you know it, and He is talking to you right now about it. Do you fear the word of the Lord? Why not pay attention and repent? Until we repent and acknowledge God as Lord, we will remain in slavery to our sins and our false gods, but God is waiting and willing to deliver us if we turn to Him and ask.

Jannes and Jambres

Exodus 9:8-12

What would it take for Pharaoh to let God’s people go so they could serve Him?

Since Moses had approached Pharaoh months earlier, Egypt had suffered through five plagues. The Egyptians had been deprived of water, slept with frogs, been covered with lice, inundated with bugs and finally suffered severe economic loss with the death of their livestock.

If you will remember, Moses was an unwilling participant in these encounters. He had begged God to send someone else. Moses does not comment on his personal feelings about all of this as he records the events, but I wonder what went through his mind.

In Exodus 5:22-23, after Moses’ first encounter with Pharaoh, Moses records:

Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, "O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all." (Exodus 5:22-23 ESV)

I wonder if Moses did not also pray, “How long Lord, how long?”

Moses did not know the future. He knew that God was going to deliver His people, but God had not given him the details. Moses was learning as he experienced each new thing.

God’s people have always had to trust Him for what is next. In Revelation 6:9&10, we see saints who are already in heaven, asking, “How long?”

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" (Revelation 6:9-10 ESV)

Even today, we wait for the appearing of our Lord Jesus from heaven. He will return with the trumpet sound and the shout of the archangel and we will be caught up to meet Him in the air. While we wait, no man knows the day or the hour. Many speculate. The Scriptures explain the signs of the times, but we do not know the day nor the hour.

The god of this world has been judged. He is a defeated foe. And yet, He continues to operate in the world.

We have a picture of this in the plagues and Pharaoh’s refusal to let God’s people go.

While the god of this world has been judged, God is showing kindness to people. Remember Jonah? Jonah hated the people of Nineveh and was reluctant to go and preach to them. But, having been given the task, he preached to Nineveh that they would soon be destroyed and then found a hill from which to watch Nineveh’s destruction. When Nineveh was spared, Jonah threw a fit! He was angry with God. God asked Jonah a question. He said:

And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle? (Jonah 4:11 ESV)

2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God is not willing that any should perish, but He desires that all come to repentance.

This kindness and compassion of God is what prevented Him from squashing the Egyptians like a bug, and it is what delays Christ’s return. However, for those of us who wait for deliverance, we often cry out, “How long, Lord, how long?”

As we approach the sixth plague, I wonder if Moses was crying out, “How long, Lord, how long?”

Exodus 9:8-9 tells us:

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt." (Exodus 9:8-9 ESV)

As in the case of the third plague, this time Pharaoh is given no warning. This is a judgment of the Egyptians’ pride. Pride is something we all have. Pride is universal and it is a sin when it causes us to rise up against God. Because it is ubiquitous, all the plagues could be said to be judgment on the sin of pride, but this one is particularly humiliating.

The Egyptians were fastidiously clean. They shaved their bodies to be clean, and their religious ceremonies and practices demanded strict cleanliness. The boils on their bodies would have made them unclean so that they would be like lepers.

Another instance of humiliation was of those who were directly opposing Moses. You will remember the humiliation of the magicians of Egypt when Aaron’s staff consumed their staffs. You will notice that the magicians are mentioned again in verse 11. The last time we saw the magicians was in the plague of the lice when they told Pharaoh that the lice were a result of the finger of God. But this time the Scriptures tell us:

And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. (Exodus 9:11 ESV)

Apparently, the magicians were in constant attendance of Pharaoh and had been there to oppose Moses and Aaron, but now they are personally judged. 2 Timothy 3 tells us that their foolishness was exposed.

Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. (2 Timothy 3:8-9 ESV)

There have always been those who oppose the truth. Those who love the truth often cry out, “How long, Oh Lord, how long?” In every generation and every age, there have been the Jannes and Jambres of the day. Even the Apostle Paul started as an opponent of the gospel. This opposition to the truth is what 2 Timothy is talking about when it says:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. (2 Timothy 3:1-9 ESV)

While this passage describes times of difficulty that will come in the last days, it could also describe the condition of mankind before the flood, as well as the people of Pharaoh’s day. It is describing Jannes and Jambres who were Pharaoh’s advisors, and it says they were “lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit and lovers of pleasure.”

These were the people who had risen to power in Egypt and who had the ear of the ruler of all Egypt.

Now, the judgment on their own persons was significant humiliation, but even more significant was the defeat of their god. Their pride and arrogance grew to the point where other humans were sacrificed to satisfy their desires. This is the significance of the soot or ashes. Several scholars and commentators commented on this. I will quote from a man named Fredrick Cook, who said:

There may possibly be a reference to an Egyptian custom of scattering to the winds ashes of victims offered to Sutech or Typhon.  Human sacrifices said to have been offered at Heliopolis under the Shepherd dynasty were abolished by Amosis 1, but some part of the rite may have been retained and the memory of the old superstition would give a terrible significance to the act.^[1]

This involves some speculation, but what is certain in what 2 Timothy says about Jannes and Jambres. They were swollen with conceit, brutal, lovers of pleasure.

We are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. But notice 2 Timothy says we are to avoid those who oppose the truth.

After repeated warnings, Pharaoh would not turn. Now, in Exodus 9:12, it says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. This is consistent with what the Scriptures tell us in Romans 1, where it says that the Lord turns people over to their sin when they refuse to acknowledge Him.

Pharaoh passed the point of no return. This happened to ancient Israel when they refused to repent after repeated warnings. 2 Chronicles 34:15-16 says:

The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36:15-16 ESV)

There was no remedy.

After a point, there was no remedy for Israel. Judgment was coming.

After a point, there was no remedy for Pharaoh. Judgment was coming. As Exodus 9:12 says, it was just as the Lord told Moses. Moses might have been wondering how long, but it was decided.

We might be wondering how long, but there is no remedy for those who refuse the offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The god of this world has been judged. God is patient not wanting any to perish. But, judgment is coming. It has already been decided. For us, it is our blessed hope, our deliverance. For those who like Pharaoh harden their hearts, it is a terrifying prospect. But every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. We will either humble ourselves or be humiliated.

I hope and pray that you will accept Jesus as your Savior so that what is coming will be your deliverance and not your judgment.

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^[1] Cook, Fredrick Charles. Exodus: Or, The Second Book of Moses, with an Explanatory and Critical Commentary, 1874. pg. 283.

The Hand of the Lord

Exodus 9:1-17

Exodus 9:1 says:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.’” (Exodus 9:1 ESV)

As we begin chapter 9 of the book of Exodus, we are in the middle of a story. Exodus 1 begins by telling us of the enslavement of the children of Israel by the Egyptians. The first chapters cover hundreds of years of history in just a few words, and then the account slows down and increases in detail so that the events of chapters 7-14 happen over a period of months instead of years.

Hundreds of years of slavery and patterns of life are being challenged. Many more hundreds of years of religious practices and traditions are also being challenged.

When Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was confronted with the statement, “Thus says the Lord...,” he responded, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” (Exodus 5:2) With the first four plagues, God demonstrated who He is. In a few short months, centuries of Egyptian beliefs and teachings were unraveled, and God impressed on Pharaoh why he should obey the voice of the Lord.

However, four plagues were not enough. The first three caused discomfort and possibly some property loss. The fourth plague caused severe discomfort and considerable property loss. In spite of this, after the fourth plague, we are told:

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go. (Exodus 8:32 ESV)

Chapter 9 continues the story with God once again instructing Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh. After four plagues, we recognize a pattern. Moses says, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let my people go!’” And, Pharaoh refuses. Each time Pharaoh refuses the next plague escalates, and the severity of the consequences increases. Along with the consequences, each plague was targeted to demonstrate the powerlessness of the Egyptian deities.

Since the Egyptians refused to acknowledge God, He turned them over to the empty imaginings of their hearts. They worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. Their worship was shaped by their appetites and their understanding of the world.

Let us go back and look at Exodus 9:1.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.’” (Exodus 9:1 ESV)

Notice with me that God says, “Let my people go that they may serve me.”

The Hebrew word Moses used for “serve” in this verse is the same word he used for “work as slaves” and “hard service” in Exodus 1:13 & 14. The Israelites were being forced to serve the Egyptians, and God was saying, “Let them serve me.”

The conflict between worshiping and serving the creature or the creator continues to this day. The same conflict that was destroying Egypt runs through each life as each person chooses whom or what they will serve. We may not experience the plagues, but we all experience the conflict of appetites and the will of God.

This fifth plague is relevant to us because it involves wealth. Wealth, its accumulation and use, has always been an issue for us as humans. Jesus warns us against overvaluing wealth when He states, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15, ESV)

As we look at Exodus 9:3, we see that it says, “...a very severe plague upon your livestock...”

Why “livestock?”

First, livestock were the number one indicators of wealth. For example, in Genesis, Abraham’s wealth was stated in sheep, camels, donkeys and cattle. In Job, Job’s wealth was measured in sheep, camels, donkeys and cattle. Sacrifices were made with cattle and sheep. One of the reasons for this is that such sacrifices were costly, so that part of the meaning of the word sacrifice is giving up something valued.

A second reason why livestock is that livestock, especially bulls, were a significant religious symbol for the Egyptians, representing one of their gods.

The Egyptians, like most people throughout history, valued wealth, and as a consequence, wealth and its symbols became objects of their worship. Worshiping and serving wealth is an insult to God. We see this insult in the way God announces this plague. Exodus 9:2-3 says:

For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. (Exodus 9:2-3 ESV)

Please notice with me that this passage says, “...the hand of the Lord will fall...” The hand of the Lord is used to speak of the Lord’s might, His work and His provision. The Scriptures tells us that all we have received comes from the “Hand of the Lord.” 1 Chronicles 29:14 in particular says:

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. (1 Chronicles 29:14 NIV)

All that we have comes from the Lord, and when we worship those things instead of the Lord, we insult the One who has provided everything. Not only do we lack gratitude and proper respect, but our thinking becomes confused and debased.

When the hand of the Lord is with us, we have all that we need. But, to have His hand against us is terrifying. With the plague of livestock, God strikes the wealth of the Egyptians, and also He states that His hand will be against them. When God met with Moses in the wilderness, He said He would bring out His people with a mighty hand. Now, God tells Pharaoh that His hand will fall.

God later tells Pharaoh that He raised Pharaoh up to demonstrate His power. However, the plagues also were designed to give Pharaoh the opportunity to repent. Pharaoh’s refusal to repent is the point behind repeating the fact that he hardened his heart each time. This also explains the escalating nature of the plagues.

As a representative of wealth and also because of their great strength, livestock became a common symbol for deities in Egypt. A website on ancient Egypt had this to say about cattle as deities:

There were many bovine deities in ancient Egypt, Hathor simply being the best known, but Apis was the most significant because he represented the core cultural values and understanding of all Egyptians. Each individual deity had their own sphere of influence and power, but Apis represented eternity itself and the harmonious balance of the universe. Other bovine deities such as Bat, Buchis, Hesat, Mnevis, and the Bull of the West, no matter how powerful, would never have the same resonance as the incarnated deity of the Apis bull.^[1]

It is significant to note that when Israel was at Mt. Sinai, they built a golden calf to worship. Moses was on the mountain for 40 days, and they did not know what had become of him. So, Aaron built a golden calf to be their god and then said, “This is the god that led you out of Egypt.”

Hundreds of years later in Israel's history, civil war divided 10 tribes from two tribes. The northern kingdom was called Israel, and the southern kingdom was called Judah. The northern kingdom did not want to send their people to Jerusalem to worship, so the king had places of worship built in two locations. And, the objects of worship were ... you guessed it ... calves, or bovine deities.

The Egyptian bovine deities had a long-lasting and powerful influence even over the Israelites, who should have known better. Such is the power of wealth.

When we have something that takes the place of God in our heart, not only does it cause us to be confused and darkened in our thinking, but it hardens our hearts. To address this issue in Egypt, the Lord takes away their wealth. He strikes their livestock with a plague.

God, once again, marks a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites and protects the livestock of the Israelites. Exodus 9:6-7 explains:

And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. (Exodus 9:6-7 ESV)

Notice that Pharaoh sent and confirmed the word of the Lord. The Lord said that nothing that belonged to the Israelites would die, and Pharaoh sent and made sure that the plague had happened the way the Lord had said.

Pharaoh understood. The word of the Lord was clear. His actions reveal that not only did he understand, now he is showing he believes what the Lord has said will happen.

This is huge! Pharaoh believes. He knows that there is a God of the Hebrews. But wait a minute! This knowledge and belief does not save Pharaoh. Please think about this. Intellectual assent does not save anyone.

Consider the statement, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31)

This is the promise of God, and it is true. Now, let us consider James 2:19.

You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. (James 2:19, NKJV)

This also is the word of God, and it adds to our understanding of what it means to believe. We must understand. The Bible does not say believe and ..., as if to say there is something we must do in addition to believing. However, it does say if one’s faith does not affect their works or behavior, it will not affect one’s destiny. (The message of James 2)

Faith that saves surrenders to God.

The Israelite slaves represented too much wealth to be surrendered. Pharaoh holds onto them, eventually to the point of death, because his hope and trust were in the vast wealth and might of Egypt. By this plague, the Lord is trying to pry Pharaoh’s heart away from his trust in wealth, might and their attendant deities.

Our hearts have the same struggle. Writing “In God We Trust” on our money, does not take away the problem. Each of us must answer for ourselves what we are trusting in. The plagues represent this struggle of the human heart and what it holds onto or trusts in. They show us in graphic terms the difference between having God’s hand for us or against us.

The Scriptures say:

The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. (Psalms 33:17-19 ESV)

Each of us must ask the Lord to examine our heart and show us anything that we have placed our hope in.  Are we trusting in a job, a person, people, wealth, nature or anything other than God? Any such object of trust must be surrendered to the Lord and confessed. Trust rather in the Lord and in His hand.

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^[1] https://www.ancient.eu/Apis. Accessed August, 27, 2019.

Swarms of Flies

Exodus 8:20-32

By Exodus 8:20, Egypt has experienced 3 plagues. First, the Nile was turned into blood. Then, the land was plagued with frogs, and next, the sand became lice or gnats. In each case, we are told that Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he refused to listen.

Exodus 8:20 tells us:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.”’” (Exodus 8:20 ESV)

We see in this verse that Pharaoh is still carrying on with his tradition of going to the river for renewal and strength. Although God has demonstrated His control over the Nile and all the aspects of nature that the Egyptians worshiped, Pharaoh continues to look to his gods and traditions.

God warns Pharaoh. He says, “Or else, if you will not let my people go...”

In giving Pharaoh a warning, God is showing kindness and patience. He is trying to reason with Pharaoh. Throughout history, God has made efforts to reason with people. Before He judged Israel, He tried to reason with them. He said:

"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 1:18-20 ESV)

In His reasoning with Israel, God explains the blessings that come with obedience and the curses that come with disobedience.

To this point in Exodus, God has not asked for the freedom of His people. He has demanded that they be permitted to go three days journey into the wilderness to worship. And with the first two plagues, God attached a reason. With the first plague, He said, “By this, you will know that I am the Lord.” (Exodus 7:17) With the second plague, He said, “...that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.” (Exodus 8:10) Now, with the fourth plague, God gives another reason. He says, “...that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.” However, at this point, God is demonstrating this truth by doing something different than He has done so far. This time He is saving His people from the plague. He says:

But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. (Exodus 8:22 ESV)

God was showing kindness in trying to reason with Pharaoh. Pharaoh mistook God’s kindness for weakness. In part, this explains how God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” By giving him a choice, God allowed Pharaoh to go his own way, which was the way of destruction.

When Pharaoh refused, God sent the plague as promised.

As in the plague of the lice or gnats, it is unclear to us what exactly the fourth plague was. In the original Hebrew, the plague is called the plague of the “‘arob.” The closest translation of the word is “swarm,” but a swarm of what is not stated. The Septuagint translates “ha arob” as “the dog-fly” (ή κυνόμυιά). However, Jewish commentators from around the same time connect the word with a root word meaning “mixture” and suppose it to designate either a mixed multitude of all kinds of wild beasts (Josephus and Jonathan), or a mixture of all sorts of insects (Aquila & others). Modern scholars generally agree with the Septuagint that a particular species of animal—probably an insect—is meant, but question if it was the dog-fly. The dog-fly, (Musca canina), is not a pest in houses, as the “swarm” was (Exodus 8:21; Exodus 8:24), nor does the dog-fly do any damage to the land (Exodus 8:24). Therefore many suggest that the plague was the scarab beetle. This beetle damages people, furniture, houses, and crops. Another fact in favor of the scarab beetle is that, like all beetles, it was sacred, and was not to be destroyed, being a symbol of the sun-god, Ra, especially in his form of Khepra, or “the creator.” Egyptians were obligated to suffer through this plague without attempting to diminish it. They would also suffer unbelievable pain because the scarab beetle “inflicts very painful bites with its jaws” (Kalisch); and they would for the first time experience property damage. The frogs and mosquitoes would have been annoying and troublesome, but, according to Exodus 8:24, the land was ruined by this plague. (Ellicott’s)^[1]

A dung beetle in action.^[2]

An ancient scarab amulet from Egypt.^[3]

The scarab beetle, or dung beetle, made balls of dung and pushed them across the ground and into their boroughs. Then the female laid eggs, and the dung became food for the young. To the Egyptians, it appeared that the beetles sprang from the ground out of nothing. Thus, the beetles were connected with renewal and creation. Also, the god Khepra was pictured as pushing the sun across the sky, up from the ground in the east and back down into the ground in the west. An amulet of precious stone in the shape of a scarab was placed on the chest of a mummy in hopes that it would declare them innocent before the gods.^[4]

Psalms 78:45 says of this plague:

He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, (Psalms 78:45 ESV)

Here, as in Exodus, the Hebrew just says “swarms.” The “of flies” is assumed or added to make the meaning clear. It was probably swarms of beetles, especially since it says these swarms “devoured them.” God demonstrated He was God in the midst of the land by taking control, once again, of one of their chief deities, and, once again, defiling them and making them unacceptable to their gods by one of the symbols of their gods.

Exodus 8:25 tells us:

Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land." (Exodus 8:25 ESV)

Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and now he is willing to bargain. He suggests they go and sacrifice to the Lord in the land.

Notice that Pharaoh is calling the Lord “your God.” Although God has demonstrated His sovereignty over the land of Egypt and over Egypt’s gods, Pharaoh does not recognize Him as Lord but only as “your God.”

Also, when Moses argues that the sacrifices the Hebrews would make would be an abomination to the Egyptians, Pharaoh does not deny or argue the point. He concedes and then says, “Plead for me.”

All Pharaoh needed to do was to say “Okay” to God. However, Pharaoh did not want to deal directly with God. He wanted Moses to deal with God for him. This was probably because, in his heart, he knew that he was not being honest. He had no intention of letting the people go. He was not ready or willing to acknowledge God as his God, but only as God over the Hebrews.

Now, I want to apply this to us.

Many of us want someone else to plead with God for us. And we, like Pharaoh, want to bargain with God.

Two separate issues come up out of this. First, wanting to bargain with God shows that He has us over a barrel, or, at least, we feel trapped with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. So, we will offer God a compromise. This is something like, “God, if you will bless me and remove this plague, I will go to church.” (Never mind that I get to choose the church and the conditions.) These bargains that we try to make with God do not address the problem of the hardened heart that God is trying to address and thus avoid the real problem.

So, we come to the second problem, we want someone else to plead with God for us.

The Bible says:

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Joel 2:32 ESV)

What prevents anyone from calling on the Lord?

People tend to consider the Lord to be somebody else’s God, but not their God. Or, possibly, like Pharaoh, they are not ready to surrender to God. Pharaoh lied, and we can lie too. Pharaoh said he would let the people go, but he lied. He wanted to get God off his back, so he lied to God. It is much easier to lie to God by asking someone else to plead with God for you. Pharaoh could have pled with God for himself, but he would not, even though his own gods had proven worthless.

Another truth that was brought to mind by the word flies is that the devil is known as the lord of the flies.

Our world is being devoured by swarms of demons. The devil has convinced modern man that he does not exists.

The devil is a deceiver. He operates by lying. Demons have no authority over the life of a believer, but they have convinced many people that they have no choice but to behave in one way or another. Behind every addiction, every psychological problem and every case of oppression is a lie or many lies. Do we deal with the lies, or do we deal with the demons?

Please hear me!

We have to be balanced. Medicine has much to say, and we have learned a great deal about how the body works. Our minds affect how our bodies function, and our bodies and minds are connected. Chemical imbalances must be dealt with chemically. For example, if you believe your life is threatened for a prolonged period of time, your heightened anxiety and fear will cause a number of medical problems, whether it is high blood pressure, stress-related heart problems or other. I am not giving medical advice, other than to say, it is foolish to ignore physical symptoms or the advice of medical professionals who know how the body works. Modern antidepressant medicines can be and are very helpful, and they are prescribed and controlled by professionals trained in their use.

However, it is also foolish to ignore the cause of the problem. Is your life threatened? Then you need to deal with the problem. Get help!

Is it a lie and your life is not really threatened? Again, it is important to deal with the problem and get help.

In an article in “Medical News Today,” Dr. Catherine Paddock speculates:

We spend a lot of time listening to ourselves talk inside of our heads. We listen to our inner voice each time we read a book, decide what to have for lunch, or imagine how we are going to get our view across in a meeting.

In fact, estimates suggest that we spend at least a quarter of our waking hours attending to our inner voice.

But how is the brain able to tell the difference between the inner voice and the external voice that makes the sounds that other people hear?

Tools exploring this area of brain processing could be very useful to improving our understanding of disorders that involve "hearing voices," such as schizophrenia.^[5]

What I believe the Bible teaches is that we must learn to distinguish between the truth and the lie when we listen to our inner voice, because we cannot always tell when that inner voice is not our own. What tools did Satan use when he incited David to number Israel? (1 Chronicles 21:1) I suggest it was David’s own thoughts, or at least what David perceived to be his own thoughts.

Besides being able to cause a person to hear things, the evil one can cause a person to see things. For example, consider Ezekiel 13:6-7.

They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'Declares the Lord,' when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, 'Declares the Lord,' although I have not spoken? (Ezekiel 13:6-7 ESV)

To be free, truly free, of the swarm that is plaguing our world, we must do two things.

1.       Each person must call on the Lord, acknowledging Him as God and asking Him for salvation.

2.       Each person must give up bargaining with God. It is called surrender.

Church and discipleship are about learning how to walk free and stay free of the swarm because we live in “fly” infested territory.

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^[1] https://biblehub.com/commentaries/exodus/8-20.htm. Accessed August 21, 2019

^[2] https://www.kidsdiscover.com/quick-reads/sacred-dung-beetles-ancient-egypt. Accessed August 23, 2019.

^[3] https://www.britannica.com/topic/scarab. Accessed August 23, 2019

^[4] https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/khepri. Accessed August 21, 2019.

^[5] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320335.php. Accessed August 23, 2019

The Finger of God

Exodus 8:16-19

God demonstrated His authority in the contest of staffs. When first Aaron’s staff and then the Egyptian’s staffs were changed into serpents, Aaron’s staff swallowed the staffs of Pharaoh’s servants. The staffs and the serpents were symbols of authority in Ancient Egypt.

God demonstrated He is the source of life by touching the Nile River and changing it to blood.

God demonstrated He is the source of renewal by turning the annual proliferation of frogs into a plague.

The Egyptian gods each had power over a specific aspect of nature. They worshiped these gods as their protectors and providers. However, these gods also give us a clue to what they valued. They worshiped what was important to them.

Today, we will consider yet another plague with which God struck Egypt. Exodus 8:16 says:

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.'" (Exodus 8:16 ESV)

Up to this point, God warned Pharaoh before He sent a plague. God would say, “If you refuse to let my people go, I will turn the Nile into blood.” And then, when Pharaoh refused, God sent the plague.

In this instance, God gave no warning.

God warns us because of His grace. He does not owe us a warning. For example, Pharaoh knew what was right. He knew in his heart and by his conscience that his treatment of Israel was wrong. All men of all ages have known instinctively right from wrong. Things like murder and the abuse of children are almost universally understood to be wrong, and Pharaoh had been doing both for years to control the population of the Israelites. God did not owe Pharaoh a warning, but He repeatedly warned Pharaoh.

For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. (I Thessalonians 5:2-4 NKJV)

The world knows about “the Day of the Lord.” The Bible, the Church and God’s messengers have been warning the world since the time of Christ. It comes up in movies and television shows. People know about it, but like Pharaoh, they harden their hearts. For those who refuse to listen, the Day of the Lord will come with seemingly no warning. However, there have been plenty of warnings.

The plagues that God sent on the Egyptians were judgments on their gods and their sins. Their worship of false gods was a sin, but the gods represented various national values that were sinful. In previous messages, we have seen how the Nile River and the frogs were represented in gods. Today, we will see how the dust or sand represented a god.

I have read two views, and God does not name which Egyptian god He is judging. So, I must admit that I have chosen the Egyptian god that I believe fits this plague, but there is another Egyptian god that would fit. However, the nature of the judgment and the sin does not change whichever god one chooses. Both are false gods, and both were shown to be powerless before the Lord our God.

Dust is quite common in Egypt. It has vast deserts covered in sand. According to Wikipedia, in a city known as “Sepermeru,” an important temple honored the god “Set,” or “Seth.” One of the names of this town was “gateway to the desert,” which fits well because Set was known as the god of the desert.^[1]

Dust and sand were the domain of Set. However, that was not what he was known for. Set was a god of chaos, fire, deserts, trickery, storms, envy, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion. ... He was lord of the red (desert) land where he was the balance to Horus' role as lord of the black (soil) land.  One of Set's major characteristics is his forceful, potent, and indiscriminate sexuality.^[2]

This fascination with chaos, fire, violence and sexuality defines our present-day movies and entertainment. We have an industry that capitalizes on the things that Set immortalized.

When God judged this Egyptian God, He used gnats or lice. Equally ancient sources disagree on the meaning of the word used, making it impossible to determine whether these were gnats or lice. The root meaning of the word comes from the idea of fastening or digging in with a sting. What is clear is that they were blood-sucking tiny parasites. It is also clear that they were exceedingly numerous.

Because of the flooding of the Nile, the Nile mosquito would regularly become so numerous they would form clouds and drive animals and people crazy with their painful bites as well as getting into ears, eyes, nose and mouth. This plague was that same kind of torture multiplied.

When the Egyptian magicians tried to bring forth gnats from the sand, they could not, and they arrived at the conclusion, “This is the finger of God.”

Besides being painful, itchy and very annoying, these gnats would have also had another consequence. Egyptian religious practices required that the priest or worshiper not be defiled by any vermin or insects. So, during the plague, the priests would not have been able to offer sacrifices or perform their religious rites because they would have been unclean or defiled.

It is instructive to recognize that God used dust from the domain of their false god to defile them and make them unacceptable to that same god.

When we make sexuality our god, we end up defiling ourselves, making ourselves unacceptable even to ourselves. 1 Corinthians 6:18 says:

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. (I Corinthians 6:18 NKJV)

There is no better picture of sinning against our own bodies than a picture of a body crawling with lice or gnats so that there is not an inch of exposed skin that is not covered. There would be nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

This brings up another issue that was becoming abundantly clear to the Egyptians when they said, “This is the finger of God.”

There was nowhere to go for shelter from or to hide from this God of the Hebrews. They had no means of controlling, avoiding or mitigating the effects of this plague. The pests were too small and too numerous to be stopped.

When the Psalmist thought about God, he said:

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. (Psalms 139:7-10 NKJV)

The gnats would have been like this. With nowhere to go for relief, the magicians were finally confronting Pharaoh with their own helplessness in the face of this onslaught.

The sand has another significant point. Sand is used in Scripture to reference things too numerous to count. For example, God told Abraham, “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore.” (Genesis 22:7, NKJV) Few things are said to be as numerous as the sand, but in Psalms 139, where it says one cannot flee from the presence of the Lord, it also says:

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. (Psalms 139:17-18 NKJV)

The Psalmist takes great comfort in the knowledge that God’s thoughts toward him are more numerous than the sand. He is on God’s mind. We can take great comfort in knowing that God’s plans for us are to give us a hope and a future. However, what if we have set ourselves up in opposition to God. What if we are covered in lice or gnats and realize that they represent the finger of a God whom we have set ourselves against and against whom we have hardened our hearts? What if all those thoughts are our enemy?

Exodus 8:19 says:

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. (Exodus 8:19 ESV)

Pharaoh would not listen. At first, he would not listen to Aaron and Moses. Now, he will not listen to his own advisors, the people he paid to keep him on top.

This is what happens when we choose our sin over God. There is nowhere to run. We see ourselves as defiled and touched by the finger of God, but not as a friend. The idols, the false gods, serve to hide us from the conviction of our sin. Men say foolish things like “There is no God,” to cover up their own unworthiness and sense of uncleanness. In short, they harden their hearts.

No matter how much we say, “God loves us,” or “God wants me to be happy,” we know in our hearts that our loose and indiscriminate sexuality is displeasing to God.

We may say we are not hurting anybody and that what two consenting adults do is their own business, but we are only kidding ourselves. For example, according to the World Health Organization, an estimated 40-50 million abortions take place every year. This corresponds roughly to 125,000 abortions every day. The USA accounts for approximately 3,000 abortions per day.^[3]

Let me remind you what I said earlier:

Pharaoh knew what was right. He knew in his heart and by his conscience that his treatment of Israel was wrong. All men of all ages have known instinctively right from wrong. Things like murder and the abuse of children are almost universally understood to be wrong, and Pharaoh had been doing both for years to control the population of the Israelites.

We can say all we want that abortion is about a woman’s right over her own body, but in our hearts we know that murder is wrong, especially the murder of babies.

Millions, literally millions, of mothers, doctors and men are walking around covered with the gnats of their own conscience and uncleanness with nowhere to run or hide.

Please hear me.

God can help. God can free us. His plague, although a judgment, was meant to get Pharaoh to wake up and repent. God does love us. God does want us to be happy, but He cannot help us if we harden our hearts and will not listen.

He gave His only Son to pay the price for our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, but only if we confess our sins, only if we recognize that we have been doing wrong.

If we harden our hearts and refuse to listen to God, we, like the Egyptians, will experience ever-worsening plagues until the Day of the Lord comes upon us seemingly without warning.

Will you not make peace with God now, while there is time?

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^[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(deity). Accessed August 16, 2019.

^[2] ibid.

^[3] https://www.worldometers.info/abortions. Accessed August 17, 2019.