Plagues 1-4

INTRO

These are the classic chapters in Exodus. We’re talking about the plagues. The point of these plagues was that God used this man who didn’t feel adequate to deliver His people. Exodus 6:30 says: “But Moses replied in the Lord’s presence, ‘Since I am such a poor speaker, how will Pharaoh listen to me?’”

TEACHING

Exodus 7:1–3: “The Lord answered Moses, ‘See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet’” (v. 1). This was a ridiculous statement! God believed in Moses despite his doubt and complaining. “You must say whatever I command you” (v. 2). “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt” (v. 3). God offered no further details about hardening Pharaoh’s heart or how He would multiply His signs and wonders. These signs were going to be a reminder of God’s powerful presence that would be in front of Pharaoh day in and day out. Nelson’s commentary described these signs and wonders as “irrefutable works” that God would do “to demonstrate His power and authenticate His agents, Moses and Aaron.”¹

Exodus 7:4: Imagery of the hand was not pleasant; this was an image of God’s wrath. Similar language was used in the New Testament to describe the Pharisees’ desire to get their hands-on Jesus because they wanted to kill Him (Luke 20:19; Mark 14:46).

Exodus 7:5–8: “The Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh” (v. 5). Why did this judgment need to take place (Exodus 12:12)? Why did God need to bring the Israelites out? They were beginning to worship the Egyptian gods (Ezekiel 20:7–9). “So, Moses and Aaron did this” (v. 6). They didn’t add to God’s directions; they did what God said. They walked it out together. In verse 8, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron together for the first time.

Exodus 7:9–11: “When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.’” This staff was used as a form of deliverance for the people. Moses was a shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. This was an image of the everyday people God used to do extraordinary things. “So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded.” Did the staff really become a snake? Some commentators think it could have been a reptile, crocodile, or a monster. Constable pointed out that this began the period of the miracles. We see four periods of miracles throughout Scripture: Moses through Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Christ and the apostles, and finally the two witnesses in Revelation.³(Mark 16:17). Signs and wonders will happen, but we can’t make them happen. “But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers—the magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices.” This was the dark side of the miracles. They had their little bag of tricks.⁴They possessed occult knowledge. Scripture says Satan can masquerade himself as light (2 Corinthians 11:14). We can always expect Satan to try to mimic what God is able to do. Wiersbe said, “Satan can empower his people to perform ‘lying wonders’”⁵(2 Thessalonians 2:9–10). Wiersbe said: “Pharaoh’s attitude was, ‘Anything Jehovah can do, we can do better!’”⁶Matthew 24:24; Revelation 13:11–16). We are going to see deception from the enemy all the way from Moses’ time to the end times. We should expect it and test things (1 John 4:1).

Exodus 7:12: “Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.” Staffs is plural; Aaron’s staff ate them all. God’s staff overpowered their staffs, Satan’s staffs, instantly. Why? The seed needed to be delivered, and nothing would get in the way of setting the people free. You’re always going to see these counterfeit situations—even in the New Testament: false brethren and counterfeit Christians everywhere we go (Romans 10:1–3); false brothers (2 Corinthians 11:26); a false gospel (Galatians 1:6–9).

As we get closer to the end times, we have to be careful of false gospels today. Our God will always overcome their false truth.

Exodus 7:13–16: “However, Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.” Over and over again, we will see that Pharaoh’s heart is hardened. Three times over the course of the plagues, Moses and Aaron were told to go to Pharaoh in the morning. “Tell him: Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you . . .” Of the ten plagues, Pharaoh was warned about seven. Three plagues struck his nation without warning.

Exodus 7:17: “I will strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood.” The Nile was their source of water for everything. One commentator has explained this could have happened naturally between the red soil and red algae.⁷But the Scriptures say blood, so I believe it was blood. The word, “strike” was used three more times. This imagery of striking the Egyptians happens in Exodus 2:12, when Moses strikes the Egyptian dead; in Exodus 17:6, when Moses strikes the rock, and in Exodus 12, when God strikes the firstborn.

Exodus 7:18–19: The fish would die, the water would stink, and the Egyptians would be unable to drink water from the Nile. Through this plague, God was showing His authority over the earth (v. 18). Then God turned the waters throughout Egypt into blood—"the rivers, canals, ponds, and all their water reservoirs . . . even in wooden and stone containers.” Not just one little area was affected; everything became blood, even water in the containers that weren’t connected to the water source (v. 19). Wiersbe said: “This was a judgment on the Nile River itself, which was treated like a god, and on Hapi, the god of the Nile, and Isis, the goddess of the Nile.”⁸

Exodus 7:20–22: “Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded.” Even the psalmists wrote about what God had done in Psalms 78:43–44 and 105:29. The fish in the Nile died, and there was blood throughout the land of Egypt. “But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.” How was it possible that the Egyptians did the same thing if the water was already blood? Maybe God was talking about surface water and not the water underground, so they dug up some water (v. 24). But we know it was false because they used occult practices. What Pharaoh’s magicians should have done, if they were that powerful, was to reverse what Moses and Aaron had done.

Exodus 7:23–25: “Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and didn’t even take this to heart.” Pharaoh didn’t care that his people were dying with no water. “All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink” (v. 24). This was where we got the idea that maybe God only changed the surface water. “Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.” This was either seven days of bloody water or seven days until the next plague. This is the only time frame described in the ten plagues other than the three days of darkness in the ninth plague (Exodus 10:21–23).

CLOSING

Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” Pharaoh walked a very fine line because he rejected God and hardened his own heart. He also brought destruction on his own people and his own family. Moses was a part of this. Moses and Aaron helped deliver the people so that they could be free. Why? They needed to be free so the Messiah could come into the picture.