Last week we talked about Moses’s return to Egypt. Despite his many excuses on why he couldn’t do the job—why he couldn’t be God’s servant—Moses did in fact return to Egypt. God sent Aaron to meet Moses, so that Aaron could help Moses out. Remember Aaron is Moses’s brother, and a better speaker than Moses. So God’s plan is that the two of them together can take on Pharaoh.
Aaron gathers all the elders for Moses’ to speak to and Moses is like “We’re going to be free” and everyone is like yay! But Moses first tests the waters by going to Pharaoh and asking if he’ll let the Israelites free for a three-day holiday. Pharaoh basically responds by laughing in his face. And then he doubles the Israelites work load.
This makes the Israelites mad at Moses! Their lives were already hard, and then Moses shows up, gives them hope, and then makes their lives even harder. They have given up, lost faith that God is more powerful than Pharaoh and they just want Moses to leave them alone. So now what is Moses to do? He wants to free a people who don’t want to be freed, from a man who doesn’t want to let them go.
Alright someone please read Exodus 7:8-13.
8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the Lord had commanded; Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their secret arts. 12 Each one threw down his staff, and they became snakes; but Aaron’s staff swallowed up theirs. 13 Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
First God wants Moses to tackle the problem of Pharaoh. So Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh. And as God predicted Pharaoh is like “Well if your God is so powerful perform a miracle!” So Aaron takes his staff and throws it on the ground and becomes a snake!
But then Pharaoh gathers his magicians and they perform the very same act! So Pharaoh is like “hah, your God isn’t any more powerful than ours. We can do this too.” But Moses’s God is more powerful. Aaron’s snake eats the other snakes. But Pharaoh pays no attention to that, it doesn’t convince him of anything. His heart is hardened.
We talked about what that meant last week—for his heart to be hardened. Whether it’s God creating the stubbornness within him or it’s his own natural stubbornness really isn’t important to this lesson. What’s important is that Pharaoh is not going to be easily persuaded. He has too much to lose here. The Hebrews are his slaves, his free labor, one of the pillars of his power, and he is not going to let them go.
Someone please read Exodus 7:20-25.
20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the river, and all the water in the river was turned into blood, 21 and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt. 22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts; so Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.
25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.
Moses and Aaron aren’t done, turning a staff into a snake is not the last of what they can do on God’s behalf. God sends them with another sign—another plague. Moses turns the river into blood. The fish in the river die, no one can drink the water, and it lasts for seven days.
A few things here. If you’ve studied Egypt in school, you know that the Nile is the source of life in Egypt. Not only is it the primary highway, as we discussed when Moses’s mother put him in a basket in the river, but is literally the reason why this otherwise desert area is fertile land, good for planting and living on. The Nile flows through the center of Egypt, ancient Egypt was built around it, and every year it would flood, bringing nutrients to the soil. The Nile is the foundation of all of Egypt, and without the Nile, there is no Egypt.
So threatening the Nile, is threatening Egypt.
Moses turns the river to blood—undrinkable, probably stinky, not useful. Pharaoh’s magicians apparently “do the same.” Whether they really turn some water to blood or whether they turn it red with dye, who knows! But because they do something similar, Pharaoh is like “psh, this is no big deal, I’m going to ignore this.”
He may ignore it, but I’m sure the people of Egypt are completely freaking out. The have to dig new wells to even have water to drink. Because the river is like this for seven days. And the longest you can live without water is three days. A lack of water is a big big deal.
But pharaoh is unmoved.
Someone please read Exodus 8:6-15.
6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 7 But the magicians did the same by their secret arts, and brought frogs up on the land of Egypt.
8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, “Pray to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “Kindly tell me when I am to pray for you and for your officials and for your people, that the frogs may be removed from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” 10 And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “As you say! So that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God, 11 the frogs shall leave you and your houses and your officials and your people; they shall be left only in the Nile.” 12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs that he had brought upon Pharaoh. 13 And the Lord did as Moses requested: the frogs died in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 14 And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
The next plague is frogs. Aaron stretches out his hand and suddenly there are frogs everywhere. Frogs on their bed, frogs in the bathroom, you can’t step out of a room without stepping on frogs. Sitting in your seat and suddenly there is a frog in your lap. Frogs everywhere. So while not particularly scary? It is extremely annoying and probably disconcerting.
Pharaoh’s magicians pull off the same trick, but this time Pharaoh is super annoyed. And he gathers Moses and Aaron and is like “Fine fine. I’ll let you go just make it stop. Get rid of these annoying frogs!”
Moses is like “awesome, let me tell God!” So God stops the frogs, but not exactly in the best way. The frogs don’t just disappear or go back to the river .Nope. They die where they are, and people have to gather them up, and their dead bodies make the land stink. Eww.
But as soon as the frogs are taken care of Pharaoh is like, “Psyche! I didn’t mean it. I’m not letting you go.” And so the people still are not free.
Can someone please read Exodus 8:16-19.
16 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 throughout the whole land of Egypt.’” 17 And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came on humans and animals alike; all the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt. 18 The magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, but they could not. There were gnats on both humans and animals. 19 And the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
This time they call forth gnats. Another annoying but not super harmful plague. Just bugs flying around everything. I hate it when I go on walks and walk into a cloud of bugs accidentally. And this is like that times a million. You can’t escape the gnats. They’re just like everywhere you go, unescapable, buzzing around your head forever.
This time the pharaoh’s magicians *can’t* pull off the same trick. They are alarmed and tell Pharaoh that this is Moses’s God, and that he is powerful. You would think that this would alarm Pharaoh, and he would be upset and let the Hebrews go. But newp. His heart is still hardened.
Someone please read Exodus 8:25-32.
25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 26 But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so; for the sacrifices that we offer to the Lord our God are offensive to the Egyptians. If we offer in the sight of the Egyptians sacrifices that are offensive to them, will they not stone us? 27 We must go a three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he commands us.” 28 So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, provided you do not go very far away. Pray for me.” 29 Then Moses said, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh, from his officials, and from his people; only do not let Pharaoh again deal falsely by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”
30 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 31 And the Lord did as Moses asked: he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his officials, and from his people; not one remained. 32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and would not let the people go.
So this time a plague of flies is sent, which is very similar to the plague of livestock. And Pharaoh is like, “Fine I guess we can compromise, you can sacrifice to your God, but only here in our land. I’m not going to let you leave.” And Moses is like, “That’s a bad idea. Our sacrifices would be offensive to you, and we don’t want to offend the Egyptians. We need to go three days journey and then we’ll come back.” Moses isn’t even asking for his people to be freed at this point. He’s still just asking for this journey.
Pharaoh is like, “I guess. As long as you don’t go too far.”
Moses is like, “Deal! And stops the flies.” But once again Pharaoh changes his mind and doesn’t let them go, not even for this short holiday. So the plagues continue!
Someone read Exodus 9:6-7.
6 And on the next day the Lord did so; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the livestock of the Israelites not one died. 7 Pharaoh inquired and found that not one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the people go.
So before this point all of the plagues have been really annoying but not necessarily threatening—other than turning the river to blood. But the river to blood was a warning, a shot across the bow, and the rest of the plagues have been a classic example of trying to annoy someone to death. But now God is pulling out the big guns. In this plague the livestock die, but just the Egyptian livestock. Verse 9:3 specifies this means horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and any flocks. So anything you are raising to eat or to work for you. There are lasting consequences to this, the animals are dead. But Pharaoh is still like no. I’m not letting you go.
Someone read Exodus 9:8-12.
8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw it in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It shall become fine dust all over the land of Egypt, and shall cause festering boils on humans and animals throughout the whole land of Egypt.” 10 So they took soot from the kiln, and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses threw it in the air, and it caused festering boils on humans and animals. 11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils afflicted the magicians as well as all the Egyptians. 12 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
This time we have a plague of boils. A boil is basically an infected hair follicle or oil gland. It gets all red, turns into a lump, and gets pussy. So like big pimples, but all over your body and they can be accompanied by fever or swollen lymph nodes. It’s basically a staph infection in your hair follicles. It is very unpleasant. This could also lead to sores which are also unpleasant and can be like blisters. So basically you have skin infections all over your body. And they had no medicine back then. No Tylenol to bring down your fever, no skin cremes to sooth your skin. Nothing.
This time the magicians don’t even show up when Pharaoh calls because it’s so freaking awful and painful, but still Pharaoh will not let the people go.
Someone please read Exodus 9:22-35.
22 The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that hail may fall on the whole land of Egypt, on humans and animals and all the plants of the field in the land of Egypt.” 23 Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire came down on the earth. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt; 24 there was hail with fire flashing continually in the midst of it, such heavy hail as had never fallen in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 The hail struck down everything that was in the open field throughout all the land of Egypt, both human and animal; the hail also struck down all the plants of the field, and shattered every tree in the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail.
27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Pray to the Lord! Enough of God’s thunder and hail! I will let you go; you need stay no longer.” 29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. 30 But as for you and your officials, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” 31 (Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 32 But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are late in coming up.) 33 So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and stretched out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the earth. 34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned once more and hardened his heart, he and his officials. 35 So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.
This time Moses calls down hail. Hail is something you guys are familiar with, we get hail here a lot, but usually it’s tiny. This would be large hail, large enough to seriously hurt someone. When hail is big it can be deadly. What’s interesting about this plague, is that Moses warned everyone in advance, everyone not just the Israelites, and some of the Egyptians listened and moved their stuff inside and stayed inside, because they were like “We get it. God is powerful!” But not all the Egyptians listened.
The hail is so bad that anyone who was out in it died and it destroyed the crops, but not all of them, just a lot of them. That’s important because it’s important for the next plague. The Egyptians still have something to lose.
Pharaoh once again does his whole “if you stop it, I’ll let you go.” So Moses stops it, and then Pharaoh is like “Psyche” once again.
Someone please read Exodus 10:3-11.
3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 4 For if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country. 5 They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the last remnant left you after the hail, and they shall devour every tree of yours that grows in the field. 6 They shall fill your houses, and the houses of all your officials and of all the Egyptians—something that neither your parents nor your grandparents have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long shall this fellow be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God; do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” 8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, worship the Lord your God! But which ones are to go?” 9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, because we have the Lord’s festival to celebrate.” 10 He said to them, “The Lord indeed will be with you, if ever I let your little ones go with you! Plainly, you have some evil purpose in mind. 11 No, never! Your men may go and worship the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
So Locusts are bugs that come in and eat everything. They come in big swarms, and swarms like this are still something that modern farmers fear. Because they will eat all of your crop and leave nothing behind.
Moses warns them. He’s like “This is going to happen. You will literally have nothing left. The food that remains will be gone.” And Pharaoh is like, “Fine, I guess you can go instead of us getting hail, but wait. Before I agree to this, who are you taking?”
And Moses is like, “um, Everyone?”
And then Pharaoh is like “uh, no then. No deal. I would rather have locusts then let you all go.”
Someone please read Exodus 10:21-29.
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was dense darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. 23 People could not see one another, and for three days they could not move from where they were; but all the Israelites had light where they lived. 24 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses, and said, “Go, worship the Lord. Only your flocks and your herds shall remain behind. Even your children may go with you.” 25 But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings to sacrifice to the Lord our God. 26 Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must choose some of them for the worship of the Lord our God, and we will not know what to use to worship the Lord until we arrive there.” 27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go. 28 Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Take care that you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” 29 Moses said, “Just as you say! I will never see your face again.”
This time we get darkness for three days.
Not night. Darkness. No light—no sun, no moon, no stars. It seemed like even their lights didn’t work for them, illuminating the area. I imagine this like a dense black fog. If you’ve ever been in fog then you know that light doesn’t always help you. But the Israelites had light where they were. This would be extremely scary.
So Pharaoh is like, “Fine, you can go, but leave your livestock.” Probably because he needs the livestock after all of these plagues. But Moses is like, “No deal. We need it.”
And Pharaoh is like, “FINE. THEN YOU STAY. AND NO ONE LEAVES.”
This is not the last of the plagues but this is the last one we’ll cover. Next week we’re going to talk about the last plague and the why of it, and how it’s commemorated to this day. Because there is a lot to be discussed there.