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Thoughts from Exodus 8b: Foundations Shake
By daniel | March 6, 2007
The first nine plagues are divided into triplets. Three rounds of "Go to Pharaoh in the morning", "Go warn Pharaoh", and then a third plague with no warning.
The third (of the ten) plague came with no warning — gnats appeared on everything. Even Pharaoh's spiritual advisors came to him and said, "This is the Finger of God" (the name hearkens us to the Spirit of God). Pharaoh, at this point, chose to ignore his own council as well, stiffening his neck and hardening his heart.
As we already discussed, the purpose of the plagues was for God to reveal himself as the One and True God to all parties involved, leaving no room for doubt. Let's see how these parties are doing.
Moses: As the only one who is actually hearing and obeying God from start to finish, Moses seems to be comporting himself well. He, like all other parties here, came into the beginning of the story with limited experience of God, and is probably pretty frightened by the way things have been going. In addition, God's promised results have not yet been delivered. Pharaoh still has yet to release the Israelites.
Israel: The first three plagues so far have affected Israel just like Egypt. Seems that Israel, as well as Egypt, needed a real jolt to change the way they looked at things, perhaps. This will change, however with the next round of three plagues, as the Lord makes a special point to not afflict Israel with the plagues, separating them out in everyone's minds from the Egyptians.
Pharaoh: When his base belief begins and ends with 'I am a god', I don't know that I blame him for his stubbornness so far. This third plague, though, starts the downward trend. Here he has chosen to continue to ignore the evidence that perhaps Israel's God is the powerhouse, not himself. Even the people that had told him that he was a god are now saying, 'uh oh, we're not so sure.'
Egypt: The Egyptians are the most passive participants in the drama of the story, but there are many hints to redemption of the Egyptians. Many Egyptians are starting to believe in Israel's God. Options are given for them to in fact, be saved from the plagues, such as the hail and the firstborn. Very intriguing.
Topics: The Word |
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