Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 9:22-23

22 And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.

23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

Today it stood out to me that God had Moses perform the physical act that would summon the storm: raising his rod to the heavens. Obviously the sending forth of hail was a miracle, and was therefore a work of God, so one would think that He didn’t need any involvement from Moses to perform it. And yet, God told Moses “stretch forth thine hand…that there may be hail.”

In verse 23 we are told that Moses did “stretch forth his rod…and the Lord sent thunder and hail.” So yes, it was the Lord sending it, but only when His servant performed the physical act to kick off the event. Why was it done this way?

Some have suggested that outward, physical rituals like these are done strictly for the benefit of those who witness the miracle. These outward motions are ultimately unnecessary, but they provide a visual aid that helps people connect God’s invisible hand to something that is observable and tangible.

However, I can’t help but think that there is something more to it. I like to think that whenever God tells us to do something that it is more than just a symbolic gesture. Somehow it is essential to the working out of God’s plans. What exactly that would be in this case, I do not know. Perhaps the Lord had committed the elements in Egypt to Moses’s stewardship. If so, then by the permission of the Lord Moses truly was commanding nature in that area, and so his involvement was necessary.

Or perhaps it was the staff that was specially empowered. It had already been sanctified by the Lord, taken from a common shepherd’s crook and transformed into a pure instrument of the Lord. Perhaps this rod was a channel for God’s power, and holding it up into the air created the conduit between God and the atmosphere.

Or perhaps it was neither of those. The point is that there are multiple ways in which this physical action could have been integral to the working out of God’s plan, so it is possible that really it was.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 9:17-21

17 As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?

18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.

19 Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.

20 He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:

21 And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field.

God makes a most bold prophecy through His servant, Moses. He says that not only will hail fall upon Egypt, but one “such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation!” This would be a storm such as had never seen before by the Egyptians, not even since the founding of the nation. No one could make a promise like this except God. No one could possibly anticipate such a rare and momentous event except the all-knowing. And certainly no one could deliver on this promise except the all-powerful. At this point, the curses against Egypt were firmly in the category of natural disasters!

And with this warning God also provided a test. He had already made a division between the Egyptians and the Israelites, now He would also distinguish between the God-fearing and the God-doubting Egyptians. By forewarning them, the people of the land knew that they could spare themselves by staying in shelter. Doing so would show that they believed in the Hebrew God and doubted the priests of Egypt, while on the other hand, those who wished to show support of the local gods and renounce the power of Elohim had only to stand out in the open. To do so would be gambling with their very lives!

Or, at least, would be gambling with the lives of their servants and cattle. Verse 21 suggests that the rich and powerful of the Egyptians did not stand out in the open themselves, but rather they required their servants to continue to work the field and die for them. They stood to lose value and resources only, but to make their own people suffer a terrible demise. Of course, we will soon come to the final plague, and in that one not even the rich and the powerful would have any refuge.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 9:13-16

13 And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

14 For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.

15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.

16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.

Pharaoh had held out for two plagues in a row, so now came the third. The Lord sent Moses yet again, and Moses was to deliver a most weighty speech to Pharaoh. Through Moses, God used language like “I will…send all my plagues upon thine heart…and upon thy people,” as well as “I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee,” and also “thou shalt be cut off from the earth!”

And all this was only the preamble! In verse 16 God made a most dramatic assertion. He told Pharaoh that the only reason why the Egyptians had enjoyed their place as a great world power was so that God could make an example out of them! God had made Pharaoh powerful so that He could break him, and show the world that the God of the Hebrews was master over all! God had propped Pharaoh up simply so that he could take a terrible blow!

We often remind ourselves that God is a God of love, and truly He is. But He is not one-dimensional. He is also a God of justice, a God of judgment, and a God of retribution. He redeems the innocent, but He also condemns the wicked. God tells us that He “shall wipe away all tears” from the faithful, but also He asserts that “vengeance is mine” against the wicked. Thus, in addition to His lovingkindness, God is capable of anger, of going to war, and of utterly destroying His enemies like no one else can. And, I would argue, nowhere is this side of God made more clear than in His dealings with the Egyptians.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 9:8-12

8 And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.

9 And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.

10 And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast.

11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.

12 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had spoken unto Moses.

Ever since Aaron and Moses turned the river to blood, there hadn’t been much pageantry for the curses God inflicted upon Egypt. Here, though, Moses was to give another visual performance to illustrate the next punishment that was coming. He was told to take handfuls of ashes and sprinkle them in the air. The ashes, we are told, would become dust, and the dust would fester in the body and form a boil.

There is clearly some special symbolism here. Ashes from the furnace seems emblematic to me of suffering and death, or destruction and ruin. Intense heat and fire breaks down some form—wood, coal, straw, flesh—and reduces it to dead ash. Perhaps the ash represented the Israelites who had toiled under the hot sun, broken underneath their labors, and died in premature deaths. We also know that ash was often associated in the Bible with great mourning. There are several passages that speak of times of great mourning and penitence, where the humbled people abased themselves in “sackcloth and ashes.”

So perhaps the sprinkling of the ashes that fester in the skin and emerge as boils is representative of rebellion. The pattern of many nations has been to persecute and enslave a particular set of people, who suffer and die, who are ground into ash, but who then foment an uprising, an angry boil that violently bursts out against their captors.

And speaking of boils, that is something I am directly familiar with. I served a mission in the West Indies, where boils were a frequent affliction. I understand the incredible swellings that stretch and heat the skin, the great tenderness and pain, the disgust when it finally ruptures, the intense spasms when pulling out the heart of it. It sounds as though the Egyptians may have had multiple boils at the same time, too, something that I personally never experienced, but which I cringe at the thought of. In addition to any larger, political symbolism, I believe this curse also represented the ugly, festering, and searing side of sin. Something corrupt had gone into the Egyptians and their own flesh was revolting against it with excruciating results. It is just the same when we subject our God-given souls to darkness.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 9:5-7

5 And the Lord appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land.

6 And the Lord did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.

7 And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

Once again we see the pattern of God revealing his intention to Moses, Moses and Aaron delivering that message to Pharaoh, and then the promised effect coming into reality. There are multiple patterns regarding the behavior of God and man that are being reinforced through repetition in this story, showing that these are general rules and not incidental coincidences. As a general rule, God has His plans and He makes them known beforehand through His prophets so that we don’t mistake His work for random chance. This pattern makes it very hard to deny that God was responsible for what occurred, as one would first have to explain how God knew it was going to happen.

In verse 6 we are told that the effect of God’s curse was total. It states that “all the cattle of Egypt died.” It wasn’t just a portion that God took, it was the entire flock. Meanwhile, “of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.” God’s protection of the Israelites was just as absolute as His destruction of the Egyptians.

This does raise a question, though, for in each of the next two curses (the boils and the hail), we will be told that both the Egyptians were afflicted, and also their “beasts,” including “cattle…in the field.” What cattle were there to be afflicted if all of them had died already from the murrain? Perhaps verse 6 only means “all the cattle of Egypt died”…that had been afflicted with the murrain? Perhaps the disease did not have a 100% infection rate, but did have a 100% mortality rate. Or perhaps literally all of the Egyptian cattle were killed, and they then purchased new flocks from their neighbors, and it was that new purchase that was attacked in the next two curses.

Finally, In verse 7 we hear how Pharaoh sent emissaries to validate the Lord’s claims, to really know whether everything had played out in just the way that the Lord had decreed. “And, behold,” it had. But apparently that had no effect on his behavior. Once more he refused to let the people go, and so yet another curse would follow.

Posted on by Abe Austin · 2 Comments

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 9:1-4

1 Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

2 For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,

3 Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.

4 And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children’s of Israel.

Moses came to deliver God’s next promised plague to Pharaoh, and more than any of the previous it was going to cause real, irreparable harm. For the first time, God would bring a plague that would directly cause death. The death was not to be upon the people—that was still to come—but upon the Egyptian livestock. The death would come in the form of a “murrain,” which is an infectious disease. Many types of animals would be afflicted, but most notably the cattle and the sheep.

These, as has been previously discussed, were likely sacred animals to the Egyptians. So this plague was not only to destroy their beasts of burden and their meat supply, but also an assault against their very religion! God is a God of truth, and He does not show respect to the falsely “sacred” rituals that man invents. By destroying the cattle and the sheep God was not only emphasizing His superiority over the Egyptian people, but also over their gods. It might have been deeply offensive to the Egyptians, but what were they to do about it? It was up to their gods to defend themselves against other divinities, and apparently they could not!

Also note that God once again established a divide between the land of Egypt and Goshen. God promised that “there shall nothing die” of the Israelites. Thus, His people would be free to continue raising, sacrificing, and consuming the very same animals that the Egyptians held most dear!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 8:28-32

28 And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: entreat for me.

29 And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the Lord.

31 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one.

32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

Pharaoh agreed to the demands being made, even for Israel to depart into the wilderness to perform their sacrifices. Now that Pharaoh had given his word, Moses assured him that he would entreat the Lord, but Moses already anticipated Pharaoh’s deceit and warned him against it. Pharaoh, however, went right ahead and betrayed his word for a second time.

I’m really not sure what Pharaoh expected to happen when he broke his word this time. He had already seen that God would return with greater affliction, so it should have been clear that he was only making his situation worse. And not just marginally worse, either. The curses were about to enter an entirely new tier of suffering. The turning of the staff to a snake and the river to blood can be considered as the first phase of God’s curses, transfigurations that were merely meant to frighten Pharaoh without causing lasting harm. The second phase was the irritation and annoyance of frogs, lice, and flies. Now, though, would begin the third phase, in which the curses would deal in actual death! I believe Moses’s warning that Pharaoh must not deal deceitfully was insinuating that if he tried to test God further, the Egyptians would enter into this new order of suffering, but Pharaoh chose to walk that path anyway.

And, according to verse 32, Pharaoh really did choose it. I’ve mentioned this verse before, but let’s take note of it one more time. In other passages it says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but here it says that “Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also.” The “also” suggests that Pharaoh was the one who hardened his heart in the previous instances as well, not God. As I’ve mentioned previously, I think it is this reading and interpretation that makes the most sense.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 8:24-27

24 And the Lord did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.

25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.

26 And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?

27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us.

Pharaoh held out during the plague of lice, but not against the flies. After the frogs he had told Moses “take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.” This time he again approved of the Israelites making sacrifice, but he added the restriction that they remain “in the land,” rather than travelling away from Egypt.

The fact that Pharaoh was being more specific and asking the Israelites to compromise might mean that he was more sincere this time than the one before, but his restriction was not acceptable to the Lord. There seem to be three reasons why it was necessary that the Israelites journey three-days distance before making their sacrifices.

  1. As Moses explained, the Israelites would be performing sacrifices that the Egyptians found abominable, likely because the animals were considered sacred to Pharaoh’s people. The Israelites would incur the wrath of the people, thus a separation was necessary to preserve their lives.
  2. There is reason to believe that sacrifice and three-days’ distances had something to do with the law of the Hebrews. In the Dead Seas Scrolls there is a passage that states “You shall not slaughter clean cattle or sheep or goat in any of your towns, within a distance of three days’ journey from my sanctuary” (Dead Seas Scrolls translation, Page 254, bottom-left). This is saying that if an Israelite was within three days’ journey of the temple they needed to make their offerings there. But if they were more than three days’ journey away, they would be permitted to build an altar and sacrifice to the Lord elsewhere. It may well be that Jacob was three days’ journey from Isaac’s home when he made such an altar to the Lord in Genesis 28. Jacob also made a point of setting up his homestead three days’ journey from his father-in-law Laban, perhaps to have sufficient distance from Laban’s pagan gods for his offerings to the Lord to be pure. It therefore makes sense that the Lord would require Israel to be the same distance from the false gods of Egypt before making sacrifice.
  3. We’re not actually told whether the Israelites did, in fact, perform rituals and sacrifice after leaving Egypt. My assumption is that they did not, as we are told that they marched forward day-and-night in great haste. But possibly they did, and thus this was a valid reason for them traveling at least three-days-distance into the wilderness. However, even if that was the case, it obviously was not the only reason for their departure. They were also going into the wilderness to run away from the Egyptians, and obviously this was better served by getting a head start.

Pharaoh would soon renege on his promise, and perhaps his reason was this three days’ distance requirement, but God was not here to compromise. He was not one to be dictated to. What He required must be met, and He would continue to afflict the Egyptians until Pharaoh agreed to all of His requirements.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 8:22-23

22 And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.

I previously wondered whether the Israelites had been affected by the turning of the river to blood in the same way that the Egyptians had. And did the frogs come upon both sets of people? And the lice? Perhaps so, but now we are told that there would be a sharp divide between the people of Israel and the people of Egypt.

This is a recurring theme in the Bible, that of a divide being made between the faithful and the profane, of God’s chosen people being saved and the wicked being destroyed. We have seen it where a protection was put around Noah’s family in the form of an ark when all the world was flooded. We have seen it where heavenly messengers drew Lot’s family out to safety when Sodom and Gomorrah was bombarded. Now we see it where a clear line is made between two halves. In one land the curse runs rampant, but it is not allowed to pass over into the neighboring land.

Thus we see multiple different ways that God is able to protect His people. He can shield them in the eye of the storm, or lead them out to safety, or put up a wall that keeps the danger at bay. He can end the danger, preserve you through the danger, or get you out of the danger. One never know just how God will save him, only that God will if he prepares himself for it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 8:20-21

20 And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.

In the midst of all the larger wonders occurring it is all too easy to miss the little ones that are happening as well. At several points now, God has told Moses the exact time and place he needed to be to meet Pharaoh. I wonder if it ever occurred to Pharaoh what the implications were of Moses and Aaron intercepting him along his way. It meant that God knew Pharaoh and his movements intimately, He might have even revealed some of them to Moses before Pharaoh, himself, knew when and where he would go. If Pharaoh felt anything at Moses’s prescience, he should have felt vulnerable.

In regards to the plague of flies, this curse mixes some of the intimacy of the lice with some of the space-invasion of the frogs. Flies could be on the body like lice, and in the dishes like frogs. They could carrying diseases and dirtying vessels. Perhaps the most unique quality of the flies, though, would be the incessant buzzing. Their constant murmuring in the ears is another representation for when a society embraces false doctrines instead of following God. Moral perversion causes so much distraction and noise, from the literal buzz of gossip to the constant murmur of a dissatisfied conscience.

Itching, noisy, constant irritation. Whether in the form of flies or anxious guilt, this is one agitation that none of us need in our lives!