Only those that are most dedicated to evil are destroyed by God. For all the rest of us, even when He curses us, it is a curse designed to teach and even save us. The very tribulation that we think will ruin us, ends up being the vehicle for our salvation. It feels like a death, but it holds the seed of life. Thus, by His grace, even God’s curses are blessings.
25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
In return for the Israelite’s faithfulness, God now makes some significant promises. He assures them of the basics, bread and water, and also that He will heal them of their diseases. He says that “the number of thy days I will fulfil,” meaning they will be a people that live full lives without meeting an early demise. Thus, God is ensuring the necessities for a full life. Not only this, but nature itself will be particularly blessed for them, their livestock giving birth to healthy young and the land yielding its fruit.
Notice in these promises that God is removing from the Israelites much of the curses He pronounced to Adam and Eve. He had told Eve that “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” Obviously the Israelite women would still face the pains of childbirth, but would not suffer the anguishes of infertility or maternal or infant death, given God’s promises that there would not be barrenness or shortened days. God had told Adam that “cursed is the ground for thy sake. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” Obviously the Israelites would still have to labor for their food, “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,” but here He describes that the land would no longer be actively working against them.
What we read here is the first step in the Lord reclaiming His people from the fall. Humanity had been in an extremely dejected state, and now God’s people were half-exalted, living blessed lives. God had begun the work of taking the sting out of death and the victory out of the grave (1 Corinthians 15:55).
27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. 28 Entreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.
Pharaoh had been more obstinate during the second phase of God’s curses, holding out through more and more of the afflictions, but finally he sounds repentant, more so than at any point thus far. Pharaoh was not merely capitulating to the Lord’s power, he even called himself wicked and admitted that he knew he had sinned.
Of course, Pharaoh will still recant on this repentance, he will break his word yet again. This raises the question whether he was genuine during these verses or not. Did he feel guiltless, and was lying in every word? Or did he truly know that he and the Egyptians were morally in the wrong, and was sincere in his admission of guilt, but wasn’t actually willing to commit to doing what was right?
We aren’t given a clear answer, but in tomorrow’s verses we will see that Moses and the Lord saw straight through Pharaoh’s words and knew that he would ultimately prove faithless.
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. 24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.
It was not only hail that afflicted the Egyptians, but fire as well! The nature of this fire is rather mysterious. It was not mentioned in God’s foretelling of the curse, and we never have explained to us exactly what connection it had to the hail. They are a most strange combination, as they would seem likely to extinguish and melt one other!
Of course, we are not told that the fire was raining down from heaven. The passage says it “ran along upon the ground” and “mingled with the hail.” Perhaps the hail knocked something over which spilled embers or hot coals and spread a fire over the land. Or, the fire might have been lightning which accompanied the same storm that brought the hail. Maybe there was lightning, but it started an actual fire on the ground. Some readers have even posited that the tongues of flame might have literally burst out from the hail in some way!
In any case, and in whatever manner, it seems clear that there was both a severe pummeling of hail and an intense heat as well. A truly devastating wonder this was, and such a terrible fate must have befallen those who still stood out in the fields!
How does this curse represent the ill effects of sin? One way that stands out to me is that this curse was focused on destroying all that was vulnerable and exposed. It is always the weak and defenseless who are first victimized to satisfy the selfish sins of others. Eventually the mighty will fall, too, but they land upon the broken bodies of the small and innocent that went before.
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.
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.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said. 16 And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
No sooner did Pharaoh get what he wanted than he abandoned his promises and went back to being the same as before. This is an excellent example of a false conversion. Many come to God for what they want, but they do not actually love Him or want to be His obedient child. Their journey to God is entirely self-serving, and as soon as they get what they want—or don’t get what they want—they drop all pretenses of devotion.
God can be patient through such acts of betrayal, though. He does not lose any bargaining power by removing the pressure, for He is able to bring it right back in a multitude of ways! And, since the faithless did not respond to the first pressure, the second most often comes back even worse!
And that was certainly the case with Pharaoh. God did not return the same plague of frogs, he escalated it to something worse. The lice would have been a more intimate, invasive, and infuriating affliction. The frogs had been inside the Egyptian’s rooms and kitchenware, but now lice were living directly on their bodies! Wherever they went, the unpleasant, itching, disease-carrying lice would remain right on their person!
Pharaoh had tried to cheat during his wrestling match with the Lord, but God simply put him in a deeper hold.
11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.
12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.
13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields.
14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.
As extensive as the curse had reached in Egypt, so too did the cure. From every place and from every people the frogs ceased to spread and multiply. But it does not seem that the frogs left those places, rather that they died within them. The people still had to do the work of gathering them from every nook and cranny. They placed them in large piles which spread the stench of dead amphibians across the land.
I mentioned earlier that the effects of the curse seem symbolic of how a people will adopt false and harmful philosophies. The lies and deceit spread into every place and affect every person, whether they personally believe the falsehoods or not. They corrupt every home and every public square. And so, too, even after the madness has been dispelled, when society returns back to basic truth and reason, there is still a period of labor where the vestige of the old lie must be eradicated wherever it is found. And, for a time, there is still the lingering stench of old prejudices and wrongs that hang in the air. The curse is gone, but not the memory of it.
8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
After turning the staff into a serpent, the healthy hand leprous, and then changing them back, God tells Moses how to perform another miracle. This one is different from the other two, though. For one thing, God does not actually rehearse this one with Moses, telling him only to do it in the land of Egypt. For another, while there is still a transformation of something pure into something unnerving, there is no return transformation back to the original.
It seems to me that Moses didn’t act out this last wonder by himself because its message was directed specifically to the people of Israel and Egypt. It was not intended to test him personally as the first two miracles had been.
So, what was the special message that it conveyed to the people in Egypt? It seems clear to me that it was a reminder of evil done and a promise for retribution. Recall the former Pharaoh’s instructions that “every son that is born [of the Israelites] ye shall cast into the river.” Now Moses was to go to that same river, draw from it, and pour blood upon the land. It was the blood of the innocent, the blood of the infant sons killed by Pharaoh’s decree. God had not been blind to this horrific injustice. He had collected the full measure of blood, and now He would pour the same upon the people of Egypt. As it would be written, “vengeance is mine, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19). This is why this sign would not only be shown to the assembly of Israelites, but also to Pharaoh himself. Both the ruler and the Israelites needed to understand that God remembered what was done, and He had come to repay!
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.
Ye call upon my name for revelations, and I give them unto you; and inasmuch as ye keep not my sayings, which I give unto you, ye become transgressors; and justice and judgment are the penalty which is affixed unto my law.
COMMENTARY
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death
Ye call upon my name for revelations, and I give them unto you
Yesterday we observed that all people have a basic law written in their hearts, that which we call a conscience. This basic guide leads us towards the “just” life, which has its own natural rewards.
However there are higher laws as well. To each of us God offers the opportunity to follow His personal principles, and by so doing achieve spiritual enlightenment and fulfillment. Whereas the conscience is given to all at birth, this higher way is given out only as we choose to receive it. The more we choose to receive, the greater blessings we can enjoy.
Life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live
For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation… justice and judgment are the penalty which is affixed unto my law
If one receives a law and then breaks it, though, the promised blessing instead becomes a curse. The pattern of justice is that every law carries both a blessing and a curse.
Consider the example of communication. This ability is a great blessing, as it allows us to collaborate and share information. But then we also have the option to misuse that blessing and twist our words into lies. For this we suffer the consequences (curses) of hurt feelings and anxiety.
What is more, the greater the promised blessings are, the greater the curses are as well. Going back to our example, some have a greater range of communication than others. Those with a larger following have more power and influence in their words. They have a greater potential to accomplish good with what they say…or to cause damage.
Therefore one needs to approach God’s laws with proper respect for the weight of justice that is inseparably attached to them. They are given to us as an act of love, but one should not subscribe to these laws unless they intend not to break them.
The problem is…we have all broken them.
Spiritual Wanderings 