The Lord told Moses that He made him as a God to Pharaoh and Aaron would be his prophet. This meant that Pharaoh would see Moses as a divine representation of God. God told Moses to speak all that he was commanded to speak. Aaron was supposed to tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of Egypt. God, again, lets Moses know that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart and that He would multiply His signs and wonders in Egypt. Since God is omniscient, He already knew that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened against Him. So, God just basically, strengthened his decision/position according to one Google source. Have you ever had your mind so set on doing something, knowing it was wrong, and did it anyway? Even though, God could have prevented you from doing it, He allowed you to exercise your free will. This is similar to God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. After all, it wouldn’t seem fair for God to harden Pharaoh’s heart and then punish him for having a hardened heart. Moses is forewarned again that Pharaoh will not listen to him. God will then punish Egypt and bring His armies and people, the Israelites, out of Egypt by great judgments. The Egyptians will then know that He is the Lord, when He punishes Egypt and delivers the children of Israel from under their rule. Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord instructed them. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 years old when they spoke to Pharaoh. So, age is not an excuse, young or old, when it comes to fulfilling the call that God has on your life.

God spoke to Moses and Aaron and told them that when Pharaoh tells them to show a miracle, then Moses should tell Aaron to take the rod and cast it in front of Pharaoh. The rod will become a serpent. So, they went to Pharaoh as God commanded. Aaron cast down the rod before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a serpent, just like God said it would. Pharaoh called the wise men and the sorcerers. The magicians of Egypt did the same with their “powers”. Every man threw down his rod and they became serpents. Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. You Can’t Compete With God! This does go to show, however, that satan has some power. Only God is omnipotent and satan’s power can’t even begin to compare to the Power of our Almighty God! Pharaoh’s heart grew hard and he did not listen to them, just as God had said.

The First Plague: Waters Become Blood – The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go.” He told Moses to go to Pharaoh the next morning when he goes out to the water and stand by the river’s bank to meet him. Moses was to take the rod that turned into a serpent with him. Moses was to tell Pharaoh that the Lord God of the Hebrews sent him to tell him to let God’s people go so they can serve Him in the wilderness, but he refuses to listen! Moses said that he will strike the river waters with the rod in his hand and they will turn to blood. The Lord said, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord.” The fish in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will loathe to drink the river water. The Lord told Moses to tell Aaron to take his rod and stretch out his hand over the waters of Egypt – streams, rivers, ponds, all their pools of water – that they would become blood. Even the water that families had stored in wooden buckets and stone pitchers, turned into blood. Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. Aaron lifted up the rod and struck the waters in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants and all the waters turned into blood. The fish died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river. There was blood throughout Egypt. The magicians of Egypt did the same with their magic. So where did the magicians get their water since all the water was turned into blood? Verse 24 states that the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink since they couldn’t drink water from the river. So maybe only “surface” water was turned into blood and the water the magicians had was water from underground? In any case, they wasted water and made the problem worse. You would think that they would have tried to use their “power” to reverse what God did through Aaron. Of course, they would have been unsuccessful because “You Can’t Compete With God!” One Google source also suggested that the magicians could have gotten the water from Goshen since the water for the Hebrews probably wasn’t affected. Pharaoh’s heart grew hard and he didn’t listen, just as God said. He returned to his house totally unmoved in his heart by this. Seven days passed after the Lord struck the river. I can imagine seeing the Egyptians working hard at digging trying to get water. This also shows God’s mercy to allow them to get any water to drink for seven days. The entire country suffered because of one leader with a hardened heart, who obviously thought that he could compete with God!

We move on to Exodus 8, next week.

To God Be The Glory!

Scripture for March 19th

Genesis 3:19 – In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”