Sermon Tone Analysis

The Lord of All: Exodus 7:8-13:22

January 22, 2023

If you ever want to get some cheap entertainment, you may want to consider reading some of the warning labels on household products.

These are sometimes every obvious warnings, like "caution, coffee is hot" on a hot cup of coffee.

Here are five funny warning signs that I found on Reader's Digest (yeah, I didn't know they still existed either):

While funny, let's be honest, sometimes we all need warnings or signs to point us in the right direction.

I'm directionally challenged, so I know they are quite useful when I'm driving somewhere.

In our text today, Exodus 7:8-13:22, we'll see some big warnings from the Lord to Pharoah and Egypt.

As you'll soon see, these warnings are nothing like those we just reviewed.

These were life changing and life altering.

Last week, we concluded our text in chapter 7, verse 7. Verses 3-5 sets up this entire portion of Scripture that we will look at today.

It says this:

3 BUT I WILL HARDEN PHARAOH'S HEART, AND THOUGH I MULTIPLY MY SIGNS AND WONDERS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, 4 PHARAOH WILL NOT LISTEN TO YOU.

THEN I WILL LAY MY HAND ON EGYPT AND BRING MY HOSTS, MY PEOPLE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT BY GREAT ACTS OF JUDGMENT.

5 THE EGYPTIANS SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD, WHEN I STRETCH OUT MY HAND AGAINST EGYPT AND BRING OUT THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL FROM AMONG THEM."

Obviously, we won't be able to read this entire text, nor can we discuss in significant detail all these signs and wonders that the Lord spoke about.

Anything we missed will be discussed during our roundtable time.

But it is important to see what God is doing, and why He is doing it.

You're likely familiar with this portion of the story.

Here, God brings down ten plagues to Egypt and its people.

We could very well do a sermon on each of these plagues, then another on the Passover and Exodus narrative in chapters 11-13, but instead, we'll focus the "what" and the "why" of the first nine plagues and pull some applications from them.

Then, we will focus some attention on the tenth plague, and the resulting Passover tradition.

Let's begin by identifying the main idea of our passage:

God demonstrates His power in order to

demonstrate His love for His people.

This is one of the primary purposes of these plagues.

For Israel, these plagues were a reminder of God's power and God's promises to their people.

And, as we'll see later, it would serve as a testimony for future generations.

For Egypt, it will show that God is Lord of all and is the one true God.

Let's take a quick look at chapter 12, verse 12 to help us to see this more clearly:

FOR I WILL PASS THROUGH THE LAND OF EGYPT THAT NIGHT, AND I WILL STRIKE ALL THE FIRSTBORN IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, BOTH MAN AND BEAST; AND ON ALL THE GODS OF EGYPT I WILL EXECUTE JUDGMENTS: I AM THE LORD.

In other words, God is judging the gods of Egypt.

So, we'll see that God will bring plague upon plague, not only judging the people, but also bringing judgement on their gods.

Before these plagues, however, Aaron and Moses go before Pharoah to show him a sign.

It reads in chapter 7:10-13:

10 SO MOSES AND AARON WENT TO PHARAOH AND DID JUST AS THE LORD COMMANDED.

AARON CAST DOWN HIS STAFF BEFORE PHARAOH AND HIS SERVANTS, AND IT BECAME A SERPENT.

11 THEN PHARAOH SUMMONED THE WISE MEN AND THE SORCERERS, AND THEY, THE MAGICIANS OF EGYPT, ALSO DID THE SAME BY THEIR SECRET ARTS.

12 FOR EACH MAN CAST DOWN HIS STAFF, AND THEY BECAME SERPENTS.

BUT AARON'S STAFF SWALLOWED UP THEIR STAFFS.

13 STILL PHARAOH'S HEART WAS HARDENED, AND HE WOULD NOT LISTEN TO THEM, AS THE LORD HAD SAID.

This sign will now set up the beginning of these plagues but notice how there were a group of sorcerers that were able to duplicate this sign.

We will also see that they were able to duplicate the first two plagues.

But, by the third plague the sorcerers were no longer able to duplicate the plagues and Moses records these words in chapter 8:19:

THEN THE MAGICIANS SAID TO PHARAOH, "THIS IS THE FINGER OF GOD." BUT PHARAOH'S HEART WAS HARDENED, AND HE WOULD NOT LISTEN TO THEM, AS THE LORD HAD SAID.

The finger of God is simply an acknowledgment of God's hand, or God's doing.

It's used elsewhere to describe creation, the giving of the Law, and the casting out of demons in Luke's gospel.

On the screen is an illustration of the ten plagues, and it will remain up while we review them.

1.

The first plague is the Nile River's water turned into blood.

We also see from the text that all water in Egypt was affected by this.

Obviously, this caused the people to suffer, but just as important, God's judgement on the Nile was a judgement of their gods, Hapi, Isis, and Khnum [ka-num].

2. The second plague was the infestation of frogs.

Evidently, there was a god named Heqet, who was a fertility goddess and had the head of a frog.

3. The third plague, which was the infestation of gnats - or some translate as lice.

This plague - as seen in 8:16 was the work of the staff striking the ground to turn the dust of the earth to these gnats.

This was an attack on the god of the desert, "Seb" or "Set"

4. The fourth plague was similar - flies.

These swarms invaded every livable area in Egypt.

This was likely an attack on Khepri, who had the head of a fly, and was a god of the morning sun.

Chapter 8, verse 22 reveals that the people of Israel were spared from this plague.

5.

The fifth plague - the death of the livestock is an interesting one.

Maybe you've seen pictures of these gods, and many of them have the head of an animal.

Apis and Hathor were two of these gods, who had the head of a cow.

Chapter 9, verse 4 reads: 4 BUT THE LORD WILL MAKE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE LIVESTOCK OF ISRAEL AND THE LIVESTOCK OF EGYPT, SO THAT NOTHING OF ALL THAT BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL SHALL DIE."'"

a. Just as we saw with the flies, God is sparing His chosen people from these plagues.

b.

Once again, we see how the Lord is in complete control of what is happening.

God is controlling the elements and choosing who is affected by it.

God Himself is all powerful.

This is a lesson for Israel, for Egypt, and for each of us.

6.

The sixth plague were boils that affected "MAN AND BEAST."

By now, I think you get the idea that all these plagues were an attack on Egypt's deities, including Pharoah himself.

7. The seventh plague was hail.

This is such an interesting plague as it includes such a large narrative and there's also some interesting, and seemingly unnatural phenomenon going on with the inclusion of fire and rain.

Again, we see the power of God in this storm.

a.

This one affects the Pharoah unlike other times.

In chapter 9, verse 27 we read: THEN PHARAOH SENT AND CALLED 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...

8.

The eighth plague is the infestation of the locusts.

This is another long narrative, and here we finally see that Pharoah and his officials are becoming tired, and Pharoah's servants are now going to him for all of this to stop.

They're telling Pharoah that by his pride and his stubbornness, that Egypt is being destroyed.

a.

Another lesson here for us.

We've seen this theme of Pharoah's heart being hardened.

In fact, throughout this entire narrative his heart remains hard.

In some cases, God hardens it, and in other cases we see that Pharoah hardens it.

b.

Hardening means that when someone has seen the clear evidence of God at work, and they refuse to submit, but instead they resist.

c.

You see, we don't know when and if the Lord will cause a heart to soften.

So, our responsibility is to continue to do His will.

We are to continue to share Jesus with others.

God did not stop after the first plague.

God didn't slow down or lessen the impact of these plagues - in fact, you've probably noticed how these plagues became progressively more devastating as they went on.

i.

Maybe you have a loved one who doesn't know the Lord, and they seem to have a hardened heart, don't stop.

Maybe they are hard now, but God is all powerful as we've see with all of these plagues, so we know that God can soften even the hardest heart.

9. Finally, the ninth plague is darkness.

This one was direct attack on "Ra", the sun god, who was usually represented by the Pharoah himself.

Again, in a powerful display, the place of Goshen, where Israel resided was not under this darkness that plagued Egypt for 3 days.