The Plagues (Part 2)

Last week we began looking at the plagues. I mentioned that when we look closely, we see that these are not random events. There is an order and a great significance we in the plagues.

I mentioned there are three cycles of three plagues. The last plague stands alone.

I mentioned that in each cycle:

The first plague is preceded by a warning to Pharaoh at the Nile

The second plague is preceded by a warning to Pharaoh at his palace

The third plague has no warning at all.

This is true in every cycle.

Last week we looked at the first cycle of three plagues:

Nile turned to blood

Frogs overtook the land

Gnats

We also mentioned that the plagues were an attack on the gods of Egypt.

Exodus 12:12 “on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.”

The Nile turned to blood was an attack on Hapi, the god who filled the Nile up annually so the land would be fertile.

The frogs overtook the land was an attack on the Egyptian goddesses Heqt. She had the body of a woman but the head of a frog. She was a goddess of childbirth and fertility.

The gnats were an attack on the goddess Nut and Hathor who were both depicted as cows. This plague was an attack on the people and the livestock.

God is showing Israel that they should not fear the gods of Egypt.

God is showing the Egyptians they should not serve these gods.

This morning we look at the 4th, 5th, and 6th plagues. You’re going to see the plagues are getting progressively worse.

The biggest differences you will see is:

The magicians are no longer able to give Pharaoh any hope.

There will be a distinction between the people of God and Egypt.

It appears the first three plagues affected Israel (8:22), after that only the Egyptians are affected by the plagues.

1. God sent a plague of swarming flies (8:20-32).

A. Pharaoh neglected God’s warning (8:20-24).

Moses rises early and meets Pharaoh by the Nile.

“Let My people go…or else”

God says He will send swarms of flies if Pharaoh refuses.

We’re not sure what type of flies these were. We know this:

Swarms

Biting flies (Psalm 78:45) “devoured them”

On you- in your house

Your servants

Your people- in their homes

On the ground

God is going to give two signs to Pharaoh that these flies come from His hand:

1) There will be a distinction between My people and Your people (23).

Goshen was an area in the east where the Jewish people lived (22). This entire region would be free from flies.

2) The plague would occur the next day (23) “Tomorrow”.

Everything occurred just as God said it would.

Notice this was Pharaoh’s choice. The word “if” in verse 21.

Pharaoh can’t blame God for this devastation. If he had obeyed this would not have happened.

Pharaoh will not listen to God. I want to point out two things that should have convinced Pharaoh:

The distinction. Those flies stayed away from an entire region. Have you ever tried to keep a fly out of anywhere? You can open the door for a second in they are inside.

When I go to the dump my car door is open for a few seconds and I have five in there.

The timing. These flies did not gradually come. The next day the swarms were there. It was an immediate infestation.

If you miss heaven you can’t blame God. He has warned us all. He has given us the “if”.

If we confess our sins.

If we will come to Christ.

We will be saved!

If we do not we can expect nothing but judgment.

Not only has God given us warnings He has given us signs as well.

The resurrection of Christ.

The rising of the sun each day- The heavens declare…

The rebirth of the lost.

B. Pharaoh calls for a compromise (8:25-30).

Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron.

Imagine how Pharaoh must have looked to the men of God. Flies buzzing all around his head while the men of God stood there unbothered.

Pharaoh said they could worship God but only in the land of Egypt.

Moses pushed back.

If we worship the Lord in Egypt we’ll be killed by the Egyptians.

Jewish worship was offensive to Egyptians. The Jews sacrificed animals they venerated. For instance, the bull was a sign of Deity to the Egyptians. The Jewish people sacrificed them to the Lord.

The ram was a special animal to the Egyptians. The Jews sacrificed them.

The Egyptians would have thought the Jews were mocking their gods.

Moses said it would take them at least three days to get to a place where they could worship the Lord without fear of attack.

Pharaoh doesn’t care. He gives them two conditions:

Stay in the land

Pray for him

Listen to me, folks. This is something we need to hear in our day.

The government has no right to tell us how, where, or when to worship. Moses said they must worship “as He (God) tells us.”

When it comes to worship there is no compromise.

Where- We will gather together. We will not stay every man in his own home. We have sanctuaries and we will worship there.

When- Every Sunday. It’s the Lord’s Day, not the governments day. The government has no right to tell us when to worship. God has already answered that question for us.

How- In the name of Jesus Christ. In accordance with the Word of God. We will sing. We will preach. We will give. We will pray.

We will even pray for the Pharaoh but not because the Pharaoh told us to. We will pray for him because the Lord has told us to (1 Tim. 2:1-4).

C. Pharaoh broke his promise (8:31-32).

Moses prayed and God answered his prayer. Look at verse 31. Not a single fly remained. That’s the hand of God! From swarms to not even one!

The Egyptians worshipped the goddess Uatchit. She was the Lady of the Marshes. That’s where the insects lived and bred. She had no control over these flies. Pharaoh couldn’t lean on her.

With the realization that his gods were hopeless he still doesn’t turn to God.

He hardened his heart and did not let the people go.

It doesn’t matter who is praying for us, if we aren’t willing to turn from our sin, we are hopeless.

Moses prayed for this man.

I’ve seen in so many times. The drunk says:

Pray for me! I’ll pray you put that bottle down.

I can’t put a good word for you in with God.

I’ve had people say that to me. “When you pray , put a good word in for me.”

You think the Lord is going to say, “You wouldn’t repent but Kyle put in a good word for you so come on in!”

All the prayer in the world won’t help a person who won’t repent.

2. The Lord kills some of Egypt’s livestock (9:1-7).

A. Pharaoh is warned (9:1-3).

If he does not let Israel go and worship the Lord a plague will fall on the livestock of Egypt.

Notice a couple of things:

1) In the field- Animals that were stabled would be fine (3).

This is God’s grace. Egyptians could save their animals if they stabled them.

2) The plague would result in the death of these animals (7). Nothing has been killed up to this point except fish & frogs.

3) This is the hand of the Lord (3). Make no mistake about it, God will be the One who kills the livestock.

Livestock was important to Egypt. Cattle were especially precious. The Apis bull was the sacred animal of the god Ptah. It was believed this bull was the incarnation of the god.

The bull was selected by appearance. It was taken to Memphis and given special quarters to live in with its own harem of cows. It was paraded around at special events. He would walk beside the King to show the King’s power.

After 25 years it was ceremoniously killed. The people mourned. The priests ate a portion. The animal was embalmed, mummified, and buried like a king.

You can see how seriously these folks took their cattle.

B. The livestock are killed (9:4-6).

The next day, just as the Lord said, all the livestock of Egypt died that were in the field.

The distinction is important. Nota single animal died that belonged to the Jews.

Notice Ptah could not protect Egypt’s livestock. Israel’s God protected theirs.

Imagine the sight!

Imagine the stench!

Imagine the work! (burying these things)

Let this be a reminder that sin has not only affected humans. It has affected all of creation. Even animals suffer because of sin. All of creation suffers under Adam’s curse.

C. Pharaoh investigates the issue (7-8).

He wants to know if any animals died in Goshen. He sent some people down there to check it out. When he found out the livestock of Israel was safe it didn’t change a thing.

So many people say if God would give them a sign they would believe. It isn’t true. People will not believe because they have a hard heart.

If you don’t want to believe the devil has a million reasons for you not to.

The devil can explain away any sign God gives you.

If you don’t want to believe the devil won’t have a hard time convincing you not to.

Pharaoh has been warned by God.

Pharaoh has seen miracles done by God.

Pharaoh has had people praying for him.

He just doesn’t want God!

3. God sends a plague of boils (9:8-12).

A. Moses performs a symbolic act.

Moses is told to take handfuls of soot from the kiln. The kiln was used to make bricks. Brick making was a burden the Egyptians placed on the Jews. The soot accumulated in the bottom of the kilns.

Moses gathered up handfuls of it. Probably placed it in some sort of container. Went to Pharaoh. We see in Israel’s history there were times prophets did some sort of symbolic act as a message from God.

Jeremiah shattered the potter’s vessel (Jeremiah 19).

Ezekiel did not cry when his wife died (Ezekiel 24:16-18).

Hosea married a prostitute.

That’s the type of thing we see here. This was a dramatic event.

Pharaoh is watching. Moses takes the black soot out. He grabs handfuls of it and throws it into the air. The wind catches it and spreads it out.

This is done to connect the oppression of the Jews with the plagues upon Egypt. Pharaoh is reaping what he has sown. He has no idea what is about to happen. He’s not warned this time. He certainly would have connected the dots once the boils broke out.

B. The Egyptians developed painful boils (11).

Deuteronomy 28:27 describes the boils of Egypt as “tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed.”

Some believe this was a type of anthrax. Anthrax develops into black sores on the skin. This would correlate with the black soot from the kilns. We can’t be sure. What we know is it was a painful skin disease on humans and animals.

The Egyptian goddess Sekhmet was the goddess of disease, healing and medicine. She was believed to send disease and heal disease. She could not do that against the Jews. But the Lord could plague her people.

It’s interesting that the magicians are mentioned first. Pharaoh summoned them but they were so sick they couldn’t even stand up. The God of Israel has defeated the entire religious system of the Egyptians. Neither their gods nor their priests are any help.

All the Egyptians developed the boils. This is the worst plague so far. It is a disease. I imagine it threw the people into a panic and put pressure on Pharaoh to get something done.

C. The Lord hardens Pharaoh’s heart (12).

He did not listen to Moses. He would not let the people go.

You can only ignore God for so long. Pharaoh found that out. God gave Pharaoh what he wanted. He wanted a hardened heart, and he got it.

Have you ever thought about how much of the goodness of God Pharaoh had received?

His position

His wealth

His life/health

Also think of how the Lord:

Warned Pharaoh on many occasions

Gave Pharaoh signs that He is the true God

Restored the Nile

Removed the frogs

Removed the gnats

Removed the flies

Spared many of the livestock

Even removed the boils eventually

He could have left all of that. They could have had:

A bloody Nile

Swarms of frogs

Swarms of gnats

Swarms of flies

Livestock that continued to die

Boils

All at one time!

God gave him grace. He didn’t care.

When God cleared the Nile’s waters Pharaoh should have praised Him. He should have worshipped Him. He should have thanked Him. That first plague and its removal should have been enough for Pharaoh.

Reminded me of when Jesus healed those ten lepers. They were so hard hearted they didn’t even thank God. Only one gave Jesus praise (Luke 17:17).

When you have a hard heart, you don’t thank God for His goodness.

All you think of is what God has done to you. You don’t think about what God has done for you.

As Christians we like to say “This too shall pass”.

Suffering is always momentary for the believer. Knowing this keeps us from having a hardened heart.

You say:

Pastor God brought so much trouble in my life.

But didn’t it pass? It passed!

I got news for you. We will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He promised us trials. The good news is we pass through it.

Don’t only think about the stuff God brought you to. Think about the stuff God brought you through. All Pharaoh could think about was what God brought to him. He didn’t praise God for getting him through it. That’s why his heart was so hard.

In Christ we have the promise of eternal life and eternal blessing. That promise enables us to suffer correctly. If you don’t have Christ your heart will harden just lie Pharaoh’s did. Come to Christ.