The Story Through the Bible Exod 9-10

Seventh Plague

We are on the third triad of plagues before the ultimate 10th plague. We’ve been paying attention to patterns and escalations in these sets. This third and final triad also has something new I’ll ask when we get through with them if anyone has picked up on it when compared to the first two triads so keep a keen eye opened.

First lets look at Plague 7.

Exod 9:13-21

What’s our pattern what things have we seen before and now see again in the first plague of a triad?

Morning presented to Pharoah, demand for the people to be let go, warning, …

Next in the pattern last time was a new separation of Egypt from Goshen - that still happens (v26) but it isn’t noted here it should be expected because it’s already become part of the pattern. We do however get a newish statement. It seems maybe this slot in the pattern was for adding new things. In this section one we see 3 verses that all end with ha - eretz “the earth” I think the pattern and the context give us a global “earth” not just in the land of Egypt “earth” Why? Here as things have escalated we get more explanations about why these plagues are happening. Certainly God could have just wiped out the Egyptians with a plague and the Israelites could have walked out of dead empty country to be free. That’s not what God did however and we see some reasoning why here.

v14: That Pharaoh, his servants, all his people would know that there is none like Yehova in all the earth. v15: Could have killed you all v16: God did it to show His power and Name would be known globally.

Remember things I said we’ll look for across the whole book of Exodus. It’s not about Moses it’s about God.

God is Active not Passive God is sovereign to save his people God shows His own Glory

Okay we have our pattern - What does this plague address in the Egyptian panteon?

There are a lot…

+----------+----------------------+------------------------------------------+

| DEITY | DOMAIN / ROLE | THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE |

+----------+----------------------+------------------------------------------+

| Nut | Goddess of the Sky | The sky "roof" failed to protect Egypt. |

| Shu | God of Air/Wind | Failed to control the atmosphere/storm. |

| Seth | God of Storms | Yahweh "out-stormed" the god of storms. |

| Osiris | God of Crops | The harvest (Osiris) was struck down. |

| Isis | Protective Goddess | Unable to shield the land from fire/ice. |

+----------+----------------------+------------------------------------------+

Lets see it play out

Exo 9.22-26

Then of course we’re going to have the request from pharaoh that as it turns out is not is not genuine.

Exod 9.27-35

Plague 8

Now we have plague 8 we’ll see the same patter for our second in the triad emerge

Exod 10.1-11

Pattern?

Go in to pharaoh, demand, warning, …

now we see negotiation attempted again like we did last time just different. Who’s going? Moses could have used less words and just said everyone is! last time it was control where to obey then limit what to obey then just reject God. Here we see the advisors saing to limit things but Pharaoh hears everyone and gives a sarcastic response! He does offer a take it or leave it for moses to take the men and go.

So we get the results

Exod 10.12-20

We’ll point out again the deities targeted by this as the list grows to cover more and more of the so called Egyptian Gods.

+--------------+----------------------+------------------------------------+

| DEITY | DOMAIN / ROLE | THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE |

+--------------+----------------------+------------------------------------+

| Serafia | Protector vs Locusts | Specifically tasked to stop swarms.|

| Renenutet | Goddess of Harvest | The "nurturer" of crops failed. |

| Nepri | God of Grain | Total consumption of his domain. |

| Osiris | God of Vegetation | Final death blow to his influence. |

| Isis | Protector of Crops | Unable to guard the food supply. |

+--------------+----------------------+------------------------------------+

Plague 9

Now we get to our final of the triads the penultimate plague: darkness.

Exod 10.21-29

our pattern still fits

No meeting, no demand, no warning, immediate plague.

This is not an eclipse it’s a 3 day event and the darkness is “felt” whatever that means, in fact a better explanation seems to exist because this is a unique phrase so there is a little debate but it might better be translated as a darkness you will need to feel around to get by in. aka so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face so you’ll have to feel your way along the ground or walls to get somewhere.

We also end with a threat from Pharaoh that Moses doesn’t seem to mind and makes clear that indeed Pharaoh will not get another meeting with Moses.

Now at the beginning I said something else different happened anyone have a guess or knows what that might be?

+---+-----------+----------------+--------------------------------------------+

| # | PLAGUE | PRIMARY ACTOR | THE ACTION & SCRIPTURE |

+---+-----------+----------------+--------------------------------------------+

| 1 | Blood | Aaron | Stretches out his staff (7:19) |

| 2 | Frogs | Aaron | Stretches out his hand with staff (8:6) |

| 3 | Gnats | Aaron | Stretches out staff/strikes dust (8:17) |

| 4 | Flies | None (God) | No manual action; God sends them (8:24) |

| 5 | Livestock | None (God) | No manual action; God sets time (9:6) |

| 6 | Boils | Moses | Moses throws soot in the air (9:10) |

| 7 | Hail | Moses | Stretches staff toward heaven (9:23) |

| 8 | Locusts | Moses | Moses stretches out his staff (10:13) |

| 9 | Darkness | Moses | Moses stretches out his hand (10:22) |

+---+-----------+----------------+--------------------------------------------+

As moses starts walking in his ministry he gets bolder and we see a shift from the God - Moses - Aaron to just God and Moses. Aaron is still there but becomes less important. When is the last time that Aaron does the action?

When the magicians give up and say this is the finger of God! then we have a transition in the 2nd triad where God does the action of the first two (4 and 5) then God directs moses and Aaron in the 6th to grab handfuls of ash but then has Moses be the named one for action in throwing it in the air. Then here in our third triad all the actions are performed by Moses.

This is now head of state vs head of state - the prophets of Pharaoh and Moses have dropped out of the action.

#note to self:

PLAGUE - WARNING TYPE - LOCATION/CONTEXT - REALM OF DIVINE ACTION

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1 Water to Blood A-Type Meet (Nile) Element - Nile/Water

2 Frogs B-Type Go (Palace) Lifestyle - Fertility/Life

3 Gnats/Lice C-Type No Warning Body - Irresistible Personal Affliction

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4 Flies/Swarms A-Type Meet (Nile) Element - Air/Distinction

5 Livestock B-Type Go (Palace) Lifestyle - Property/Wealth

6 Boils C-Type No Warning Body - Irresistible Personal Health

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7 Hail A-Type Meet (Court/Field) Element - Sky/Storms

8 Locusts B-Type Go (Palace) Lifestyle - Sustenance/Harvest

9 Darkness C-Type No Warning Body - Sight| Sun/Ra

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