This is the finger of God. There can be no compromise

Background

The Egyptians had at concept called “Ma’at”. According to the ESV Archeology Study Bible: “The Egyptians believed in what they called ma‘at, the organizing quality of the cosmos. It was a consequence of the first creation and part of the inherent structure of the universe. Ma‘at held order together; as such, it was the antithesis of chaos. The Egyptians, as a result, sought to maintain ma‘at in their earthly existence. In fact, it was the duty of the pharaoh to maintain ma‘at; he was, in reality, the very personification of this universal principle of order.”[1] In bringing the plagues we have and will see, the one true God is directly challenging Pharaoh and Egypt’s ability to do so. The signs or plaques then were acts of de-creation.[2] It was disorder and chaos where there should be none peace and stability. It was judgment upon Egypt and victory for Israel. Egypt shall know who is the true LORD of creation

Exposition

Verses 16 - 17: This sign is different from the ones that preceded it. There is no standing before Pharaoh. There is no restating of the message. The third plague does not come with a warning. This is important. Warnings are an act of grace. They are an opportunity to repent. But at a certain point, the warnings stop. After repeated refusal to obey, there is no point to them. In this case the LORD sends gnats without warning. Gnats are small, barely visible insects, whose bites cause painful skin irritation, particularly when they creep into the nose or eyes. Like the first two plagues, the main impact is inconvenience and frustration. This is also the first purely land based sign. The prior two involved the Nile in some way. The judgment here is either against Kheprer, the god of resurrection or the earth god Geb.[3] It is a message that the God of the Hebrews is LORD over land and sea. Even the smallest particles on the ground are subject to him. The smallest molecule will do as He commands. Like the prior plague they go everywhere and afflict everything. This is also the first plague where both man and beast are impacted. Finally, this is de-creation or a reversal of the created order. Man was to have dominion over all lower creation but in this case the lower creation is clearly dominant over man.[4]

Mackay, J. L. (2001). Exodus (p. 156). Fearn, Ross-shire, Great Britain: Mentor.This is also the first purely land based sign. The prior two involved the Nile in some way. It is a message that the God of the Hebrews is LORD over land and sea. Even the smallest particles on the ground are subject to him. The smallest molecule was do as He commands. Like the prior plague they go everywhere and afflict everything. This is also the first plague where both man and beast are impacted.

The third plague may have been intended to humiliate the earth-god Geb. Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus: Saved for God's Glory, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 240.

We must ask the question, and it is fitting given the current COVID-19 pandemic, what is our source of stability? What power are we relying on in our lives? Is it money? As of March 12, $7.3 in equity value was wiped out during the 3-week period ending that day.[5] Businesses are closed and many may fail. Is it status, power, of influence? That may help you get tested, but doesn’t make you immune. Is it government? They are scrambling and have passed relief packages, but can’t do much else. Is it Family? They could be sources of or at risk of infection to or from you. Youth won’t spare you either. Is there anything that exists which we can have absolute trust in? Yes, the one who created all things, sustains all things, and who is due glory from all things (). I speak of Christ Jesus. If you don’t call him savior and lord, repent and believe the gospel.

Verses 18 - 19: Once again the magicians attempt a duplication. This time they fail. This can’t be counterfeited. Why? Only God can create life. Only the LORD can bring something from nothing (but what about the snakes). The Magicians realize they are dealing with a power greater than they imagined or could mimic. This was by no means a statement of conversion. They were not about to become followers of Yahweh. They simply acknowledge, because they have no choice, that a superior power has thwarted them. This is important because it demonstrates that nothing and no one can stop the judgment of God, or any act of God. What God determines to do will be done. This should be terrifying to the sinner but it is a source of confidence to the saints. What the LORD has willed for His church shall come to pass. Every promise of God to His people can be received with Amen.

Verses 18 - 19: Once again the magicians attempt a duplication. This time they fail. This can’t be counterfeited. Why? Matthew Henry gives us great insight: “God has the devil in a chain, and limits him both as a deceiver and as a destroyer; hitherto he shall come, but no further. The devil’s agents when God permitted them, could do great things; but when he laid an embargo upon them, though but with his finger, they could do nothing. The magicians’ inability, in this less instance, showed whence they had their ability in the former instances which seemed greater, and that they had no power against Moses but what was given them from above.”[5] Perhaps our clearest OT witness is Satan and Job. As we see in the first two chapters Satan is empowered to afflict Job only to a point (; ). There is indeed one who brings order to chaos and upholds all things. He is Kings of kings and Lord of lords and by His word are things maintained (). His name is Christ Jesus. He is savior and lord. Do you belong to Him?

The Magicians realize they are dealing with a power greater than they imagined or could mimic. This is the God of : Good and calamity comes from Him. The preacher in Ecclesiastes also gives testimony to this (). This was by no means a statement of conversion. They were not about to become followers of Yahweh. They simply acknowledge, because they had no choice, that a superior power has thwarted them. To quote Matthew Henry: “Sooner or later God will extort, even from his enemies, an acknowledgment of his own sovereignty and over-ruling power.”[6] This is important because it demonstrates that nothing and no one can stop the judgment of God, or any act of God. What God determines to do will be done. This should be terrifying to the sinner but a source of confidence to the saints. What the LORD has willed for His church shall come to pass. Every promise of God to His people can be received with Amen.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 106). Peabody: Hendrickson.The Magicians realize they are dealing with a power greater than they imagined or could mimic. This was by no means a statement of conversion. They were not about to become followers of Yahweh. They simply acknowledge, because they have no choice, that a superior power has thwarted them. This is important because it demonstrates that nothing and no one can stop the judgment of God, or any act of God. What God determines to do will be done. This should be terrifying to the sinner but it is a source of confidence to the saints. What the LORD has willed for His church shall come to pass. Every promise of God to His people can be received with Amen.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 106). Peabody: Hendrickson.This is important because it demonstrates that nothing and no one can stop the judgment of God, or any act of God. What God determines to do will be done. This should be terrifying to the sinner but it is a source of confidence to the saints. What the LORD has willed for His church shall come to pass. Every promise of God to His people can be received with Amen.

Perhaps the magicians could take comfort in the fact they didn’t make the problem worse but what of Pharaoh? There statement that they are dealing with a greater divine power doesn’t phrase him one bit. Pharaoh only strengthens his resolve to resist. He will not be moved even after seeing the weakness of his magicians. The LORD is moving with great power but Pharaoh acts as if this didn’t happen. The only other option would be acknowledging who he isn’t and submitting. It is the end of his autonomy. This is the limitation of miracles. They won’t move a heart unwilling to be moved. They will only increase judgment.

Verses 20 - 24: With the fourth plague the pattern of warnings before judgment continues. Moses is to go before Pharaoh again with God’s unchanging demand. God demands the freedom of His people that they may fulfill their purpose: the worship of Him. This is still true today. Our salvation comes with Christ Jesus says to Satan, let my people go. Unlike with Pharaoh, there is no resistance. We are freed by the death and resurrection of Christ. The chains of sin, and every form of bondage with them, must fall. Then we give Him praise and glory. Blessed be the name of the Lord. God’s standard and requirements are like Him, they change not. There is however a new thing introduced with this plague: an explicit declaration that Israel will not be harmed. What is going to happen will only impact the land where Egyptians dwell. This mitigates against natural explanation and shows Yahweh as truly God. God’s judgment won’t extend to God’s people. Only those who oppose him will suffer the consequences. In doing this the LORD is demonstrating He is in the midst of His people. Pharaoh will see Egypt suffer and Israel spared. The people of God can take comfort in knowing they will not be condemned with the world. They are disciplined but not destroyed. The word of God brings life and power to those being saved. It judges and condemns those who remain in His wrath (). This is a powerful testimony to the fact that God doesn’t keep His people by taking them out of trouble. He keeps them even in the midst and sin and its judgment.

The text says the land was laid waste. The psalmist would later write that the swarm of flies devoured the Egyptians (). It was a great swarm of flies. It was burdensome. There could be no peace or rest. It couldn’t be business as usual. All Egypt felt the hand of God. We don’t know why long it lasted or when the people started complaining but it got to be toward and intolerable point.

Verses 25 - 27: Pharaoh attempts a compromise, a negotiated settlement that will change little but remove God’s hand. The people can sacrifice to Yahweh but they must stay in the land. Pharaoh is willing to give ground as long as he can remain in control. Bargaining is a regular feature of human interaction and business. It is neither inherently evil or good. It can’t be done with God. But what about Abraham you say. I say that the LORD told Abraham what He was going to do so His justice, mercy, and just judgment could be demonstrated. He kept coming down in the number of righteous people needed so he could stress the importance of intercessory prayer on behalf of a nation. Remember that he didn’t get below ten. When we looked at the portion of , we noted the LORD won’t forbear forever. His just wrath must be poured out on sin. Abraham did what the LORD wanted and so did Moses. No was the only appropriate answer to give to Pharaoh. This is not what the LORD commanded and the sacrifice of sacred animals would be offensive to the Egyptians. OT Scholar Alan Cole writes: “A bull with certain marks was sacred to Apis, cows to Isis, rams to Amon, and so forth, covering nearly every possible sacrificial animal.” The LORD demanded total surrender and obedience. Any partiality to His commands is offensive to Him. This would remain true throughout the rest of scripture. The LORD requires his commands to be obeyed fully. Anything less in sin.

Abraham did what the LORD wanted The response of Moses is No. This is not what the LORD commanded and it will be offensive to the Egyptians. The LORD demanded total surrender and obedience. Any partiality to His commands is offensive to Him. This would remain true throughout the rest of scripture. The LORD requires his commands to be obeyed fully. Anything less in sin.

The LORD demanded total surrender and obedience. Any partiality to His commands is offensive to Him. This would remain true throughout the rest of scripture. The LORD requires his commands to be obeyed fully. Anything less in sin.

This also would have offended he Egyptians population whom would respond be attacking the Israelites. They must obey the LORD their GOD. That language itself is striking. It is a clear restatement that there is one greater than Pharaoh who Israel must obey. There can be no compromise of His commands.

Verses 28 - 32: Pharaoh again offers up another lie. He will let them go to sacrifice to the God they consider greater than him. He just wants it to end and asks for prayer for himself and his people. Moses agrees to pray for the LORD to turn away but warns Pharaoh against lying again. Does this mean Moses foresaw victory? Not necessarily. Moses seeks the LORD, the LORD turns, and Pharaoh again responds to mercy with contempt. He loathes the necessity of having to deal with this God of slaves. It is an affront to his ‘deity’. It smacks at his pride. He brings him down. He was probably anger and indignant. He determined that Israel would not be freed. On how foolish this man is.

Practical Application

Pharaoh offered Moses to opportunity to compromise, to be satisfied with less than what the LORD commanded. His option was for Moses to disobey God remain in Egypt with a little comfort. Moses rightly said no and we must do the same. One grave problem amongst the church today is compromise. The greatest area of compromise is concerns biblical sexuality but there are others. We compromise when we deny Christ as the only way to salvation. We compromise when we place career advancement and public respectability about the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom. We compromise when we are silent or look the other way at evil for access to power. All these things keep the people of God in Egypt. The LORD won’t accept partial obedience. The wonder of His grace demands full surrender and joyful obedience. The blessings of God is far greater than anything this world could offer. In the words of Charles Spurgeon: “Christ did not come into the world merely to make our sin more tolerable, but to deliver us right away from it. He did not come to make hell less hot, or sin less damnable, or our lusts less mighty; but to put all these things far away from his people, and work out a full and complete deliverance.”[9] We must be fully committed to Christ and His wrong. All else is sin.

Spurgeon, C. H. (1860). A Divine Challenge! In The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 6, p. 287). London: Passmore & Alabaster.”

Gospel Application

We must ask the question, and it is fitting given the current COVID-19 pandemic, what is our source of stability? What power are we relying on in our lives? Is it money? As of March 12, $7.3 in equity value was wiped out during the 3-week period ending that day.[6] Businesses are closed and many may fail. Is it status, power, of influence? That may help you get tested, but doesn’t make you immune. Is it government? They are scrambling and have passed relief packages, but can’t do much else. Is it Family? They could be sources of or at risk of infection to or from you. Youth won’t spare you either. Is there anything that exists which we can have absolute trust in? Yes, the one who created all things, sustains all things, and who is due glory from all things (). I speak of Christ Jesus. If you don’t call him savior and lord, repent and believe the gospel.

Note to be added from ESV Archeological Study Bible

2. Note to be added for Exalting Christ in Exodus.

3. Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus: Saved for God's Glory, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 240.

4. ibid, Pg. 241

7. Krantz, M. (2020, ), How Much The Coronavirus Bear Market Is Costing Every American, Investors Business Daily. Retrieved from https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/sectors/sp500-how-much-every-american-lost-in-the-coronavirus-stock-market-drop/

5. Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 106). Peabody: Hendrickson.

6. ibid, Pg. 241

7. Cole, R. A. (1973). Exodus: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 2, p. 102). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

8. Krantz, M. (2020, ), How Much The Coronavirus Bear Market Is Costing Every American, Investors Business Daily. Retrieved from https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/sectors/sp500-how-much-every-american-lost-in-the-coronavirus-stock-market-drop/

9. Spurgeon, C. H. (1860). A Divine Challenge! In The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 6, p. 287). London: Passmore & Alabaster.