Sermon Tone Analysis

As we enter the second week of our series we will be looking at the third and fourth plague brought down upon Egypt.

Last week we began by looking at the water to blood and the infestation of frogs throughout Egypt.

The focus of last week was found in both the Pharaoh's and the Magicians.

The Magicians were, in their own way, duplicate what God was doing. of course they were not the same.

But that did not matter.

Pharoah only needed some semblance of duplication to keep him rooted in his idolatry.

They were producing knock-off’s.

This is the same fight we have today as we address the skeptics of a post-modern world.

Knock-off’s make us feel good but they do not transform us.

They make us feel secure, until the rug is pulled out.

Its a facade of intellectual superiority.

Its open minded but only if you agree.

Knock-off’s cannot save.

Knock-off’s cannot transform.

Jesus Christ is no knock-off.

He is of one nature of the triune Godhead.

The God of the Bible is no knock-off, He is the real deal and now He is judging both the god’s of Egypt and Egypt itself.

But something I failed to mention last week was this, the plagues themselves were not the testimony of who God is.

It was also His removal of the plagues.

He brings them, and He takes them away.

This show His supremacy over all.

But this is also what keeps the plagues coming as Pharoah would concede only to double back when God took the plagues.

Now, why would he do this?

Is he pulling a fast one on God.

NO!

The text in no way gives us that interpretation.

But Pharoah worships idols who conform to him.

He can pull a fast one on them, because they are finite, and not god’s at all.

But the God of Israel knows full well what is going to happen and the intentions of Pharaoh's heart.

He keeps saying the people and go and then, no they can’t.

So, God keeps bringing plagues.

This brings us to the third plague of Egypt.

Exodus 8:16–19 16 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’

” 17 And they did so.

Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast.

All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt.

18 The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not.

So there were gnats on man and beast.

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.”

Looking first at verses 16-19 we see the first wave of flies, gnats, mosquito's, we honestly do not know.

We do know sand flies are native to Egypt.

I experienced those spawns of Satan in Shell Point South Carolina.

Gabe probably knows how terrible they are having gone through Marine Corp basic training at Paris Island.

There are some who say lice, gnats, or mosquito's.

Though I think there is validity in looking to the native insects, we also do not want to forget, God can bring whatever He wants, and that could include native species.

With that in mind, if it were a gnat or fly I would like to propose it may have been a Tsetse fly which is native to Africa.

A bite by the tsetse fly is often painful and can develop into a red sore, also called a chancre.

Fever, severe headaches, irritability, extreme fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, and aching muscles and joints are common symptoms of sleeping sickness.

They also are very capable of spreading disease between people as well as animals to people.

It may have been this fly, but ultimately we do not know.

That is just a possibility because we really do not know what God sent.

What we do know is the vast quantity, that they would bite, and they affected both animals and people.

We also know that the Magicians could not duplicate it.

They say in verse 19 “This is the finger of God.”

This is not a profession of faith nor a rejection of their false god’s.

They are conceding they cannot match up because this is divine in nature.

Let’s go to the tale of the tape, which god’s of Egypt were going home with their tails between their legs?

We can see how the god named Geb would be singled out, he the god of the earth.

Egyptians gave offerings to Geb for the bounty of the land—but in this case, rather than the land bringing forth crops and fruit and vegetables, it brought forth itching, biting pests.

And their god Geb was shown to be powerless to prevent it!

This infestation is also a slap in the face of various other Egyptian gods such as Harpocrates (the god Horus in child form) who was to ward off dangerous creatures.

There is Imhotep, god of medicinal healing as well as other healing gods none of them could offer relief.

Pharaoh too was considered a god, yet he was personally afflicted with bites.

It’s also interesting how this affected the priests of the gods of Egypt.

The Greek historian Herodotus, who traveled to ancient Egypt, tells us that the Egyptian priests had to perform many cleanliness rituals to serve in their role as priests.

The Egyptian priesthood was extremely careful about hygiene and ritual cleansing; an infestation of resulting is numerous bites or infections would make them unable to worship or make offerings to their god’s.

Not only that the plague also affected every beast, perhaps including the ones who would be offered in sacrifice.

Essentially, we see two distinct features develop with the third plague.

The first development, is the inability of the Magicians to duplicate in any way what God has done.

They even conceded defeat.

The second development which ties in is that Pharoah would not concede defeat.

The magicians recognize the God of Israel is like no one they have encountered.

Their dark arts could only take them so far.

This is the same today, our reliance upon our own strength, our reliance upon anything supernatural apart from Christ will only take you so far.

But this is the irony of it, human pride is at the root of our sin.

Going all the way back to the fall of mankind, Adam and Eve were told they could be like God.

Their pride justified that they should be like Him.

What did they discover?

They found out real quick, they are nothing like Him and it was their pride and shame that drove them to hide from Him. Pride both drives us to sin and keeps us from repentance.

Pharoah doubled down, though he had no evidence that his god’s could keep up with YAHWEH.

Pride blinds us from who we truly need.

Pride drives us away from Him. Pride demands we stand our ground, even though the ground we have chosen is quicksand.

Our prayer must be, “LORD humble me.

Lord break be of pride.”

You might be saying, “I’m humble, I don’t struggle with pride.”

Those thoughts alone say the opposite.

That’s how dangerous Pride is, in both the case of Adam, Pharoah, and for us today Proverbs 16:18a “18 Pride goes before destruction”

The fourth Plague might seem the same but it is not.

Exodus 8:20-23 “20 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, as he comes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

21 “For if you do not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they dwell.

22 “But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, in order that you may know that I, the Lord, am in the midst of the land.

23 “I will put a division between My people and your people.

Tomorrow this sign will occur.”

We might think these plagues were the same, and in part they do share similarities.

But the distinct difference between the third and fourth plague is found in God’s separation of Israel from Egypt.

“But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, in order that you may know that I, the Lord, am in the midst of the land.

God is singling out His people from Egypt in an obvious way.

Now, these plagues might seem to be very similar and to some the same.

But they are different.