10 plagues: 7 & 8

Exodus 9:18-35 I am going to re-tell it and refer to verses as we go.

Beginning at verse 18 God tells Egypt that He is going to bring a heavy Hail storm. He warns Egypt that this plague is going to be devastating to both the crops and the livestock. These livestock just cannot get a break can they. Remember, this could have ended if Pharoah would have just let the Jew go. This is not God’s fault, this is Pharaoh's. he ultimately is bringing these plagues upon His nation. So can I say, a leader or leaders who would bring calamity and destruction upon an entire nation so they can cleave to their ego, is no leader who should be in power. Do with that what you wish. Verse 20 is very interesting and also very tactfully written. “20 Everyone among the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring his servants and his livestock into the houses.” These are not Jews who are being spoken of in this verse. These are Egyptians. They feared the word of the LORD. But that is what makes this verse so important, they feared the word of the LORD, not the LORD Himself. But I will say, though verse 20 does not say they have converted, they some of them are at a place which would bring one to conversion. The Word of the LORD testifies to who the LORD God is. John 1:1“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” They fear the Word of the LORD, they do not fear the LORD. On the other hand those who did not fear did nothing. I mean they have seen the other plagues right? Everything God said he would do, He did. Do you see how pride can blind you? The LORD commanded Moses to stretch out his hand toward the sky and hail began to fall. The storm is one accompanied by thunder and bright flashes of Lightning. Exodus 9:25-26 “25 The hail struck all that was in the field through all the land of Egypt, both man and beast; the hail also struck every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail.” The crops were wiped out from the storm. Though trees would still be standing their fruit and branches would be torn off. We have seen hail sizes reach 2 lbs and they fall at 111 miles per hour. To put this into perspective, Aroldis Chapman is a Major League pitcher who clocked the fastest pitch, throwing a baseball 105 mph. A baseball weighs 5 oz and he can throw it over 100 mph. What happens when 5 ounces hits the human body? Now, we have recorded hail reaching up to 2 lbs, that does not mean God sent only 2 lb hail. They could have been larger. We can see how this would have killed animals and wiped out crops. What did Pharoah do? Exodus 9:27-28 “27 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time; the Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones. 28 “Make supplication to the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” Wow! The Hebrew to English is a bit off here. Pharoah said, “I have sinned this time; the Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones.” The Hebrew is better translated, “I have sinned this time; YAHWEH is in the right, and I and my people are the wicked ones.” Is Pharoah repenting. Is he acknowledging his sin? We might think that, until we get to verse 34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had stopped, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. I do want to point out before we get to the god’s who were once again powerless to stand against YAHWEH, notice the text says, “He (pharoah) and his servants.” This is why we looked very closely at verse 20. They did not fear God.

The gods’: This plague of hail was very unusual, as the region where this took place receives only about 3-7 inches of rain per year. There are yet again more, Egyptian gods and goddesses proven to be powerless. Since this plague originated with the sky, the most prominent deity discredited by this plague was Nut, the sky goddess mentioned earlier. She is often depicted in Egyptian art as arching over the earth, her body painted with stars. But Nut wasn’t the only Egyptian god discredited by this plague. Where was Shu, the god of air and bearer of heaven. Why didn’t he stop this devastating storm? Where was Horus, the hawk-headed third member of the Egyptian sky gods? And what of Seth, god of storms and protector of crops? This plague was another devastating attack on the country. The Egyptians had already lost fish from their diet when the Nile turned to blood. The plague on the livestock killed off much of it, and animals still in the field at the time of this hailstorm were killed by the hail, so the Egyptians have now lost much of their sources of meat and milk. And still, the various cow deities mentioned earlier could do nothing. The flax that’s mentioned here was the Egyptians’ major source of fiber for linen clothing. So they lost not only much of their ability to feed themselves, but also their primary material for clothing themselves as well!

Exodus 9:29-30 “29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I go out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease and there will be hail no longer, that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. 30 “But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” Moses known, Aaron knows, and God knows. Jesus said in Matthew 3:8 “8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” This I want to caution you, repentance is not a mechanism to gain something from God. That is legalism. If I come to church, if I do this, if I do then God must give. We try and put God in our debt by our works. This is dangerous. Ladies and gentleman, God is not in our debt because we come to church. He is not in our debt because we have created temporary behavioral modification. No, we are in His debt and even in His debt He has given us Grace. If anyone should call upon our debt, its God, instead, He pours out His Grace. Upon repentance follows, not behavioral modification, repentance begins transformation. I say this because I might have some bad news for you today, just because you are here, does mean God owes you. What we are truly owed, Christ bore on the Cross and if you have not accepted Jesus Sacrifice on your behalf, then your debt still weighs on your shoulders. But to those who are in Christ that debt has been paid by the cross of Jesus Christ.

Now, when we think of the plagues, at least when I do the first 2 that come to mind are the Nile, and this one, locusts. But this is the eighth plague. I know we don’t have a lot of time here but chapter 10 begins with an important theology we must discuss, Exodus 10:1-2“1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.” Throughout the plagues we have seen that Pharaohs heart was hardened, and now God says He hardened Pharaohs heart. So does this mean that God hardened Pharaohs heart preventing him this entire time to let the Jews go? Does this mean that God is forcibly making Egypt suffer by preventing Pharoah to respond? These are appropriate questions. The short answer is no. But here is why, it is evident that throughout the plagues we see Pharoah harden his own heart, Exodus 8:15, 32. We now see here in chapter 10 God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Its clear that both Pharoah and God are a part of this heart matter. I think Paul gives us some clear explanation to what is happening here with Pharoah. Romans 1:21, 24“21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened… 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.” Who hardened the heart first? We do. Pharoah did. Then we see what scholars call the passive judgement of God, He hands them over to the hardness of heart. Meaning God, hardens their heart. Now this does get us off into some deep theological weeds, but, from what I can gather from Scripture as a whole is this, in God’s sovereignty, He knows who will come to Him and who will not. I see no evidence in Scripture that says God hardens the heart of a person who would otherwise come to know Him. There is no evidence to support the notion that, this person who repent and turn to Jesus but God hardened their heart. From what I can see, God only hardens the heart of those who have already hardened their own heart.

That is a lot to cover in a short period of time, if you have follow up questions approach me after service, come into my office, call me or email me you follow up questions. God does make it clear yet again why all this is happening in verse 2, that they would tell the next generations what God has done. That they would testify, of what they have seen. Exodus 10:3-20 we come to the 8th plague. Again God sends Moses to speak to Pharoah directly and give warning. Pharoah is told that whatever was left following the hail storm the Locusts will eat it. When Moses and Aaron leave, Pharoah gets some wise council, just let them go, our country is destroyed. So Pharoah calls Moses and Aaron back in. If we read this interaction too quickly we miss what really happened. I think the NIV and ESV do a good job translating so we can understand. In verses 8-11 we see the negotiation. Pharoah wants to know who will be going and Moses in an amplified bible kind of way, essentially says, everyone. Pharoah rejects this accusing Moses and Aaron for having an evil plan, and so Pharoah says only the men and can go and them Moses and Aaron are forcibly removed from Pharaoh's presence. So Moses, commanded by God, immediately brought forth the 8th plague.

History has documented how swarms of locusts have destroyed villages’ food supplies in a matter of minutes. They simply devoured everything that was green—every single leaf and blade of grass. Again, as with the preceding plagues, the gods of Egypt were silent. You have to wonder what their worshippers thought as they saw the devastation. Where was the jackal-headed guardian of the fields, Anubis? Again, what about the chief agricultural god Osiris? The devastated fields battered by hail now stripped bare by locusts, testified of the impotence of the Egyptian gods. To a degree, I feel as though we can connect with the Egyptian people is a very small way. That feeling you have when your countries leaders are not doing what is best for the people. That sense of feeling helpless, NOT HOPELESS, its frustrating and discouraging. Where were their god’s whom they have devoted their lives to? Offered sacrifices to. Why haven't they helped once!?

Moses warns Pharoah that yet another plague is coming. Even under wise council, Pharoah tries to change the terms. But what we see in Pharoah is something we can probably see in our own lives up to this point. Going back to the first plague we saw that Pharoah was validated in his beliefs because his magicians made some kool-aide. He was fine with have a knock-off because that meant, as one of my friends put it, could have it cake, eat it too, and lose weight. “You mean I can have something supernatural and not change?” We have all faced this in our own walks with God. Don’t lie, can I keep this sin active in my life and still follow Jesus? I have tried it, so have you don’t lie. Why? Because change is hard. Becoming more like Christ, as sinful creatures is not always easy. We can relate to Pharoah. We saw that as the plague continued Pharaoh's pride kept him from admitting defeat. His magicians could not duplicate what God was doing, they admitted defeat but Pharoah couldn’t. His pride was in the way. We have been there. Ever refused to apologize to your spouse, admit the things you said were not true and even intentionally mean? No, just me?

As we enter our time of invitation I want us to examine ourselves, because Pharoah is quite relatable if we are honest. We have tried to keep the very things which are opposed to God in our lives much longer than we should have. We have been prideful to the point of not willing to repent. Our pride has even manifested itself as a misguided humility. We have thought that our sin was too great or too frequent and so God cannot forgive us. That’s pride saying our sin is too great for God. It feels like humility and piety but it isn’t. I see Pharoah and I cannot help but see me too. Sure we would like to think we would never let our lives get to the point Pharoah has let his own country get to but, if we are honest, we have let our lives get to the point of destruction. We have seen our choices affect the ones we love the most. I look at Pharoah and I see me. Except in one area, I want to spur you in this: do not harden your heart. Yes we can see Pharoah and see glimpses of ourselves but, do not ever let this become what defines you as well. Do not harden your heart. What do I mean? There are many ways we can do this, we talked about one way, when our sin is difficult to overcome, so instead, we accommodate it into our faith. If we imagine our lives as a home with many rooms, when the Holy Spirit enters He goes throughout our life cleaning, re-arranging, making new all the rooms of our life. Some of these rooms are radically different when He is through, but they are better, they are healthier, cleaner, and more functional. But then, He comes to a room and we slam the door shut, “This room is off limits to you.” When it comes to our sexuality we can shut that door. When it comes to our narcissism, we shut that door. When it comes to transparency in our marriage, we shut the door. Do not be fooled, when we shut one door, it becomes easier and easier to shut another, then another, then another. We suppress the Holy Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22 “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. 16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit; 20 do not despise prophetic utterances. 21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.” That is one way we harden our hearts, we quench the Spirit, and we close door after door, before we finally, shut Him out altogether. Our heart can become hardened because we sit in our doubts and questions. We talked about one significant question today in relation to God’s hardening of Pharaohs heart. If your read that and your ears perked up, good. But let me ask you this, how many of you would have read that verse, thought, “That does not compute” or “Dang that seems messed up.” Then said nothing to anyone? I am your pastor for a reason, I have a responsibility to you. I have dedicated my life to the studying of God’s Word and now in this season serving you as my flock, ask me? We have Bible professors in our congregation, ask them. We have qualified Elder’s, ask them. Don’t keep this to yourself. Questions are good and you are not evil for having questions or experiencing doubts. Whats wrong is sitting in them because this will slowly harden your heart. You will think, I had so many doubts and I got no answers. As a loving rebuke, you got no answers because you did not look for answers. I grew up a skeptic and still in my faith I am a skeptic at heart. I question the Bible constantly, do you know why? Because if this collection of writings is not God-breathed then I am wasting my life. But these collection of writings has withstood all the questions thrown at it by Richard Dawkins, Michael Sherman, Christopher Hitchens and the list goes on and on. I understand that we can look at Pharoah and see a glimpse into our own hearts, but what should separate you from him is this, do not harden your heart. These are not the only two ways our hearts can become hardened, forsaking the assembly together, attending an unbiblical church, refusing to repent, there are other paths that lead us do harden our hearts, and we must be discerning!

Maybe you are here today and the Holy Spirit has nudged you a bit, “You have shut a few doors on me.” Maybe you see that there are some steps you have taken leading you down this path. Don’t be like Pharoah, you too are given signs to turn and come to the LORD. He is not offering because he doe snot want you to come.

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