Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Opening Illustration

Today we’re looking at the 10 plagues of Egypt

Actually, the first 5...

These actually come in threes

1-3

4-6

7-9

10th stands alone

First 2 come with a warning and call for repentance

The third comes without warning

YouVersion: Some Bad Things for Some bad People

In Exodus 7:14-9:7

2 major lessons today and next week

1.

God is alive and worthy

2. Other god’s are dead and unworthy

Watch for these as we go

Exodus 7:14–21 (ESV)

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water.

Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.

16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.”

But so far, you have not obeyed.

17 Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood.

18 The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”

’ ” 19 And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’

”

20 Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded.

In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.

21 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile.

There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

First plague: Nile turns to blood

This is coming because of Pharaoh’s hardened heart

Moses and Aaron are to meet Pharaoh by the Nile

There will be no doubt why this is happening!

They were there in front of Pharaoh and his servants at the Nile

Don’t know why they were at the Nile, likely worshipping

Potential gods

Perhaps Hapi (happy) - Nile god

He won’t be too happy at the end of this LOL!

Maybe Khnum (Hhhh-noom) - god of water

Created the source of the Nile AND humans on a clay wheel

Or Osiris, the Nile was supposed to be his blood stream

God is going right after those Egyptian gods!

Actually, we see Egyptian gods at the source of EVERY plague!

What’s God’s purpose here?

V17: “By this you will know that I am the Lord!”

Ask yourself, if an Egyptian, what would you do?

Go to your gods to respond to the Hebrew God!

Egyptians believed in many gods, so the Hebrew God was just one more!

Exodus 7:22–25 (ESV)

22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts.

So Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.

24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.

25 Seven full days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

Pharaoh didn’t even respond

So the Nile is polluted… whatever!

My gods did it too!

Maybe they did the first part too!

Nothing is new, nothing has changed

Not very different today

Show pool in Jordan - clearly God has sent a sign!

Actually, high levels of Manganese in the water

In 2011, a man made pond turned color because of algae

Some people think this is what happened in Egypt

Maybe, but even so, the timing is suspicious!

Lesson in this?

Sometimes the miracle is in the timing, not the action

In the hospital, suddenly someone seems healed after praying

Yeah, but it was the white blood cells blah blah blah

Maybe, but the fact that it was during prayer makes it seem like that’s how God did it!

Divine intervention may be unexplainable

Or we might see God using His universe to do what it was designed by Him to do!

Here, we see the Egyptians do the same miracle - sorta!

There’s no way the Egyptians did the same miracle, the Nile was already changed

So they likely dug up fresh water from little wells

It a lot easier to turn a bucket of water to blood than the Nile river

Notice some powerful significance here

The magicians can only make the problem worse

1. God’s opponents often compete by making things worse

They can make more bloody water, but they can’t make the water clean

But, either way, Pharaoh didn’t care…

It was doable and not a picture of God’s power to him

Second plague: Frogs

God can kick Pharaoh any time, but He takes His time

He moves on to frogs to show His power - and sense of humor!

Egyptian goddess Heqet (Heck-Ket) had the head of a frog

Frogs were worshipped and could not be killed

So God is challenging the Egyptians

“These are your gods, better not kill them!”

As they hop around in your kitchen, your beds and jump all over you!

If they started killing frogs, they would go against their religion

And so, the magicians show they can make more frogs too!

Again, not fixing the problem, only making it worse

This little annoyance has an impact:

Exodus 8:8–15 (ESV)

8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “Be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” 10 And he said, “Tomorrow.”

Moses said, “Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

11 The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people.

They shall be left only in the Nile.” 12 So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh.

13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses.

The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields.

14 And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank.