1 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

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. 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. (Exodus 7, ESV)

10:21 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. 24 Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the LORD; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” 25 But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. 26 Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the LORD our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the LORD until we arrive there.” 27 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. 28 Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” 29 Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.” (Exodus 10:21–29, ESV)

Moses had become discouraged. Because Pharaoh made their brick-making harder, "Moses is back!" had turned into "Moses is the worst!" So he did not want to go into Pharaoh.

God reminded Moses that Aaron would be his mouthpiece and that they needed to continue to tell Pharaoh to let his people go (2). God would multiply signs and wonders in Egypt, but since Pharaoh would not listen to Moses, God promised to lay his hand on Egypt to set his people free (3-4). Through all this, the Egyptians would learn about God.

So Moses and Aaron—age eighty and eighty-three, went in to do all God commanded them (6-7). But when Aaron cast down his staff and it became a serpent, Pharaoh's wise men and sorcerers, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing by their secret arts (10-11). This was not mere sleight of hand—these sorcerers could reproduce this and the first two plagues (water to blood and the frogs). They could not counteract Moses—so all they could do was make things worse—and their power ran out by Plague #3, but they did have demonic power. This was Egypt, after all.

Their power would have been impressive, but Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs, which should have shown Pharaoh the truth that God is the true God over all—even nature—but instead, his heart was hardened (12-13). He would not let God's people go! With that, starting with turning the water of the Nile to blood, God commissioned Moses to execute ten plagues upon Egypt (7:20).

We will consider the first nine of these plagues at once today, mining them for three mega-truths we should all get from the passage. Without reading every word of Exodus 7-10, what main themes are we meant to learn from this passage?

1. God Wars For His People

The first major theme from the plague episodes is that God wars for his people. We should note that they are not all plagues. Of all ten events, only some—boils, death to the livestock—might genuinely be considered "plague" material. But all these events are presented as strikes from God. That is how God describes them. He said he would do "great acts of judgment," and it is evident throughout these chapters that God is judging Egypt's Pharaoh and probably Egypt's gods (4).

Each plague seems to be a direct assault on an Egyptian false god.

The Egyptians believed there were various gods of the Nile, so God struck the Nile. He briefly turned it to blood, something Pharaoh had done when he commanded the Hebrew boys to be killed in the Nile.
The Egyptians worshipped a fertility goddess with a frog's head, so God showed himself as the source of multiplication and life by unleashing frogs upon the land.
The Egyptians worshipped many gods represented by various animals and symbols found in the plagues. Their sun gods and sky gods were defeated by the darkening of the sun. Their health god was defeated by the boils. Their harvest gods were defeated by the crop-destroying hail or locusts. The gods of the earth, creation, love, protection, medicine, weather, and more were all defeated.

With each successive judgment, God was judging the Egyptian gods to set his people free (6:6, 7:4). As God would later say about the final plague:

"And on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord." (Exodus 12:12b, ESV)

The tenth and final judgment—the death of the firstborn sons—is meant to stand alone. It receives its own section, and we will consider it in detail next week. And the first nine judgments are clearly arranged in three sets of three. Plague 1 (the Nile turning to blood), Plague 4 (flies), and Plague 7 (hail) all begin with an early morning confrontation as Pharaoh went out to the water, perhaps for a ceremonial washing before his gods or as an expression of Nile worship (7:14, 8:20).[^1] And each set of three ends with a plague for which there is no warning at all (Plagues 3, 6, and 9).

Throughout these judgments, various progressions occur.

For instance, at first, Aaron's staff is the one used to introduce each one, all the way through Plague 3 (gnats). Then, no staff is used for a while until Moses uses his staff from Plagues 8-10 (locusts, darkness, and death to the firstborn).
At first, Egyptians and Hebrews alike experienced these pains. But once Plague 4 hit, except for Plague 8, it is specifically noted that the Hebrews all escaped unscathed. When flies swarmed the land, God set apart the land of Goshen where the Hebrews lived (8:22). When the land's livestock were struck, not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died (9:6). When boils or hail or darkness came—and especially when death to the firstborn arrived—the Israelites were spared.
Another progression is found in Pharaoh's reaction to the plagues. At first, he intermittently begs for relief during Plagues 2 and 4. But when Plague 7 hits, he begs from then on out for deliverance. This proud man is sequentially and systematically broken down as he grovels before the true God.

Here is a chart that clarifies some of the elements I've just referred to:

Plague	Magicians Reproduce	Early Morning Confrontation	No Warning	Staff	Distinction Between Israel/Egypt	Pharaoh Begs
Snake	X			A
Nile	X	X		A
Frogs	X			A		X
Gnats			X	A
Flies		X			X	X
Livestock					X
Boils			X		X
Hail		X			X	X
Locusts				M		X
Darkness			X	M	X	X
Firstborn				M	X	X

All these developments should give us readers a sense that God is systematically, decidedly, and strategically warring for his people. He will not rest until they become his own.

And when we look to the cross, we see this God.

Exodus shows a God who broke through the Egyptian worship system and political dominance. The cross shows a God who broke through dead Judaism and Roman dominance to get himself to Calvary's cross.
Exodus shows a God who warred against the demonic realm and cacophony of false gods represented in Egypt. The cross shows a God who warred against principalities and powers that enslaved and bound us.
Exodus shows a God who pardoned the iniquity of all who applied the blood to their doorpost and brought them through the waters of salvation. The cross shows a God who shed his blood so that we might be saved and pass through the waters of baptism.

In the Old Testament story of Ruth, a moment arises when Boaz finds out he is eligible to marry Ruth. Her older relative Naomi tells her, "The man will not rest but will settle the matter today" (Ruth 3:18). Boaz would not rest until he made Ruth his bride, and God is pictured here as unwilling to rest until he's fully redeemed his people. He is working and warring to make them his own.

God will war for you. He loves you and sees you as worth the effort. Jesus went to great lengths—becoming one of us, dying in humiliation on the cross—to bring us home to God. God is to be worshipped. He wars for his people.

2. God is Sovereign

A second major theme of this passage is that God is sovereign. He is depicted, in other words, as completely in charge of the course of events—supreme. Pharaoh ultimately serves God's purposes. The elements bend to his will. He is in complete control.

He is in charge of Pharaoh, but the story shows us he's in charge of the rest of creation as well. A significant responsibility of the Pharaoh was to maintain order within the cosmos. But with blood water, frogs, insects, and cataclysmic events in the skies above, it became clear that Pharaoh wasn't in charge of anything.[^2] The whole plague narrative screams out that God—and certainly not Pharaoh—is responsible for the natural world.

Even the structure of this section—three groups of three judgments each—points us back to the orderly account of the six days of creation. There, animals and elements were given their proper borders and boundaries. The sea could go no further. The animals respected humanity. And the original darkness, formlessness, and voidness found on the face of the deep were replaced with light, shape, and life throughout (Gen. 1:2).

But here, the animals know no bounds, the elements know no limits, and the darkness overruns the light. When a darkness that could be felt came in Plague 9, the world was right back to the darkness that existed before God created. God is not rolling his cosmic plague dice but is showing how sin ruins his creation, and Pharaoh is the ultimate emblem of human hubris and hardness against God at this point. And that hardness leads to de-creation.

But God is also considered sovereign over Pharaoh. God had told Moses that Pharaoh would not let Israel go, at least partly because God would harden Pharaoh's heart, so God is presented as sovereign over Pharaoh himself.

How are we to understand this act of God? Was Pharaoh a mere robot that God programmed to behave in a specific way? Did he have no autonomy or freedom of choice? Did God simply know that Pharaoh would refuse? Or did God produce a secret inner working in Pharaoh so that he had no choice but to disobey God?

To "harden" literally means "to strengthen" or "have or be given the willpower to do what one has decided," so God could be seen as strengthening Pharaoh's will.[^3] This is what Pharaoh wanted, and God worked events out to further strengthen and solidify Pharaoh's mind, will, and heart. This seems evident in the text—God hardened Pharaoh's heart at the sixth plague onward. So Pharaoh hardened his own heart (i.e., desire or will), then God came along and pushed the process Pharaoh started to completion.

We are not dealing with an innocent man who was puppetted along to a purpose larger than himself. His hardness of heart is nothing new. He and his ancestors had behaved with hardheartedness for centuries. He has not been tenderhearted for quite some time. His predecessors had slaughtered Hebrews. He himself had made their servitude brutal. And all the Pharaohs had received worship and adulation for hundreds of years. This is not the case of an innocent man who is carrying on with life when, all of a sudden, God points his heart in a new direction. This brutal tyrant is the epicenter of grave confusion and real injustice, so it was time for God to put him down.

God used Pharaoh. God forced the issue to draw out Pharaoh's heart. God hardened him. But Pharaoh was no mere robot with no say in the matter. He had a front-row seat to God's power and was commanded to obey—and God held him responsible for his decisions. And he started to obey at various points. But God kept pressing, and Pharaoh would not fully obey—he would not yield.

Dr. Gerry Breshears says it this way: "God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and the story tells us how he did it. He did it by commanding Pharaoh toward righteousness and supporting that command with miracles so powerful that the magicians repented. But Pharaoh, of his own character, refused. God forced him to keep going, and that hardened his heart."[^4]

However we understand this mystery, we do read of how so many others responded in the passage. When they saw God's sovereign hand over creation and Pharaoh, they repented and began to obey God. By the end of the story, even the Egyptian sorcerers will beg Pharaoh to let the people go. God has revealed himself. Even hundreds of miles away, people in cities like Jericho in Canaan were hearing of God's mighty acts. Some decided they would yield to this God if given the chance. Others decided to go the way of Pharaoh and resist.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul used this story to illustrate how some are vessels of mercy and some are vessels of wrath (Rom 9:21-23). Some think Paul means each human being is in a divinely fixed state without any real opportunity to respond to God's grace. But is that what Paul meant? Didn't Paul call for repentance? Didn't Paul have the hope of salvation for anyone who trust Christ?

Paul again used the idea of household instruments in 2 Timothy. He said people are like household instruments; some are used for honorable things, while others are used for dishonorable things (think a beautiful vase vs. a well worn plunger). But Paul did not seem to think anyone was locked into honorable or dishonorable category. He said:

If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21, ESV)

How do we apply the sovereignty of God to our lives today? One way is to say that we always want to yield to his way. If holding fast to arrogant hubris led to such chaos and disorder, we might assume that our little versions of Pharaoh-like rebellion would unleash little versions of chaos into our lives. God is longsuffering, gracious, and merciful to his people—and it took a long time and a long line of Pharaohs before God acted here—but message received.

Let's yield to him and his way. Life goes best when it is lived in the way God has designed it. The blessed man, as the first psalm says, delights in the law (or way) of the Lord. Because he does, his life flourishes like a tree living beside a constant stream. But Pharaoh dries up in this passage. This man seemed to live the pinnacle of human experience—everyone would have wanted to be him, to be near him, or to have him—yet his life was weighed and found wanting.

Another way to apply this is to trust that God will work out his purposes. I don't know if there are more Pharaoh-like leaders ruining the lives of others nowadays than ever before or if we are simply more conscious of them, but it can be discouraging to see his destructive tendencies replay throughout history and in today's news.

Pharaoh was not the last of his kind. History inside and outside of the Bible is filled with others of his ilk. Oftentimes, these leaders are forced on a helpless populace, but sometimes, these leaders are even elected by those they are ruining. The Egyptians worshipped Pharaoh even as he corrupted their minds and lives with the poisonous thought that he was a god. But we must trust that the true God is moving human history to his sovereign conclusion. One day, a kingdom made without human hands will replace all the kingdoms of this world—and that new and glorious kingdom will never end (Dan. 2:44).

3. God Wants Us To Remember

The last theme I want to draw from these plague episodes is that God wants us to remember. As a preface to the eight plague—locusts—God said:

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.” (Exodus 10:1–2, ESV)

Yahweh specifically told them to remember how he'd warred for them and sovereignly accomplished his purposes in the future. This would not be the last time they needed God's help to overcome impossible obstacles and obstinant foes, and they needed to trust God in the future, so God commissioned them to retell these stories to the emerging generations who had not seen these events with their own eyes. These stories were meant as faith-builders for their sons and grandsons (2).

Just as modern Christian parents must teach their kids about God and his power, ruminating on his faithfulness, these ancient Israelites were meant to declare the faithfulness of God. And, right there at the tail end of the plague judgments, God told them, "Hey, when this is all over, tell your kids about it over and over again." And God would even institute feasts and festivals centered on these events that would help them remember God's faithfulness forever.

But why were such reminders needed? Because we are often forgetful of God's greatest works in our lives.

One day, while on a boat with his disciples, Jesus told them to watch out for the leaven of the religious and political leaders in Israel at that time, but they had no idea what he meant. So they conferred together and decided he was disappointed that they hadn't brought any bread with them in the boat. Jesus perceived this, so he asked them why they did not remember the time he had miraculously fed bread to five thousand people and another time, he did the same for four thousand. He said:

“Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? (Mark 8:17–18, ESV)

This is us. We often forget God's faithfulness to us. This forgetfulness produces a double danger. First, when we forget God's faithfulness in the past we will struggle to trust him in the present. Second, when we forget God's faithfulness in the past, we will be tempted to rewrite the story of the past.

Years later, Israel needed to remember well that God was faithful to them but also that God had delivered them all by himself. They were recipients of his power. They had not joined forces together with God. He had delivered them without them. If they did not remember this, they would be tempted to rewrite their history and conclude that they'd become a people and nation because of their efforts or goodness.

Believers need this type of remembrance as well. We did not save ourselves. We did not earn the victory. We were not such good people that God favored us. That is not the story. Instead, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). That is our story; we must not rewrite it.

Study Questions

Head Questions:

What were some of the key Egyptian gods or beliefs that each plague directly confronted?
How did God display his sovereignty over both creation and Pharaoh during the plagues?
Why did God want the Israelites to remember and retell the stories of the plagues to future generations?

Heart Questions:

When have you felt like God was warring or fighting on your behalf in a difficult season of life? How did that make you feel about Him?
Do you find it challenging at times to trust in God's sovereignty over all things? Why or why not?
When is a time you clearly saw God's faithfulness in your past but had forgotten it during a present struggle?

Hands Questions:

What's one way you can memorialize and share God's faithfulness with others, especially the next generation in your life?
How can remembering God's past faithfulness increase your trust in His sovereignty in your current circumstances?
Is there any tendency in your heart to rewrite your spiritual story and not give God full credit? How can you combat that?

Resources

Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus: The Days of Our Pilgrimage.

Christopher J. H. Wright, Exodus, ed. Tremper Longman III, The Story of God Bible Commentary.

John D. Hannah, “Exodus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures.

John Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary.

Kenneth L. Barker and John R. Kohlenberger III, Expositor’s Bible Commentary.

Kevin D. Zuber, “Exodus,” in The Moody Bible Commentary.

Michael L. Morales and Benjamin L. Gladd, Exodus Old and New – A Biblical Theology of Redemption.

T. Desmond Alexander, “Exodus,” New Bible Commentary.

Endnotes

[^1]: John D. Hannah, “Exodus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 121.

[^2]: “Plague Number One: The River Turns to Blood.” Plague Number One: The River Turns to Blood | 2min Snip from BibleProject, https://share.snipd.com/snip/3666780d-f17c-4a08-a193-3fbb3fb81952. Accessed 20 Oct. 2023.

[^3]: Copan, Paul. Is God a Vindictive Bully?: Reconciling Portrayals of God in the Old and New Testaments. Baker Academic, 2022. [^4]: Quoted from a class I attended.