Exodus (Lesson 76)

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Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Delaney, Florida.

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Knox.

Thank you for tuning in today to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast.

Just a little while ago, we wrapped our verse-by-verse look at the Bible book of Exodus.

We made our way through from chapter 1 through chapter 40.

And before we leave that study, we are now going back through the book of Exodus and picking up some little side notes and random ideas, just little points of interest and points of information that we did not take the time to cover or discuss as we made our way through the book.

And so today let's start with a consideration of the events that take place in Exodus chapter number five, where Pharaoh really turns up the heat on the slave people, the nation of Israel, and they begin to complain to Moses because their burdens are being made greater.

The Israelite people say this.

In Exodus 5, verse 20, they met Moses and Aaron who stood in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh, and they said unto them, The Lord look upon you and judge, because you have made our Savior to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants to put a sword in their hand to slay us.

Exodus 5:20

And so they're really unhappy with Moses and with Aaron as they're bringing this battle to a head.

Now, we've got to consider a number of reasons why events took a turn for the worse, or seemed to.

First, Pharaoh had to be given an opportunity to repent and to acknowledge the Lord.

If he had listened to the voice of the Lord, it would have been an indication that his heart had been moved by the request that had been made to set the people free, and that he had come to, if not, know, at least to have some measure of faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

God is not willing that any should perish, including Pharaoh.

He gives all men space to repent, including Pharaoh.

And so you have to take that in consideration.

Secondly, the true nature of Egypt had to be made plain to the Hebrews.

Egyptian cruelty had been revealed over the past 80 years, but their complete rebellion against God, despite the many opportunities to obey, must be clearly seen.

Israel's love for things Egyptian comes out in the wilderness.

Even although their memories were very selective and they chose to forget their oppression, the lesson to be learned is that the things of Egypt are associated with a people who not only don't know God, but who are utterly opposed to him.

Lord trying to help his people see that.

By this they would be in no doubt that their deliverance, when it did come, was of the Lord.

In redemption, there's no place for man taking some of the credit that belongs to him alone.

When God renders a man's condition helpless, it's only so that man can give God all the more glory when finally he is set free.

Number four.

There's a great picture which Moses could not at the time see.

He and the people were about to add to the things that were written aforetime that would be for our learning.

They're going through this, so others in generations to come would learn the lessons concerning the judgment of God on sin, redemption by blood, and how to approach the Lord.

Number five, obeying the will of God does not always lead to better circumstances.

Obeying the Lord when he said, Let us pass over to the other side in Mark 4 brought the disciples into a storm which they would never have encountered if they had not followed him.

The faithful preaching of John the Baptist led him to imprisonment.

Doubts and fears may grip the heart when this occurs, but God's servants are cast on the Lord and trusting him to take them through.

Sometimes it's hard to appreciate this truth, but despite appearances to the contrary, God is ever working all things out for our good.

It was hard for the Hebrews to see this at the time, but ultimately they would cross the Red Sea, and they would see the armies of Egypt totally overthrown.

So much to be learned from the time of difficulty as they await their deliverance.

Okay, we've also got in chapter 7 a group of signs, if you will, three different groups of signs, and then finally that tenth sign, these plagues, these judgments that God sent upon the nation of Egypt to force them to finally set God's people free.

First reason, reason for the first group of plagues, chapter 7, verse 17.

In this thou, speaking to Pharaoh, in this thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 7, verse 17.

In this group all the land of Egypt was affected.

And it was Aaron who stretched forth his hand and his rod to instigate the judgment.

The first plague, waters turned to blood and the fish die.

Second, frogs cover the land.

Third, dust became lice throughout the land.

Group two, the reason given in chapter 8, verse 22.

To the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

In this group, the land of Goshen was not affected.

Aaron became less prominent.

So you have the fourth plague, the land filled with swarms of flies.

Number five, a plague on all cattle.

Number six, boils upon man and beast.

Third group, reason given.

Chapter 9, verse 16, that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.

In this group, the land of Goshen is again not affected, and Moses instigates each plague by stretching forth his hand to heaven.

Number seven, grievous hail which destroys cattle.

Number eight, locusts invade the land.

Number nine, darkness over Egypt.

And then the final sign, no warning, no reason given, the death of the firstborn.

So first group, that Pharaoh would know that God is the Lord.

Second group, that he may know he's the Lord in the midst of the earth.

Third group, that all the earth may receive a declaration concerning the great and powerful name of God.

Now, coming to chapter 8, chapter number eight, Pharaoh offers the first compromise, and there's going to be five of these.

He offers compromise in chapter 8, verse 8, chapter 8, verse 25, chapter 8, verse 28, then in chapter 10, verses 10 and 11, and in chapter 10, verse 24.

This should come as no surprise.

The way of the world in dealing with differing views is to compromise and agree on a solution where every party involved sacrifices something in order to agree on common ground.

This is the stand taken by Pharaoh, but the solutions he offered would either keep the people within his power or ensure that if they left Egypt they would be unable to do what the Lord required of them after their deliverance.

So, by this means, if they couldn't be kept in the kingdom, they would lose their ability to serve God and he would be robbed of their worship.

For those who seek to obey God, compromise is not possible.

Not when the word of God is the point at issue.

This is why Moses continually and steadfastly refused to heed the voice of Pharaoh, he would not compromise.

Good for him.

That's the way it has to be.

It has to be.

Now, one more thing about those warnings before the group of plagues.

The first plague was preceded by a long and detailed warning given to Pharaoh in the morning.

The second plague, a shorter warning.

The third plague comes with no warning being given.

You better be careful.

God speaks to your heart.

God pleads with you, God deals with you, God calls you to himself.

You better take heed.

You better take heed.

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.

Call upon him while he is near.

Behold, now is the accepted time.

Behold, today is the day of salvation.

Boast not thyself of tomorrow, thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Alright, there are three things.

Note from chapter 8.

There are three things that are said to be an abomination to the Egyptians.

Three things that are said to be an abomination to the Egyptians.

In Genesis 43, 32, sharing a meal with Hebrews was an abomination to the Egyptians.

They would not eat with them.

Number two, the Hebrews' occupation of shepherding sheep.

Genesis 46, verse 34.

Genesis 46:34

They wouldn't wouldn't tolerate that.

Number three, religious sacrifices and practices of the Hebrews.

Chapter 8, verse 26.

Now, the thought, the thought in 826, let's read it together.

For those of you who haven't memorized the whole book, don't recall everything we uh studied.

Uh Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, Go ye sacrifice to your God in the land.

And Moses said, It is not meat so to do, for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God.

Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes?

And will they not stone us?

So the thought is that the Israelites would offer the sacrifices that were offered by the Egyptians to their deities.

And this would be an abomination.

But Moses would hardly have described Egyptian sacrifices as abominations to Pharaoh.

No, what the Israelites offered to the Lord would be viewed by the Egyptians as an abomination.

Lambs and sheep, for instance, were regarded in this light.

So look, if they're going to do perform Egyptian worship, the Egyptians aren't going to be bothered by that.

But if they worship contrary to the religious practices of the Egyptians, now we've got a problem, and that's exactly what was going to take place.

All right, in chapter 9, that sixth plague, Moses and Aaron were to take handfuls of ashes from the furnace, sprinkle them toward heaven in the presence of Pharaoh, and then these sa handfuls of ashes were going to uh turn into another terrible judgment upon the people.

Taken from the furnaces were dust, cinders, ashes left over from the fire.

These uh were lime kilns or metal smelting furnaces used to produce the ornaments and buildings of Egypt.

These were at the forefront of Egyptian technology and would be the source of great pride to the nation.

It was from them that some of the glory of Egypt came, and now they would learn that even this could be touched by the hand of Jehovah.

But more than this, what had preceded their beauty or produced their beauty was now used of God to produce judgment.

There was no part of their society which was not under his control.

Moses and Aaron took handfuls of ashes, Moses sprinkled them toward heaven.

Aaron most likely handed his ashes to Moses.

The same hands which would take the sweet incense and bring it within the veil of the tabernacle were now taking the ashes which bring judgment.

The first sign had commenced with an act in the sight of Pharaoh.

This sign commenced in the same way, in the sight of Pharaoh.

The king would not be allowed to ignore the two men who were acting under the authority of heaven.

He's going to see them at work to drive home the lesson that God is judging, and only he has the authority to bring these miseries to an end.

If he had had compassion for his people, Pharaoh would have bowed before the will of God.

The act of sprinkling ashes toward heaven conveyed to the watching king that it was the power of heaven which would visit this further plague upon them.

The ashes were carried as dust over the land and became boils upon man and beast.

As with the third sign, both man and beast were afflicted.

But the increasing ferocity of the nature of the plagues must have weighed heavy upon the minds of any thinking Egyptian.

You know the Lord, he's a powerful God.

Pharaoh had to learn that, and so did the Hebrews.

Now, from chapter 11, I have this little note to throw out.

We've got to give some consideration of the behavior of Moses and Pharaoh.

Throughout all of their confrontations, Moses had a calm and deliberate persistence as he made his requests and threatened punishment from the hand of the Lord.

By this it is clear that although he may not have gained the affection of the Egyptians, he had earned their respect.

Never did the Egyptians threaten Moses personally.

Never did they seek to expel him from their country.

His demeanor and the fact that he foretold all that took place, and the fact that what he foretold did come to pass, resulted in a good testimony amongst the people.

The repeated phrase, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, showed that he claimed no power of his own.

He stood as the mouthpiece of God, unflinching, unwavering, moving with certainty and confidence.

There's little wonder why he was held in such respect.

He was not cruel, rude.

He did not lack good manners or decency.

He was not insulting.

He was not bitter.

He conducted himself as a godly gentleman.

Oh, he had a hard message to deliver.

No doubt, no doubt, few preachers, if any, in history, have had to come again and again and again and pronounce such horrific judgments upon people.

But Moses did so with no hint of glee or smug satisfaction in his voice.

There's not never a time that he suggested that he hated or despised the Egyptians and delighted to see them suffering in so many ways.

He simply stood as a gentle man.

He stood firm and unwavering and declared the truth of God's word.

He did not rejoice in the fall of his enemy, nor did he wish harm and destruction.

What he desired was to see Pharaoh obey the word of God.

My friend, when we preach on hellfire, when we warn of the judgments to come, when we cry aloud against sin and wickedness and the wages thereof, we don't hope that these terrible things happen to anyone.

We don't find any pleasure in the death of the wicked that he should die.

But we must, we must state the truth.

We must declare what God has said, for it will surely come to pass.

If we warn the wicked and he flees from the wrath to come, praise be to God.

But if we do not warn the wicked and he is he is crushed beneath the weight of God's judging hand, And we have not sounded the alarm.

Woe be to us, cowards, or careless, or simply unfaithful.

May God help us to do right in the right way.

Now these ten plagues upon Egypt, let me read through them quickly: blood, frogs, lice, flies, moraine, boils, hail, locust, darkness, death of the firstborn.

Ten terrible plagues.

The first in Exodus 7, verses 14 to 25, was directed against the Nile River.

Exodus 7:14–25

Its waters were turned to blood.

That river was an object of worship to the Egyptians of that day.

The frogs in chapter 8.

This plague was also against the gods of Egypt, for frogs were honored and worshipped as a symbol of fruitfulness.

The lice, chapter 8.

This was a plague of these tiny little biting animals for the purpose of manifesting the limited power of the magicians.

They had demonstrated the same power as Moses in the first two plagues, but here they had to recognize the hand of God.

The flies, also chapter eight.

This plague was a severe blow to all the idolatrous worshippers in Egypt.

Cleanliness was imperative in the worship of the Egyptians.

Thus the plague directed against Beelzebub, the god of flies, to produce hatred against him, and to manifest his impotence in controlling flies was specially designed by God.

Fifth, the moraine, chapter nine.

This plague was aimed against all animal worship in Egypt.

The animals worshiped by the Egyptians were made so diseased that the people abhorred them.

Then the boils.

The ashes used to cause this plague were from the very altar which uh on which human sacrifices were offered to keep away plagues, in addition to the furnaces from which their industry was driven.

Hence, the very ashes of sacrifices that were supposed to ward off plagues were used to bring a plague.

And the ashes from those very engines of industry that were supposed to provide them with well-being brought them much discomfort.

Hail was the seventh of the plagues, chapter nine.

This plague was directed against vegetation, the beasts of the field, and the gods of Egypt, Isis and Osiris, who were supposed to control the elements and turn away any storms from Egypt.

Locusts, chapter ten.

This was directed against the Egyptian god Serapis, who was supposedly protecting the land from locusts.

But locusts came and were driven out at the command of Moses, showing the impotence of this idle god and the reality of Jehovah and his power.

Darkness.

Chapter ten.

This plague further demonstrated the great power of the great God of the Hebrews in contrast to the gods of Egypt.

They were powerless.

They were powerless.

When God sent darkness, none of the idols or deities of Egypt could bring light.

And then the death of the firstborn.

This plague was directed against the pride and best manhood of Egypt.

The firstborn of man and of the beast of the fields were destroyed.

Nothing could have been more disastrous to Egypt, to show the powerlessness of their gods, who were special deities to protect their households from harm.

These gods proved completely helpless before the living God of the Hebrews.

Now, lest you think that's a stretch or an exaggeration, listen to these words from Numbers chapter 33.

Numbers 33 · chapter mention

Numbers chapter 33, let me turn there, Numbers 33 and verse number 3.

Numbers 33 · chapter mention

And they departed from Ramses in the first month, on the 15th day of the first month, on the morrow after the Passover.

The children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.

They left, they go, they're free.

And the Egyptians buried their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them, upon their gods also.

The Lord executed judgments.

So these plagues were not directed at the Egyptian people, they were directed at the gods worshipped by the Egyptian people, so that the people through these sufferings and through these plagues would repent of the faith which they had placed in vanities.

Gods and images and idols that could not help them and could not deliver them.

So please, please keep in mind.

You say, how could God do such a horrible thing to those people?

No, no, no, no, no.

No.

He did these horrible things to their gods in hopes that those people would see the useless nature of idol worship and of worshiping gods that did not exist and would turn to put their faith and their trust in the true and living God, the creator of the heavens and the earth.

Now, how how is it with you today, my friend?

What are you worshiping?

What are you serving?

What do you believe in?

To what or to whom have you devoted your heart, soul, strength, and mind?

When trouble comes into your life, why would you curse a God you say you don't believe in for sending you all this trouble and then lean upon gods you say you do believe in, which cannot deliver you from your trouble?

Why not turn from vanities, from idols, from false gods and false religion, and put your faith and your trust in a real God, a true God, a living God, a God who loved you so much that he gave his only begotten Son to die on a cross to pay for your sins, to rise from the dead to give you life everlasting, if you would only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

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