Good morning and welcome to another Biblit! First off, did y’all notice the new logo!? Pretty cool, right? I don’t know if anyone would be interested, but I’m trying to figure out how to get like mugs or something made. Mainly because I want one, but if y’all want one I’ll let you know. Anyways, last week we ended with the 7th plague. The plague of the hail. This was the first plague in this new act I called the redemption act. It was the first plague where the Egyptians actually had a way out. Today we get to finish this act as we prepare for the climactic 10th plague. Let’s jump into this commentary on Exodus 10.
Context
As the pattern dictates, the 9th plague begins with Moses and Aaron confronting Pharaoh in the throne room. Before they enter, however, God lays out the plan. He tells them what all the plagues mean and their purpose. He explains to them that He has hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that one day Moses and all of Israel can tell their children and grandchildren about the powerful God they serve.
After God lays out the purpose of all this destruction Moses and Aaron proceed into the throne room to warn Pharaoh of the next plague. They warn him that if he doesn’t let Israel go there will be a plague of locusts over all the land of Egypt. The insects will be so numerous that Egypt will have a haze throughout the land, and the locusts will eat any plant the hail didn’t already destroy. Essentially threatening a great famine.
The threat is so great that even Pharaoh’s servants plead with him to consider letting Israel go. Persuaded by this, Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron back in and tells them that the men can go. He does it in this almost sarcastic tone where he’s like, “ok, go, but...like which one of y’all are going to go? Clearly, all of y’all can’t go.” Picking apart God’s commands with a fine-tooth comb.
Moses tells him, no, everyone and all the livestock must go feast for the Lord.
Pharoh does not trust Israel and assumes they have some evil trickery at play so he takes back the offer completely and doesn’t let Israel go.
Thus the next day, just as God warned, locusts blow in and destroy every crop that was left from the hail. Egypt is in complete ruin.
Once again, Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron in and pleads with them to take away the locusts. God does it and Pharaoh once again hardens his heart and does not let Israel go.
Come on, Pharaoh.
The 9th plague is the final plague in this final act and according to the pattern it comes as a surprise the day after the locusts. The plague is described as intense darkness that can be felt and it lasted for 3 days. It spread throughout all of Egypt except for Goshen where the Israelites lived.
Egyptians, remember, worshipped the sun god, Ra. So 3 days of utter darkness where no one could leave or move or see anything would have been devastating. It further shows God’s superiority over the gods of Egypt.
I think it’s also an interesting connection to the resurrection in that it lasted 3 days. I imagine the fear the Egyptians felt was a similar one many who were close to Jesus felt during the 3 days in between His death and resurrection.
Anyways, Pharaoh has had enough. He calls Moses and Aaron in and tries one more time to negotiate. He says that every single Israelite can go worship the Lord this time; however, he tells them they must leave the livestock.
Moses explains they need ALL the livestock because they need to make sacrifices and they don’t know what they will need to sacrifice yet. Remember, they don’t have the full law yet so their sacrifices would have been appointed by God when they arrived.
Pharaoh is furious. He kicks Moses and Aaron out and warns them if he ever sees their faces again, he will kill them. To be honest, I don’t understand why Pharaoh didn’t do that after plague number 2. But Moses obliges and says he promises Pharaoh won’t see his face again.
Interpretation
Ok, this week as I read this passage 2 main points really stuck out to me. I have spoken of both of these before, but I think we should never overlook nor neglect them.
Pharaoh picked apart God’s promises. Pharaoh has come a long way since the first plague. He used to just say “no.”
I suppose it says something that Pharaoh is at least acknowledging the power of God. He just doesn’t want to humble himself before God, so he decides to negotiate God’s terms.
We have seen this behavior before, but we pick it back up again for these two plagues too. Pharaoh tries his hardest; first he’s like “ok ok, y’all can go, but just the men.”
Then, because of his disobedience locusts destroyed the land.
What does Pharaoh do? He tries again and is like, “please, how about just leave the livestock.”
Both times he is attempting to secure the Israelites as his slaves. He knows if he still has their women and children they will have to come back. He also knows if he has their livestock, then that’s most of their wealth (plus they need them for sacrifices) so they’d have to come back. He wants his slaves, assurance, and to never humble himself before anyone; especially not God.I don’t think we should lose focus of the purpose of the plagues either. God tells Moses that He is doing all of this so God’s name will be known, His power will be known, and they will tell about God’s name for generations to come. This kind of alludes to another passage we see later in Deuteronomy:
“When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. Before our eyes the Lord inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household, but he brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that he swore to our ancestors. The Lord commanded us to follow all these statutes and to fear the Lord our God for our prosperity always and for our preservation, as it is today. Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.” (Deuteronomy 6:20-25 CSB).
Application
Alright, for the application I want to do two things. First, we ought to apply the above truths to our lives. We should NEVER pick apart God’s commands OR His promises. If we pray for God to do something and He doesn’t, are we praying for His will to be done?
When God commands us to move, but we only go halfway, that is still disobedience. I can go on and on with examples, we could probably spend our whole lives going over every single command and promise and all the ways we ought NOT to misuse them or disobey them.
However, that is not the focus of the gospel. The focus is that we can hold fast to Christ and begin growing in Him through sanctification. Hebrews puts it like this:
“We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14 CSB).
See that? A mature Christian is one who is trained to distinguish between good and evil. One who can more easily discern the will of the Lord and will NOT pick apart His commands and promises as Pharaoh did.
The second thing I want to do is to try and paint a picture using Deuteronomy. I have said this before, but the big takeaway for us when we see the Israelites freedom from slavery is the fact that we were just like them. Once slaves of sin, now free in Christ.
I’m going to try something different. I want to try and copy the Deuteronomy verse I shared earlier, but replace the wording so it is explicitly about us, sin, and Christ instead of Israel, Egypt, and Moses. We’ll see how it goes:
“When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning of going to church, reading the Bible, praying continuously, telling others of Christ, being generous, loving our neighbors, and following all that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ tell him, ‘We were slaves of sin, but the Lord brought us out of sin’s captivity with a strong hand. Before our eyes, Christ was inflicted with the suffering and death we deserve; He saves us from sin and death in order to lead us in and give us the inheritance he swore to our ancestors. The Lord commanded us to follow all these statutes and to fear the Lord our God for our prosperity always and for our preservation, as it is today. Righteousness is ours if we are careful to hold fast to Christ with confidence as he has commanded us.”