Moses message 5
1 Peter 4:12-13 (ESV) "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed."
Last week we continued with our story of Moses in the book of Exodus, and we started a new theme from that story. The theme of suffering. I told you that as we do this Foundations series through the Bible, that we are going to be looking for the major themes that are introduced in the Word of God. And when we come to the story of the Exodus, we are immediately confronted with the question of suffering.
8 And a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are [f]more and mightier than we. 10 Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and it be [g]in the event of war, that they also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and go up from the land.” 11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with [h]hard labors. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they [i]spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians brutally compelled the sons of Israel to slave labor; 14 and they made their lives bitter with [j]hard slave labor in mortar and bricks and in all kinds of slave labor in the field, all their slave labor which they brutally [k]compelled them to do.
And as this hard oppression came and increased over the years, I’m sure the question on the mind of the Israelites, as it is with us when we go through seasons of suffering was, “Why is God causing His people to suffer?”
Now, I was careful in constructing that question. Notice that I didn’t ask, “Why did God allow His people to suffer?” I said, “Why did God cause His people to suffer?” You say, “Did God cause it?” Well listen to what God told Abraham multiple generations before.
“Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.” — Genesis 15:13–14 (NIV)
You mean to tell me that God knew that this was coming, the enslavement, bondage, and mistreatment of His chosen people, and He didn’t stop it? No, and more than that, He was the One who brought them to that hardship. God sent Joseph off into slavery first, then brought the rest of the family to Egypt by means of a seven-year famine. Why would God do that to His people? Well, the Bible answers that as well. There are at least three answers given in Scripture as to why God orchestrated this time of suffering in Egypt.
First, God allowed Pharaoh to harden his heart so that His own power and name would be exalted:
“But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” — Exodus 9:16 (NIV)
Second, suffering in Egypt was part of the process by which God formed and refined His chosen people:
“But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.” — Deuteronomy 4:20 (NIV)
Third, the Exodus would teach Israel who their true God was:
“I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” — Exodus 6:6–7 (NIV)
And that, my friends is the basis for the message from this section of messages; that God is sovereign even in suffering. God still uses suffering today, for those same three purposes; So, His name will be exalted, to refine His people, so they may the Lord their God. And so, it is from that vantagepoint that suffering becomes not our enemy, but our teacher.
And I think that the older and more mature we get in our faith, the more we realize that.
Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful with particular satisfaction. Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my experience, has been through affliction and not through happiness.
Malcolm Muggeridge, in Homemade, July, 1990.
May I submit to you that that is where God wants us to be? He wants us to get to a place where we look at everything in life, good and bad, and can say to God, “What would you have me to learn from this?”
Prayer
Well, we are looking at the ten plagues that God struck Egypt with as those kinds of learning tools. And they weren’t just to teach Pharaoh, or the Egyptians, but God’s people the Israelites as well. And each plague was unique in the lesson that God was teaching. Last time we looked at the first two plagues, all the water of the Nile and its tributaries, streams, and canals turning to blood, and the plague of frogs covering the land of Egypt. And we uncovered a couple of lessons that God was teaching. First, He was teaching a lesson in listening. Pharaoh wasn’t yet listening. Moses had come to him with supernatural signs and a message, “Let God’s people go.” But instead of considering the message of those signs, he stubbornly refused to listen and even retaliated against the children of Israel by intensifying their workload.
So, God sent the second plague of the frogs. And the lesson from the frogs was a demonstration of God’s power. The Bible tells us that God created the world, ex nihilo, out of nothing. And that’s what He did with this plague of frogs. He had just destroyed the life of the Nile River by changing it to blood. That killed any living thing in the river. Yet just days after He did that, He caused multitudes of frogs to come up out of the river. They were everywhere. In the houses, beds, kitchens, bowls and utensils of the whole land. They were in rich and poor houses.
And if it wasn’t enough to demonstrate His power that He instantaneously brought them to life, then when Pharaoh comes to Moses begging that they be taken away, Moses says, “indulge me, what time do you want them taken? Pharaoh says, “tomorrow.” And the next day, the incessant croaking stopped. But there were dead frogs everywhere. The Egyptians had to pile up their carcasses by the thousands and dispose of them.
God used suffering to demonstrate His power and to open the ears of Pharaoh, the Egyptians, and the Israelites. Well, what lesson from suffering was to come next?
3. Mosquitos: distinguishing God as Savior from the “gods” who cannot save.
Exodus 8:16–19 16 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become [k]gnats through all the land of Egypt.’” 17 And they did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were [l]gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became [m]gnats through all the land of Egypt. 18 Then [n]the magicians did the same with their secret arts in order to bring forth [o]gnats, but they could not; so there were [p]gnats on man and beast. 19 And the [q]magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was [r]hardened with strength, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.
The first thing that we notice about this plague is that it came with no warning.
It has been observed by commentators that the nine plagues are divided into three groups: distinct warnings are given of the first two plagues in each group; in this case, Moses went to Pharaoh regarding the first plague, the Nile becoming blood, and the second plague, the frogs, and warned him. “If you don’t let Israel go, then this is going to happen.”
But the third in each set is inflicted without any previous notice; namely, the third, lice, the sixth, boils, the ninth, darkness.
The frogs are dead, Pharaoh does not let the people go, and then immediately God says, “Bring on the next plague.”
Now, in every one of these plagues I have told you that God was tearing down faith in a false Egyptian god. In this plague, God undoes their faith in Geb their earth god. The pests in this plague were brought up from the dust of the ground. Pharaohs were sometimes called the “heir of Geb,” the heir of the land, reflecting their divine right to rule the land. But here, the land itself is turned to a plague.
Now what is this plague? It is disputed whether this plague was one of lice or of mosquitoes or some of your translations say gnats. Josephus and the Jewish commentators generally consider this to be lice. Other commentators consider these to be mosquitos. And the interpretation hinges on the word for the bug. So, some consider that this was not lice, or gnats, but the mosquito.
There are a few reasons for thinking that. The first is that each of the plagues seems to be an amplification of an already existing natural phenomena. For example, Egypt had seasons where frogs were more abundant than at other times, they had problems with abundance of flies etc. So, it would seem natural that this plague would also be something that they were familiar with, and they were familiar with mosquitos. Egypt had a notorious mosquito problem. They were most troublesome towards October each year after the Nile overflowed its banks.
A second and third reason that some take this to be mosquitos has to do with the word used here. The word used here is like the Egyptian word for mosquito. And some see in the word onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like what it is, the sharp tingling sound given out by the insect when flying by your ear.
So, what would this plague have been like? Well, it’s not hard for use to imagine what it would be like for “all the dust of the land” to become mosquitos. That means they were everywhere. And we understand what mosquitos do. They attack the exposed parts of the skin. If there were millions of them they would fly into the ears, the nostrils, and the eyes. With multiple bites they can do great damage. And fifth, this interpretation fits the context where it is said that this pest afflicted both man and beast.
But regardless of whether this was lice, gnat, or mosquito, God used this third plague and suffering for a purpose. He used it to distinguish Himself from all other power.
18 Then [n]the magicians did the same with their secret arts in order to bring forth [o]gnats, but they could not; so there were [p]gnats on man and beast. 19 And the [q]magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.”
Pharaoh’s magicians are unable to imitate this plague. Now, the question has often been asked, “how were Pharaoh’s magicians able to imitate the first two?” Well, there are really only two possibilities. They either did it like any good magician, by slight of hand. In other words, they were in the business of fooling Pharaoh into believing that they had power that they did not. They turned water to blood in a basin or container by secretly adding something to the water. They produced frogs out of secret panels or boxes designed to appear empty, the abracadabra, pull out this panel, and we have frogs.
Or the second possibility is that they did it by the power of Satan. Satan does have limited supernatural power in this world. In the end times, the Bible tells us that the antichrist will have a right-hand man in the false prophet, and that this false prophet will be able to perform supernatural signs to deceive the world.
But with this plague, the magicians are unable to produce even a weak imitation of of the pests and so they are constrained to acknowledge "this is the finger of God."
But God is not limited to natural conditions or slights of hand. It is interesting that God commanded Aaron to strike “the dust of the earth” for this plague. If these are mosquitos, God doesn’t even need water to bring them up, He brings them out of the dust.
All this together points to the lesson God is teaching through their suffering. God sets Himself apart from all other power. God is above all power. God is alone powerful.
Deuteronomy 32:39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me;
Exodus 15:11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
Psalm 18:31 For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?—
And more than that. He is the Only Savior. As I opened last week, I mentioned a universal truth; Everybody suffers. Nobody gets out of this life without it. But the question is, to whom do you turn when suffering comes. Most people seek out a number of other saviors when suffering comes. They seek medicine, the law, government aid, social connections, family allegiances, pain killers, or religious systems. And it’s not that all of these things are evil. But God would have us learn that they are subordinate to the Only True Savior.
We sometimes have suffering come , or extended suffering in our lives because we seek for all kinds of saviors first.
Isaiah 8:18-20 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. 19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? 20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am Yahweh, And there is no savior besides Me.
Pharaoh sought his magicians, the Egyptians sought relief from their gods, but there is no Savior but One.
Well God was teaching many lessons by suffering, now we come to another.
4. Flies: To distinguish between the righteous and the unrighteous
Exodus 8:20–32 20 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh [a]as he comes out to the water, and you shall say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 21 For if you do not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. 22 But on that day I will make a distinction for the land of Goshen, where My people are [b]living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that [c]I, Yahweh, am in the midst of the land. 23 And I will [d]put a division between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will happen.”’”
Sometimes God causes suffering to distinguish between those that are His and those who aren’t. And this is the area that we are most comfortable with aren’t we? We want to see the righteous rewarded, and the evil punished. Our biggest questions come when the opposite occurs, the righteous suffer and the unrighteous prosper. But there is a part of the purpose of suffering to bring immediate pain to those who have rejected God, and relief to those who have surrendered to Him. That is the plague of the flies.
Now, what was this plague? It was a plague of flies. There is a great deal of disagreement regarding what is meant by flies here. Some take a stricter interpretation and indicate that this was the biting dog fly. Others interpret the passage to mean that there were swarms of every kind of flying insect, including a kind of biting beetle.
“It has been, therefore, suggested that the Blatta orientalis, or kakerlaque, a kind of beetle, is really intended. These creatures suddenly appear upon the Nile in great numbers; they "inflict very painful bites with their jaws; gnaw and destroy clothes, household furniture, leather, and articles of every kind, and either consume or render unavailable all eatables"(Kalisch). They sometimes drive persons out of their houses; and they also devastate the fields.”
But regardless of which kind of fly we agree with the result was at best a frightful annoyance, and at worst, a daily and nightly torture. You can’t keep flies out of a house. And these were swarms of probably biting flies. They weren’t the passive flies that we experience, generally hiding in the corners of windows. These flies sought out someone or something to bite.
And the purpose of this suffering was different than the first, second, and third plagues. It too, like them was intended to get the Pharaoh, and everyone else to listen. It too showed God’s great power, like the plague of the frogs. It also taught that there is only One Savior, like mosquitos or lice.
And it addressed their faith in a false god. The Egyptians had a god of the flies as well. His name was Khepri. He was the god of creation and had a fly head. And the image of the fly was used extensively in Egyptian life.
The fly was sometimes used as a symbol of tenacity and courage, especially for soldiers. Golden fly amulets were awarded to valiant warriors and officials for bravery in battle, particularly in the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1070 BCE). Queens like Ahhotep are known to have given "Order of the Golden Fly" medals as military honors. Flies as Protective Amulets: Fly-shaped amulets were used to ward off evil or disease, possibly reflecting the fly’s association with death, decay, and pestilence, which made it a potent protective symbol when harnessed properly.
So, God did use their suffering here to turn their idolatrous belief on its head. These swarms of flies did not signify courage, or protection. They indicated the opposite. But they also signified something more on this occasion. That God separates the righteous from the unrighteous in judgement.
Every person must learn this truth. Sin has consequences. Sometimes those consequences are withheld until judgment day. But often God punishes sin in the here and now.
And so, in this plague, it specifically says that God would distinguish between the Egyptians and the children of Israel.
2 But on that day I will make a distinction for the land of Goshen, where My people are [b]living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that [c]I, Yahweh, am in the midst of the land.
This would have been quite the phenomena, to bring swarms of flies to one area, but not to another.
Think about this, we can imagine one area of water being polluted, we can imagine the plague of frogs or mosquitos primarily occurring around the river. But flies go everywhere. It would have been quite the miracle for there to be swarms of flies until you got to the border of the region of Goshen where the Jews lived. And then, almost as though there were an invisible curtain dropped from the heavens, you crossed into Israel’s land, and not a single fly could be found.
And so, we have the lesson; God causes suffering as the result of sin. And it distinguishes between the righteous and the unrighteous. There are a number of verses that tell us that God punishes sin in the here and now.
Numbers 32:23 But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.
Psalm 38:3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.
Proverbs 5:22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
Proverbs 11:31 If the righteous is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Isaiah 64:6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
God brings to the world a general principle of suffering. There are general principles that we understand. Certain kinds of evil have natural bad consequences.
Some natural consequences; sin causes broken relationships, destroyed health, sometimes death. Sin can make a person lose jobs, possessions, friendships, or wealth. Sin can bring shame, addiction, abuse, imprisonment, and mental illness.
So, God has instituted suffering as a means of deterring sin.
Well, sometimes people will listen to the subtle voice of God in the judgment of unrighteousness, but sometimes they refuse.
5. Death of Livestock: as a judgment on bull-headedness
Exodus 9:1–7 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Come to Pharaoh and speak to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go and [a]continue to hold them, 3 behold, the hand of Yahweh [b]will come with a very heavy pestilence on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks. 4 But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel.”’” 5 Yahweh also set a definite time, saying, “Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land.” 6 So Yahweh did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died. 7 And Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was [c]hardened with firmness, and he did not let the people go.
The nature of the fifth plague is obvious and has no one who debates about what it was. It was a murrain upon cattle. The term “murrain” is an antiquated one that indicates any sort of infectious disease affecting livestock. And let us point out that it wouldn’t just be cattle affected. It would have hit all the domesticated animals—horses, donkeys, camels, oxen, and sheep. Thus it was described as “very grievous” (Exodus 9:3).
“Horses were highly prized by the Egyptians, and were a comparatively recent importation, having been unknown before the time of the seventeenth, or “Shepherd” Dynasty. They were at first used only in war; then by rich men, in peace, to draw their chariots. They had now, however, it would seem, come to be employed also in agriculture. (Note the words “in the field.”) Asses were the ordinary beasts of burthen, and abounded in Egypt anciently as indeed they do at the present day. The Egyptian monuments mention cases where a single landowner owned as many as seven or eight hundred of them. Camels are not represented by the Egyptian sculptors, but are mentioned in the inscriptions (Chabas, Etudes sur l’ Antiquité Historique, pp. 400-413), and must have been employed in the trade between Egypt and the Sinaitic peninsula. Both oxen and sheep were numerous, and constituted a great part of the wealth of individuals. The plague fell upon such animals as were “in the field” at the time—i.e., in the open air, and not confined in stables or sheds. It was the Egyptian practice to house a considerable portion of their cattle; but at the probable season of this plague—December or January—the majority would be in the pastures. Thus the Egyptian losses were very heavy, and the king, no doubt, suffered with the rest, for the Egyptian monarchs were large cattle-owners.
And this plague would have been a direct strike against two Egyptian gods; Hathor, the cow goddess and Apis the bull god. The cow goddess represented a mother figure and was the goddess of love, fertility and joy. She is often depicted in Egyptian art as a full cow, nursing the Pharaoh. Apis, the bull god, represented strength, virility, and fertility. He represented kingship. By killing all of these animals God was demonstrating that He was the keeper of strength, and fertility.
This plague should have been a real blow to Pharaoh and the Egyptians because it was different than the previous four. The previous four created annoyances. The frogs incessant presence and constant croaking probably drove sleep from Egypt for a week. They brought pain. The mosquitoes and the biting flies would bring pain and a degree of madness to the population. They increased the labor of the Egyptians. The water turned to blood caused a need to dig for water. But none of these first plagues brought death.
But here, the Egyptians woke up in the morning, and every domestic animal in the field was lying dead. Everyone. And immediately Pharaoh makes inquiries, and he finds that none of the Israelite domestic animals were dead. None. This should have given him pause. This plague was really a foreshadowing of the tenth plague. Remember that in the tenth plague, God says that all the firstborn of Egypt will die. Children, adults and animals. And the only ones who wouldn’t, would be those who were brought inside a house with the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts.
In this plague, the cattle inside are protected, the cattle of Israel are protected. But the cattle out in the field dropped dead. And if Pharaoh had any kind of sense, he would have connected some dots here. If this God of the Hebrews can kill all these animals in one hour, He can do the same to the people, my armies, my own house. But it seems that this plague affected him even less than the previous. There is no pleading with Moses. There is no thought.
7 And Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was [c]hardened with firmness, and he did not let the people go.
His heart was hardened with firmness. We’re going to get into this more a little later about the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. During these 10 plagues, Pharaoh’s heart is hard. And the way that that reality is expressed is different for each plague. Three times, in the early plagues, it is described as something that just happened to Pharaoh’s heart. His heart “became hard.” His heart “was hardened.” Three times it tells us that Pharaoh, “hardened his” own heart. If we take all of those together as times when Pharaoh chose to turn away from the truth right before his eyes. Then six times Pharaoh stubbornly rejected the truth about the One True God.
But what about the rest of the heart hardenings? They are with the last plagues. In the 6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th plagues it no longer says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. It says that the Lord hardened his heart. This is what we would call “judicial hardening.” Pharaoh had been given six chances to repent. Six chances to bend his knee to the True God. Six chances to save his nation, and his own family. And he refused. So, in the end, since he is recalcitrant, God hardens his heart to finish out the remaining four plagues which bring about God’s design of a great deliverance, a world-famous decimation of Egypt, and a Messianic foreshadowing through the Passover lamb.
So, I say that the fifth plague of suffering God sent as a judgment on bullheadedness. Stubbornness.
God sends suffering to overcome stubbornness.
Deuteronomy 28:15, 20-22 (ESV)
“But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God... then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you... The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration... because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me.”