Exodus 7 Round Two
We go with Moses and Aaron as they stand before Pharaoh. Round Two begins. “Let God’s people go!” Let the signs begin!
God gave Pharaoh one easy chance to let His people go. But even that “chance” was not really a chance but part of setting up the whole process. God knew Pharaoh’s heart. He also knew that He wanted to do a GREAT work for ALL to see and remember. So God used Pharaoh’s own arrogance to His advantage. He “hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”
Does this mean that God MADE Pharaoh and the Egyptian people suffer just so He could look good? NO! It means that God used a heard headed ruler to display His wonders to His heard headed people, and their neighbors. God KNEW it was going to take some doing to convince Pharaoh to see things His way. He just made sure his heart didn’t get in the way of his stubborn head. Pharaoh’s heart was really what would make him drive Israel out, but that is a story for another time.
Let’s join our heroes of the faith as they stand for God and His people. When we left them the last time, they had met with God because the people were angry with the results from their first meeting with Pharaoh. Moses had asked “Why did You have to send me?” He also ‘pointed out’ how his last meeting with Pharaoh had resulted in harsher treatment for the very people God wanted relief for. God then sent Moses and Aaron back to the people to confirm that, YES, God really did intend to set them free. The people had lost hope and didn’t believe them. NOW God tells them to go back to Pharaoh and tell him to let the people go. GULP!
♥ ♦ ♥
“Lord, Your own people didn’t believe me! How am I supposed to convince Pharaoh to listen to Your words and let the people go? What if he imposes even harder conditions on us? How will we withstand it? Wouldn’t it be better if we just forgot the whole thing and You tried again later with someone else?”
“No. I am NOT going to ‘start over’ with someone else. ‘See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out if this land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and though I multiply my sings and wonders in the land of Egypt, 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 judgement. The Egyptians shall KNOW that I AM THE LORD’ (Exodus 7:1a-5, emphasis added).”
♥ ♦ ♥
I want to step back here and address something that caught my attention. I was struck when God said He would make Moses “like God to Pharaoh.” I had to think about that for a bit. It just didn’t sit right. This is what I feel I received.
In Egypt, to the people Pharaoh was one of their gods. I won’t swear to it, but I believe he was placed above all their other gods. His word carried more weight than any other in his kingdom. BUT that didn’t make him God. He was no more a god than anything else we try and put on God’s throne. He was a counterfeit.
God was giving Moses direct access to Himself to demonstrate power above and beyond what Pharaoh had access to. Moses wasn’t God but acted in His stead. He would pass on every word God gave him. He was pretty much in the place of the angel of God who delivered messages directly from the throne room. Aaron would do the signs called for from those words and act strictly in accordance to whatever God spoke through Moses. Moses was NOT God but His direct representative to Pharaoh.
♥ ♦ ♥
Moses squared his shoulders and looks at Aaron. “Are you ready brother? The Lord says we are it, and He doesn’t seem to be backing down.”
“No He doesn’t. I’m ready. Lead the way brother, or more accurately, let Him lead you and I will fall in behind” Aaron says with a smile.
“This isn’t going to be as easy as we thought it would be. I don’t know how long this process will last and what kind of problems we are going to face along the way. Did you notice He didn’t say anything about Pharaoh lightening up on us along the way?”
“No He didn’t. We just have to trust the Lord to know what is best and how to complete His plan.”
Moses gives a deep sigh. “Let’s go see Pharaoh.”
Aaron nods and the two of them ready themselves to do the Lord’s work. Both of them wash and dress in their best robes. They also take the staff that Moses had in the wilderness when he met with the Lord.
When they reach the palace gates the guard looks at them with boredom. “What do you want?”
“We are here to see Pharaoh. We have a message for him that he must hear, in person” replies Moses.
“Wait here. I will see if he is willing to see you.”
The guard goes to Pharaoh and quickly returns with Pharaoh’s invitation for them to enter. “Follow me.”
“Well, if it isn’t the voice of the Hebrews” Pharaoh laughs as Moses and Aaron approach.
“Yes Pharaoh. We speak on behalf of the children of Israel but we are the voice of their God, the One true God” says Moses.
Pharaoh’s face loses all traces of humor. “What do you want?”
“The Lord says to ‘Let My people go so that they may worship Me.’”
“That is NOT going to happen! Didn’t you learn anything from the last time you were here? I have the power to crush your people with a single word! Why would I listen to you?”
Moses looks over at Aaron and then says, “Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent” (Exodus 7:9b).
Aaron steps forward and tosses his staff onto the ground where it immediately becomes a serpent.
Pharaoh laughs, “Nice trick. Watch this.” Then he motions for his magicians who have been standing at the side of the room. “Show them what Pharaoh thinks of this trick of theirs. Match their God’s powers with the powers commanded by Pharaoh, the god of Egypt!”
Three magicians wearing smirks on their faces step forward and toss their staffs down near where Aaron tossed his. Their staves too become serpents. Pharaoh roars with laughter. “Three to one! Who holds the power now?”
A second after Pharaoh utters those words Aaron’s staff swallows whole all three of Pharaoh’s magician’s staves. As soon as Aaron’s serpent has finished its ‘meal’ Aaron reaches down and grabs it by the tail and it becomes his staff once more.
Pharaoh glares at Aaron then looks to his magicians. None will meet his eyes and they remain speechless. “GET OUT! You have proved NOTHING! I will NOT let the Hebrews go!”
Moses and Aaron bow and turn to leave. As soon as they are outside the gates of the palace they break their silence. “Did you see his face when your staff swallowed the others?”
“I did! But he still says he isn’t going to let the people go.”
“I know.”
“Now what do we do?”
“We follow where the Lord leads. He said this wasn’t going to be a quick and easy process. We have to trust that He knows the next step in His plan and be willing to walk in it, no matter what it is.”
“You are right brother. Lead me where the Lord leads you, and I will follow.”
Moses and Aaron are strengthened by the Lord’s display of power over Egypt’s gods but they know there is a long road ahead of them still. For today, they must return to work beside their brothers. All hands are needed to meet Pharaoh’s demands. They will do what they can to help Israel carry the load. Moses will also continue to listen in order to hear the Lord’s voice as he labors beside his brothers, and then under his quiet tree when evening comes.
That evening as Moses sits under his favorite tree he hears the Lord speaking to him. “Go to Pharaoh in the morning where he is bathing. Make sure and take you staff with you; the one that turned into a serpent. When he comes up out of the water you will be there to meet him and give him another message from Me. ‘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. 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. The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile’”’” (Exodus 7:16-18).
Moses listened closely to the instructions of the Lord, including that he was to tell Aaron to perform the actual striking of the water. He was also to tell Aaron to strike all the water in Egypt so there wouldn’t be clean water anywhere. As soon as he was certain he had all the Lord’s instructions committed to memory and in his heart, he went to speak with Aaron about what the morning held.
“Aaron, I have heard from the Lord. He has told me what our next step is for Him.”
“That’s great! Is it something I’m to assist you with?”
“Absolutely! I can hardly wait to see the look on Pharaoh’s face when he sees the Lord’s hand in the morning!” Moses proceeds to tell Aaron exactly what the Lord shared with him. Aaron’s eyes widen and his mouth falls open when he hears that there won’t be any clean water in all of Egypt.
“But what are we supposed to do about water?”
“The Lord will take care of His own. Our people may need to suffer a bit too so they will recognize the hand of God.”
“Maybe so. I bet this gets their attention” Aaron says with big eyes and a wary smile.
At first light Moses and Aaron head out to the place where Pharaoh bathes in the Nile. They hang back a bit so he won’t see them until the time is right. His procession can be heard for quite some distance and they watch from their vantage point. As soon as Pharaoh starts preparing for his bath Moses and Aaron avert their eyes. Their ears will tell them when he is ready to be approached.
After some time Pharaoh is heard ordering one of his servants, “Bring me my robe!”
The servant steps to the bank and holds Pharaoh’s robe for him to step into. It takes but a moment to wrap Pharaoh in his fine linen tunic and fasten it with a scarab pin. This is also the sign Moses and Aaron have been waiting for. They walk from their spot to the top of the bank above Pharaoh.
“Good morning Pharaoh” intones Moses.
“What do you want” Pharaoh says with a sneer. “Come to get an eye full of Egypt’s amazing god?”
“No, my lord. We would not be so disrespectful. But I do bring you another message from the God of the Hebrews.”
“Let me guess; ‘let my people go’?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. But He has much more to say to Pharaoh on this issue.”
Pharaoh moves to his bench where his servant cleans his feet and puts his sandals on him. “Go ahead. Amuse your Pharaoh this morning.”
“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. 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. The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.’” Then Moses turned to Aaron and said, “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 the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and in vessels of stone” (Exodus 7:19b).
Pharaoh listened to Moses’ words to him with a grim face, but when Moses spoke to Aaron, Pharaoh’s expression turned angry. Surely Moses didn’t intend to try this trick on him! This was something his own magicians could do. Didn’t their God have any new tricks? Still though, this was something that would disrupt his day.
Aaron steps forward and strikes the Nile with his staff. The entire river immediately turns to blood. The fish begin to be pushed to the surface where they gasp for air. Within minutes they lie perfectly still. The whole river is covered in dead fish. Pharaoh stood by and watched as the fish succumbed to the lack of oxygen. He then turns and begins walking away from the river. “Follow me and I will show you what I think of this trick.”
Moses and Aaron follow Pharaoh as he makes his way to his palace. Once they arrive, Pharaoh summons his magicians and also has two of his servants bring in a jar of water. Once everything is ready Pharaoh says to his magicians, “Your god commands you to turn this water into blood.”
The magicians step forward and, using herbs and incantations, turn the water into blood. Pharaoh smiles at Moses and Aaron. “My prophets can do the same. There is nothing special about your God’s latest trick. Leave me! I grow tired of your parlor tricks!”
Moses and Aaron leave Pharaoh’s palace. Aaron still has work to do as God commanded him to stretch out his staff to ALL the waters in Egypt.
Aaron and Moses have completed the Lord’s work by evening. There is no fresh water in all of Egypt.
In the meantime Pharaoh has ordered his magicians to turn the blood back into water. They are having no success in this at all, and that was making Pharaoh angry! The longer this disaster went on the angrier Pharaoh became. By day three he was threatening to kill his magicians if they didn’t solve this problem.
On the third day the Egyptians began digging beside the Nile to try and find water. Anything they found immediately turned to blood as soon as it was exposed. The people began to cry out to Pharaoh for relief.
Even the making of bricks had come to a halt as water was needed for this process. This didn’t stop the Egyptian slave drivers to decrease their demands on the Hebrews. They simply rolled over the shortage from one day into the quota for the next. With the lack of straw there was already such a shortage that the Hebrews would never catch up.
This disaster lasted a full week. When the water finally cleared Pharaoh’s magicians took credit for it. Moses and Aaron waited patiently this week for the Lord to speak to them and tell them what to do next. They also prayed that Pharaoh would bend to the Lord’s will and release the people.
Moses and Aaron also spoke with the people about having hope during this time as the Lord was working on their freedom through His acts. Their words fell on skeptical ears. Hope rekindled for some, while others only saw the difficulties. The Lord had MUCH work to do with His own people’s hearts too.
(to be continued)
I believe God was breaking in and stretching Moses and Aaron’s faith as much as He was showing Himself to Pharaoh. God could have done an AMAZING miracle right away but He chose to do something that He KNEW Pharaoh would scoff at. It was amazing to Moses and Aaron because they didn’t practice the dark arts like Pharaoh’s magicians did. Before the burning bush was the first time Moses had seen such an event. Aaron saw it the first time when Moses showed it to him as proof of his encounter with God. But this was old hat to Pharaoh.
But God’s serpent EATING the other serpents was NOT something Pharaoh had expected. To him, these serpents were nothing more than animated objects conjured by the magicians. They had no power in themselves. But God’s serpent did! It ATE Pharaoh’s serpents. It dominATEd Pharaoh’s power! I wonder what Moses and Aaron thought of that moment. Did they smile? Did they laugh? Or did they respond with shock too at the display of God’s power? Aaron didn’t hesitate to retrieve his staff once it finished its ‘meal.’ He wasn’t afraid of it like one would be with a live snake. He recognized it as God’s tool given into his hands. He would NOT behave this way with any other snakes he came across!
Father God, Your power is ABOVE ALL other power in this world. Some people can blow off Your miracles as just every day occurrences, like finding the perfect parking space at the store. But I KNOW the difference! When I ask for Your help, even with the little things, You NEVER fail to show me Your love. I don’t always get exactly what I asked for but I ALWAYS feel Your presence in my situation. Sometimes I need to walk the extra few steps as my exercise for the day. I have SO MANY little miracles You have performed in my life over the years that there is NO WAY I could ever doubt You. Help me remain ever listening and watching for the little things You do in my life every day. Pharaoh will have enough proof too, soon. I’m talking story wise and not history wise right now. I look forward to the rest of the story!
