1 February 2024
Reading From Exodus 7-9
The Reactions of Pharoah to Each Plague
You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.
After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh…But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not.
Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.
Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained. But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.
Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.
The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.
Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.”
When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.
–Excerpts From Exodus 7-9
Pharoah did not believe in Yahweh, the God of Israel.[1] When his own magicians could produce a counterfeit miracle that seemed to replicate what God did, Pharoah was not convinced that Yahweh was to be feared. Scripture says that Pharoah would turn and go back into his palace and not even reflect on what had happened.[2] Once Moses asked God for relief and Pharoah saw that relief had come, he went about his business and did not consider his actions or that he ought to turn and listen to God.[3] Pharoah’s own magicians came to recognized that it was Yahweh bringing about the plagues, but by this time the king of Egypt had persisted in his unbelief and unrepentance and was unwilling to listen to even his own advisers, let alone the God of his slaves. Pharoah was also deceitful.[4] He would tell Moses and Aaron that he would let them go, relief from the plague would come, and he would go back on his word and keep the Israelites in bondage. Exodus records Pharoah’s actions as sin.[5]
The record also tells us that God hardened the heart of the king, but it also says that Pharoah and his officials hardened their own hearts. Which is it? I would say both. God has put into spiritual law on the earth that a human reaps what they sow.[6] Since God is the one who put this natural cause and effect into motion, every time a human being exercises their free will, there are consequences.[7] In this way, it is a human who causes themselves to be insensitive to the leadership of God by their own persistent unbelief, disobedience and unrepentance. Continued rebellion against God causes the human heart to be cauterized and covered in scar tissue.[8] When the gentle Holy Spirit speaks to that person, they do not hear. They are spiritually desensitized and not listening.[9] In Romans 9, the Apostle Paul explains how God uses this process of hardening and softening as part of His plan to bring mercy to humanity and display the power of His redemption.
“Lord, I pray that You will keep my heart softened to hear Your voice and heed Your direction for my life. Help me to not allow the static of sin to cause interference in the line of communication between You and I. Give me the strength to continue in obedience in following You so that my heart does not become hardened against You. Use me for Your glory, Amen.”
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
–Ephesians 4:17-24
[1] Hebrews 3:12
[2] Psalm 139:23-24
[3] Isaiah 55:7
[4] Exodus 20:16
[5] Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 8:44, Revelation 12:9
[6] Galatians 6:7-8
[7] II Corinthians 9:6, 9:10-11, Luke 6:38, Proverbs 22:8, Hosea 8:7
[8] Ephesians 4:18
[9] II John 1:9, Romans 10:17, Luke 6:49
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