FROM TODAY’S RECAP: - Exodus 4:21 - Exodus 9:15-16 - Article: "What was the meaning and purpose of the ten plagues of Egypt?" - Sign up for PREcap Emails Note: We provide links to specific resources; this is not an endorsement of the entire website, author, organization, etc. Their views may not represent our own. SHOW NOTES: - Follow The Bible Recap: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube - Follow Tara-Leigh Cobble: Instagram - Read/listen on the Bible App or Dwell App - Learn more at our Start Page - Become a RECAPtain - Shop the TBR Store - Credits PARTNER MINISTRIES: D-Group International Israelux The God Shot TLC Writing & Speaking DISCLAIMER: The Bible Recap, Tara-Leigh Cobble, and affiliates are not a church, pastor, spiritual authority, or counseling service. Listeners and viewers consume this content on a voluntary basis and assume all responsibility for the resulting consequences and impact.
Full Episode
Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Today, we open our reading with God telling Moses and Aaron that Pharaoh is not going to listen to them. God says he's going to harden Pharaoh's heart against the request they're bringing. That's a pretty tough order. He also mentioned this yesterday in 421.
One thing this reveals to us is that God is sovereign over hearts. If you're new to this idea or it's troublesome for you, resist the urge to read into God's motives or draw conclusions about Him based on this. For now, let's just notice that He can change hearts. God also mentions several times that He's doing all of this so that Israel will know that He is the Lord.
The meaning of the word know doesn't just refer to some cognizant assent to this reality. It has more to do with a person's posture in response to that truth. God wants them to believe it in their bones, not just acknowledge it as a fact. And He wants their lives to reflect it. The plagues will serve this same purpose for the Egyptians, for them to know that he is the Lord.
But unfortunately, it's possible to know that God is the Lord of all and still not yield to him. Remember the sons of God we've encountered a few times, including the one called Satan, the accuser? These fallen angels would have lived in heaven with God before their fall, serving him. Who would know the truth more than they would? But they didn't yield to God as Lord.
They insisted on their own way. So Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh and they warn him that there will be displays of God's power if he continues to rebel, and that these displays of power will also serve to demonstrate God's judgment on Egypt. They perform the signs God gave them, but Pharaoh is not impressed because his magicians can do similar things.
The enemy loves to counterfeit God's work, but the enemy can't stop God's work. Their snake staffs were swallowed up by Aaron's, and we see God's power over Pharaoh and his magicians, but we see for the first time that Pharaoh's heart was hardened, as the Lord had said. After the snake sign, we see the first plague, turning the local water to blood.
One thing I learned recently about the ten plagues is that they weren't just about inducing pain. Each plague was a direct attack on one or more of the false gods worshipped by the Egyptians, which was a polytheistic culture. We don't have time to go into details about all these false gods plague by plague, so we'll link to an article in the show notes in case you want more info on that.
The plagues also served to reveal that Yahweh is greater than Pharaoh, who was revered as a god in Egypt. This whole series of events shows how all of Egypt's false gods failed them. The first plague was an attack on the gods of the Nile, which they worshipped. But the local magicians could do the same thing. So again, Pharaoh was unmoved. His heart remained hard, as the Lord had said.
Then the frogs came and the magicians were able to replicate this one too. But one thing you'll notice is that they can't ever solve the problem. They can only make things worse. Oh, God sent a bunch of frogs to overwhelm the land? Uh, no, we can't magically make them disappear, but we can add more. Nobody needs that, you guys.
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