‏ Exodus 7:8-25

Summary for Exod 7:8: 7:8–12:30  ^a This section divides the events of rescue into two parts: the plagues (7:8–11:10  ^b) and the Passover (12:1-30  ^c). God demonstrated that he is the Lord of life and death and nothing has any power against him (see Isa 43:13  ^d). The God of the patriarchs is also the God of the universe.
Summary for Exod 7:8-13: 7:8–11:10  ^e In the plagues, God showed that all the Egyptians’ so-called gods, supposed to be sources of life, were really sources of death apart from the life-giving power of the Lord (see 12:12  ^f; 18:11  ^g).
7:9  ^h Serpent (Hebrew tannin) is a different word than the word translated “snake” in 4:3  ⁱ. Tannin often refers to a sea monster. Egypt is often portrayed as an ultimately impotent sea monster (Isa 30:7  ^j; Ezek 29:3  ^k). The image of a cobra’s head was on the pharaoh’s headdress.
7:11  ^l these Egyptian magicians did the same thing (see also 7:22  ^m; 8:7  ⁿ): While demonic power might have been involved, it is also possible that some sleight of hand was being practiced. When they could not reproduce the plague of gnats, they declared that it was “the finger of God” (8:19  ^o), indicating that their own actions were not a manifestation of divine power. While the Egyptian magicians are not identified by name, tradition gives their names as Jannes and Jambres (see 2 Tim 3:8  ^p).
Summary for Exod 7:14-25: 7:14-25  ^q The first plague was the plague on the Nile, when the whole river turned to blood (7:20  ^r). The Egyptians correctly understood that without the Nile there would be no life in Egypt. They worshiped the Nile as the Mother of Egypt, but God showed that life is his to give or withhold. 7:14  ^s See thematic note for Hardened Hearts at end of chapter.
7:22  ^t The Egyptian priests did not do anything as extensive as Moses and Aaron had done, but Pharaoh did not want to believe, so it took only the smallest thing to justify his unbelief.

Thematic note: Hardened Hearts
Exodus repeatedly states that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exod 4:21  ^u; 9:12  ^v; 10:1  ^w, 20  ^x; 11:10  ^y; 14:4  ^z, 8  ^aa). These statements can be troubling. Was Pharaoh forced to sin against God?
Other factors need to be taken into account: (1) The Lord knew ahead of time that Pharaoh would harden his heart (3:19  ^ab); (2) Pharaoh himself became stubborn (8:15  ^ac, 32  ^ad); and (3) Pharaoh remained stubborn despite clear warnings (8:19  ^ae). Pharaoh was not a well-meaning, misguided individual who was not allowed to repent. Although God was ultimately in control of Pharaoh, Pharaoh himself was accountable for his actions.
This interplay between human choice and divine sovereignty is found in other places in Scripture. The Israelites hardened their hearts and refused to believe God in the wilderness (Ps 95:8-10  ^af). God hardened the hearts of the Canaanites so that they did not seek to make peace with the Hebrews (Josh 11:20  ^ag). The message God gave to Isaiah hardened the hearts of his hearers (Isa 6:9-10  ^ah); similarly in the New Testament, many people hardened their hearts in response to the message of the gospel (Matt 13:15  ^ai; John 12:40  ^aj; Acts 28:27  ^ak). People are responsible for their choices, but no one makes choices in a vacuum. Rather, they make them in the context of how God has made his world and providentially directs it.
The emphasis in Exodus on God’s control of Pharaoh puts the conflict between two belief systems into stark contrast. Pharaoh believed that he was sovereign and divine, able to do whatever he pleased. God demonstrated that this was not the case: Pharaoh was dependent, as much the prisoner of his choices as any other creature on the planet. There is only one absolutely independent “I Am,” and that is Yahweh, the Lord (see 3:6-14  ^al; 6:2-8  ^am; 20:2  ^an; 34:6-7  ^ao; Isa 45:3-7  ^ap; 48:17  ^aq; Mark 14:62  ^ar; John 8:23-28  ^as).


Passages for Further Study
Gen 8:21  ^at; Exod 3:19  ^au; 4:21  ^av; 8:15  ^aw, 19  ^ax, 32  ^ay; 9:12  ^az; 10:1  ^ba, 20  ^bb; 11:10  ^bc; 14:4  ^bd, 8  ^be; Josh 11:19-20  ^bf; 2 Chr 36:11-13  ^bg; Ps 95:8-11  ^bh; Isa 6:9-10  ^bi; Ezek 11:18-21  ^bj; 36:22-27  ^bk; Matt 12:34-35  ^bl; 13:10-17  ^bm; Luke 8:4-15  ^bn; John 12:37-40  ^bo; Acts 28:23-28  ^bp; Rom 2:14-16  ^bq; 11:7-12  ^br; 2 Cor 3:13-18  ^bs; Eph 4:17-24  ^bt; Heb 3:6-19  ^bu; 6:4-8  ^bv

‏ Exodus 8

Summary for Exod 8:1-15: 8:1-15  ^bw The second plague was the plague of frogs (8:2  ^bx). The Egyptians gave special reverence to amphibians because of their ability to live in two different worlds; Egyptians were deeply concerned with survival in the next world, after death. God showed that frogs have no special hold on life. This plague is sometimes said to have been a natural result of whatever happened to make the Nile River uninhabitable. However, the extent of the plague was more than a natural result.
Summary for Exod 8:7-8: 8:7-8  ^by The magicians were able to duplicate the plague in some sense, but Pharaoh did not ask them to rid the land of the frogs. Instead, he begged Moses to ask God to take them away. He already knew where the real power was.
8:9  ^bz In this instance, the evidence of God’s power was not in the event per se but in the timing. God could keep the frogs alive or he could end their lives. Pharaoh needed only to say when.
8:10  ^ca you will know that there is no one like the Lord our God: Once more the issue is highlighted (see 7:17  ^cb). These events were not primarily about rescue, but about the nature of reality. Who was rescuing these people—one of the gods, or the one true God, the Lord?
8:13  ^cc had predicted: Moses predicted that the plague would stop the next day; God predicted that Pharaoh would refuse to listen (see 8:15  ^cd). The element of prediction is central to God’s lordship. God sees and controls the future; he is the Lord.
Summary for Exod 8:16-19: 8:16-19  ^ce The third plague was the plague of gnats. The word translated “gnats” is very general. Technical Old Testament dictionaries often translate it as “vermin.” The English term “bugs” would come close. The whole land was infested with insects of one sort or another.
8:19  ^cf This is the finger of God! See study note on 7:11.
Summary for Exod 8:20-32: 8:20-32  ^cg The fourth plague was the plague of flies. The Egyptians worshiped insects such as flies that seemed to be able to turn death into life, as their young seemed to emerge from decaying matter. If the Egyptians thought that insects had the secret of life, God would let them have all the insects they wanted. Some say that this infestation was the natural result of all the dead frogs, but there were no flies in Goshen (8:22  ^ch), the northeastern delta area where the Hebrews lived. God’s miraculous power was clearly seen in his ability to infest one area while sparing another at will.
8:25  ^ci Pharaoh attempted to bargain with God. He wanted to obey partially while still retaining control. James says of such people, “Their loyalty is divided between God and the world” (Jas 1:8  ^cj), and such a person cannot receive anything from the Lord.
Summary for Exod 8:26-27: 8:26-27  ^ck Moses pointed out the impossibility of what Pharaoh was asking on the grounds of the Egyptians’ own prejudice: They considered all Semites to be uncultured and uncouth (see Gen 43:32  ^cl).

• The Hebrews were leaving Egypt in order to worship God (see, e.g., Exod 5:1  ^cm; 7:16  ^cn; 8:1  ^co, 20  ^cp). God’s purpose for the Exodus was to lead his people into a proper relationship with him.
Summary for Exod 8:29-30: 8:29-30  ^cq I will pray: Moses was learning the role of intercessor that would be so much a part of his life in future years (see, e.g., 32:11-13  ^cr, 30-32  ^cs; Num 14:13-19  ^ct). It must have been increasingly tempting to let the Egyptians continue to experience the results of their king’s stubbornness, but Moses was willing to plead with God not to leave them in a permanent state of grief and distress.

‏ Exodus 9

Summary for Exod 9:1-7: 9:1-7  ^cu The fifth plague was against the livestock. As with the withholding of flies from the area where the Hebrews lived (8:22-23  ^cv), the distinction between the livestock of the Israelites and that of the Egyptians (9:4  ^cw) shows that a natural explanation of this event is insufficient, even if the previous plagues contributed. The Egyptians, like many in the ancient Near East, worshiped the ram, the goat, and the bull as representing power and fertility. These animals had no power before the Lord, in whom true power resides.
9:3  ^cx Your livestock refers specifically to field animals. Other animals would have boils inflicted upon them in the next plague.

• The term all (also in 9:6  ^cy) is not absolute; it does not mean that every single livestock animal was killed. There were still some left to protect from the hail of the seventh plague (9:20  ^cz).
Summary for Exod 9:5-6: 9:5-6  ^da Prediction again played an important role. These events were being directed by the One who is sovereign over all that happens.
Summary for Exod 9:8-12: 9:8-12  ^db The sixth plague brought festering boils on humans and animals. At this point the magicians, far from being able to duplicate the sign, were unable to spare themselves from it. Their defeat was complete.
9:12  ^dc Plagues five and six apparently dissipated on their own, since there was no plea by Pharaoh to bring them to an end.
Summary for Exod 9:13-33: 9:13-33  ^dd The seventh plague was a hailstorm (9:18  ^de). It rains in Egypt only a few days each year, and hail and thunderstorms are largely unknown, so this storm would have been terrifying. That may be why there is more theological reflection associated with it. The devastating effect of the plague was to destroy the flax and barley crops (9:31  ^df).
Summary for Exod 9:14-17: 9:14-17  ^dg God explained the purpose of the plagues to Pharaoh: They were revelatory, designed to demonstrate (especially to Pharaoh) that there is no one like me in all the earth (9:14  ^dh; see also Isa 46:9  ^di; Jer 10:6-7  ^dj). God had not destroyed Pharaoh and Egypt in a single blow, as he could have done. Rather he had spared them (Exod 9:16  ^dk), giving them an opportunity to submit to his power. But Pharaoh refused to humble himself and stop lording it over the Lord’s people (9:17  ^dl).
9:16  ^dm In Rom 9:17  ^dn, Paul quotes from the Greek version of this verse as he describes the sovereignty of God.
Summary for Exod 9:20-21: 9:20-21  ^do Some of Pharaoh’s officials were beginning to make appropriate deductions from their experiences thus far and to take precautions, while others imitated their master’s refusal to submit. Pride often dominates reason.
9:26  ^dp The hail was not a natural event, either in extent or in selectivity (see study note on 9:1-7).
9:27  ^dq Pharaoh was driven to a logical conclusion. In the face of such clear evidence to the contrary, pride was not merely a failure, it was a sin.
9:29  ^dr There is no one like the Lord in all the earth (9:14  ^ds), and all the earth belongs to the Lord. This was the inescapable message of the plagues, though the Egyptians had difficulty accepting it.

‏ Exodus 10

Summary for Exod 10:1-20: 10:1-20  ^dt The eighth plague was the plague of locusts (10:4  ^du). Evidently enough time had elapsed between this plague and the previous one that the wheat and emmer wheat had sprouted (see 9:32  ^dv). The Egyptian god Osiris was especially revered as the god who descended into the underworld and brought plant life back in the spring. This second, climactic attack on the plant life demonstrated that even Osiris was helpless before the Lord. There is no eternal life in sprouting plants.
10:2  ^dw The plagues were sent so that Israel will know that I am the Lord (similarly, with respect to Egypt, see 9:14-16  ^dx).
10:4  ^dy These locusts were not the insects called locusts in North America, but a form of migratory grasshopper. Swarming out of desert regions, they could devastate large areas of land, devouring all the plant life before them.
Summary for Exod 10:7-11: 10:7-11  ^dz The officials, with no royal prestige on the line, were willing to learn the lessons of God’s sovereignty and let the men go. Pharaoh again resisted, in an effort to save face somehow. He would let them go only if they left their families behind and were thus bound to return, but Moses had never said they would return. While the purpose for going into the wilderness was to worship God, it was unthinkable that oppressed slaves would willingly return to their oppressors once they were free, and Pharaoh knew it.
Summary for Exod 10:13-15: 10:13-15  ^ea The miraculous nature of the locust plague was indicated by its timing (when Moses raised his staff) and by its extent and intensity (from one end of the country to the other, and there has never been another one like it). 10:13  ^eb an east wind: The grasshopper swarms came from the Arabian Desert, across the Red Sea to the east.
10:17  ^ec Forgive my sin: Pharaoh’s recognition grew deeper; he admitted that his pride and refusal to keep his word were sins, and he recognized that sin cannot be ignored but must be forgiven. Unfortunately, his correct theological understanding did not in itself change his heart.
Summary for Exod 10:21-29: 10:21-29  ^ed The ninth plague was the plague of darkness (10:21  ^ee). The chief god of Egypt through the centuries, who appeared under several different names, was the sun. At this time he was known as Amon-Re. He was supreme over all the other gods and was considered to be the ultimate source of life. The Lord showed that the sun’s light is completely under his control; he could shut it off from Egypt proper, while leaving it to shine in Goshen in the northeast part of the country (10:23  ^ef; see study note on 9:1-7).
10:24  ^eg leave your flocks and herds: Pharaoh again attempted to save some scrap of his prestige and authority from the debacle.
Summary for Exod 10:25-26: 10:25-26  ^eh Moses was unrelenting. He knew that the Israelites, far from leaving any of their possessions behind, would be receiving gifts from the Egyptians, who would hurry them away (3:21-22  ^ei). He also kept the focus on the worship of God. This continual refrain about the purpose for leaving Egypt (see study note on 8:26-27) reflects the key purpose of their exodus, to become the people of God.
Summary for Exod 10:27-29: 10:27-29  ^ej Pharaoh seemed to realize that he had reached a point of no return. If he would not submit—the only action appropriate to what he had learned from the plagues—then he must kill the messenger. This reasoning is similar to that of the religious leaders later during the life of Christ. They refused to draw the appropriate conclusions from Jesus’ life and ministry, so they decided to kill him (see John 11:45-53  ^ek).

‏ Exodus 11

Summary for Exod 11:1-9: 11:1-9  ^el The final plague was the death of the firstborn sons. The Egyptians worshiped life. They gave so much attention to preparations for life after death because they wanted to ensure that it would be at least as good as their lives in Egypt. Death itself is in God’s hand. There is no underworld god who can ultimately defeat the God of life. Both life and death belong to the Lord.
11:3  ^em Pharaoh refused to recognize the truth, but the Lord ensured that the rest of Egypt would recognize it.
11:5  ^en In much of the world, the issue of survival is addressed through children, and it is through the firstborn sons that the family line is carried on. If we have a child, there is a sense of satisfaction that even when we are dead, we will live on through our children. In the death of the Egyptian firstborn, God was showing that humans can do nothing by themselves to guarantee survival. Life is a gift, and that gift is in the hand of the one Lord, the “I Am.”
11:7  ^eo As stated explicitly in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and ninth plagues (8:23  ^ep; 9:6  ^eq, 26  ^er; 10:23  ^es), the Lord distinguished between his people and the Egyptians. These events clearly resulted from the express activity of God and were not just a chance collection of natural tragedies.
11:8  ^et Pharaoh had lost control. Moses was no longer asking; he was now in a position to dictate the terms of the Israelites’ departure from the country.

‏ Exodus 12:1-30

Summary for Exod 12:1-30: 12:1-30  ^eu The Lord gave Moses instructions for the Passover meal and the Festival of Unleavened Bread (12:14-20  ^ev), and Moses and the people observed the first Passover (12:21-30  ^ew).
12:2  ^ex This month was the month Abib (13:4  ^ey; 23:15  ^ez; 34:18  ^fa; Deut 16:1  ^fb; later called by the Babylonian name, Nisan, Neh 2:1  ^fc; Esth 3:7  ^fd), which falls within the months of March and April. Many cultures held festivals about this time of the year, celebrating the renewal of plant life. Israel’s festival celebrated the historic event in which God defeated death and rescued his people from bondage in Egypt.
12:5  ^fe with no defects: We must give God our best, just as he gave us his best: “the sinless, spotless Lamb of God” (1 Pet 1:19  ^ff).
12:6  ^fg the whole assembly of the community: Both the benefits and the responsibility of a relationship with God are realized in community.
12:7  ^fh blood: God could not simply exempt his people from this plague as he had preserved them from the other plagues. Death reigns in the world because of sin, and in light of God’s justice, sin cannot be ignored; it must be either punished or atoned for. Since the blood represents life (Lev 17:11  ^fi), it alone is acceptable for the forgiveness of sins (Heb 9:22  ^fj). As Deut 6:9  ^fk suggests, doorframes represent the totality of life as the place of going in and coming out.
12:10  ^fl Since this was not a regular meal, none of the meat was to be saved for another day.
12:11  ^fm Be fully dressed: The Israelites were to be ready to depart at a moment’s notice.
12:12  ^fn The plagues were primarily the Lord’s judgment against all the gods of Egypt (see also Num 33:4  ^fo).
12:14  ^fp The Jewish people still commemorate Passover, since it was instituted as a law for all time.
12:15  ^fq without yeast: Israel needed unleavened bread for traveling (see 12:34  ^fr, 39  ^fs), which the festival commemorated. Later, yeast was seen as an image of sin, probably because it is an agent of fermentation (“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees,” Matt 16:6  ^ft).

• cut off from the community: This means either death or expulsion from the community.
12:22  ^fu Hyssop is a small bush with stiff, compact branches that can serve as a brush (see also Ps 51:7  ^fv and study note).
12:25  ^fw The land the Lord has promised to give you refers to the land of Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham (Gen 12:7  ^fx; 13:14-17  ^fy).
Summary for Exod 12:26-27: 12:26-27  ^fz In the future, the Passover celebration would be a memorial reminding future generations of Israelites of God’s grace in providing them a way of escape from death. For more than 3,000 years the Jewish people have celebrated this great formative event in their history.
Summary for Exod 12:28-30: 12:28-30  ^ga The predicted plague was fulfilled. Just as death exempts no one, so no one in Egypt, from Pharaoh to the lowest prisoner, escaped the effects of Pharaoh’s pride.