Exodus 07
Ex 7:1So the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
A prophet speaks from God to man. He communicates direct revelation from God. There are false prophets inside many modern churches today. However, there are no true prophets in this dispensation today. The only divine revelation comes from the written Word of God.
2You are to speak everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh that he must release the Israelites from his land.
God will speak to Moses who will speak to Aaron who will speak to Pharaoh.
3But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and although I will multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt,
Pharaoh will see miracles of God, but these miracles will harden him.
4Pharaoh will not listen to you. I will reach into Egypt and bring out my regiments, my people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.
Pharaoh will not listen. God will still accomplish His purpose.
5Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I extend my hand over Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.
The miracles will convince many of the Egyptians that Jehovah is God and their gods are nothing.
6And Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.
Moses and Aaron were obedient to God.
7Now Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Aaron was the older brother of Moses.
8The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Do a miracle,’ and you say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ it will become a snake.”
God gave Moses and Aaron the details of the first miracle.
10When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them – Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake.
A wooden staff became a snake. The Egyptians worshipped snakes. The serpent was one of the major occultic symbols of Satan.
11Then Pharaoh also summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt by their secret arts did the same thing.
These were polytheistic priests who received their powers from Satan. They were able to turn actual wood into live snakes. Satan has the power to create minor life forms out of inanimate objects. During the Great Tribulation, Satan will give life to a lifeless image of himself.
12Each man threw down his staff, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
Even though Satan has some powers of creation, his power cannot overcome that of God.
13Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.
This miracle did not cause conversion in Pharaoh. It caused more hardness of heart. Hardness of heart means a hardness of intellect, or a hard-headed fellow.
The First Blow: Water to Blood
14The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to release the people.
There were three reasons for God to perform the miracles of the ten plagues. First, the plagues would be the means of freeing Israel. Second, the plagues would punish Egypt. Third, the plagues would demonstrate the foolishness of idolatry.
15Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the water. Position yourself to meet him by the edge of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.
The Egyptians worshipped the Nile River. They called it “the lifeblood of Egypt.” The Egyptians worshipped Nile River gods, fish, and crocodiles.
16Tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say, “Release my people, that they may serve me in the desert!” But until now you have not listened.
Jehovah was not one of the 80 gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He was the one and only true God.
17Thus says the Lord: “By this you will know that I am the Lord: I am going to strike the water of the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood.
God gave a warning so that Pharaoh would have time to repent.
18Fish in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile.”
The fish god would not be able to protect the fish. The Nile River spirits would not be able to save the Nile. The water gods would not be able to provide water to the Egyptians.
19Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over Egypt’s waters – over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their reservoirs – so that it becomes blood.’ There will be blood everywhere in the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.”
The wooden and stone containers were offering bowls of the Egyptian gods. Even the water in these temple offering bowls would be affected.
20Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord had commanded. Moses raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile right before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.
The Egyptians' gods were powerless to stop Jehovah.
21When the fish that were in the Nile died, the Nile began to stink, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood everywhere in the land of Egypt!
The Egyptian fish god was not able to protect the fish. The Egyptian fish gods were stinking up Egypt.
22But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts, and so Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron – just as the Lord had predicted.
The magicians could not stop the miracle, but they could copy it. This shows the tremendous power of Satan. The irony is that Pharaoh did not need any more blood. The skeptics like to ask where did the Egyptian magicians find water to turn into blood? The answer is found in verse 24.
23And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not pay any attention to this.
Pharaoh shut himself in his palace and ignored the miracle.
24All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the Nile.
The Egyptians dug in the ground for their water.
The Second Blow: Frogs
25Seven full days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.
This plague lasted for seven days. All ten of the plagues lasted for six months. This was a tremendous testimony to the people of Egypt, the people of Israel, and the angels and demons of the angelic realm.
There are many actual miracles that occur today in charismatic churches. Satan is alive and well in the church today. He will draw Biblically ignorant Christians into charismatic churches, deceive them with miracles, and make them think that these miracles are from God. Miracles are not evidence that God is working in a church. The evidence of a true church of God is Bible doctrine taught at the deepest level.
Appendix:
An amazing discovery was made in the 19th century called the IPUWER PAPYRUS. It was discovered in Egypt and dates back to the end of the middle kingdom. It was written by a person who witnessed the events of the Exodus.
IPUWER PAPYRUS - LEIDEN 344 TORAH - EXODUS
2:5-6 Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere.
2:10 The river is blood.
2:10 Men shrink from tasting - human beings, and thirst after water
3:10-13 That is our water! That is our happiness! What shall we do in respect thereof? All is ruin.
7:20 …all the waters of the river were turned to blood.
7:21 ...there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt …and the river stank.
7:24 And all the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
2:10 Forsooth, gates, columns and walls are consumed by fire.
10:3-6 Lower Egypt weeps... The entire palace is without its revenues. To it belong [by right] wheat and barley, geese and fish
6:3 Forsooth, grain has perished on every side.
5:12 Forsooth, that has perished which was yesterday seen. The land is left over to its weariness like the cutting of flax.
9:23-24 ...and the fire ran along the ground... there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous.
9:25 ...and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field.
9:31-32 ...and the flax and the barley were smitten; for the barley was in season, and flax was ripe.
But the wheat and the rye were not smitten; for they were not grown up.
10:15 ...there remained no green things in the trees, or in the herbs of the fields, through all the land of Egypt.
5:5 All animals, their hearts weep. Cattle moan...
9:2-3 Behold, cattle are left to stray, and there is none to gather them together.
9:3 ...the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field... and there shall be a very grievous sickness.
9:19 ...gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field...
9:21 And he that did not fear the word of the Lord left his servants and cattle in the field.
9:11 The land is without light
10:22 And there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt.
4:3 (5:6) Forsooth, the children of princes are dashed against the walls.
6:12 Forsooth, the children of princes are cast out in the streets.
6:3 The prison is ruined.
2:13 He who places his brother in the ground is everywhere.
3:14 It is groaning throughout the land, mingled with lamentations
12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive that was in the prison.
12:30 ...there was not a house where there was not one dead.
12:30 ...there was a great cry in Egypt.
7:1 Behold, the fire has mounted up on high. Its burning goes forth against the enemies of the land. 13:21 ... by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.
3:2 Gold and lapis lazuli, silver and malachite, carnelian and bronze... are fastened on the neck of female slaves.
12:35-36 ...and they requested from the Egyptians, silver and gold articles and clothing. And God made the Egyptians favor them and they granted their request. [The Israelites] thus drained Egypt of its wealth.
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