Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom wenstrom

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Sunday November 13, 2011Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 10-The Eighth and Ninth PlaguesLesson # 10

3. Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 10:1.

4. Exodus 10:1-6 presents the record of the Lord giving Moses instructions concerning the eighth plague.

5. Exodus 10:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

6. 3 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 4 For if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.

7. 5 They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They will also eat the rest of what has escaped—what is left to you from the hail—and they will eat every tree which sprouts for you out of the field.

8. 6 Then your houses shall be filled and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians, something which neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they came upon the earth until this day.’” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh. (NASB95)

9. The account of the eighth plague in chapter 10 is the second longest of the nine that lead up to the tenth and final plague.

10. In verse 1, the Lord says to Moses that He has hardened Pharaoh’s heart as well as the heart of his servants.

11. There are other passages of Scripture which teach that God hardened Pharaoh (Exodus 9:12; 10:20, 27; 11:10; 14:8).

12. There were prophecies that God would do this to Pharaoh (Exodus 4:21; 7:3).

13. However, the Scriptures also teach that Pharaoh would harden himself (Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34, 35).

14. Therefore, God’s hardening of Pharaoh is the direct result of Pharaoh first hardening himself in the sense of rejecting over and again God’s command to release the nation of Israel from her bondage to him in Egypt.

15. God permitted Pharaoh to exercise his volition repeatedly to reject His command to release the nation of Israel from her bondage in Egypt.

16. Pharaoh was responsible for his evil actions.

17. God’s hardening was His response to Pharaoh’s hardening or in other words, it was in response to Pharaoh repeatedly rejecting His command to release the nation of Israel from her bondage in Egypt.

18. Therefore, when it says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart it means that the Lord, in eternity past, decreed for Pharaoh’s negative decision to reject Him in time to take place.

19. By permitting it to take place, He was also giving Pharaoh a chance to repent.

20. It also gave the Lord an opportunity to glorify Himself in the sense of manifesting His power to Pharaoh, the Egyptians, the Israelites and the entire world.

21. In verse 1, the Lord says that one of the purposes of hardening Pharaoh’s heart was so that He might perform His signs, i.e. the ten plagues.

22. Verse 2 presents another purpose, namely, that the Israelites might tell their children and grandchildren what the Lord did to Egypt with these plagues.

23. The purpose of telling their children and grandchildren was so that they would trust in the Lord and how important it was to do so.

24. Also, the Lord in verse 2 says that He hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that the Israelites might know the Lord experientially.

25. This eighth plague like the previous seven was against another of the gods of the Egyptians, namely, Nut, the sky goddess as well as Osiris, who was the god of crops and fertility.

26. In verses 3 and 4, we have the record of Moses and Aaron confronting Pharaoh yet again and rebuking him for his arrogance and lack of humility and disobedience to the Lord’s command to let Israel go.

27. In these verses, we see Pharaoh receiving advanced warning with regards to this eighth plague, which was the case with the first, second, fourth, fifth and seventh plagues.

28. This was to give Pharaoh an opportunity to repent and spare himself and the Egyptians further suffering.

29. In verses 5-6, Moses announces to Pharaoh and his servants that a locust plague will destroy what’s left in the land from the plague of hail.

30. Exodus 10:7-11 presents the record of Pharaoh’s servants conversation with him as well as Moses’ conversation with Pharaoh prior to the eighth plague.

31. Exodus 10:7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not realize that Egypt is destroyed?”

32. 8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God! Who are the ones that are going?” 9 Moses said, “We shall go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we shall go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.”

33. 10 Then he said to them, “Thus may the Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Take heed, for evil is in your mind. 11 Not so! Go now, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desire.” So they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. (NASB95)

34. In verse 7, for the first time, we have the servants of Pharaoh complaining about his policy with regards to the Israelites.

35. They confront Pharaoh and ask him if he realizes what his policy towards the Israelites is doing to their nation.

36. Pharaoh’s question “who are the ones that are going?” reveals his stubbornness.

37. In verse 9 Moses tells him that not only the men are going to leave Egypt but also their women and children.

38. Verses 10 and 11 record Pharaoh issuing a threat to Moses and Aaron.

39. When Pharaoh says “may the Lord be with you” he is not blessing Moses and Aaron.

40. What Pharaoh is saying is that “may the Lord your God be as far from you as I am from giving you permission to go forth with your dependents.”

41. Ironically, Pharaoh will let them go and the Lord will be with them.

42. The phrase “for evil is in your mind” is incorrect since Pharaoh is not referring to the Israelites devising evil by leaving Egypt since it is according to God’s will.

43. If Pharaoh was referring to Israel leaving Egypt as evil, why would he tell them to look out?

44. What Pharaoh is actually saying here is a threat in the sense that he is in effect telling Moses and Aaron to look out since if they continue to issue demands to him, then he would do something to them!

45. This fits with Pharaoh driving Moses and Aaron out of his presence.

46. In Exodus 10:12-15, we have the record of the destruction caused by the locust plague.

47. Exodus 10:12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the land, even all that the hail has left.”

48. 13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

49. 14 The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt; they were very numerous. There had never been so many locusts, nor would there be so many again. 15 For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Thus nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field through all the land of Egypt. (NASB95)

50. Verse 12 records the Lord giving Moses the command to stretch out his hand over Egypt which resulted in the Lord directing an east wind to come over the land of Egypt all day and all night.