Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom www.wenstrom.org

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

2. Sunday October 23, 2011Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 7:14-8:15-The First Two PlaguesLesson # 7

3. Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 7:14.

4. Exodus 7:14-25 records the first of ten plagues and is divided into three parts: (1) God gives instructions to Moses and Aaron (verses 14-19). (2) God performs a miracle through Moses and Aaron (verses 20-21). (3) The resultant action taken by Pharaoh and his people (verses 22-25).

5. These plagues were demonstrations of God’s sovereignty over Egypt.

6. These miraculous signs were designed to show Pharaoh and the Egyptians that not only does the God of the Israelites have sovereignty over them but also that He is superior to the gods they worship.

7. The Scripture teaches that Satan and the kingdom of darkness are behind the idolatry and the worship of the false gods in Egypt.

8. Therefore, the Egyptians were worshipping demons by worshipping the various gods and practicing idolatry.

9. Deuteronomy 32:17 and 1 Corinthians 10:20 teach that the worship of idols is connected to the worship of demons since the sacrificing to idols is in reality sacrificing to demons who promote the worship of idols.

10. Idolatry is the worship of something created as opposed to the worship of the Creator Himself.

11. Scores of references to idolatry appear in the Old Testament.

12. Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (NASB95)

13. Exodus 20:23 “You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.” (NASB95)

15. These ten plagues demonstrated to the Egyptians that the God of the Israelites not only has sovereignty over them but has the power of life and death.

16. These ten plagues in actuality are demonstrations or signs to the Egyptians that the God of the Israelites is sovereign over every creature and all of creation.

17. Each successive plague was an intensification of the previous plague.

18. The only plague that caused death to human beings was the tenth and final plague, which receives the greatest attention in the narrative than the first nine.

19. The tenth plague is actually the beginning of the exodus of the Israelites and is memorialized in the Passover.

20. Exodus 7:14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he is going out to the water, and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent.

21. 16 You shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.” 17 ‘Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood.

22. 18 The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile.”’” 19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

23. 20 So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.

24. 21 The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. 22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

25. 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile. 25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile. (NASB95)

26. This first plague begins a new section in the book of Exodus.

27. Up to this point in the narrative, the emphasis has been on the preparation involved with the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.

28. Now, beginning in Exodus 7:14, the emphasis is going to be upon preparing Pharaoh for Israel’s departure.

29. Verses 14 reveals the motivation for the first plague, namely that Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn as demonstrated in Exodus 7:8-13.

30. In this passage, God instructed Moses to tell Aaron to throw his staff down at Pharaoh’s feet and at once it would become a snake.

31. However, verses 11-12 record Pharaoh summoning his wise men, sorcerers and magicians who perform the same miracle with their secret arts which they learned from the kingdom of darkness.

32. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs demonstrating the superiority of God over the demons.

33. In verse 13, we have the record of Pharaoh hardening his heart after this first miraculous sign from Moses and Aaron, which fulfills the Lord’s prediction to Moses and Aaron (Exodus 4:21; 7:3-4).

34. So verse 14 tells us that because of Pharaoh’s failure to submit to God’s Word, God will punish him for his disobedience.

35. In verses 15-19, we have the record God giving Moses instructions concerning the first plague, which struck the Nile River, which the Egyptians regarded as the source of life and productivity.

36. Now, the reason Pharaoh is down by the Nile is that he is going to perform some religious ceremony connected to the worship of this river.

37. During July and August when the Nile flooded its banks, the Pharaoh’s officiated at ceremonies commemorating the blessings associated with the Nile.

38. In Exodus 7:16, we have God telling Moses to communicate to Pharaoh the reason for this first plague, namely that God wants Israel to leave Egypt to worship Him and Pharaoh won’t permit it, thus, God is punishing Pharaoh for not complying with His demands.

39. God also tells Moses to communicate to Pharaoh that this first plague is the direct result of Pharaoh failing to acknowledge that He is the true God.

40. The description of the first plague in verses 17 and 18 makes clear that this judgment from God was designed to get Pharaoh to acknowledge that the God of the Hebrews is sovereign over him.

41. Exodus 7:22 records the magicians of Egypt duplicating the miracle with their secret arts that they received from the kingdom of darkness.

42. Their attempt to imitate the miracle deceived Pharaoh since Exodus 7:23 records him going into his house and not showing any concern for this first plague.

43. However, these magicians could not bring an end to the plague.

44. Exodus 7:24 says that Egyptians dug around the Nile for water because the water of the Nile was contaminated.

45. Therefore, this first plague did not kill anybody but was a warning to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, which is the case throughout each of the ten plagues.

46. Exodus 7:25 says that this first plague lasted a week.

47. The effects of it are also never mentioned again in the narrative.

48. Exodus 8:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 2 But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs.

49. 3 The Nile will swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls. 4 So the frogs will come up on you and your people and all your servants.”’”

50. 5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’” 6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.