Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Reading through the Bible 2025: observations from the ten plagues

Similar to the book of Job and other well-known old Testament stories, this is another case where every time I revisit the story, I gain something new out of it. Unlike the book of Job which resonates personally on a much deeper level, I do not recall any major reactions to the ten plagues God cast on Egypt, aside from the fact that Egypt was enslaving the Israelites and refusing to let them go -- ergo, they would get punished severely for it.

This post will be rather disorganized compared with how I usually like to post Scripture verses and reflections, but I’m going to keep it this way because of the rawness of some of the responses I wrote. If it helps, think of this post as a transcription as to how one might read through this verbally out loud.

Exodus 10:

“Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.””
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭10‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Below is the line that jumped out at me from the above passage:

Pharaoh: “now please forgive my sin only this once.”

“now please forgive my sin only this once” ?? 

This was the 8th plague! Locusts. Pharaoh had hardened his heart so many times that now God was hardening it for him! He asked for forgiveness but it was not from a place of any kind of faith in God's ability and desire to forgive sinners. He didn’t really believe he needed forgiveness! He just wanted the punishment to be over.


The below passage shows God's provision and how He answers prayer totally and completely.

“And the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭10‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬


But He did not soften Pharaoh’s heart. Rather, He continued to harden it.


Exodus 12: follow-up from Exodus 4 when God told Moses what He was ultimately going to do to Egypt, specifically killing all their firstborn sons.

“Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭11‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬


I wanted to highlight God's mercy below:

“But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭11‬:‭7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬


The last of Genesis 15:12-16 was fulfilled as per below:

“Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭12‬:‭35‬-‭36‬ ‭NKJV‬‬


Below is the specific verse that God spoke to Abraham that was fulfilled in the passage above:

And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Genesis 15:14, NKJV

God is faithful. Amen.

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