RTW February 3

Don’t Be Like Pharaoh

verse

 

 

My Takeaways

Something Old

“Let my people go, so they can worship me in the wilderness.” This is something God had repeated over and over again. (Exodus 7:16)

The Hebrew word for worship here means to serve. God wanted His people to serve Him not Pharaoh.

Something New

Don’t Be Like Him.

  • Pharaoh refused to listen to God. (Exodus 8:15) (Exodus 9:7) (Exodus 9:12)
  • Pharaoh offered God a compromise rather than complete compliance. (Exodus 8:28)
  • Pharaoh confessed but didn’t repent. (to change’s one mind and purpose) (Exodus 9:27)(Exodus 9:35)

When we do…

Psalm 81:11-12, “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.” (NIV)

Something to Do

Be more like Jesus and less like Pharaoh

 

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6 Comments

  1. My Takeaways:
    God proved through the plagues His power. The Israelites could now rest assured that the God of their ancestors was alive and worthy of their worship. For the Egyptians He was able to show them how worthless their gods were.

    Something Old:
    God hardened Pharoah’s heart. This doesn’t mean that God cause Pharoah to be stubborn. “…Pharoah heart is stubborn.” Genesis 7:14. God just revealed what had always been in Pharaoh’s heart. His actions now match how God already knew his heart to be. He twisted his heart, revealing who he really was. Now everyone would see Pharoah for who he really was.

    Something New:
    I don’t understand how the magicians of Egypt could preform the same plagues that God did. Where did they find more water to turn to blood? God had already turned the Nile River into blood. There was blood everywhere throughout the land of Egypt. Same with frogs, how did people notice what magicians did? Frogs had already came up and covered the whole land. If the magicians had been real – don’t you think they would have stopped the plagues instead of causing them to be worse? I found it interesting that when the gnats came, the magicians couldn’t duplicate it. This was also the first time Moses and Aaron didn’t announce what was going to happen. Poor magicians just didn’t have time to prepare without knowing beforehand. So the plagues keep coming, Pharoah continues to keep Israelites, even though he says he will let them go.

    Something To Do:
    Remember – not until the heart is renewed by the grace of God, can the thoughts made by hardships change. The convictions wear off, and the promises that were given are forgotten. I don’t want to become like Pharoah.
    Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
    https://youtu.be/MFlgIk7CXbs

    1. lkennedy: I wondered that too about the water, etc. Also noticed when the hail came – Pharaoh’s officials brought their livestock in from the fields. What livestock? Thought they were all killed in the earlier plague? Course we aren’t told how much time passes between each plague – maybe they had time to recover from them? Seems there was enough time for Pharaoh to “forget” his promise to let the people go and for his heart to again harden.
      And aren’t we all a little like Pharaoh? We beg for mercy, forgiveness from God for our sins and promise to never do it again. Then after receiving God’s Grace, time passes, we forget……and we sin again.
      Lord, help me to be less like Pharaoh.

      2. Love your questions. I enjoy trying to research and ferret out explanations. Since they are opinions of those who have studied, I realize they are only possibilities, but it helps fill in some for me. I, personally, have to be cautious that I do not get caught up in the details and miss the big picture.

        Here are some possibilities offered by commentators:
        1. Goats are not mentioned. It may be that all of the livestock except goats were killed in the first plague on animals.
        2. Exodus 9:19-20 says those who “feared the word of the Lord”…were told to remove their livestock. Though it doesn’t say so, directly, these Egyptians may have been forewarned, thus sparing them.
        3. The phrase “servants of Pharaoh” might mean that these were not Egyptians but other keepers of livestock who were not included in the plague.
        4. We don’t know how much time passed between the plagues and the Egyptians may have taken some of the Israelite’s animals in the meantime to restock their herds. (Or from surrounding areas).
        5. The simplest possibility is that “all” does not always mean “all”. It might be best translated, “all manner of livestock”. In other words, all kinds of animals.

        And, yes, sadly we are all a little like Pharaoh when it comes to begging for mercy, getting forgiven, and then forgetting and repeating the pattern. Thankfully His mercies are new every morning.

        Thanks for your comments and questions.

    2. I am copying down your comment, ” not until the heart is renewed by the grace of God, can the thoughts made by hardships change”, and putting it in my prayer notebook. I love it!

  2. I liked that Wendy brought us to Jesus and his conversation in Gethsemane – hadn’t thought of that conversation relating to this. but Wow! that is really some food for thought.

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