← Back to sermon library

Tonight the 5th 6th and 7th we 
see similarities among the pattern or the literary framework in 
which they're delivered. Certainly it is a demonstration 
of God's power that's emphasized over and over again in the narrative 
as well as a manifestation of God's judgment against both Pharaoh 
and Egypt along with the gods of Egypt and that's made clear 
in chapter 12 at verse 12, where God says, and against all the 
gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment, I am the Lord. So I'll 
read beginning in chapter 9 at verse... All right? Good? Okay. Chapter 9, beginning 
in verse 1. Then the Lord said to Moses, 
Go into Pharaoh and tell him, Thus says the Lord God of the 
Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you 
refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of 
the Lord will be on your cattle, in the field, on the horses, 
on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep, 
a very severe pestilence. And the Lord will make a difference 
between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So 
nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel. 
Then the Lord appointed a set time, saying, Tomorrow the Lord 
will do this thing in the land. So the Lord did this thing on 
the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died. But of the livestock 
of the children of Israel, not one died. Then Pharaoh sent, 
and indeed, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was 
dead. But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let 
the people go. So the Lord said to Moses and 
Aaron, take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and 
let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. 
And it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and 
it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast 
throughout all the land of Egypt. Then they took ashes from the 
furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward 
heaven. And they caused boils that break out and soars on man 
and beast. And the magicians could not stand 
before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians 
and on all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened the heart 
of Pharaoh, and He did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken 
to Moses. Then the Lord said to Moses, 
rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say 
to him, thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people 
go that they may serve me. For at this time, I will send 
all my plagues to your very heart and on your servants and on your 
people that you may know that there is none like me in all 
the earth. Now, if I had stretched out my hand and struck you and 
your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut 
off from the earth. But indeed for this purpose, I have raised 
you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be 
declared in all the earth. As yet you exalt yourself against 
my people and that you will not let them go. Behold, tomorrow, 
about this time, I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, 
such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now. 
Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you 
have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man 
and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought 
home, and they shall die. He who feared the word of the 
Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock 
flee to the houses. But he who did not regard the 
word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field. 
Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward 
heaven. "'that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, "'on 
man, on beast, and on every herb of the field "'throughout the 
land of Egypt.' "'And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, "'and 
the Lord sent thunder and hail, "'and fire darted to the ground, 
"'and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. "'So there 
was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, "'so very heavy that 
there was not like it "'in all the land of Egypt since it became 
a nation. And the hail struck throughout 
the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man 
and beast. And the hail struck every herb 
of the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the 
land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no 
hail. And Pharaoh sent and called for 
Moses and Aaron and said to them, I have sinned this time. The 
Lord is righteous and my people and I are wicked. And treat the 
Lord that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail. For 
it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall 
stay no longer. So Moses said to him, As soon 
as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to 
the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, 
that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. But as for you 
and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear the Lord 
God. Now the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was 
in the head and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the 
spelt were not struck, for they are late crops. So Moses went 
out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the 
Lord. Then the thunder and the hail 
ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. And when 
Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, 
he sinned yet more. And he hardened his heart, he 
and his servants, so the heart of Pharaoh was hard. Neither 
would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken 
by Moses. Amen. So as I said, we have the 
continuing narrative concerning the plagues. God's command or 
demand via Moses to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go. 
This entire section begins in chapter 7 at verse 14 and ends 
proper at chapter 12 and verse 30. So we'll look first at this 
fifth plague, the death of livestock, in verses 1 to 7. Again, there 
are literary patterns that we see, but there's enough diversity 
to show that it isn't Moses and it isn't Aaron that have power. 
It isn't Aaron's rod. It isn't the ashes. Those are 
just symbols or signs or sort of agencies or intermediaries 
by which the sovereign God demonstrates His power and glory. In a nation 
like Egypt that was saturated with a belief in a multitude 
of gods and magicians and those sorts of things, they needed 
to learn and be taught that there was one true and living God, 
and certainly these plagues go a long way encouraging them or 
instructing them in that particular lesson. So in verses 1 to 7 you 
have the announcement of the plague. In verses 1 to 5, again 
the command is repeated, let my people go that they may serve 
me. And then in verse 2, for if you 
refuse to let them go and still hold them. That certainly underscores 
the relationship between Egypt and Israel. They are held by 
Pharaoh. They are captive. They are bondage. They are slaves to the people 
of Egypt. And then he gives this particular 
warning in verses 3 to 5. He describes the plague in verse 
3. Behold, the hand of the Lord 
will be on your cattle. Notice those three words, in 
the field, because in verse 4 it talks about the death of all 
the livestock. Well, there's certainly livestock 
there, in the plague of boils, and there's certainly livestock 
in the plague of hail. So I think the emphasis falls 
on the in-the-field-ness of the animals that were out. They were 
exposed to this, and they died as a result of it. But nevertheless, 
the particular dimension of this plague was at the hand of the 
Lord. Not the finger of God, as the magician said in the third 
plague, but we have the hand of the Lord, the full power of 
of Almighty God will be on your cattle, on the horses, on the 
donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep, a very 
severe pestilence. And then there is this division. 
We've seen that already in plagues up to this point, that God makes 
a distinction between Egypt and between Israel. This underscores 
that this was not a natural phenomenon. It wasn't just something that 
broke out in the land of Egypt. It wasn't just one of those things, 
but rather it was under the sovereignty of God Almighty. It was supernatural 
in its origin. If it was a natural phenomenon, 
it would not be able to discriminate between Egyptians and Israelites. 
So this further underscores that these plagues come directly from 
the hand of God Almighty. But there is this division, the 
distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of 
Egypt. And then notice the timing of 
the plague. Again, underscoring that God 
is sovereign. This isn't haphazard. We don't 
think this is potentially going to happen at a particular time. 
Rather, God announces when it will occur through Moses. Verse 
5, Then the Lord appointed a set time, saying, Tomorrow the Lord 
will do this thing in the land. So everything in the narrative 
disavows the reader from having a naturalistic sort of understanding 
of what's transpiring in these plagues. Nevertheless, Bible 
commentators still try to ascribe a naturalistic reading to these 
particular phenomena. It's simply unacceptable relative 
to the way that the document is written. At the literary level, 
you cannot escape the reality that the author is setting forth 
the fact that the living and true God sent these things directly 
from His hand, again, through the agency of Moses and Aaron, 
through the symbolism of an upstretched arm, or rather, an outstretched 
rod, or through ashes, or the various means that are used or 
employed here. But nevertheless, the power is 
of God Almighty. And then the destruction involved 
is indicated to us in verse 6. So the Lord did this thing on 
the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died. But of the livestock 
of the children of Israel, not one died. Stuart explains the 
significance of this. He says the pantheistic Egyptians 
revered all animals. Now they worshipped animals. 
Animals, as far as they were concerned, were divine, and so 
therefore they should be worshipped. So he says the pantheistic, which 
means a multiplicity of gods, or rather everything is God under 
pantheism, The pantheistic Egyptians revered all animals but birds 
and livestock more than fish and amphibians. He says, for 
them to have lost livestock would constitute a serious blow indeed. For them to have lost livestock 
while the Israelites retained all theirs represented a nationwide 
humiliation. So again, this is not only a 
direct assault upon Pharaoh and Egypt as a whole, but upon the 
gods of Egypt. The gods of Egypt were over the 
supply of livestock. The gods of Egypt were responsible 
to make sure that the people of Egypt thrived and flourished 
and had their items for worship as well, had the usefulness of 
livestock in their own lives and their daily sustenance and 
life. And then the response by Pharaoh, 
he gets wind of the fact that the Israelites' animals are still 
alive. So he sends out an investigation. Notice at the beginning of verse 
7, Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed, not even one of the livestock 
of the Israelites was dead. So that would strike him as an 
offense in terms of his relationship to the people, his relationship 
to the gods, and the people's relationships to him and to the 
gods. And then at the end of the verse, 
But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the 
people go. So we have seen in this narrative 
in chapter 7, We have the original announcement in chapter 4, God 
says that He will harden Pharaoh's heart. And again, this is an 
act of justice on the part of God. The next plague will say 
that very specifically, so we'll look at that in more detail then. 
So in verses 8 to 12, we have the sixth plague. Again, the 
command is repeated in verses 8 and 9. There is no command 
to go to Pharaoh and demand that Pharaoh lets the people go. While 
there are patterns, it is not strict. It is not absolutely 
the same. in each and every instance. And 
in this particular instance, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 
take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and 
let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. 
Again, that's symbolism. That doesn't mean that the ashes 
were instrumental, that there was a magical sort of incantation 
placed on those ashes. God works through means, and 
he uses this to evidence or demonstrate that it is his power behind the 
scene. And then in verse 9 we read, 
it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt and it will 
cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout 
all the land of Egypt. Kaiser says, for the first time 
the lives of humans are attacked and endangered. And thus it was 
a foreshadowing of the 10th and most dreadful of all the plagues. So the first one, obviously the 
water turned into blood, affects the life and the livelihood of 
the people of Egypt. The next couple were sort of 
nuisances and certainly irritations to be sure, but this one directly 
is an assault upon their persons. These boils, one suggests that 
the root of the word has the idea of burning hot. So whatever's 
going on in terms of these boils, it was very uncomfortable, very 
painful, not only for man, but as well for beasts in the land 
of Egypt. And so we have the execution 
of the plague in verses 10 and 11. It is intriguing to note 
the effect upon the magicians. Remember the magicians had duplicated 
in part the preliminary sign in chapter 7 at verses 11 and 
12. They were able to turn their 
rods into serpents. As well, they were able to duplicate 
in part the first plague. They duplicated it in part instead 
of reversing it in completion so that the people could have 
water again. The second plague they also duplicated in part. They could not duplicate the 
3rd plague. There's no mention of the magicians 
with reference to the 4th and 5th plague. But here in the 6th 
plague, it is curious. Notice at verse 11, And the magicians 
could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the 
boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. We're not 
really expecting that. Robert Alter makes the observation, 
after could not, on the basis of 814, we might have been expecting 
something like, cure the burning rash. In fact, the soothsayers, 
themselves painfully smitten by the maddening skin disease, 
are in no condition to make any effort of the sort, but instead 
flee from Moses' presence. So Pharaoh has seen the bankruptcy 
of Egypt's magicians. They cannot come through. They 
cannot reverse these things. They cannot effectively meet 
and combat the various things that are coming via Moses from 
God ultimately. And so they are covered with 
these boils and they flee from Moses. And then verse 12 tells 
us, the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. If you go back to 
chapter 4, the announcement of the plagues, Chapter four, verse 
21. And the Lord said to Moses, when 
you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before 
Pharaoh, which I have put in your hand, but I will harden 
his heart so that he will not let the people go. I've said 
this every single time. I'll probably say it every single 
time coming in the future as well. This is an act of justice. It's an act of judgment. It's 
akin to Jesus' words in Matthew 11. I thank the Father, Lord 
of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from 
the wise and prudent, but you did reveal them unto babes. Even 
so, it was well-pleasing in your sight." Some people read that 
and they say, well, that's not fair that God would hide these 
things from the wise and prudent. No, it's not fair, it's just. 
It's righteous, it is an expression of who God is in terms of His 
perfections. These are sinners that are being 
dealt with, and for God to hide those truths in context in Matthew 
11, 25, is judgment. And to exclude them from that 
isn't unfairness, but rather it is an act of justice, just 
like we find in this instance. John Gill says, he having often 
and so long hardened his own heart, God gave him up to judicial 
hardness of heart, to his own corruptions, the temptations 
of Satan, and the lying magicians about him, to make an ill use 
of everything that are offered to him, and put a wrong construction 
on all that befell him, so that whatever was said to him or inflicted 
on him made no impression to any purpose. So it was justice 
that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Pharaoh was a sinner. Pharaoh 
was happily enslaving the children of Israel. Pharaoh, according 
to verse 2, still had hold of them. And so for God to harden 
his heart is an act of God's judgment upon him. And then we 
see the consistent refrain in these plagues up until that final 
and decisive plague in the death of the firstborn, the fact that 
Pharaoh rebels. So the end of verse 12. and he 
did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses." So 
the rebellion and transgression of Pharaoh is repeated, but then 
notice, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses. So not only 
are we seeing the effect upon Pharaoh and Egypt and the gods 
of Egypt, but we're seeing the good effect upon Moses. that 
what God has spoken is true, that what God has proclaimed 
is definitive, and that God can be trusted. They still have a 
long way to go before they get out of Egypt into the land of 
promise. They still have a long journey 
ahead of them, and it will require faith. It will require faith 
on the part of all of them to be sure, but it most certainly 
requires faith on the part of Moses. And so Moses is being 
tutored here by God that what God has spoken is in fact true, 
that His word can be trusted, and that the Lord Himself is 
to be believed every step of the way. And that brings us, 
thirdly, to the seventh plague in verses 13 to 35. So again, 
we have the announcement of the plague in verses 13 to 21. We 
have the command repeated in verse 13. And then, dissimilar 
to the rest of the plagues, I mean, a bit is embedded in the other 
plague narratives, but we have the theological rationale spelled 
out for us in verses 14 to 17 as to why God is doing what He 
is doing. So there is the rationale for 
the plagues in verses 14 to 17. Notice in the first place the 
theological reason. Verse 14, for at this time I 
will send all my plagues to your very heart and on your servants 
and on your people that you may know that there is none like 
me in all the earth. Now that encompasses the entirety 
of the plagues. It's not the case that God says 
at this time I'm going to send all these to you. He is saying 
that in terms of this ten plague sort of scheme that we are witnessing, 
it is for this reason. For at this time I will send 
all my plagues to your very heart and on your servants and on your 
people that you may know that there is none like me in all 
the earth. They needed to be taught that their gods were fake, 
their gods were idols, their gods were phonies and that God 
was in fact the true and living God. Calvin makes the observation 
that this implies that Pharaoh had hitherto struggled against 
him because he had never really and seriously apprehended the 
extent of the divine power. In other words, Calvin explains 
Pharaoh's sluggishness because Pharaoh doesn't really understand 
what he's up against. Now, I think that's pretty obvious 
in the text because if he understood what he was up against, he would 
have immediately and forthwith let the people of Israel go. 
You do not want to stand up against the true and living God. Calvin 
goes on to say, for wherever it is really felt, the extent 
of God's divine power, it is impossible, but that pride must 
be humbled before it. And doubtless the reprobate, 
although in some measure may recognize the power of God, still 
rush on with a kind of frenzied impulse, and their wickedness 
is combined with blindness of heart, so that seeing they do 
not see. I think Calvin's point is excellent. If we truly understand divine 
power, if we truly understand the sovereignty of God, it should 
affect us. It should kill our pride and 
promote in us humility before the true and living God. The 
fact that any of us are proud before this God is absolutely 
insane. There is no room whatsoever for 
the people of God, especially to be proud before God Most High. As well, those who are not the 
people of God have no right whatsoever to be proud before this God. 
And then with reference to God's theology lesson of the children 
of Israel, He indicates something of the divine power in verse 
15. He says, then you would have been cut 
off from the earth. Now previous we've seen pestilence upon the 
livestock and we've seen the boils. So what does he mean here 
in verse 15? Essentially what God is saying, if I unleashed 
my fury, my wrath, my judgment in the full manifestation of 
power, there wouldn't be one of you left standing. In other 
words, we could take care of this very, very quickly and finish 
this within seconds. We see this with reference to 
God's power. God is telling them, not that 
He withholds power, I think when it comes to the power of God, 
we sort of quantify it the way we do with men. To lift up 200 
pounds is a lot more difficult than to lift up 100 pounds. And 
then we predicate that with reference to God. God is pure act. There's no harder for God. There's 
no easier for God. There's nothing that is difficult 
for God. God, as I said, the confession 
says He is a most pure spirit. In the history of theology, that 
is typically the Latin term, actus purus, which means He is 
pure act. There's no potential in God. 
Whether active potency or passive potency, God is. He is who He 
is. He has absolute power and authority. 
This is spoken in the manner of men, however, to demonstrate 
to us that if God so willed, He could have obliterated and 
decimated them with the snap of the finger. But He doesn't 
do that. So in this He tells them that He has not shown them 
the full manifestation of His power. And then the theological 
purpose behind all of this is found in verse 16. 16. But indeed 
for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power 
in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth. 
So if we ask the question, why 10 plagues? Exodus 9.16 answers 
it. If we ask the question, why does 
God harden Pharaoh's heart? Exodus 9.16 answers that. Paul uses Exodus 9.16 in a similar 
sort of a context. Not Pharaoh keeping in bondage 
the children of Israel, but in the context of God's sovereignty, 
God's glory, God's power, God's excellence, the fact that God 
does what He does for His own honor and glory and praise. And 
so verse 16 is quoted by Paul in Romans chapter 9 to highlight 
that selfsame reality, that God may show my power in you and 
that my name may be declared in all the earth. And then verse 
17 acknowledges that as of yet, they hadn't learned the lesson. 
They hadn't got their minds wrapped around this theological instruction. 
As yet, you exalt yourself against My people, in that you will not 
let them go." And so what we have there is the recognition 
that the people of Egypt had not yet learned the reality of 
the true and living God. So this is going to end with 
them ultimately burying the firstborn whom the Lord God had killed 
among them. So it was a tough lesson to be 
sure, but certainly it was the lesson that God had intended 
for them. Now the nature of the plague 
is specified in verses 18 to 21. Notice in verse 18, Behold, 
tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain 
down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until 
now." So we have this reality in terms of the plague. You see 
a similar situation in the book of Joshua in Joshua chapter 10. God uses hailstones in order 
to rout the enemies of Yahweh when they go to battle against 
the Israelites. Again, God doesn't always use 
massive armies. He uses the forces of nature 
under His sovereign control to do His will for His glory. So the instruction is given concerning 
this announcement of the hailstones. It's going to be massive hailstones. 
It's going to cause a lot of damage. It's going to cause a 
lot of pain and cause a lot of suffering. So God is warning 
them. And that's another thing we need 
to appreciate as we move through these plagues. Each one is a 
warning. God tells them what's going to 
happen. There's a way to end this, Pharaoh. There's a way 
to stop the onslaught of these plagues. There's a way to stay 
the hand of Yahweh. It's by surrendering, waving 
the white flag and seeking God's mercy and grace and forgiveness. But verse 19, therefore send 
now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the 
field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal 
which is found in the field and is not brought home, and they 
shall die. The Geneva Bible says, here we 
see though God's wrath be kindled, yet there is a certain mercy 
showed even to his enemies. Don't miss that. The goodness 
of God is in verse 19. Now the reality is that there 
are those in verse 20 who feared the word of the Lord. I don't 
think that means they believed the gospel and were converted, 
that they repented and had everlasting life. But they were smart enough 
to listen to the voice of God as it comes through Moses. They 
were able to see the reality of the Nile being changed into 
blood. They were able to see and understand the extent of 
the frogs and the lice and the flies. They understood the death 
of livestock, or the pestilence and the death of livestock. They 
understood the boils that they had. And so when God comes with 
the announcement of this seventh plague of hail, He gives an avenue 
of escape to even the Egyptians. God obviously makes a division 
among Egypt and Israel, but even within Egypt there's a division. 
those who heard the word of the Lord and feared, and those who 
did not fear the word of the Lord. So notice in verse 20, 
He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh 
made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. So you see, 
those persons benefited, those persons received a reprieve under 
the hand of a merciful God. So even in the outpouring of 
His wrath, even in the outpouring of His justice, in the outpouring 
of His judgments upon Egypt, there was an escape valve for 
those who were smart enough to hear the word of the Lord, to 
consider what had previously transpired, and make the good 
decision that I'm gonna put my animals away today, and I'm gonna 
take cover. If ever there was a time for 
a lockdown, it was in the seventh plague. Then you would happily 
hole up in your living room and just wait it out because you 
wouldn't want to go out and get devastated by these hailstones. But, verse 21, you've always 
got those people that see the demonstration of God's power. 
You've always got those people who hear the preaching of God's 
word and they still closed their ears. They still reject, they 
still neglect, they still refuse. But he who did not regard the 
word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field. So guess what happened to them? 
They lost. They got bombarded with hailstones 
and the fire that attended it, most likely lightning, that would 
set things on fire, and they would lose life of livestock 
and of human. I think I mentioned a week or 
two ago, this is exactly parallel to Jesus' words in the Sermon 
on the Mount. In the Sermon on the Mount, in 
Matthew 7 at verse 24, 24 to 27, Jesus says, therefore, whoever 
hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to 
a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, 
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. 
And it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone 
who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be 
like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the 
rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on 
that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. I wonder 
how many Bible readers have read through the plague narratives 
and have come to this passage in Exodus chapter 9, in verses 
20 and 21, and said, boy, I'd like to think that I would be 
amongst the verse 20 people that listened to the word of God, 
that didn't reject the word of God, that didn't refuse the word 
of God, but took my place in my living room, put my animals 
safely in their shelter, and waited out the storm. I don't 
want to be like those verse 21 people who hear the word of God 
and then go about their normal activities and watch their animals 
die and watch themselves get crushed by hailstones. So I think 
that Bible readers everywhere would assume that, hey, verse 
20 is the accurate way to respond relative to this seventh plague. 
And yet, they refuse to come to Jesus. They refuse to believe 
the gospel. They hear preached from pulpits 
every Sunday. They hear preached at the family 
altar. They hear it on sermon audio. They read it in the New 
Testament themselves. And yet, they refuse to listen 
to the word of the living Christ. He says, whoever hears these 
sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man 
who built his house on the rock. If you do not build upon Jesus, 
you will fall, and great will be your fall. So if you can come 
to verses 20 and 21 in chapter 9 and say, hey, right answer, 
verse 20, then guess what the right answer is in Acts 16? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you shall be saved. There is a right and a wrong 
answer when it comes to the imperative with reference to gospel preaching. And so those who want to do the 
will of God receive the word of God and believe that word 
for their well-being. They don't refuse it, they don't 
reject it, they don't side with the verse 21 people who go out 
and do their daily activities in the midst of a devastating 
hailstorm. Imagine being in your living 
room and seeing your neighbor haplessly wandering out into 
his front yard. You'd probably wanna scream at 
him. and say, hey, fella, get back inside. The same sort of 
thing. We see people running headlong 
into hell, and we call upon them to believe the gospel, to turn 
from their sins, and yet they continue to run headlong into 
hell. It makes no sense. He who feared 
the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his 
servants and his livestock flee to the houses. And consider one 
more extension on that theme. If God's gracious to Egyptians 
and allows them safe habitation in the midst of this devastating 
plague, it underscores something about His perfections, about 
His nature and being. He is a God of grace. He is a 
God of mercy. He is a God who provides a way 
of escape, and certainly in the New Testament setting, that way 
of escape is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So let 
us not refuse Him who calls to us through the written word. 
Verses 22 to 26 indicate the execution of the play. Notice in verses 22 and 23, he 
tells Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there 
may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, on beast, and 
on every herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses 
stretched out his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder 
and hail, and fire darted to the ground, and the Lord rained 
hail on the land of Egypt. Turn for just a moment to Joshua 
10. Joshua chapter 10. there is an Israelite victory 
over an Ammonite coalition. This is the southern campaign 
while they are conquering the land. And in chapter 10 at verse 
7, so Joshua ascended from Gilgal. He and all the people of war 
with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord said 
to Joshua, do not fear them, for I have delivered them into 
your hand. Not a man of them shall stand before you. Joshua 
therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from 
Gilgal. Now notice verse 10. The subject 
of each of the verbs is the Lord. So the Lord routed them before 
Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them 
along the road that goes to Beth Horon, and struck them down as 
far as Azekah and Makedah. So it's God doing this. God is 
fighting for Joshua and Israel. verse 11, And it happened, as 
they fled before Israel, and were on the descent of Beth-horon, 
that the LORD cast down large hailstones from heaven on them 
as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from 
the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword. 
So back in this seventh play, we have this hail storm that 
comes down upon Egypt, and specifically it speaks of fire mingled with 
the hail. Again, most likely it's the lightning 
that attended the storm. the psalmist says in psalm 78 
47 and 48 he destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore 
trees with frost he also gave up their cattle to the hail and 
their flocks to the fiery lightning so that's most likely the explanation 
for the fire. Psalm 105, 32. He gave them hail 
for rain and flaming fire in their land. So it was a desolation 
or a devastation upon Egypt. So you see these plagues are 
getting exponentially worse and they will culminate in 10th plague 
with reference to the death of the firstborn. We have the devastation 
indicated in verse 25 and then the division underscored in verse 
26. Verse 26 says, Only in the land 
of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no 
hail. So the children of Israel escaped 
this, not because they were upright, wonderful, moral people, but 
because they were the objects of God's grace, the objects of 
God's mercy. Yes, they would hear the word 
of the Lord. Yes, they would fear the word of the Lord. And 
yes, they would comply with the word of the Lord. But with reference 
to this plague, it missed them. because they were the children 
of the living and true God. And then notice the response 
by Pharaoh in verses 27 and 28. He confesses his sin. We might be encouraged about 
this, but it seems fake as we move through the narrative. Verse 
27, Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said to them, 
now we know it's fake even from this. I have sinned this time. No, you've sinned every time. 
Every time Moses came to tell you to let the children of Israel 
go and you refused and rejected, you sinned. Now, it's only the 
case that he's confessing this because he doesn't like devastating 
hailstorms along with fire burning up his constituents. That's never 
a good look for the ruler of a people, and he understands 
that. So Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said 
to them, I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my 
people and I are wicked. Entreat the Lord that there may 
be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I 
will let you go, and you shall stay no longer. So the recognition 
that he has sinned this time and the reality that it wasn't 
true repentance, it was simply a desire to be released. from 
the plague. It was simply a desire to avoid 
the punishment that was associated with his sinfulness. Now I realize 
that's probably a motivation in every sinner that comes to 
Jesus. There is this desire to not be 
punished for our sin. But with the sinner that's coming 
to Jesus, that's not the only motivation. The sinner coming 
to Jesus has had his heart changed by God. He has a different understanding 
or perspective about sin now. He has a different understanding 
or perspective about Christ. He wants Christ for Christ's 
sake. Certainly there's a corollary 
and a benefit that Christ gives us safe haven from the judgment 
to come to be sure. And I don't want to minimize 
that because the Bible never does. But in this instance, the 
only reason why he is brought to confession of sin this time 
is because he doesn't want the devastation associated with his 
rebellion and his transgression against the living God. Now we 
notice finally the action of Moses in verses 29 to 35. He 
agrees. Verse 29, Moses said to him, 
as soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my 
hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there 
will be no more hail, that you may know that the earth is the 
Lord's. Calvin says, a question arises, 
why Moses undertook the part of an intercessor? Why does he 
undertake the part of intercessor? Certainly he knows it's a fake 
and a fraud. He says, when he sees no repentance, 
my reply is that he was not thus ready to spare as if he had been 
persuaded, but that he gave a short intermission until the king's 
impiety should again betray itself, and thus God should fulfill what 
he had predicted, respecting all the plagues." So this wasn't 
a reprieve in the sense of absolute removal, it was an intermission. There was going to be more, because 
Moses knew that this was a fake, God knew that this was a fake, 
and there were going to be other plagues culminating in the death 
of the firstborn. Now I had mentioned last week 
that Moses didn't know how many plagues there were going to be. 
But Moses did know that there was going to be a plague that 
included the death of the firstborn. You see that back in chapter 
4. If you go back to chapter 4, after the statement, verse 
21, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders, 
before Pharaoh, which I have put in your hand, but I will 
harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then 
you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, 
my firstborn. So I say to you, let my son go, 
that he may serve me. But if you refuse to let him 
go, indeed, I will kill your son, your firstborn." So Moses 
didn't know all the contours of the plagues that were coming 
their way, but he did know there was going to be this overarching 
devastation of the firstborn of Pharaoh and all those in the 
nation of Egypt. And then with reference to the 
cessation of the plague. Again, theology drives this to 
a large degree. The end of verse 29, that you 
may know that the earth is the Lord's. Each of the plagues demonstrates 
that the living and true God is over those forces of nature, 
all the forces of nature. See, for a polytheist, they have 
a God over animals. They have a God over pestilence. 
They have a God over the weather. They have a God for mountains. 
They have a God for valleys. They have all these different 
gods with different activities or different tasks. They really 
have the division of labor in a polytheistic situation. I think 
the division of labor is a wonderful thing for us as creature. For 
the God of heaven and earth, there's no division of labor. 
He's over all things. He is absolutely sovereign. He 
is unrivaled in His majesty and in His power and glory. And so 
Egypt needs to know that the earth is the Lord's. And then 
notice in verse 30, But as for you and your servants, I know 
that you will not yet fear the Lord God. Now verses 31 and 32 
are interesting. Some suggest it should have gone 
up by around verse 25 after talking about the devastation. involved 
with reference to the hail. One commentator made the observation, 
most of the people reading this story, most of the people familiar 
with this sort of situation, would have been farmers, and 
they would have wondered, what happened to the crops? Well, 
verses 31 and 32 tell you that. It was devastating, but it wasn't 
the case that it would keep them from ever eating again. So you 
have this statement concerning flax and barley in verse 31, 
"...and the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are 
late crops." So it didn't kill them, it didn't destroy their 
food supply, it certainly hurt them, it certainly set them back, 
but they would recover only to see another plague. And then 
we see the cessation of the plague in verse 33. And then the response 
of Pharaoh again at the end of verses 34 and 35. Verse 34, when 
Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, 
he sinned yet more. See, that's the problem with 
persons who have fake repentance. The problem with persons who 
engage in this sort of bartering with God. God, if you stop the 
plague of hail, then I'll serve you, but it's not legit, it's 
not real. What happens? They get more emboldened 
to go on to further degrees of sin, and that's precisely what 
the text says. the hail, the thunder had ceased, 
he sinned yet more, and he hardened his heart, he and his servants." 
So it wasn't just Pharaoh, you need to understand, it's the 
servants, and then it's the foolish ones in the nation of Egypt. 
The smart ones, in verse 20, listened to the word of the Lord, 
feared that word, and moved their livestock. So verse 35 concludes, 
So the heart of Pharaoh was hard, neither would he let the children 
of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses. The obvious 
practical observation that flows from the text is that God is 
supreme, God is sovereign, that He is the living and true God, 
and that it's not the case that we serve in a polytheistic world 
where there's this multitude of gods with various activities 
engaged in various things. No, there is one true and living 
God. who made the world, who governs the world, and who has 
by grace redeemed his elect out of the world. And that leads 
us to the second observation, the distinction between Israel 
and Egypt. We have the manifestation of 
mercy to Israel and the manifestation of judgment upon Egypt. And the demonstration of that 
isn't owing to how great Israel is or how bad Egypt is. We know 
that all men have sinned against God. The distinguishing element 
involved in all of this is God's grace. So not only is His sovereignty 
on full display in Exodus chapter 9, but so is His grace to the 
children of Israel in that He provides for them a Goshen where 
they are safe from the effects of the plague, from the effects 
of God's wrath. Christ is our Goshen in this 
new covenant setting. He is the place wherein the elect 
of God find safe haven. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you for your word and we thank you for the clarity 
of these narratives concerning your sovereignty and your power. 
As well, God, we see your judgment upon the wicked and your grace 
and mercy displayed to your people. And what a joy it is to consider 
that we are the people of God. not because of our goodness, 
not because of our law keeping or merit, but because of your 
grace demonstrated to us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. 
We rejoice in him, we thank you for him, we thank you for the 
safety that you've given us in spiritual things, and that you 
have blessed us richly. I ask God that you would continue 
to watch over this flock, that you would bless each and every 
one connected to this local church, cause us to walk and to grow 
in the fear of God and to know that communion with you that 
is available. And we ask this through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen.