Exodus 11
The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. 2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” 3 And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.
4 So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, 5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 6 There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. 7 But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ 8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”
10 Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.
Mean ole God. Inflicting people. Um. He is the Creator. And did give us free will. And He plans His Story. Seems like if you had a job to do and it was impossible. Like the traffic in Atlanta to get to and from work. You'd realize Moses had to go up against the leader of the not-so-free world. Even the Ipuwer Papyrus , in a Dutch museum, describing the Exodus, carefully removes the name of the Pharoah wiped out by that ulta-weeeeeeird storm. After all those horrific events the government should have planned better for. And the way the slaves had jewelry and gold given to them just to leave fast. And nothing to eat and darkness and bloody water... that bad government should have planned better. The effrontery of bad government....the Ipuwer whines in such a familiar fashion.
How does this effect us today? Easily. All those events in life that bother us today - one Word from God and this will change. And with prayer, I look back on events in my life even from thirty years ago to see - He was at work. Interweaving the tough lessons of life to become good.
He gives and gives and gives. Giving us blessings of Exodus style events, or the blessings people of Scripture looked forward to in faith (the same we have in our lives today). But his Work is Salvation and requires so much more of Him. Centuries of knowing this would occur. Jesus' sacrifice was something no one of us would raise our hand for. Or deserve from God. The man the disciple John said - is Love.
We have Israel again today, only from God's plan. Pharoah didn't want change. God did.
Thank You, Father God, for your plans for those who love you. Thank You we rely upon Your blessings and mercy available to us today for the Salvation You gave us in Jesus Christ. Your Son. What a time we live in. And today - You are God the King. Bring this day to be Your Good upon this earth. Letting glimpses of Heaven be the delight of our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ. Savior. Amen
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