Exodus 7 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Exodus 7:1-7

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.’

6 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

A. Find Out:

1. What did the Lord say Moses & Aaron were like? v.1
2. What is Aaron to do? v.2
3. What will Pharaoh’s response be? v.3,4
4. What will the Lord do? v.3,4
5. With what result? v.5
6. How old were they both at this time? v.7

B. Think:

1. How does God restate the teamwork principle?
2. Look back to 3:20, 4:21 . 6:6 How many times has the Lord stated the purpose we’ve read today?
3. Why do you think the Lord has to say it so many times?

C. Comment:

      The Lord, yet again, encourages Moses and lays out before him His strategy. It is as if He says, “You, Moses, are to be the divine source to Pharaoh, the one who he stands against. Aaron can be your prophet, your mouthpiece. You pass on what I tell you to Aaron and Aaron can pass it on to Pharaoh. The way we do it will mean Pharaoh’s resolve will be hardened and he will resist, so I will keep on giving miraculous signs. Never the less he still won’t respond, so I will eventually do something quite drastic. Then he will release you and the Egyptians will realise who it is they have been opposing. Not only that, the rest of the world will hear and know as well!”.

      The detail of this strategy is quite remarkable. The Lord allows Moses to know exactly what He is going to do, and yet without revealing the precise details. There is still lots of room for lots of faith, and that’s how it is with us too. God reveals His purposes very clearly to us through His word but there is still plenty of room for us to exercise our faith daily as we hear from Him how to put it into practise, those plans already revealed.

D. Application?

1. Are we learning as we read God’s word, the ways of God and the purposes of God?
2. Are we moving in faith today as we allow the Lord to lead us?

SPECIAL NOTE: How did God harden Pharaoh’s Heart

      In these Studies, we are presented with a particular difficulty: a number of times we find reference to the Lord hardening Pharaoh’s heart. Without much thought we might say this appears to make God harsh if He MAKES Pharaoh like this and then punishes him.

     Let’s consider, first of all, the various meanings of the Hebrew words translated as “hardening”. One word has the element of “stubbornness” behind it. This is used in Exodus 7:3 where the Lord can be seen to say, “I will make stubborn Pharaoh’s heart”. A more commonly used word has meanings of “heavy” or “insensitive” or “immovable” behind it. And even more commonly used word means “strengthen” meaning, in this context, “to strengthen his resolve”      Let’s consider next how it occurs. Once we find the Lord saying, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” (7:3). Six times we find reference to Pharaoh’s heart becoming hard (7:13 / 7:22 / 8:15 / 8:19 / 8:32 / 9:34) and four times direct reference to the Lord hardening Pharaoh’s heart (9:12 / 10:20 / 10:27, 11:10) The Bible clearly indicates man has free will. There is, after all, no point in God telling someone to do something if they cannot choose to disobey, and they often do. So, the question arises, how does God harden Pharaoh’s heart and still leave him free will? We suggest the following points need to be observed:

1. Pharaoh, before God started dealing with him, was an evil, idol worshipping, self-centred individual.
2. You can either talk gently to such a person hoping to persuade them or openly confront them.
3. Unless the heart is open, such a person will disregard the former course and will simply rise up in anger against the second.
4. God knew that Pharaoh’s heart was not open and therefore whatever God said, it would not result in Pharaoh coming into God’s kingdom, therefore the Lord used direct confrontational methods which showed up Pharaoh’s foolishness as every plague came. 
5. Hardening here is, therefore, the response of Pharaoh’s already set heart, into an even more obstinate position where he refuses to back down before God. The choice was always his. 

Passage: Exodus 7:8-13

8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 ‘When Pharaoh says to you, “Perform a miracle,” then say to Aaron, “Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,” and it will become a snake.’

10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Pharaoh then summoned the wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: 12 each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

A. Find out:

1. What was to be the order of activity? v.8,9
2. So what did they do? v.10
3. What was Pharaoh’s response? v.11a
4. What did they do? v.11b, 12a
5. But what then happened? v.12b
6. What was Pharaoh’s response? v.13

B. Think:

1. How would you describe what is actually happening here?
2. What does it show us about Satan’s activities and the Lord’s?
3. Why, in reality, do you think Pharaoh didn’t respond?

C. Comment:

     So far Pharaoh hasn’t seen anything of God’s power. The first sign had been performed for the elders of Israel. Now Pharaoh is to be gradually introduced to the power of God, but the trouble with gradual introductions is that you get used to it and loose something of the shock, but then the Lord isn’t trying to shock Pharaoh, He’s trying to give him every opportunity to come to his senses. At the end of it, if he won’t respond, he will have NO excuse for what happens to him and to his nation!

      So the Lord briefs his two men, and they go in before Pharaoh again and do what they were commanded. Pharaoh sends for his magicians for magic (not the stage sort we might know of) was widely practised in Egypt. These magicians, with Satan’s power, are only able to copy what Aaron has done. Aaron’s snake simply swallows up all the others, but Pharaoh isn’t impressed. So Moses and Aaron are better magicians than his own, so what! Magic is controlled by men so there’s nothing to worry about, is there. Control the men and you control the magic. Wrong diagnosis Pharaoh, you’ll learn!

D. Application? 

1. Do we try to rationalise the supernatural acts of God and explain them away? 
2. Do we need showing again and again or does simple faith accept it first time round?    

Passage: Exodus 7:14-25

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the Lord says: by this you will know that I am the Lord: with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.”’

19 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt – over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs – and they will turn to blood.” Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.’

20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. 23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.

25 Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.

A. Find Out:

1. Where was Moses to meet Pharaoh? v.15
2. What was the purpose of the first plague? v.17
3. What effect would it have? v.18
4. Where else was to be affected? v.19
5. Why was Pharaoh’s heart hardened? v.22
6. Where did Pharaoh go? v.23

B. Think:

1. Was Moses to ask first, then wait for an answer before bringing a plague, or what?
2. Who would be affected by this miracle?
3. What was it that still made Pharaoh dismiss it?

C. Comment:

     The Nile was both a source of spiritual encouragement (for the Egyptians worshipped it) and a major help to the economy (for it was used as a major trade route). Thus the Lord strikes at something which will soon be the talking point of the whole nation. Moses is instructed by the Lord to simply proceed without giving Pharaoh an option. He knows Pharaoh won’t respond so He proceeds to bring the plague without more ado. Water throughout Egypt, not only in the Nile but everywhere, turns to blood. Horrible! There’s something about blood that tells us it is the life of a being. Blood outside the body in quantity means somebody has died. Blood in this quantity is VERY unpleasant!

      Pharaoh’s response? To see if his magicians can do the same. They can! It must be another trick. Some people will go to great lengths to believe anything other than the truth about God! Pharaoh turns his back on them and retreats into the peace of his palace. The rest of his land is in turmoil but Pharaoh leaves them to it! Round one to God, but Pharaoh isn’t giving in, so Moses has a lot more to do yet! God can afford to be patient and to persevere.

D. Application?

1. Are WE childlike in faith or do we have to have things laid out before us again and again before we will believe?
2. Will we, like Moses, persevere to the end to achieve God’s purposes?