Exodus
7 – Hardened Hearts
When
God speaks, people either obey and submit their hearts or disobey and harden
their hearts. God sent the judgments and
therefore caused Pharaoh’s heart to harden.
In
this commission from God, Moses was going to be a god to Pharaoh and Aaron
would be a prophet. A prophet is one
who speaks for God, one who has a message from God to the people. A prophet is not to represent the people, he
is to represent God.
Pharaoh
did not want to let the children of Israel go, and yet he wanted to appear as a
benevolent ruler. He wanted everyone to
think he was a generous man, but in this matter of Israel, he was hard. God,
however, is going to force the king’s hand in this matter. Every person who enters heaven will be seen
as they really are before God. There
will be no more secrets.
Pharaoh
will stand revealed for what he is, and the Lord God of Israel will be revealed
for who He is. The Egyptians will know,
and the Israelites will have it confirmed, and Moses and Aaron will be
justified.
So,
the Lord God of Israel attacks the gods of Egypt to show who He is. It is
interesting that the Egyptians worship the serpent, and it is Aaron’s rod that
swallows up their serpents. This should have impressed Pharaoh, but it did
not. Pharaoh hardened his heart and
persisted in his set ways.
The
second blow to the worship of Egypt is when the sacred Nile River was turned to
blood. They worshiped the Nile because
it indicated to them the powers of fertility and nourishment. It was the lifeblood of Egypt. What had been
a blessing in Egypt is now a curse. This
is God’s judgment.
Pharaoh
was not convinced this was the hand of God because his magicians were able to
duplicate the plague. This is an amazing
thing! It was a manifestation of the
power of Satan, of course but they were powerless to change the blood back into
pure water.
Satan
will always fight against God to be like God but be certain. God prevails and will prevail in the end.
Commentary by J. Vernon McGee and Nelson’s Quick
Reference Commentary.
To view previous lessons, go to: God Plans For You. https://sherrysouthard@blogspot.ccom
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