Sunday, March 6, 2016

Exodus Chapter 7

 And the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 
 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.
 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
 The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”
 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them.
 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’”
10  So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
11  Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.

 1. How will Moses be a god to Pharaoh?


This is one of the finest definitions you will find of a prophet. Moses was going to be a god to Pharaoh. Aaron was going to be the spokesman for Moses. 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 the opposite of a priest. He comes out from God and goes to the people, but a priest represents the people before God. A priest is not to speak for God and a prophet is not to represent the people. He is to represent God. Aaron is to represent Moses before the people, and Moses is to represent God before both the people and Pharaoh. JVM
 as God to Pharaoh. Moses, as the spokesman and ambassador for God, would speak with authority and power. your prophet. Aaron, as the divinely appointed spokesman for Moses, would forthrightly deliver the message given to him. MSBN

 Moses was “as God” to Pharaoh in that he was the person who revealed God’s will (v. 1). Pharaoh was to be the executor of that will. Aaron would be Moses’ prophet as he stood between Moses and Pharaoh and communicated Moses and God’s will to the king. Verse 1 helps us identify the essential meaning of the Hebrew word nabhi (prophet). This word occurs almost 300 times in the Old Testament and “in its fullest significance meant ‘to speak fervently for God’“ CN

 2. So it was God’s fault that Pharaoh had a hard heart and refused to submit to God?

 What does it mean to harden Pharaoh’s heart? Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart? Yes, but it this way: If Pharaoh were a tenderhearted, sweet fellow who desired to turn to God and was happy to have Moses deliver the children of Israel because Pharaoh wanted to do something for them, then it was mean of God to harden the heart of this wonderful Pharaoh. If that is the way you read it, friends, you are not reading it right. The hardening is a figurative word, which can mean twisting, as with a rope. It means God twisted the heart of Pharaoh. He was going to squeeze out what was in it. God forced him to do the thing he really wanted to do.

Pharaoh was like the politicans of today who will not say what they actually mean. They feel one way and speak another way. Pharaoh did not want to let the children of Israel go, and yet he wanted to appear as a benevolent ruler. 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. Well, God is going to bring Pharaoh into court and make him admit how he really feels.
That is what God is doing to Pharaoh. God is bringing Pharaoh into court and saying, “You are going to reveal the thing that is actually in your heart. You cannot say one thing and do something else.” God is going to force the king’s hand in this particular matter. By the way, this is exactly what God is going to do with every individual that will someday come into His presence. You will be seen as you really are. There will be no more camouflage. This is a rather frightening thing for some of us, is it not? JVM

 God is not the source of evil. The evil that exists in men is our own creation. God for His own purposes, purposes that are always pointed toward good, can force us to expose and amplify our own evil. There are several instances in the bible where God puts people in positions so the evil which exists within them becomes manifest so that a godly result happens.
God used the evil that existed within the Assyrians to punish his own people the Jews when they refused to stop worshipping false gods.

Isaiah 10:5-8 (KJV) 
 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?

 The Assyrians did not understand that they were being used by God to punish His people. All they knew was that they were getting to kill and terrorize, which is what was in their evil hearts.
No, God did not make the Pharaoh do the things
he did. We all have freewill. What God did was engineer events such that this man would be elevated to the highest position in Egypt and as a result his natural pride and rebellious nature would make for a dramatic demonstration of the power of Yahweh over the power of the Pharaoh and the false religion of Egypt.

 3. How were the Pharaohs magicians able to duplicate the miracle of the staff turning into a snake? Were these tricks or something else?

  2 Timothy 3:8, “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.” These magicians resisted the living and true God.
 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 2 Cor. 11:13-15

 secret arts. By means of their “witchcraft,” the wise men, sorcerers, and magicians demonstrated their abilities to perform a similar feat. This is a good reminder to us that we should not underestimate the resourcefulness of the enemy.
He is an expert in the counterfeit.

 (Eph. 6:12)…For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.  Matt:24:24  
   
 Antichrist doesn’t mean against Christ, it means false or imposter.

 1 John 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

 Ex 7:12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 

 4. What does Aaron’s staff swallowing up the other staffs mean?

The power of God is greater than the power of Satan.
 What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?30   Demons put into swine   Matt. 8:29

 Ex 7:13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
Ex 7:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 
Ex 7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 
Ex 7:16 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 desert.  But until now you have not listened. 
Ex 7:17 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. 
Ex 7:18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’ ”
Ex 7:19 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 the wooden buckets and stone jars.”
Ex 7:20 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. 
Ex 7:21 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.

 5. Why would God permit an act of “environmental terrorism” against a river?

 Egyptian life centered around the Nile river. The Pharaoh would come down to the Nile to pray to the river.
The river was turned to blood. Not “like blood”, or turned red. Turned to blood!
An Ecological Disaster
The infestation of frogs (Ex. 8:1–15) and the other nine plagues created an ecological nightmare in Egypt. The Nile and its related waterways, the air over the land, the flora and fauna of the region, and many other natural systems were degraded by the region’s ecological disasters.
But let there be no mistake. The responsibility for these natural disasters was Pharaoh’s not God’s. Although, as the Creator, God knew how to upset the intricate and delicate balance of Egypt’s environment. The plagues were awesome and undeniable demonstrations of His power, and the fact that the Israelites were spared showed that God was in control of nature’s forces.

I’m sure Egyptian environmental protection agency was all over this one.
The Nile River is actually (4184 miles) long.
Almost twice as long as Mississippi, In places almost 5 miles wide.
God turned the Nile River and all the water throughout Egypt into blood causing the fish to die, showing the impotence of the god of the Nile Hapi and Naunet the god of water, Osiris, god of the underworld. The dead fish would have discredited the fish goddess, Hathmehyt. Even water in wooden buckets and pots of stone. You go to your Egyptian Starbucks to get your coffee and the cup is full of blood.

 Ex 7:22 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. 
Ex 7:23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. 
Ex 7:24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water , because they could not drink the water of the river.

6. Again the Egyptian magicians are able to duplicate to a certain extent what Moses was able to do. What is God’s attitude toward the “secret arts”? Are there people today involved in “secret arts”?

 The power of Satan is real.  We in this country fail to understand how Satan works.
Either we’re seeing Satan under every table and blaming him for everything. Flip Wilson “the devil made me do it”, or we don’t acknowledge him at all. Satan is very sophisticated and subtle and he loves religion.

The fastest growing religion (in terms of percentage) is Wicca — a Neopagan religion that is sometimes referred to as Witchcraft. Numbers of adherents went from 8,000 in 1990 to 134,000 in 2001. Their numbers of adherents are doubling about every 30 months
Wizards, shamans, magicians, white witches, black magic is alive and well today. Church of Satan…Anton Levey..Satanic bible. Web site pop up, offering course on spells.
White witchcraft, good witch,  bad witch,  Pervaded our society vary subtle. Wizard of Oz.  Disney sleeping beauty mirror mirror on the wall who’s the fairest of them all. Star wars, Darth Vadar and the force. white magic vs black magic.
Haiti…..voodoo. Real stuff.

 2 Chronicles 33…Manasseh…..6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

 Galatians 5 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Rev.

 Ex 7:25 Seven days passed after the LORD struck the Nile.

              
  • ESVN………….ESV Study Bible Notes
  • MSBN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes
  • NIVSN…..NIV Study Notes.
  • JVM ….J Vernon McGee,
  • ACC …. Adam Clarke’s Commentary
  • BN …..Barnes Notes
  • WBC……   Wycliffe Bible Commentary
  • CN …… Constables Notes
  • IC……….Ironside Commentary
  • NET………Net Bible Study Notes.
  • JFB…………..Jamieson  Fausset  Brown Commentary
  • VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies
  • CMM………….Commentary on Matthew and Mark
  • BDB………….. Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
  • Darby………..John Darby’s Synopsis of the OT and NT
  • Johnson………Johnson’s Notes on the New Testament.
  • NTCMM…………..The New Testament Commentary:  Matthew and Mark.
  • BKC………………….Bible Knowledge Commentary
             PCB…………………… Popular Commentary of the Bible,
             SSN…………………..Scofield’s Study Notes
  • Aken……. ……………………Ferryman of the Underworld 
• Aker…….. …………………..Guardian and Gatekeeper of the Underworld 
• Am-Heh …………………………… Devourer of Millions 
 • Ament …………………………Greeter of the Dead 
• Ammit……………………………… Devourer of the Wicked 
• Amun and Amun-Re……… The King of the Gods 
 • Anat………………………… Mother of Gods 
• Andjety…………………….. .A precursor of Osiris 
• Anqet ………………………..The Embracer, Goddess of Fertility and the Nile at Aswan 
• Anubis……………………… God of Embalming    
• Anuke………………………. Goddess of War 
• Anuket ………………………Goddess of the Nile   
 • Apep…………………… The Great Destroyer 
• Arensnuphis …………………Anthropomorphic Nubian Deity 
• As …………………………….Kindly God of the Desert 
• Astarte,……………………… Warrior Goddess of Canaan 
• Aten…………………………. The Sun Disk and later God  
• Atum …………………The All-Father 
• Auf (Efu Ra) …………………An aspect of the sun god Ra 
• Baal, …………………………God of Thunder                  
 • Ba-Pef ………………………- The Soul 
• Babi – ………………………..The Dominant Male Baboon God 
• Banebdjetet………………… God of Lower Egypt 
• Bast…………………………. Beautiful Cat-Goddess 
• Bat -………………………… Ancient Cow Goddess 
• Benu (Bennu) -…………….. The Bird of Creation 
• Bes …………………………..Protector of Childbirth  
• Dedwen -……… Nubian God of Resources 
• Denwen – ……………………The Fiery Serpent 
• The Ennead……………….. The Nine Great Osirian Gods 
• Fetket -…………………….. The Sun God’s Butler 
• Geb………………………… God of the Earth      
 • Gengen Wer -…………….. The Great Honker 
• Hapi………………………. God of the Nile River 
• Hathor…………………….. Goddess of Music and Dance 
• Hatmehyt -………………… The Fish Goddess 
• Haurun,…………………… The Victorious Herdsman 
• Heh and Hauhet…………… Deities of Infinity and Eternity 
• Heqet………………………. Frog Goddess 
• Heret-Kau ………………….- She who is Above the Spirits 
• Heryshef,…………………… Ruler of the Riverbanks 
• Heset ………………………..Goddess of Plenty        
 • Hetepes-Sekhus -………….. An Eye of Re 
• Hike …………………………God of Magic and Medicine 
• Horus……………………….. King of the Gods on Earth 
• Hu …………………………..God of the Spoken Word 
• Iabet,………………………… Cleanser of Re, Personification of the East 
• Ihy ……………………………- The Child God 
• Imhotep……………………….. Lord of Science and Thought 
• Ipy (Opet), ……………………A Mother of Osiris 
• Isis……………………………. Queen of the Gods 
• Iusaas…………………………. Creator … 
• Kek and Kauket, Deities of Darkness,  and Night 
• Khenmu………………………. The Great Potter 
• Kherty -………………………… Ram-headed God 
• Kephri …………………………The Great Scarab 
• Khonsu………………………… God of the Moon 
• Maat………………………….. Lady of Truth and Order 
• Mafdet……………………….. Goddess of Scorpions and Snakes 
• Mahaf -………………………. The Ferryman 
• Mahes…………………………. The Lord of the Massacre 
• Male ……………………………Child Gods of Egypt 
• Mandulis -……………………… The Lower Nubian Sun God 
• Mehen…………………………… Defender of the Sun Boat 
• Mehet-Weret -…………………. Cow Goddess of the Sky 
• Menhit ………………………….Lion-headed War Goddess 
• Mertseger ………………………………………Guardian of the Valley of the Kings 
• Meskhenet -……………………………………. Goddess of Childbrith 
• Mihos -…………………………………………. Son of Bastet 
• Min ……………………………………………..God of Fertility 
• Montu, ………………………………………….Warrior and Solar God 
• Mut ……………………………………………..Grandmother of the Gods 
• Nefertem……………………………………….. Lord of the Sunrise 
• Nehebkau, ………………………………………the God who Joined the Ka to the Body 
• Nekhbet …………………………………………Goddess of the Power of Kings 
• Neith …………………………………………….Goddess of War and Funerals 
• Nephthys……………………………………….. Lady of the Wings 
• Nun and Naunet ………………………………..Gods of Chaos and Water 
• Nut ………………………………………………Goddess of the Firmament 
• The Ogdoad……………………………………  The Primordial Creation Gods 
• Onuris …………………………………………..The War God 
• Osiris …………………………………………….Lord of the Dead 
• Pakhet ……….The Strength of Woman                    
• Panebtawy -………. The Child God 
• Peteese and Pihor ……………………………..- Brother Gods 
• Ptah The Creator 
• Qadesh – ………………………………………..Goddess of Esctasy and Sexual Pleasure 
• Re (Ra)………………………………………… The Sun God 
• Renenutet Goddess of the Harvest                   
 • Reshep – The Syrian War God 
• Sah and Sopdet (Sothis)……………………….. The Astral God and Goddess 
• Satet …………………………………………….Goddess of the Inundation 
• Satis…………………………………………….. Guardian of the Borders 
• Sebiumeker -…………………………………… Meroitic God of Procreation 
• Sefkhet-Abwy – ………………………………………Goddess of Writing and Temple Libraries 
• Seker………………………………………………… The Resurrected Osiris 
• Sekhmet…………………………… The Eye of Ra    
• Sepa -…………… Centipede God 
• Serapis…………………………………………………………….. the Composit God 
• Serqet (Selkis)…………………………………………………….. Scorpion Goddess 
• Seshat………………. Goddess of writing, measurements               
 • Set……………. God of Evil 
• Shay -……………………………………………………………… Personified Destiny 
• Shesmetet ………………………………………………………….- Leonine Goddess 
• Shesmu……………………………………………………………. Demon god of the Win Press 
• Shu ………………………………………………………………….God of the Air and Sky 
• Sia -………………………………………………………………… The Perceptive Mind 
• Sobek…………………………………………………………….. Guard of the Gods 
• Sons of Horus ………………………………………..Gods of the Viscera and the Canopic Jars 
• Sopedu -…………………………………………………………… The Border Patrol God 
• Ta-Bitjet – ………………………………………………………….A Wife of Horus 
• Tasenetnofret …………………………………………………….- The Good Sister 
• Taweret ……………………………………………………………Goddess Demoness of Birth 
• Tayet -……………………………………………………………… Goddess of Weaving 
• Tefnut ………………………………………………………………Goddess of Moisture 
• Tatenen -……………………………….. “Father of Gods” and the God of the Rising Earth 
• Thoth God of Wisdom 
• Wadj Wer -………………………………………………………… The Pregnant God 
• Wadjet ………………………………………………………………The Serpent Goddess 
• Weneg – ……………………………………………………………..Ancient Son of Re 
• Wepwawet (Upuaut)……………………………………………… The Opener of the Ways 
• Wosret -……………………………………………………………. Goddess of Thebes 
• Yah – ………………………………………………………………..Another Moon God 
• Yamm – ……………………………………………………………..God of the Sea


“Fair Use “ Notice – Title 17 U.S.C. section 107    The above post may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It is being made available in an effort to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, social justice, for the purpose of historical debate, and to advance the understanding of Christian conservative issues. It is believed that this constitutes a ”fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the Copyright Law. In accordance with the title 17 U.S. C. section 107, the material in this post is shown without profit to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please feel free to make civil comment. Divergent views encouraged,