4 POWER AND GLORY Exodus 7:19-22;9:13-16; 11:4-8 EXPLORATION Exodus 7:19-22; 9:13-16; 11:4-8 Central TRUTH God is holy powerful, glorious, and gracious beyond compare. Prepare for your group meeting by reading the passage two times. 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 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. 9:13 Then the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, 14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. 11:4 So Moses said, This is what the Lord says: About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. 7 But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal. Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. 8 All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, Go, you and all the people who follow you! After that I will leave. Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh. 34 // Explore the Bible: Students
Talk it Out.01 WHAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU THINK OF GOD?.02 AS A GROUP, DISCUSS WHAT ATTRIBUTES OR CHARACTER TRAITS MAKE GOD DIFFERENT FROM US. This week s FOCUS When God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, He commanded Moses to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. God alone is holy. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. He is set apart from all creation. He is perfect all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present. Because God is so much bigger than us, it can be difficult to describe Him without considering what He is not. Today as we look at the ten plagues that God inflicted upon the nation of Egypt, we will see that He was declaring, both to the nation of Egypt and to the nation of Israel, that He is not like the gods of the Egyptians. He is holy and there is no one like Him. God s plagues upon the nation of Egypt were devastating, but they were also gracious. By displaying His glory in the plagues, God was kindly revealing the truth about Himself He is powerful and glorious beyond compare. Explore OPTIONS.01 The Why Game Ask for a couple of volunteers. Ask each, in turn, a series of simple why questions. First ask them a simple question like, What is your favorite movie? or What is your favorite day of the year? Follow up this first question with a why question, Why is this movie your favorite? or Why is this day your favorite? Follow their answers up with more why questions. For instance, if they say that a particular movie is their favorite because it is funny, ask why they think it is funny. If they say that Christmas is their favorite day of the year because they like presents, ask why they like presents. Continue asking why questions until they give up and say, I don t know, I just do! Tell students that today we are going to discuss why God does the things He does. Everything God does, He does with a purpose. For a reason. He never does anything by chance or just for the fun of it all of God s actions are infinitely wise and purposeful. Today we are going to discuss why God did something difficult why He inflicted Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt with plagues. He did so to demonstrate that He alone is holy He is powerful and glorious beyond compare..02 Plague PowerPoint Before your group meets, make a PowerPoint presentation of pictures that would represent some of the ten plagues God sent on the nation of Egypt. If you do not have access to a computer, simply print some of these pictures before class or show them to the students on a tablet. Examples include: frogs, gnats, livestock, locusts, and boils. After showing these pictures, ask students the following question: Why did God send these terrible plagues on the nation of Egypt? Say, Today we are going to see that although these plagues were terrible, they not only demonstrate God s glory but also His grace. Session 4 // 35
4 CONVERSATION continued Read Exodus 7:19-22..03 HOW DID THE TEN PLAGUES CALL INTO QUESTION THE EGYPTIAN GODS (SEE ALSO EX. 7:5, 17; 8:10)? The ancient Egyptians believed in many gods and some Bible scholars think that each of the ten plagues correspond to specific Egyptian gods demonstrating that the Lord has power over the various things these gods were believed to be sovereign over. For instance, the Egyptians believed in various gods tied to the Nile river as it provided the Egyptians water and food by turning the Nile to blood and killing all the fish, God was demonstrating His superiority over these false gods. Ancient Egyptians also believed that their Pharaoh (king) was the governor of the universe and should be worshiped. Thus, the plagues also function to unmask Pharaoh s claims to be divine as God s plagues demonstrate His power over such fundamental realities as nature, light, and life and death. Leader Pack / ITEM 8: Draw students attention to The Plagues poster (Pack Item 8). Point out how God demonstrated His power over the various things the Egyptians thought their gods controlled..04 HOW DID THE MAGICIANS OF EGYPT RESPOND WHEN GOD TURNED THE NILE TO BLOOD (7:22)? WHAT WERE THEY TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH?.05 HOW DID PHARAOH RESPOND? WHAT DOES THIS TELL US ABOUT HIM? The magicians, in an attempt to prove that their false gods were just as powerful as God, attempted to repeat the plague of the Nile through their occult practices. They may have simply tried to trick the people into thinking that they had turned water into blood or perhaps they were doing something demonic. In any event, their actions were absurd. While the Nile, Egypt s source of food and water, was filled with blood and rotting fish, they took unpolluted water from the king s treasury and attempted to turn it into blood as well. If these magicians really wanted to show their power, they would have reversed the plague they would have purified the water of the Nile. This is foolishness power without purpose. God never does this when God does miracles, it is always with a purpose in mind to show His power, glory, and grace. Discipleship Moment: Read Hebrews 13:12-15. Share about a time when your heart was hardened by sin. How did you become aware of this? How can we avoid this? 36 // Explore the Bible: Students
COMMENTARY Exodus 7:19-22 7:19-20. In these verses is described the actual first plague, the changing of all surface water in Egypt (nearly all of it being in or from the Nile) to blood. Six considerations should be kept in mind in the analysis of this plague: (1) Blood is a color in Hebrew as well as a substance, just as in English, and no firm data exist for the interpreter to differentiate in this story between the possibility that the Nile and other surface water turned to actual blood from the possibility that the waters turned for whatever reason blood in color. (2) No special theological overtone is present relative to the blood here; it is not a foreshadowing of the blood of Christ that flows or any such thing. (3) The important punishment element in the plague is neither the substance nor the color but the pollution of the water, rendering it not merely undrinkable for humans, but also deadly to fish. (4) Yahweh s implied control over Nile (the Nile river god) could hardly have been missed by any thoughtful Egyptian considering the meaning of this plague. (5) Aaron s staff was not merely a simple visual device but a symbolic reminder that God, not Aaron or Moses, was actually performing the miracle of the plague. (6) The plague may well have imitated a natural phenomenon by which some parts of the Nile sometimes turned reddish, but it does not appear to have been merely a natural phenomenon in light of the immediacy of the result and its extent. 7:21. The Israelite foremen had complained that Moses had made them reek to Pharaoh (same Hebrew verb as in v. 18; 5:21), but now there was something that truly stank the Nile. 7:22. It is again likely that what was meant by the statement the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts (v. 22) was that the magicians were able to duplicate on a small scale, by simple trickery, the changing of water into reddish water. Such a duplication (or, more technically, imitation) would have required only the ability to add something that would dye some water red through slight of hand. It is noteworthy that the magicians did not attempt to undo the havoc wrought upon the Nile or other large bodies of water for the obvious reason that they could not do so. But the work of the magicians had its effect on Pharaoh. He could comfort himself with the thought that somehow the trickery of Moses and Aaron (or the power of their God, if he thought that it was real divine power by which his magicians worked) was simply the same sort of thing his people could do, and on short notice at that. Thus, as with the changing of Aaron s staff into a snake, magic undermined the credibility of reality, and Pharaoh had an excuse to yield nothing to the Israelites and the demands of their God. The only thing Pharaoh had lost in this encounter was the opportunity to have his bath (v. 23). Session 4 // 37
4 CONVERSATION continued.06 AS GOD SENT MORE AND MORE PLAGUES, HOW DID PHARAOH RESPOND (EX. 7:22; 8:19)? HOW DID THE MAGICIANS RESPOND (EX. 8:11; 9:20)? Interestingly, the plagues have a stronger effect on the magicians of Egypt than they do on Pharaoh whose heart is hardened toward God and His prophet Moses (Ex. 7:22). For instance, when the magicians fail to duplicate the third plague (the plague of gnats), they report to Pharaoh that this plague is the finger of God (Ex. 8:11). In other words, they feared God. They realized that the source of the plagues was a power greater than themselves. Furthermore, when Moses warned of the plague of hail, several officials in Pharaoh s house, which likely included some of the magicians, feared the word of the Lord and led their servants and livestock to shelter (Ex. 9:20). Thus, the plagues not only demonstrate God s glory, but also His mercy in calling both Israel and Egypt to recognize the foolishness of worshiping other gods..07 WHAT DID GOD HAVE MOSES AND AARON DO BEFORE HE SENT EACH OF THE PLAGUES (SEE ALSO EX. 7:1-4, 8:1-7)? WHAT DOES THIS TELL US ABOUT HIM? Literary Context: Do you know what each of the ten plagues were and how they relate to various Egyptian gods? Check out the Literary Context content in the Commentary section. Each of the plagues were preceded by warnings from God delivered by Moses and Aaron that Pharaoh should let the Israelites go. These warnings were a form of grace God gave Pharaoh and the Egyptians opportunities to repent. Furthermore, even the plagues themselves were a form of grace as they displayed the power of the Lord and the powerlessness of the Egyptian gods. As we saw with the magicians, these plagues opened the eyes of some Egyptians to see that the Lord is God. -- Read Exodus 9:13-16..08 WHAT WAS GOD S PURPOSE IN STRIKING THE EGYPTIANS WITH PLAGUES?.09 WHAT DID GOD COMMUNICATE TO THE EGYPTIANS THROUGH THE PLAGUES? WHAT DID GOD COMMUNICATE TO THE ISRAELITES? 38 // Explore the Bible: Students
COMMENTARY Exodus 9:13-16 9:13. The Lord could easily have destroyed Pharaoh and his people without plagues or the hardening of Pharaoh s heart (Dan. 2:20-21), but these events were designed to show the Lord s incomparability. Thus God now made for Himself the claim that Moses made for Him earlier (8:10). The Lord described Pharaoh as still acting arrogantly. Such statements might seem arrogant and egotistical, but taking Exodus as a whole, they demonstrate the truthfulness of the claims and show that the Lord is just and compassionate. Throughout the conflict with Pharaoh, the Lord was demonstrating His right to rule while calling for allegiance and obedience. LITERARY CONTEXT God sent ten plagues on the nation of Egypt through the prophet, Moses. Each shows His power not only over Pharaoh and the false gods of Egypt, but also over all things. Here is a list: 1. The Nile river was turned to blood (Ex. 7:14-24). 2. Frogs (Ex. 7:25-8:15). 3. Gnats (Ex. 8:16-19). 4. Flies (Ex. 8:20-32). 5. Diseased livestock (Ex. 9:1-7). 6. Boils (Ex. 9:8-12). 7. Hail (Ex. 9:13-35). 8. Locusts (Ex. 10:1-20). 9. Darkness for three days (Ex. 10:21-29). 10. The plague of the firstborn (Ex. 11:1-12:36). 9:14-16. If Pharaoh retained any doubts about the purpose of the plagues to this point, he had no reason to be uncertain any longer. The explanation given him in these verses is clear and simple: Pharaoh must learn that Yahweh alone is supreme, the implication being that the gods in whom Pharaoh had trusted and whom he represented were essentially nothing (9:14); the earlier plagues were actually examples of restraint since God already could have sent a fully destructive plague to eliminate the Egyptian population entirely (9:15). Pharaoh himself had come to power and was acting as he was under God s control, the result being not only that he, the king of the world s greatest superpower at that time, would see true divine power but that all who learned of the exodus story in all generations thereafter would give the true God credit for that power (9:16). Session 4 // 39
4 CONVERSATION continued God let Pharaoh live for the purpose of showing His power over Pharaoh and his false gods and to make His name known in all the earth (v. 16). The ultimate purpose of all of God s actions is to display His glory. God made clear that He could have wiped the Egyptians off the face of the earth (v. 15) the plagues, therefore, demonstrated God s mercy, even to the Egyptians. By sending Moses and Aaron to warn of the plagues, God was giving the Egyptians a wake up call, a chance to turn away from their false gods. It is important to note that the Book of Exodus never tells us anything particularly noteworthy about why God chose to save the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. We are given no indication that the Israelites were more noble, smarter, or even more godly than the other nations of the world. The only reason that we are given as to why God saved Israel is that the Israelites were His chosen people (Ex. 9:17; see also Deut. 7:7-9). In other words, they were not saved because of their works but because of God s grace. Theological Context: Why did Pharaoh harden his heart? Who is responsible for Pharaoh s refusal to let the Israelites go? Check out the Theological Context content in the Commentary section. Read Exodus 11:4-8..10 FOR WHAT PURPOSE DID GOD INFLICT THIS FINAL PLAGUE (V. 7)? WHY DID GOD STRIKE EGYPT BUT SPARE ISRAEL?.11 HOW DOES THIS FINAL PLAGUE POINT US FORWARD TO CHRIST (SEE JOHN 1:29; 1 COR. 5:7)? Just prior to dying on the cross, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples a meal that reminded the Israelites of how God miraculously and boldly spared them from His wrath on the day they finally fled Egypt (Matt. 26:17-35). However, when Jesus celebrated this meal with His disciples, He opened their eyes to an even greater rescue mission His mission to save us from our sins. Through His death, Jesus offers to absorb the wrath of God we deserve for our sin and through His resurrection, He secures the eternal future of all who believe. 40 // Explore the Bible: Students
COMMENTARY THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT Exodus 7-9 tells us some interesting things about Pharaoh s heart. At times we are informed that God hardened Pharaoh s heart (Ex. 7:3-4; 9:12; 10:20). Other times we are told that Pharaoh hardened his heart (Ex. 8:32). And still others we are told less directly that Pharaoh s heart was hardened (Ex. 7:13, 22; 8:19). The fact that Pharaoh hardened his heart toward God tells us that he ultimately did not want to let the Israelites go his ultimate desire was selfish to keep them as his slaves. Therefore when God hardened Pharaoh s heart, God was not making Pharaoh do anything that he did not already want to do. God was essentially handing Pharaoh over to the desires of his heart (see Rom. 1:18-32). Exodus 11:4-8 11:5. Moses introduced his words with a typical messenger formula ( this is what the Lord says ) so that Pharaoh had no doubt that Moses was speaking as a prophet the words given to him by his God. God announced here that he would personally move through Egypt to bring about the death of the Egyptian firstborn ( I will go throughout Egypt ). This personal involvement of Yahweh represents a further heightening of the severity of the plagues. Previously Yahweh had caused all the plagues, but in the case of those plagues caused by insects, Yahweh had produced the insects and they had gone throughout the land doing the intended harm. Now Yahweh himself was the immediate performer of the plague, the immediate visitor of the homes of the Egyptians. In verse 5, the servant girl who is behind the millstones refers to someone grinding grain by pushing the top stone over the lower one. 11:6-7. A great cry of anguish corresponds to the cry of the oppressed Israelites in 3:7,9. The prediction of worse wailing than there has ever been or ever will be again is a statement hard to refute: Egyptians might have participated in mass, national times of mourning for various reasons at prior times in their history, but surely there would have been no parallel to the kind of sudden loss of life that God predicted here. As in several preceding plague accounts, Moses reported God s intention to differentiate completely between the Egyptians and the Israelites in the suffering. 11:8. Moses anger is unusual, since during the cycle of plagues nothing is said about his feelings. Moses expressed anger on behalf of the Lord, who had been angry when Moses repeatedly objected to obeying (4:14). The notice of anger contributes to recognizing that Moses, although he knew about the hardening of Pharaoh s heart, considered him accountable for his actions. By the end of the tenth plague, Moses would in a sense be in the position of Pharaoh, with Pharaoh s officials bowing as supplicants to Moses. Session 4 // 41
4CENTRAL TRUTH God is holy powerful, glorious, and gracious beyond compare. NOW WHAT?.12 WHY IS IT IMPORTANT THAT WE REMEMBER THAT GOD IS HOLY PERFECT AND SET APART? HOW DOES REMEMBERING THIS HELP US FIGHT SIN?.13 WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST COMMON GODS PEOPLE IN OUR AREA WORSHIP TODAY? If the students in your group hope to make strides in their walk with Jesus, they have to see Him as better than the false gods of this world. As students in your group are tempted to worship things like acceptance, popularity, and success, they need to see that Jesus is a greater treasure. They need to realize that these other things are short-lived, whereas God is eternal. They need to realize that while these things might bring some pleasure, God is glorious beyond compare everlasting joy is found in a relationship with Him. Challenge students to enlarge their vision of who God is. It is only when we have a big, biblical, and glorious vision of who God is that we will find joy in worshiping Him and living for Him alone..14 WHAT IS ONE STEP YOU MIGHT TAKE THIS WEEK TO TURN YOUR HEART FROM WORSHIPING SUCH THINGS AND DEVOTE IT SOLELY TO THE LORD?.15 HOW CAN WE HELP ONE ANOTHER RECOGNIZE GOD S POWER AND LIVE FOR HIS GLORY? For an expository verse-by-verse sermon outline/discussion guide that complements this session by diving into the Gospel of Mark, see LifeWay.com/etbfal17exodus. For free training, go to MinistryGrid.com/web/ExploreTheBible. 42 // Explore the Bible: Students
Personal CHALLENGE Dwell The ten plagues display God s glory, power, and grace. How has God shown His glory, power, and grace in your life? How did God show you His glory, power, and grace by sending Jesus? Jot down a short list and spend some time praising God for helping you see how great He is and how much you need Him. Memorize Exodus 9:16 Reflect and dwell on God s Word. Pray Thank God for sending Jesus, our ultimate Passover Lamb who takes away our sin. Pray that He would help you grow in your understanding of His power, glory, and grace. Ask Him to help you turn away from any false gods you might be tempted to worship. Ask Him to help you find joy in putting Him first in your life. In preparation for Session 5, read Exodus 12:1-28 and journal your answers to the following questions: Why was God so specific with the Israelites about how they were to celebrate the Passover? What was the purpose of using unleavened bread? What was the purpose of sacrificing a lamb and spreading its blood on the door posts? Why did God want the Israelites to celebrate the Passover every year? Why do we take the Lord s Supper regularly? Why do we need to be reminded of Jesus death regularly? Session 4 // 43