Whether you’re brand new to SonRise or have been around SonRise for a while, let me briefly state what we seek to accomplish in this sermon moment each week. During the preaching portion of our services we employ and enjoy a kind of preaching called expository preaching. This means the preacher doesn’t aim to say anything new but only seeks to say what God has already said, such that the point of the passage is the point of the sermon. In this sense our aim is to be the nothing more than servers, whose task is taking the Chef’s meal and bringing it to the table without adding to it, taking away from it, or changing it in any way, shape, or form. We don’t to do this randomly but orderly, as we work through books of the Bible. So, when we come to specific passages week after week, we come to them in their own context, having already examined the verses that come before while anticipating the verses that come after. Or to put it another way, we seek to sit underneath the authority and illumination of the Scripture, rather than standing over it using the Scripture to support our own message.
This is our goal, we don’t do it perfectly, but we do aim to do it faithfully.
Today we find ourselves in Exodus 9. We’re slowly but surely making our way through the book of Exodus, and it has proved powerful. Many of you have told me over these past months how you’ve been encouraged and emboldened to fight in the midst of temptation or stand in the midst of trial because of what you’ve learned and seen of God in the book of Exodus. And that makes sense, doesn’t it? Among the many things we learn of God in Exodus, we learn how big and mighty and strong God really is. This is horrifying to God’s enemies to see, but it’s simply wonderful for God’s people to see. For in His might we His people are ever safe and secure.
Today, I pray that continues as we turn to the text now. Chapter 9 easily divides into four movements, see first…
Plague 5 – Livestock (v1-7)
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.”’” And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.”
The pattern of the plagues remains here in the fifth plague as we see Moses doing again, what he did back in the second plague. Here in v1 Moses goes into Pharaoh’s palace with a message and a warning. And the message is clear, Pharaoh’s heard it many times. God says again in v2-3, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks.”
As must be done with each plague, let’s ask and answer some questions.
First, what was the “very severe plague” that fell on Egypt’s livestock? It is hard to know exactly what kind of plague falls on the livestock of Egypt but most believe it’s a virus or disease, that attacks livestock with a particular lethality. What we do know is this plague was severe. It says as much in v3, “very severe plague” in Hebrew is the phrase kabed m’od, which translates as very severe or very heavy. This is important to see because this word is the same word used to describe the heart of Pharaoh. In the chapters leading up to this Pharaoh’s heart has been described hard, we know that, but what we might not know is that the word used in these instances is the word kabed. So Pharaoh’s hard heart really could be his heavy heart. This not only shows us more of Pharaoh’s true condition, a heart heavy and weighed down with sin, it shows us how severe this fifth plague was. It fell heavy on Egypt’s livestock, heavy like Pharaoh’s heavy hard heart. So heavy indeed that this fifth plague marks a pivotal transition in the plagues, in that it was the first plague to not just destroy Pharaoh’s own property, it was the first plague to bring death.
Second, what’s the extent of this plague? I ask this question because v6 says all the livestock of Egypt died, and yet, more Egyptian livestock shows up in the seventh plague. So how could all the livestock be dead in the fifth plague and then show back up in the seventh plague? There’s a simple answer to this question, and it comes once again from the Hebrew words used here. The Hebrew word for “all” is a collective term, referring not to each individual animal itself, but referring to all kinds of livestock in Egypt. So, when this plague fell, I think we’re meant to take v6 as saying, all kinds of Egyptian livestock died.
Third, why does God attack the livestock? As much as their livestock dying would’ve been a blow to the Egyptian economy and way of life, the reason runs deeper. As is true in the other plagues, it’s true here as well, God is attacking their livestock to attack their gods. Numbers 33:4 describes this well when it says, “On their gods also the LORD executed judgments.” So here God is attacking the many Egyptian deities depicted with livestock imagery. There was the god of fertility Buchis, known as the sacred bull of Hermonthis and Mnevis, who was worshiped throughout Egypt. Some believed Buchis was the embodiment of the gods Ptah and Ra, or Apis, the chief god worshiped in a temple in Memphis. There was also Isis (a queen among Egyptian gods) and Hathor (the goddess of love and beauty), gods often depicted with cow horns or even with the head of a cow. These are the deities in direct view in the fifth plague, and to Egyptians they represented fertility and strength. But by attacking them, and killing the livestock representing them, you see what God is saying? He’s saying these gods are nothing and that He alone is God.
Notice once again God says He will make a distinction in this plague. While the very severe plague will fall on all kinds of Egyptian livestock v4 says not one of the livestock of Israel will die. As we saw in the fourth plague, this is the covenant blessing of belonging to the Lord. God’s enemies are struck and their animals fall in death while God’s people and their belongings, are safe. This would be humiliating to say the least, losing so much livestock while Israel’s isn’t harmed at all. Many questions would’ve been coming at Pharaoh because of this. And how would he answer? That it’s just Egyptian mad cow disease? Or just a coincidence that Israel’s livestock still thrives while theirs dies? No. God removed any excuse for Pharaoh in v5 when He says He’ll do this, not just tomorrow, but at a specific time tomorrow, leaving Pharaoh no other option on how to interpret this event. Only the hand of God could do such a thing.
Pharaoh’s response to this in v7 is both new and not new. The new thing about it is he sent out messengers (?) to check if Israel truly did not lose any livestock, and sure enough, they did not. It was as God said it would be. Do you see how ironic this action is? Pharaoh wouldn’t send out Israel from slavery, but he was eager to send out his own messengers to see if what God said would happen really happened. It’s as if Pharaoh is eagerly desiring to find any other explanation for this event, but he searches in vain. The not new thing about his response is that even after evidence abounded all around him, his heart was hardened (became heavy) and he did not let the people go.
This is the fifth plague.
Plague 6 – Boils (v8-12)
“And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.”
Church, again we see the pattern here. Just as we saw the third plague begin with no warning, so the same occurs here in the sixth. No instructions, no visit to Pharaoh, God simply acts. Lesson? As the third plague ended the first cycle of plagues, so too now the sixth plague ends the second cycle of the plagues.
This is the shortest description of all the ten plagues. In v8-9 God instructs Moses to take soot from a nearby kiln, throw it into the air, and God will turn it into a disease that falls all throughout Egypt. Moses does this in v10, and we see the results of this in v11-12. And that’s it.
As short as it is, this sixth plague is also strange and sobering. It’s strange because it doesn’t seem to make sense at first. Why would God use soot from a kiln and turn that soot into boils and sores? I think there is some poetic justice occurring here. The kind of kiln in view here was likely one used for the baking of bricks. These were all over Egypt, since they had so many slaves working to build so many things, these kilns were very common. To all those enslaved these became a symbol of Egypt’s oppression. Yet, this is the very symbol God uses to inflict grievous wounds on all Egypt. Herein lies the sobering nature of this plague. Dust turned to disease, turned to boils and sores. But it’s probably more than that. Along with boils and sores on the skin usually comes pain and itching and a burning rash. Many attempt to identify this disease but its all speculation, it was a virus of divine origin, infectious in nature, resulting in a scabby leprous condition of the skin probably very similar to Job’s experience in Job 1-2. Whatever the virus was, it would become infamous in Israelite culture. Later on God uses this language again in Deut. 28:27 telling Israel that if they disobey Him He will smite them with “the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.”
Short, strange, and sobering certainly, but let’s not forget God is up to far more in this. We saw the list of gods He attacked in the fifth plague, here God takes aim at more. Specifically here God is aiming at Sekhmet, an Egyptian goddess who was believed to be responsible for health and healing. All of Egypt, who was used to looking to Sekhmet to keep them healthy and strong now learns this god cannot care for them if the Lord brings disease on them. Again, only God is God.
In v11 there is one final mention of the magicians, and all we read of them is weakness. Once they proudly stood before Moses and Aaron doing demonic wonders, now they’re reduced to weak, sick, sore covered sorcerers. Yet, in full view of all this, Pharaoh remains hard in heart. Why? Because for the first time in the whole of the plagues so far, we read that God hardened his heart. Which tells us, God is up to far more than meets the eye here.
This is the sixth plague.
Plague 7 – Hail (v13-26)
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”’” Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.” Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.”
Right on the heels of the shortest plague description, this is the longest. And with it we see a new cycle of plagues beginning. As with the first, and the fourth, here in the seventh plague Moses goes out to meet Pharaoh in the morning, he repeats the command, and announces the plague. v13 is the normal pattern we’ve seen before, but look at what God says in v14-17. He God says new things to Pharaoh, things that would’ve undone Pharaoh, and reminded Pharaoh that though he views himself as divine and the epitome of strength, he is really just a weak small, sinful man.
Here in v14-17 we find a host of riches to explore. In v14 God announces that more plagues are coming. In v15 God says He could’ve wiped them out by now, but hasn’t, and hasn’t even shown His full might yet. In v16 we see the Josh Groban ‘You Raise Me Up’ moment as we hear God say He has raised Pharaoh up for a singular purpose, to show His power, and that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth. This is such a powerful statement Paul quotes it in Romans 9 as he’s describing the sovereignty of God over all things. And God says more to Pharaoh in Exodus 9. Because Pharaoh keeps exalting himself against Israel (v17), God will send a hailstorm to Egypt (v18). Yet even here God is gracious as He warns them to hide indoors, and to bring their livestock indoors so they won’t die in v19. v20-21 tells us what we all know is true. When God’s Word goes out, what happens? Some will indeed hear and heed, they will fearing the Lord and obey His commands. Yet sadly, others won’t hear and heed the warning at all. Those who fear the Lord will find safety, those who don’t will find death.
Then we see it happen. The most severe moment yet. In v22-26 the storm begins. Moses lifts his staff toward the heavens, and thunder, hail, and fire rained down on Egypt. Think on this. I quite enjoy a good thunderstorm, especially if there is a covered front porch to watch it from. But, even then some storms get big enough where I run inside to find shelter. This storm is the stuff of legend! Booming thunder, blinding rain, hail the size of which Egypt hasn’t ever seen, and fire most likely in the form of lighting leaping down all over the place. This was devastating. Everything left outdoors, man and beast, plant and tree was destroyed. Meanwhile those in the land of Goshen are fine and free of terror.
Church, so far we’ve seen God inconvenience, attack, devastate Egypt, and even bring death to animals. But here in the seventh plague, God brings death to man. We mentioned it last week and we can mention it here again, it’s as if God is uncreating Egypt, bringing it back into disorder and chaos. The Egyptian goddesses Nut and Shu were believed to hold up the sky and be the reason why Egypt was known as the land of eternal sunshine. Yet here, God strikes, turning the land of sunshine to the land of fiery storm and death.
This is the seventh plague.
Conclusion (v27-35)
“Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the emmer were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.”
The sad tale continues as we see Pharaoh give little more than a ruse for relief. We’ve seen him do this before, express a phony repentance. He expressed guilt but was glad to keep on being guilty. Church be reminded. Repentance is far more than merely saying you’re sorry. Any repentance that doesn’t lessen your desire to sin again isn’t repentance. True repentance brings about a true turning of the soul, grieving over our sin and yet gladly reaching back toward God, His ways, His Word, His people. Pharaoh isn’t repenting, he’s just sick of these plagues and wants them to stop. Moses sees through it. See that? In v30 he says I know you do not fear the Lord. This is the first time in the Bible the phrase “fear the Lord” is used. It’s certainly present before this moment, but here in v30 it’s now explicitly stated. And just as Moses said, after he left and prayed, and God removed the hailstorm, Pharaoh found relief and forsook his repentance, not letting the people go.
This is where I’d like to end today. With what we see in v30. The lack of the fear of God leads Pharaoh to remain in his many sins. Church, do you fear the Lord? Pharaoh saw the power of God, but did not fear the Lord. He sought relief from the storm, but lacked a true repentance. Moses knew it. God knew it. Pharaoh might’ve hid from the hail, but he didn’t humble himself before God. So Church, do you fear the Lord? Too many soften the word fear, saying it’s not really a fear it’s more of a deep respect. That’s true, but I’d encourage you to go further. To fear the Lord is to be in awe of Him, gripped by the gravity of His greatness. Ironically, only those who fear the Lord come to love the Lord, because while seeing His greatness they see His goodness in the gospel!
Silly people make the mistake of not understanding a thing can be terrible and good at the same time (Aslan!)
Church, see the plagues (!), fear the Lord, and find life.
