Exodus 9 (The Plagues Continue - Livestock Diseased, Boils & Hail)

The Plague Narrative in Exodus 9

All right, well, let's pray and then we will look at Exodus. Wait a second. Did I really type that in. I don't know.

Oh.

All right, well mark, why don't you why don't you open us in prayer, okay.

Gracious heavenly father. An awesome godly sir. Thank you for the opportunity we have to uh. Meet here on wednesday nights and just be encouraged by each other. What a what an awesome blessing it is. Thank you for every precious minute of it.

Jesus name you pray amen. Amen. All right. Exodus exodus.

Chapter 9.

The lord said to moses.

Go into pharaoh. And tell him thus says the lord 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 be on your cattle in the field On the horses on the donkeys on the camels on the oxen.

And on the sheep.

A very severe pestilence. And the lord will make a difference between the livestock of israel and the livestock of egypt So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of israel.

Then the lord appointed a set time.

Tomorrow the lord will do this thing in the land.

So the lord did this thing on the next day. And all the livestock of egypt died the livestock of the children of israel. Not one died. Then pharaoh said. And indeed not even one of the livestock of the israelites was dead.

But the heart of pharaoh became hard And he did not let the people go. So the lord said to moses on Aaron.

Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace And let moses scatter it to all the heavens in the sight of pharaoh And it will become fine dust.

In all the land of egypt.

And it will cause boils that break out in saws on man and beast.

Throughout all the land of egypt from the first I stood before pharaoh. And moses scattered them toward heaven. And they caused boils that break out in swords on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before moses because of the boils.

For the boils were on the magicians and on all the egyptians. But the lord hardened the heart of pharaoh And he did not heap just as the lord had spoken to moses. Then the lord said to moses.

Rise early in the morning and stand before pharaoh and say to him Thus says the lord god of the hebrews. Let my people go that they may serve me. For at this time I will send all my plagues to your very heart and on your servants and on your people That you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.

Now if I had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence Then you would have been cut off from the earth. But indeed For this purpose I have raised you up That I may show my power in you And that my name may be declared in all the earth.

As yet you exalt yourself against my people in that you will not let them go behold. Tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down such as has not been in egypt since its founding until now.

Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field. For the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought up. And they shall die.

He who feared the word of the lord among the servants of pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. For he who did not regard the word of the lord left his servants and his livestock in the field.

Then the lord said to moses.

Stretch out your hand toward heaven that there may be hail in all the land of egypt on man on beast and on.

Every herb of the field.

Throughout the land of egypt and moses stretched out his rod toward heaven. Thunder and hail and fire darted to the ground. We hate on the land of egypt. So there was hail and fire mingled with the hail.

So very heavy, but there was none like it in all the land of egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck throughout the whole land of egypt all that was in the field. Man and beast and the pain struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

Only in the land of phoesion for the children of israel There was no hail. And pharaoh sent a cold from moses. And I have sinned this time. The lord is righteous.

And my people and I are wicked. Retreat the lord. So there may be no more mighty thundering in hell.

But if it's enough, I will let you go.

You shall stay no more. As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the lord. The thunder will cease and there will be no more hail That you may know That the earth Is the lord.

But as for you.

And your sons I know.

That you will not yet fear the lord god.

Now the flax and the barb were struck for the barley was in the head and the flax was in the bar. But the wheat and the spelt were not struck for they are made promise. So moses went out of the city from pharaoh and spread out his hands to the lord.

Then the thunder and the hail ceased And the rain was not poured on the earth. And when pharaoh saw that the rain the hail and the thunder had ceased He sinned yet more and he hardened his heart he and his sons.

So the heart of pharaoh was hard. Neither would he let the children of israel go As the lord had spoken by moses.

God Redeems a People to Serve and Worship Him

Okay last time in chapter 8 we saw how pharaoh had promised to let the children of israel Go if what was the condition? That moses would intercede on his behalf.

And.

Give him relief from the plague. So that's of course what moses did. And did pharaoh keep his word? Of course not and remember how this all started many chapters ago how pharaoh's initial attitude was Who is the lord that I should obey him?

Well now he's getting a pretty good idea of who the lord is. And the power that he has. But he still thinks that he can negotiate right? So last time we saw that he's negotiating. Well, okay I'll let you go and serve the lord In the land that is don't go too far.

I will not let you go three days into the wilderness. So did moses accept that offer? Of course not so chapter 8 ended with verse 32 which says. But pharaoh hardened his heart. At this time also neither would he let the people Go.

So now in chapter 9 we see the 5th 6th and 7th Plagues, they're recorded. The 5th plague is the livestock being struck with disease. The 6th plague is the egyptians. And the beasts of the field being afflicted by boils.

And then the 7th plague is a devastating Hail and then in the next chapter chapter 10, there's going to be the locusts. And the darkness and hopefully you're making the connections between many of these things and the the book of revelation.

So if you look at the book of revelation the judgments are they're almost like a mirror of what you're seeing in exodus. Another tie-in with the book of revelation that we talked about and it's brought out even more clearly in this chapter how the lord is making a distinction or a difference between The egyptians and the children of israel just like in the end times.

There's going to be a distinction made when god's wrath falls. That god's people are protected or shielded from the wrath of god. While the people of the earth are just open to facing all of it in its full intensity.

Now before we get into the first plague i'd like you to look at verse one. This is an important point. It says then the lord said to moses go into pharaoh and tell him. Thus says the lord god of the hebrews.

Let my people go. That they may do what? That they may serve me. Does it say worship in one translation. Same thing that they may worship that they may serve me. So what is god doing? God is redeeming a people so that this people.

May.

Serve and worship.

The lord.

So i'm not looking to downplay the human element i'm not looking to downplay god's mercy. Both are a factor both are very important. However, I think the main thrust of all of this Is that number one god's name?

Is to be magnified, uh in the earth number one and then number two through this whole process the lord is Gathering a people that are set apart for himself so that they might Serve him. Now turn to romans chapter 4 For a moment because we always like to make a application when we can.

So as you're turning to romans chapter 4. Um, you remember back in chapter 2 of exodus. After hearing the groanings of the people Being afflicted by the egyptians. It says the lord remembered His covenant that he made with abraham isaac and jacob.

And the relevance for us today is that same covenant? All right, that same covenant of promise Is open and available today for all who believe. You say prove it. Okay. Look at romans chapter 4 starting in verse 21.

This is speaking of abraham. It says. And being fully convinced.

That.

What he that is the lord had promised he was also able to perform and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. So because abraham believed the word of god His faith believe in god was accounted to him for righteousness.

Romans 4 23 Says now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him. But also for who? For us new testament Believers. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up jesus our lord.

From.

The dead. So here's the point the promises that are made to abraham. We get to share in Those promises. So I know we're reading about the israelites and there is a distinction Definitely to be made between israel and the church old testament and new testament for sure.

But we get to share in the promises Of god. And one more verse on that point galatians 329. Galatians 329 Says. And if you are christ Then you are abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So all the promises of god in the old testament.

There is application for For us today we get to.

Share.

In them.

So all of that to say that just as the lord was redeeming the children of israel to serve him That's why he redeems us as well. God doesn't just save us so we can go to heaven. God saves us so that we Would serve him.

So you think about it salvation happens here?

Okay.

People go to heaven here. What about everything in between right? That's what we need to focus on here and now serving. The lord if it was just about going to heaven all of us who are saved you just take us right now.

Right, but that's not the way god intended it. He saved us to serve. And he set apart the children of israel to go out into the wilderness to do what? To worship to serve. All right. Any questions or comments so far?

All right.

So consider this god wants to bring the children of israel out of egypt. But he also wants to take egypt out of the children of israel, right? What does that mean? Well, he wants to bring us out of the world to set us apart to sanctify us.

But he has to take the world out of us. And that's a hard thing to do. As everyone says, you know, we we are to be in the world, but not of it. Well, that's true. And that's an easy thing to say. It's a little more difficult to have that play out because we're all surrounded by worldly things every moment of every day.

Romans 12 2 says. And do not be conformed To this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove. What is that good and acceptable? And perfect will of god. So it's a fact god did not want the children of israel to be just like the egyptians.

Just like he doesn't want us to be just like Everybody else and as far as proving that perfect Good will of god. What's the will of god for our life? You know, there's actually a bible verse that comes right out and tells us the will of god for our lives.

What is it?

First thessalonians 5.

Right.

Your Sanctification. Oh, right. Yeah, and that's that's where it is.

Is that john 17.

It no, you're right. It's to the thessalonians, right? Yeah, so you remember when the children of israel worshipped the golden calf? Where do you think they got that idea? He had to take egypt out of them and incidentally that verse What's the will of god for your life even your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality?

Okay, the golden calf. What did it say? They did they rose up to play which was A euphemism for sexual Immorality. Okay, that's that's enough preaching. All right. Let's get into the first plague. So the lord tells moses Go and say to pharaoh let my people go.

The First Plague: Livestock Diseased and the Distinction Between Egypt and Israel

All right, jim. I saw that.

I just want to make a comment in reading this chapter. It came to me that battle even though we see it as between moses and aaron and pharaoh. The real true battle is between satan and god.

Okay, you want to elaborate.

On that if you think of all of the Gods that the egyptians worshipped and they held pharaoh as the chief god a small chief. And god needed to.

Rid.

Have that victory over satan once again as we see in in joe. Okay, there's a battle going on there and god gave satan permission to Do what he thought he would be able to get away with. And and the same thing I think is happening here.

So that's a constant battle. It's always going on. I can't remember the verse. Thank goodness for navigators. It's gonna happen pretty soon.

But.

Where it says the battle is that we don't see the battle. The battle is a spiritual battle. And it's taking place even now while we're right here.

That's for sure All right, thank you. So look at verse two. So lord tells moses tell pharaoh let my people go verse two for if you refuse to let them go and still Hold them behold the hand of the lord will be on your cattle.

Or on your cattle in the field on the horses on the donkeys on the camels on the oxen and on the sheep a very severe Pestilence and the lord will make a difference between the livestock of israel and the livestock of egypt.

So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of israel, so there's the Distinction there verse five then the lord appointed a set time Saying tomorrow the lord will do this thing In the land and of course, that's exactly what takes place the next day the livestock Of egypt was struck and it says but of the livestock of the children of israel not one died.

That's amazing. But what's the result of it? It says when pharaoh finds this out his heart became Hard so that made that made pharaoh A little angry we could say All right now just think of the devastation that's taken place upon the land so far.

The water was turned into blood so they can't really eat anything out of the the river. Now the livestock and how much of it they would eat and use to tend to the fields. I don't know. But the food supply obviously is dwindling and then in the seventh plague more animals are going to be struck and then Some of the crops are going to be struck.

So Things are getting worse and worse, but the sixth plague is especially Devastating and terrible. Because it's the first plague that directly affects Human health. Look at verse eight. So the lord said to moses and aaron take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace.

And let moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of pharaoh. And it will become fine dust in all the land of egypt. And it will cause boils that break out and soars on man and beast throughout all The land of egypt.

This is a pretty Horrific Plague, I'd like you to turn to revelation chapter 17 because there's another tie-in With this plague as well. As far as what's a boil I won't ask for a raise of hand how many people have had boils but uh, You know if you if you read about if you never had one you can read about it.

I won't go into the details. I grossed you guys out with the frogs. I think last week we won't do that again. Well, what does the book of job say that job was afflicted by boils, right? From the crown of his head to To his foot.

And just speaking personally, I think of all of the verses of scripture. One of the most disturbing to me is found in revelation 16 after the boils the water turned to blood the The the darkness it says in verse 10.

And the people that had worshiped the beast it says they gnawed on their tongues because of the pain that verse always Kind of gives me a a chill. Well, who's that talking about who's going to be gnawing on their tongues because of the pain.

Look at verses one and two revelation 16 1 and 2. Then I heard a loud voice From the temple saying to the seven angels go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of god on the earth. So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth and a foul and loathsome sore Came upon the men Who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped?

His image. So a foul and loathsome.

Sore.

Now how many of you know what the septuagint is? Here's a trivia. Question the septuagint. Now that's the torah or the penitent. I'm, sorry. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So the septuagint is the hebrew old testament translated into greek.

Okay, obviously. When the old testament was written it was written in hebrew. But by the time of jesus and the apostles the old testament had been translated into the greek language. Many would argue that's the bible or that's the old testament that the apostles.

Use the greek version of the old testament, whatever the case in the septuagint. The greek word in exodus for boils. Guess what? It's the same exact word as you find in revelation 16. A foul and loathsome.

Sore.

Wow, so the peep. Don't take the mark of the beast. I assume so i'm not going to be here. I don't need to worry about that, but. And no other comments. I know what a few of you are thinking. Okay, but uh.

But the people who take the mark of the beast. They're allowed to buy and sell. But they are afflicted by boils and they go to hell. I mean, this is the trade-off buy and sell.

Buy some ointment.

Yeah, they I guess they can buy ointment since they can buy it. It's not going to do them much good though. All right, turn back to exodus chapter nine, all right, yes, there's a hand yeah.

I remember when I was younger.

My father had boils. They are very very painful. Yeah. He was almost incapacitated.

Right Yeah.

Yeah, really really horrible and we're going to see there are some people in this chapter that are incapacitated. Jim, you had something.

Since janet brought it up when I was a teenager probably around 15 16 years old I had an opportunity to Go to uh, maybe some people remember the gator state hospital, which is now a prison. Uh, but uh this this individual that I knew was a nurse.

And he had charge of a certain ward and one fellow had a boil. And I can tell you it's I don't ever want to see another one this guy. I mean, this was the extreme probably but it had such a loathsome odor to it.

And it was huge.

And they tried to you know, try it and it's just terrible. So if you've never seen a boil.

You don't ever want to have one. Yeah, we don't we don't need to exchange all of our boil. Point well taken though. Uh now one thing about this, uh plague with the boils. It says that Moses had to take ash From the furnace and you know scatter it towards heaven.

And so you might think. Well, how does that cause boils? Well, the point is it doesn't right? This is a supernatural play. I know we know that. Um, but you might wonder well, why did he have to do that?

Maybe there's some reason or symbolic meaning. Um, if you know, uh, you can raise your hand in a moment, uh, you know it. No god told him to. Well, we know that. That's why he did it. No speculation does anyone actually.

And he also said do it so that pharaoh can see. Yes, right. I kind of imagine moses saying hey watch this.

Yeah.

One of the one other thing mike is that that ash wasn't just any ordinary ash. That came from the furnaces. That they baked. And maybe bricks from right?

But still Throwing that in the air isn't going to cause boils throughout all the land of egypt, right? It is if god wants it. It is if god wants it to right, but the point is this is a supernatural judgment and one of the things that You will find sometimes.

Men try to find natural explanations for supernatural Events one thing that liberal scholars love to do. Sometimes you'll hear me repeat this, you know, liberal liberal scholars. What do I mean by that people that don't take the.

Which are they?

People that don't take the word of god literally they don't take it at face value or the more extreme Liberals would just outright deny the word of god. So that's what we're talking about. And what did you say?

Not very scholarly. So what liberals are they. Scholars. Liberal scholars, yeah.

They have their. They have their degrees so they're considered scholars.

There's no opinions in here.

I get what you're saying. But what do they do? They like to debunk the things written in scripture to find a natural Explanation because they really want to kind of get away from this idea of a personal god.

That would perform miracles or especially would rain down judgment, you know when we see the people you have a something.

I was just going to mention that it's interesting that the magicians couldn't.

Compete with us either. Was it the first two or three planks.

Yeah.

This time they're on their back. I mean they're not doing anything but that's what Some scholars or whatever you want to call them. We'll try to do debunk the bible. They don't want a god who's actually in control and that's doing these things.

When we read about the people afflicted with boils, we think that's terrible. And these people need to repent and place their faith in the lord when they read that they just think it's terrible. And you know, I wouldn't want to worship a god who would do that Kind of a thing so they try to find sophisticated arguments to get around all of this.

With that said I will acknowledge one thing when the water turns to blood. That does make sense that the frogs would come out of the water onto the land, right? Of course that's what you would expect that it would happen naturally on the other hand.

It says that the lord did it, right? So can the lord use natural events to bring? Things about. Yeah, the lord can do that. However turning dust into lice. There's no explanation for that parting the red sea.

To where the israelites can walk through the the midst of it on dry ground. There's no explanation for that. Although did you hear about the the liberal sunday school teacher who taught their uh, Taught their kids about the parting of the red sea you hear about this.

So the sunday school teacher had the the child read about the red sea. And how the israelites walked through the midst and and one of the children said it's a miracle. And the teacher said no johnny and it's it's not a miracle.

It's not actually the red sea. It's the reed sea. So the wind blew and dried it out and besides there is only a few inches of water anyways, and he said It's a miracle and she's no johnny. I told you it's not a miracle.

He said yes it is.

Why?

Because god drowned pharaoh's entire army in a few inches of water.

So.

Either way you slice it. It's a miracle. Okay, but isn't that the way it goes. People try to find ways around what the word of god Has to say and I think their attitude is like pharaoh's. You know, who's the lord that I should obey him?

People in general Want to live life on their terms and not do what god or the scripture says. All right questions or comments. How many of you heard that story? The red sea, okay. Right to hear again, uh mark.

I had the sixth plague. It's a bit kind of interesting to note that It came without a warning.

The boils did.

All the other ones were.

That's right.

Yeah, and usually the lord would give them a little bit of notice which I think is a gracious act. It gives pharaoh at least a little time to change his mind that that he's going to but.

That begins on.

Yeah, I did. I came across that and I does anyone want to offer. What's the significance? Of the boils just without any warning. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? Well, I didn't either so that's but yeah, that's that's true, uh, jim.

Um, we can go back to verse five. It says well, let's go to verse four. And the lord will make a difference between the livestock of israel and the livestock of egypt. So nothing shall die Of all that belongs to the children of israel.

Then the lord appointed a set time.

Say tomorrow.

The lord will do this thing in the land. I said I said this is the first time this is mentioned. That there's a set time. Okay, so I. Well, why did he? Why did he set a time tomorrow? And when I when I came up with a couple of things, uh, I think.

It was an opportunity that he presented to pharaoh to recognize that god was who he is. Okay, and and it was another opportunity for him to take that and also. It was god's grace and long suffering. That was in all of us.

Yeah, because he's given him every opportunity To say that yes, you are the true and real god.

That he never does right? Yeah good points. All right. So the sixth plague is the boils and pharaoh's magicians. They don't try to replicate this. Why. Well look at verse 11 and the magicians could not stand before moses.

Because of the boils for the boils were on the magicians and on all the egyptians. But the lord hardened the heart of pharaoh and he did not heed them just as the lord had spoken to moses. So the the magicians appear to be flat on their back and they.

Definitely can't they can't even try with this. So the lord tells pharaoh in verse 15 that basically. To paraphrase what he's saying I could have wiped you out completely um a while ago if I wanted to.

The fact that the lord doesn't and he gives them time and opportunities is a testament to his grace. Then in verse 16, this is what the apostle paul picks up on in the book of romans. Remember romans 9.

We had looked at that a week or two ago. Verse 16 says the lord Uh says to pharaoh but indeed for this purpose I have raised you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all.

The earth.

But what's the problem? The problem in verse 17 the lord tells pharaoh but you know, I want to i'm going to exalt my name. But you are exalting yourself. That's what pharaoh is trying to do. So either way.

Um, you have man's way god's way in the end. Is going to be god's way. Look at verse 18 behold tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail. To rain down such as has not been in egypt since it's founding until now.

And of course, there is that horrific plague in the book of revelation. How many pounds are the hailstones? Going to be. A hundred hundred pound I think is what they come to again. Yeah. You know, of course it's a different form of measurement.

I've heard anywhere from 75 80 to upwards of a hundred and Something. But either way, I mean you just let's just say it's a hundred pounds. Can you imagine a hundred pound hailstone or? Without number just falling everywhere.

Yeah, one time I was jogging back in my younger years, of course, yeah. I live in orange and I remember running down the street and a hailstorm hit. And the hailstones were only about a half an inch or so.

Maybe three quarters, you know. And I tell you I was trying to get under a tree. They hurt and finally. It wasn't fun. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't as bad as a boil but.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean it's so terrible hundred pound hail. I. Yeah, you get hit with one of those. That's the end of that's the end of you. But even this verse, uh behold tomorrow about this time. I will cause very heavy hail to rain down.

Such as has not been in egypt since Its founding until now. When I read that I thought of what jesus said in matthew 24. About how in the great tribulation. Well, he says matthew 24 21 for them There will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time.

No, nor ever shall be. So this is the worst that egypt has ever seen. But in the tribulation. Similar things, but that's the worst the world had ever seen. Now the lord is gracious though with the plague of the hail in that unlike the boils The lord does give pharaoh.

Warning.

And actually he gives all of the people of egypt warning. It says in verse 20 He who feared the word of the lord. So the word spread. Obviously people had a chance to bring in their servants and animals inside.

He who feared the word of the lord among the servants of pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. So they were safe because they feared god. Verse 21, but he who did not regard the word of the lord left his servants in his livestock.

In the field.

So who are these egyptians that? Fear god I mean they see all of this. And it has to be having an effect on these people and it does have an effect. So who are these egyptians?

Jim, I think those are the egyptians were those that Maybe had had been influenced by the by the by the israelites by the children of israel. I think that they had relations with them and they heard this about this god.

And there may have been some fear instilled in them because of that.

Okay.

Now you remember. Yeah, and that's. That's valid. I think they're seeing the plagues. You remember when the israelites go out of egypt someone a group goes along with them called the the mixed multitude.

So there are some egyptians that kind of attach themselves To the hebrews so when the hebrews go out of egypt There are some egyptians that go with them and it's called the mixed multitude. It kind of became a thorn in their side a little bit, but they fear god now.

Did they truly? Trust in the lord. I mean, maybe some of them individually did but I think that may have been a false repentance. Just like we're going to see in this final section, but before that larry.