A contest of wills
This article is based on a message on Exodus 7:1 - 10:29 first given by David Couchman at Above Bar Church, Southampton, on Sunday 13th March 2005. It may be reproduced in print or on other web sites, subject to the copyright notice below.
We have a problem with God.
Let's try that again: We have a problem with our idea of God. We like to think of God as being universally kind and well-disposed towards everyone. Someone who is always 'there for us,' whatever we may do. Yet the Bible describes God as someone who is loving and kind, but also as someone who judges us for the evil we do. And we find this difficult. I once heard someone say,
I don't believe in all this stuff about judgment and hell. I believe in a God of love.
Well God certainly is a God of love, and the place where we see this most clearly is in the life and death of Jesus. But if you want to find out what the Bible says about hell, you have to listen to what Jesus says, because he talks about it more than anyone else.
If we want to understand God's judgment, we need to see that when people do things that are evil, this is not just something abstract: they offend God; they damage themselves, and they harm other people. God will not let them get away with this for ever.
Would we really want to live in a world where there was no justice? Where people could go on doing evil, and could get away with it? A world where someone like Harold Shipman could murder as many people as he liked, and it would not matter. Or where an Ian Huntley could get away with killing those little girls, and could go on to kill again and again?
A world like that would be a nightmare. When we see evil, we want to see justice done. We know that it is important. It is important to God, too. He will not let people carry on doing evil for ever. There will come a day when he will say 'enough is enough,' and he will sort it out.
God gives us opportunities to turn back from doing evil. But some people simply will not turn - ever. What happens then? When you put together God's determination to bring about justice, and the determination of some people to carry on doing evil, there is certain to be conflict. And that is what Exodus chapters 7-10 is all about.
We shall not try to go through these chapters verse by verse. Instead, we are going to look at how the action develops from the beginning to the end.
The background is that Israel is in slavery in Egypt, and Moses and Aaron have been sent to rescue them. After their first confrontation with the Egyptian king, Pharaoh (in chapters 5 & 6), things get worse, not better: Pharaoh increases their workload, and the Israelites give Moses a loud 'Yah, boo! You haven't helped. You've made things worse.' God just tells Moses, 'Get right on back there and carry on with the job I gave you.'
In this part of Exodus, we need to see that God is totally committed to getting his people out of their slavery.
Seven times in these chapters, God says, 'Let my people go.' (Exodus 7:2, 7:16, 8:1, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13, 10:3). God is determined to rescue his people. But Pharaoh will not back down, so the stage is set for a huge contest of wills.
In these chapters, God sends nine plagues on Egypt:
- the Nile is turned into blood (7:14-24)
- there is a plague of frogs (7:25-8:15)
- there is a plague of gnats (8:16-19)
- there is a plague of flies (8:20-32)
- there is a disease that kills the animals (9:1-7)
- the people are afflicted with boils (9:8-12)
- there is a devastating hail-storm that destroys crops (9:13-35)
- there is a plague of locusts that destroys more crops (10:1-20)
- And there is a plague of darkness (10:21-29)
There is going to be one last great plague, in chapter 11, which we will not include here.
The descriptions of the plagues are true, but they need not necessarily be scientifically precise: when it says that the water was turned to blood, this is a description of what it looked like - it was red, and it was undrinkable. It need not mean it was literally full of red and white blood cells. It is like when we say 'the sun rises.' Everyone knows what we mean - we are describing how things appear in day-to-day terms. What we are saying is true, but it is not scientifically precise.
What caused the plagues? They may have been completely supernatural, or it is possible that God used some natural event to cause them. In a town called New Bern, in America, there was an environmental disaster in 1999:
- The waters of the local river turned red
- More than a billion fish died
- People working near the river were covered in sores
The river had been poisoned by millions of gallons of pig waste from a farm.This caused a mutation in a micro-organism called pfiesteria, turning it lethal.
It is possible that the plagues In Egypt were caused by some kind of pollution in the Nile. Something killed the fish, turning the river red. This drove the frogs onto the land. On land, the frogs died, causing an explosion of flies. The flies transmitted diseases to the cattle, and so on.
Another possible explanation is that the plagues were caused by a volcanic eruption on the island of Thera in the Mediterranean. There are some very interesting comparisons with what happened when Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington State in 1980. In this eruption, a huge amount of volcanic dust and ash was thrown into the air:
- For a hundred miles from the volcano, it caused complete darkness
- It polluted the rivers, killing the fish
- Cattle died because they'd breathed in the volcanic dust
- Hundreds of people had skin sores and rashes, caused by the volcanic ash
- Volcanic debris fell like hailstones, destroying crops hundreds of kilometres away
The description certainly has some interesting similarities to the plagues of Egypt.
So God may have used some kind of natural events to bring about the plagues. God is still in control. He is still supernaturally at work, still working out his purposes.
You sometimes see television programmes that suggest that if there was a natural cause for the plagues, this 'explains them away,' therefore the Bible is not true. We would do much better to see it as supporting the historical reliability of the Bible, rather than as explaining away what the Bible says.
The fact is, we do not know how the plagues were caused, and this is not really the most important thing in these chapters. Much more important is what God is doing through the plagues. And we see this in three ways the action develops:
(1) God turns up the heat under Pharaoh
The plagues get worse as they go on:
- the first few are really just inconveniences
- but as you go on, there's real economic damage (destroying the animals and the crops)
- and there's increasing physical harm to people
God is turning up the heat.
The way God's power is shown increases:
- In 7:22, when the waters of the Nile are turned to blood, the Egyptian magicians do the same thing.
- In 8:7, the plague of frogs, the magicians do the same thing.
- In 8:18, the plague of gnats - the magicians cannot do it. They tell Pharaoh, 'This is the finger of God.'
- By the time you get to the plague of boils in 9:11, the magicians are so crippled by them that they cannot even stand up in front of Moses - and from then on, they drop out of the picture.
So the way God's power is shown is increasing.
The plagues are direct attacks on the gods of Egypt. The river Nile was one of their gods. The frog or toad was also an Egyptian god. So were cows and bulls. The greatest of their gods was the Sun god Ra. And the last plague was an attack on the sun - a plague of darkness.
So these plagues are not just an attack on Pharaoh - they are also a deliberate slap in the face for the gods of Egypt.
One of God's purposes in what's happening is that both the Egyptians and the Israelites will come to know his reality and his power.
So in 7:17, Moses tells Pharaoh,
This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that's in my hand I'll strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians won't be able to drink its water.
In 9:14:
This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or this time I'll send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there's no one like me in all the earth.
There are several other places in these chapters that make the same point.
And as they come to know God's power, they are presented with a stark choice: whether or not to believe him and obey him.
In these events, God starts out by warning Pharaoh and the Egyptians, in fairly harmless ways.But as they ignore his warnings, he turns up the heat - the demonstration of his power gets greater; the effects on the Egyptians get more serious.
What is happening here in Exodus is a picture of what God does through Jesus. And just as Pharaoh and the Egyptians faced God's judgment, the Bible is clear that there is a future judgment coming on our world too. God warns us of this judgment through his Word. But sometimes he cannot get through to us. Sometimes he uses suffering and disasters to get our attention.
CS Lewis, in his book 'The Problem of Pain,' says that God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. He says that suffering is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
What about us? Are we resisting God in some way, like Pharaoh did? And if we are, what does God have to do to get through to us? Does he have to turn up the heat because we will not take notice of anything else? Is there, perhaps, something we are going through that is God's way of getting our attention?
So God turns up the heat under Pharaoh.The second plot development is that...
(2) God sharpens the focus for Pharaoh
Starting with the fourth plague, God begins to make a distinction between his people and his enemies:
In 8:21-23, during the plague of flies, God tells Pharaoh
If you don't let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses... But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people.
In 9:4-6, you get the same distinction during the plague on the animals. The Egyptian animals die, but the Israelites' animals do not.
And again in 9:25-26, during the plague of hail, the Egyptians' crops are destroyed, but the Israelites' crops are not.
In 10:23, during the plague of darkness, it says
No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.
So we see God sharpening the focus for Pharaoh, as he makes a distinction between his people, and his enemies. He brings destruction on his enemies, and he keeps his people safe, and rescues them.
God is still the same today: he still makes a distinction between his people and his enemies. And the distinction gives us a choice, which side of the line we will fall.
At the moment, it is not always clear who is for God and who is against him. People who were for him may be moving away from him. People who look like they're his enemies may actually be on the road towards him. We do not know. But the distinction will become clearer.
What about me? Am I one of God's people, or one of his enemies?
God sharpens the focus, through these disasters, and through making a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians.
(3) God shuts the door on Pharaoh
God has turned up the heat under Pharaoh. He has sharpened the focus for Pharaoh. There comes a point where God shuts the door on Pharaoh.
In Exodus 7:3-4, God tells Moses,
I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.
In fact, there are nine places in Exodus where it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart (4:21, 7:3, 9:12, 10:1, 10:21, 10:27, 11:10, 14:4, 14:8)
We have a big difficulty with this. Because it seems to be saying that God was in control of Pharaoh's decision, so he did not have any choice in it - and then God punished him for what he decided. And this does not seem fair.
We are up against one of the most difficult things in the Bible:
The Bible teaches very clearly that God is in complete control of what we decide. He is sovereign.
It also teaches equally clearly that we are responsible for our own choices.
We cannot understand how these two things go together, so we try to sort it out by dropping one or the other:
Either we say that God is not really in control, and that our free will over-rules God, or we say that we are not really responsible for what we do, and it is all God's fault. But we must hold both sides of the picture together: God is in control, and yet we are responsible.We make real choices, and yet God is sovereign over them.
Very briefly, there are three reasons why we get into difficulties with this:
(1) We lose sight of God's Mystery
When my children were little, imagine that one of them had come to me and asked me to explain how a computer works. I could not have done it, because they just did not have the right words and ideas for me to explain it to them.
On a vastly bigger scale, if God really is God - if he is great in power and wisdom, if he created the whole universe, why should we expect to understand everything about him? It is sheer arrogance to think we can. However humbling it is for us to admit it, there are some things about God that are beyond our understanding. We have to accept that we do not know everything about Him. We have to bow before the mystery.
(2) We lose sight of God's Majesty
It is so easy for us to think that we are the centre of the Universe, and that everything goes round us.God is just there to make us happy. But it is not really like that, is it? God is the greatest being there is. He is the centre of everything, and the reason for everything. Everything exists to bring him glory, not just to make you and me happy.
In 9:16, God tells Pharaoh
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.
You see, God is bringing glory to his name through what happens. We saw a moment ago that God's purpose was that both the Egyptians and the Israelites would come to know his reality and his power. But they came to know this in two very different ways. The Israelites knew his power to rescue them; the Egyptians knew his power to judge them.
One day everyone is going to know God's reality and God's glory and majesty. Some will know him as their rescuer. But those who will not have him as their rescuer will - sadly - come to know him as their judge. One way or another, God will be glorified in every one who has ever lived. And we get into difficulties when we lose sight of God's majesty, and put ourselves at the centre of the story.
(3) We lose sight of God's mercy
Then we get into difficulties when we lose sight of God's mercy. The Bible makes it clear that we start out at a disadvantage with God. We have disobeyed him and rebelled against him, and we deserve his judgment. Anything other than judgment is God's mercy and kindness, which we do not deserve.
God would have been completely within his rights to destroy Pharaoh straight away - but he did not. Instead, God was merciful to him. He gave him repeated warnings; repeated opportunities to turn. But Pharaoh would not turn - and he was responsible for his own decisions.
So when we read that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, we get into difficulties with it when we lose sight of God's mystery, we lose sight of God's majesty, or we lose sight of God's mercy.
That was a very brief look at the problem! There is much more that we could say, and whole books have been written on the subject. But this is not in the Bible to puzzle us, but rather to motivate us to respond to God in awe and worship, and to turn to him while we can.
Although there are times where God hardens Pharaoh's heart, there are other times when Pharaoh hardens his own heart (8:15, 8:32, 9:7, 9:34-35).
During the first five plagues, it does not say that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. It does say he hardened his own heart. So God gave him opportunities to change his mind, but he would not.
But there came a point where God said, 'OK, you've made your decision. Now I am going to confirm it.' The Bible is clear that God's patience with Pharaoh was not limitless.
God is infinitely loving and infinitely merciful, and he is very patient - but he is not infinitely patient. His patience will not last for ever. There will come a point where however long God gives someone, that person is not going to change. Their decision to resist God has become part of who they are. And at that point, God shuts the door on them, and confirms their decision. It is very dangerous to test God's patience.
Today, God offers us his mercy. He gives us opportunities to turn to him. You would not be reading this article, thinking about what the Bible says, if God was not holding out his offer of mercy to you. But this will not last for ever. It has a 'sell-by' date. There will come a day when God will say to us: 'OK, you have made your decision. Now I am confirming it.'
What about me? Am I testing God's patience? That is a dangerous place to be. If I am hardening my own attitudes, and rejecting God's warnings, I have no idea when God may shut the door on me.
In 10:28, Pharaoh tells Moses,
Get out of my sight.
And Moses, as God's representative, replies
As you say. You will never see me again.
It is too late for Pharaoh to change his mind. And God? Well God does not change his mind either. He is still just as committed to rescuing his people as he was at the beginning. Final conflict is certain.
Conclusion
We have seen through these chapters, that Pharaoh is determined to keep the Israelites as slaves, and God is determined to rescue his people. A contest of wills is inescapable. God inflicts a series of dramatic judgments on his enemies. As these judgments go on:
- God turns up the heat
- God sharpens the focus
- and eventually God shuts the door
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