Monday, February 19 – Exodus 7, 8 – Additional reading, Patriarchs and Prophets, chapters 22 and 23
Study Questions:
1. In what sense did God appoint Moses and his brother Aaron as God and prophet respectively? Exodus 7:1; 4:16
2. How and why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart? Exodus 7:3
3. How old were Moses and Aaron when they appeared before Pharaoh? Exodus 7:7
4. What were the two miracles performed by Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh in Exodus 7:12?
5. What were the first 4 plagues poured out in chapters 7 and 8?
Commentary and Reflection:
In chapters 7 and 8, God continues to strengthen the faith of Moses and Aaron through a series of miracles. In verse 12 of chapter 7, we see two miracles. The first occurred when Aaron’s staff turned into a snake. The second was the counter-miracle by the Egyptians when their staffs turned into serpents. God’s supreme power was demonstrated when Aaron’s serpent devoured the serpents of the Egyptians. Mrs. White clarifies:
“It was the hand of God, and no human influence or power possessed by Moses and Aaron, that wrought the miracles which they showed before Pharaoh. Those signs and wonders were designed to convince Pharaoh that the great “I AM” had sent Moses, and that it was the duty of the king to let Israel go, that they might serve the living God. The magicians also showed signs and wonders; for they wrought not by their own skill alone, but by the power of their god, Satan, who assisted them in counterfeiting the work of Jehovah.” PP 264
Regarding the expression that God would “harden” Pharaoh’s heart, we should not understand it as God doing it deliberately. If it were so, we would be establishing a kind of predestination or determinism in Pharaoh, for which he would not be at fault. However, in chapters 8:15, 32, and 9:34, it indicates that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Nowhere does it say that God forced Pharaoh to act as he did. Instead, it seems that God caused circumstances in Pharaoh’s life that hardened his heart and led him, by his free will, to reject God’s claims. When we resist God, it always results in the hardening of our hearts.
The Adventist Bible Commentary states:
“The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was evident first of all in the fact that he paid no attention to the demand of the Lord to let Israel go. His refusal was not restricted to the plagues the Egyptian magicians were able to imitate, but included those which the magicians themselves acknowledged to be “the finger of God” (ch. 8:19).”
” God takes no pleasure in the suffering and death of the wicked, but rather desires that all men repent and be saved (Eze. 33:1 1 ; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9), and causes His sun to shine upon the evil and the good (Matt. 5:45). But as the sun affects different materials in different ways, according to their own nature — it melts wax and hardens clay, for instance — so the influence of the Spirit of God upon the hearts of men produces different effects according to the condition of the heart. The repentant sinner allows God’s Spirit to lead him to conversion and salvation, but the impenitent hardens his heart more and more. The very same manifestation of the mercy of God leads in the case of the one to salvation and life, and in that of the other to judgment and death — to each according to his own choice. ” SDA Bible Commentary, Exodus 4:21
From this experience, the following lesson emerges:
“Those who are quieting a guilty conscience with the thought that they can change a course of evil when they choose, that they can trifle with the invitations of mercy, and yet be again and again impressed, take this course at their peril. They think that after casting all their influence on the side of the great rebel, in a moment of utmost extremity, when danger compasses them about, they will change leaders. But this is not so easily done. The experience, the education, the discipline of a life of sinful indulgence, has so thoroughly molded the character that they cannot then receive the image of Jesus. Had no light shone upon their pathway, the case would have been different. Mercy might interpose, and give them an opportunity to accept her overtures; but after light has been long rejected and despised, it will be finally withdrawn.” PP 269
Let us ask God to give us a heart obedient to His will.
May God bless you abundantly this day.
Professor Javier Diaz