Exodus 8.16-9.7-The Third, Fourth and Fifth Plagues
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday October 30, 2011
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 8:16-9:7-The Third, Fourth and Fifth Plagues
Lesson # 8
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 8:16.
Exodus 8:16-19 records the third plague.
Exodus 8:16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats through all the land of Egypt.’” 17 They did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats through all the land of Egypt. 18 The magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not; so there were gnats on man and beast. 19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. (NASB95)
Notice that there was no advanced warning for Pharaoh with regards to this third plague whereas the first two did but the third, sixth and ninth plagues did not come with advance warning for Pharaoh.
This third plague was against the god Set, who was the god of the desert.
The magicians could not duplicate this plague, which was produced by God’s omnipotence.
This omnipotence was manifested once Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the earth with it, which demonstrates again God’s sovereignty over creation.
The magicians acknowledge to Pharaoh that this plague was from God in the sense that they said it was a supernatural act of God and were not referring to God’s finger.
They were not converted but were simply confessing that the plague was from God.
Pharaoh’s response was again negative and he hardened his heart, which God predicted would happen.
Exodus 8:20-32 records the fourth plague.
Exodus 8:20 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, as he comes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 21 For if you do not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they dwell. 22 But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, in order that you may know that I, the Lord, am in the midst of the land. 23 I will put a division between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will occur.”’” 24 Then the Lord did so. And there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt. 25 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 26 But Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we will sacrifice to the Lord our God what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not then stone us? 27 We must go a three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He commands us.” 28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Make supplication for me.” 29 Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you, and I shall make supplication to the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow; only do not let Pharaoh deal deceitfully again in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 30 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord. 31 The Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people; not one remained. 32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go. (NASB95)
Verses 20-23 record the announcement of this fourth plague.
Verse 24 records the devastation produced by this plague.
In verse 25, Pharaoh makes his first concession and in verses 26-27, we have Moses rejecting Pharaoh’s first offer.
In verses 28-29, we have Pharaoh’s second concession as well as his request for intercessory prayer to end the plague.
Verses 30-32 record the Lord bringing an end to the plague in response to Moses’ intercessory prayer as well as Pharaoh reneging on his promise.
This fourth plague was against either the Egyptian god Re, a sun god or the god of Uatchit represented by the fly.
It begins the second cycle of three judgments, which indicated by the phrase “in the morning” (verse 20; cf. 7:15; 9:13).
The phrase “in the morning” in Exodus 7:15 appeared in relation to the beginning of the first cycle of three judgments.
The fourth plague like the previous three was directed at the Egyptians.
The result of it was that the Egyptians would know experientially that the God of the Hebrews was present among them.
Notice in verses 22 and 23, that God says that this plague will not affect the land of Goshen where the Israelites were located.
This distinction makes evident to the Egyptians and the Israelites that the former is marked out by God for judgment and the latter is marked out by God for deliverance.
This again would demonstrate to the Egyptians that the God of the Hebrews is sovereign over the gods of Egypt and is omnipotent.
Simultaneously, this would greatly encourage the Israelites that God was about to deliver them and was acting on their behalf.
Like the first two plagues, Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh and give him advance warning that a massive swarm of flies will invade Egypt with the exception of the land of Goshen.
This advance warning was again to give Pharaoh an opportunity to repent, which he of course did not.
Thus, God unleashed His wrath against Pharaoh and Egypt by sending swarm of flies.
This plague would be an intolerable pestilence since it would prevent the Egyptians could eat without ingesting flies, they couldn’t work because they would be constantly swatting them and they couldn’t sleep without flies covering their bodies.
Their skin would have welts from the flies biting them. So the nation was coming to a standstill.
Verse 25 records Pharaoh summoning Moses and Aaron and telling them to go sacrifice within the land of Egypt.
Of course, God said he was to let the Israelites worship Him in the wilderness and not within the borders of Egypt.
So we see here that Pharaoh is suffering as demonstrated by his desire to strike a compromise with God, which is rejected.
No doubt, he was receiving complaints from all aspects of Egyptian society including his advisors.
Moses explains to Pharaoh that the blood animal sacrifices of the Israelites are detestable to the Egyptians because they considered the bull as sacred, which is represented by the god Apis or Re and the cow was represented by their goddess Hathor.
So Moses and Aaron are saying to Pharaoh that the Egyptians will be outraged against us.
This indicates that Pharaoh was emotional at this time and thus not thinking since he would know of course that this would be the case with his people.
Moses’ response to Pharaoh first offer is polite since he continues to deal with Pharaoh according to the Near Eastern custom of bargaining.
In verse 27, the phrase “a three day’s journey” is not to be taken literally but is an idiom for “an official, formal, foreign visit.”
It is a polite way of saying let us leave Egypt altogether and we will never return.
Pharaoh responds to Moses’ explanation and strikes another compromise telling Moses that he can worship the Lord in the wilderness but cannot go very far away.
Moses does not respond to this offer but does to Pharaoh’s plea that he intercede in prayer for him before God in order to stop this plague.
He intercedes for Pharaoh and the plague is ended. Pharaoh again responds stubbornly and does not release the Israelites.
Moses had warned him not to do this, yet he does anyways.
Pharaoh knew very well from the beginning that the Israelites wanted to leave permanently (See comments on Exodus 5:1).
The language used by Moses and Aaron up to this point in the narrative reflects ancient and modern Eastern bargaining style.
In the previous encounters with Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron used phrases such as “into the wilderness” and “to offer sacrifices to our God” and “three days” which are manifestations of this style.
So we have Pharaoh attempting to negotiate with God and God refuses to negotiate since the release of the Israelites is non-negotiable.
Pharaoh has no leverage and is in no position to bargain.
Exodus 9:1-7 records the fifth plague.
Exodus 9:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and speak to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them, 3 behold, the hand of the Lord will come with a very severe pestilence on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks. 4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel.”’” 5 The Lord set a definite time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” 6 So the Lord did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died. 7 Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. (NASB95)
Verses 1-4 record the announcement of the plague and then in verses 5-6, we have the record of the devastation it caused.
In verse 7, we have Pharaoh investigating the Israelites’ domesticated animals in order to confirm that they were spared.
This verse also records Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to release the Israelites.
Like the first, second and fourth plague, Pharaoh was given advanced warning before the fifth plague.
Like the fourth plague, the Lord tells Moses to tell Pharaoh that the land of Goshen where the Israelites reside will not be harmed by this fifth plague.
Like the first, second and fourth plague, God tells Moses to demand from Pharaoh the release of the Israelites to worship Him.
God set a specific time for this fifth plague and fulfilled that which He warned through Moses that He would do to the Egyptians.
The translators say that “all” the livestock of the Egyptians died.
However this is in error since Exodus 9:19-21 records that many of the livestock of the Egyptians were still alive and were killed by the seventh plague of hail.
The Egyptian livestock are said to be alive at the beginning of the account of the final plague (Exodus 12:29).
This does not mean that there is a contradiction but rather an error in translation since “all” in Exodus 9:6 is the adjective kōl (כֹּל), which means “all sorts or kinds of” domesticated animals died in this plague.
Or, the word can mean “all over the place” indicating that this plague killed livestock “all over” Egypt.
This plague was against the Egyptian goddess Hathor who was portrayed with a cow head.
It attacked the domesticated animals in Egypt but did not touch the domesticated animals of the Israelites, which made clear to the Israelites and the Egyptians that the former was marked out by God for deliverance and the latter was marked out by God for judgment.
This would have devastated the economy of Egypt as well as religiously since many of the animals of the Egyptians were sacred.
Domesticated animals in the ancient world were valuable assets.
Therefore, the loss of these animals would have devastated the economy.
The bull represented the god of Apis or Re and the cow represented Hathor, who was the goddess of love, beauty and joy.
Hathor was depicted in the form of a woman with the head of a cow.
Verse 7 records Pharaoh sending investigators to determine if in fact the land of Goshen was indeed spared this plague.
When he saw that it was, he still did not repent but hardened his heart even further.