A couple of important and usual things happen before Israel leaves Egypt. This is the first one. At the burning bush, as God tells Moses that he will lead Israel out of slavery, He says this.
Exodus 3:21-22 “21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not goempty, 22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
That seems pretty strange that when Hebrew slaves are leaving Egypt, they ask the Egyptians for all their valuable stuff. Here’s what happened.
Exodus 12:35-36 “35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.”
Why would the Egyptians be willing to give up their stuff? What had just happened? The plagues had worn down the people of Egypt and they were ready to be rid of the Hebrews and their God. They were willing to do whatever it took.
God not only freed the Hebrews, but He made sure they left with all the wealth of Egypt. Now that’s a story that gets prosperity preachers pretty excited. The idea is that God will provide you wealth, because you are His child. Sounds good, doesn’t it? But is that why God gave them all that gold...so they could live comfortably? No it is not. What are the Israelites going to do with gold out in the wilderness? We find out the reason several chapters later.
Exodus 25:1-3 ”The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze,”
God is asking for an offering from every man who’s heart moves him. Did they have gold, yes. Where did they get it? From God, through the Egyptians. Then later God says, everyone who will... bring it back to me. But why?
The Egyptian treasure was a test. God wanted them to build Him a place of worship and there would need to be materials to build it with, so God says, those who have the right heart attitude will return what I have entrusted them to oversee.
How are you doing in that area? Did you think God gave you that money just for you to have more in the bank? No, it is a heart test. What are you going to do? Will you pass the test? Do you really understand that it is a test. It’s hard to pass a test...if you don’t know you’re taking it.
Now, on to what is probably the single most mysterious verse in the story of Moses. It seems to come out of nowhere.
Exodus 4:24 “24 At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.”
Moses has just left Midian on his way to Egypt and this happens. We need to look at the context if we are going to make sense of this passage.
Exodus 4:24-26 “24 At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. 25 Then Zipporah tooka flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to
me!” 26 So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.
Well, that certainly clears everything right up. No it does not...at least it didn’t for me. I had to do some digging to figure out what’s going on here.
This passage shows the disobedience of Moses and Zipporah when it comes to following God’s command of circumcision. God told Abraham that circumcision was the sign that you belong to His family. Clearly Moses had not done this to his son. Why? Probably because his wife Zipporah wouldn’t let him. It was not the tradition of the Midianites to do that.
Moses has submitted to his wife and disobeyed God when it comes to circumcision. And should call to our memory another man who submitted to his wife’s desire to disobey God’s command. Adam. Adam followed Eve into disobedience. And what did God say the result of this disobedience would be? Death. Moses had followed Zipporah into disobedience and so death was not off the table.
Another question that needs to be asked is this: Who was it that was going to be killed? Was it Moses or was it his son? I think we get some insight to the answer when we back up another verse and look at the broader context.
Exodus 4:23-24 “23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’” 24 At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him (Moses) and sought to put him (the child) to death.”
Here we see the subject of the conversation between God and Pharaoh that Moses is supposed to communicate. Pharaoh has held God’s son (Israel) and won’t release him. It is then pointed out that Moses had been holding on to one of God’s sons (the child) and won’t release him to God. Circumcision was the sign of belonging to God. As long as the child was not circumcised, it was a sign that Moses was not willing to surrender him to God. It’s the same sin that Pharaoh is committing, and God says that the child will die if this is not corrected.
Did you notice who was the most upset by this event? It was Zipporah, the mother. She is the one who corrects the situation in order to save her son. Moving on.
So God chooses Moses to becomes the leader of His people and to bring them out of the slavery of Egypt. But God does it an interesting way, using plagues. This is another story of God making a move against the fallen Elohim that are now being worshiped by the Egyptians.
Honestly, I always thought all the different plagues God sent were strange. They didn’t seem to make sense, until I realized there must be a piece of information I was missing. That piece of information is what I want to share with you next.
The Egyptians worshiped lots of gods. Remember a couple of weeks ago when we taught about the tower of babel and how God divided the nations according to the sons of God, and that God judged them because they had accepted worship that belonged to Him? Well here is where that continues to play out.
The 10 plagues of Egypt are God asserting His dominance over the gods they worshipped. Phararoh kicked things off with his answer to Moses, when Moses and his brother Aaron ask him to allow God’s people to go worship Him.
Exodus 5:1-2 “Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”
Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him? That is not an odd question when you realize how many gods Egypt worshiped. Who is the Lord? Well, you’re about to find out. He is the God over all the little gods you’ve been serving. Here is where we get some spiritual insight as to why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
Exodus 12:12 “12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
God wanted to put on display His dominance over the gods of Egypt, so He hardened Pharaoh’s heart until He embarrassed each one of them. Every plague God sent on Egypt was pointed at a god they worshipped.
Here are the 10 plagues God sent...and the name of each god that was being judged.
1. The Nile turned to Blood: Hapi: the God of annual flooding; Osirus: The Nile was supposedly his bloodstream.
Frogs: Hapi and Hegt who had the head of a frog and were related to fertility: Hegt was a goddess.
Lice: Seb: the earth god. The Egyptian priests had to shave their entire body every other day to prevent lice. That would make them unclean to enter their god’s temple and offer sacrifices. The plague of lice was a problem for all of their gods.
Flies: Hathor: the goddess of protection; Vatchi: fly God.
Livestock death: Apis: the bull god.
Boils: Sekhmet: goddess of epidemics.
Hail and Fire: Nut; the sky goddess; Seth: God of storms; Shu: God of the atmosphere.
Locusts: Siris: God of crops; Serapia: protector of crops.
Darkness: Ra: the sun god, the most worshipped god in Egypt.
10. Death of the First Born: Heget: goddess of birth; Min; the god of reproduction.
When the plagues are over God has certainly shown Pharaoh who He is. Pharaoh then releases the children of Israel.
God draws a distinction between the Israel, which belongs to Him and the other nations that He gave to the sons of God. Deuteronomy 4:20 “But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.”
God has determined that Israel is to be His own inheritance of people. But as we will see in this next passage, Israel didn’t
keep their end of the deal to be God’s chosen people. They began to worship other gods.
Here’s the problem. It took plagues to get Israel out of Egypt, but it will take more than that to get Egypt out of Israel.
They continued to want to go back to their old ways. The ways they lived when slaves in Egypt. Does that sound familiar? Are you doing that right now? Does your life reflect a new address?
Deuteronomy 32:15-18 “15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. 16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. 18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
Jeshurun is a symbolic name for the nation of Israel. In these verses they are accused of turning away from the One True God Yahweh and worshiping other “gods.” They worshiped strange gods and abominations. They sacrificed to demons that were not gods, to gods they had never known and to new gods.
This is why we see God deliver the Ten Commandments, very soon after the Children of Israel left Egypt.This should give us insight into the first 4 commandments. They establish the relationship that the new nation of Israel was supposed to have with God. They are given to God’s people, not the other nations who were given to the other lesser gods.
Exodus 20:1-17 “And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
First, He reminds them who He is and what He has done for them. Does God have to constantly remind you who He is and what He has done for you?
His first commandment is pointed back to their Egyptian lifestyle.
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Exodus 20:7 “You shall not take (naw-saw) the name ofthe Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God...”
Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder.”
Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal.”
Exodus 20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
You should be able to see from what we’ve talked over the last severals weeks, that serving other gods was a big problem. The 10 commandments are all about correcting that behavior.
All of these commandments addressed the very things that the nation of Israel was doing. Just like us today. Israel was supposed to be different from the other nations who served other gods. God’s law was what made them different. And it’s what is supposed to make us different from the world today.
The 10 plagues that God sent to judge the Egyptian gods and to show Pharaoh who He was are tied directly to the 10 commandments.
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