Seder 49: Exodus 7:8--8:15---The Plagues Begin

 In the plagues of Egypt, we see God's complete control over the forces of nature and his mighty deeds, as portrayed in texts like Psalm 135.  

Aaron and Moses gave the Egyptians a glimpse of God's power when Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and it became a serpent--Exod 7:9-10.  The word for "serpent" here is tannin, which means a large serpent or crocodile.  

Verse 11 tells us that Pharaoh's magicians "did the same thing by their secret arts."  Here we wonder whether Pharaoh's magicians were tapping into some dark spiritual power source, or just doing conjuring tricks.  (Commentator Douglas Stuart argues for the latter.)  In any case, Pharaoh had an excuse to continue to ignore Aaron and Moses.  And so the plagues of Egypt soon began.

The first nine plagues can be divided into three groups of three, where in each group of three

• the first began with Moses and Aaron meeting Pharaoh in the morning at the Nile;
• the second was announced to Pharaoh at his palace;
• the third came with no warning.

The plagues also intensified as the sequence continued.  

In the first plague the waters of the Nile were badly polluted so that they were undrinkable and looked like blood.  This plague was a judgment on the Nile god Hapi and revealed Yahweh as the one in control of life and death.  It also condemned the way that the Egyptians had treated the Israelites.  Blood was on the hands of the Egyptians for throwing Israelite babies into the Nile.  

This plague was an annoyance to the Egyptians.  It killed fish in the Nile and forced the Egyptians to seek out other sources of water (v 24).      Verse 25 may imply that this plague lasted for seven days.

Pharaoh's magicians were able to pollute some water themselves, but they couldn't remove pollution from the water.  At any rate, Pharaoh remained stubborn, and the plagues continued.

In the second plague Egypt was overrun with frogs.  This was a judgment on the Egyptian god Hekt, who was represented as a frog.  Hekt was believed to help women in childbirth, so this plague could have reminded the Egyptians of their campaign to kill Israelite infants.  Pharaoh's magicians could make frogs appear, but they couldn't remove the frogs.  

Pharaoh asked Moses to pray for the frogs to be removed, and Moses offered to remove them at any time specified by Pharaoh.  Not only could God bring a plague of frogs; he could also remove them immediately whenever he liked.  God removed the frogs in response to Moses' prayer.  Pharaoh took this respite as an excuse to continue to refuse the demands of Moses.  

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on March 20, 2021, Rob Wilson addressed the meaning of the plagues and the phenomenon of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart.