Good morning,
Passover begins at sundown on 22 April 2022. It ends at sundown 23 April 2024. It is immediately followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which ends on 30 April 2024. It lasts for seven days.
Our devotionals will center around the memorial of Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, the story of the Jewish Exodus, why Passover is relevant to Christians, and the blood.
This week’s study breaks down the 10 plagues, why God used them, and their importance.
Ten Plagues
Exodus 7-11
The Ten Plagues of Egypt—also known as the Ten Plagues, the Plagues of Egypt, or the Biblical Plagues—are described in Exodus 7—12. The plagues were ten disasters sent upon Egypt by God to convince Pharaoh to free the Israelite slaves from the bondage and oppression they had endured in Egypt for 400 years. When God sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, He promised to show His wonders as confirmation of Moses’ authority (Exodus 3:20).
“And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go”.
This confirmation was to serve at least two purposes: to show the Israelites that the God of their fathers was alive and worthy of their worship (Exodus 6:6–8; 12:25–27) and to show the Egyptians that their gods were nothing (Exodus 7:5; 12:12; Numbers 33:4).
The Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt for about 400 years and in that time had lost faith in the God of their fathers. They believed He existed and worshiped Him, but they doubted that He could, or would, break the yoke of their bondage.
The Egyptians, like many pagan cultures, worshiped a wide variety of nature-gods and attributed to their powers the natural phenomena they saw in the world around them. There was a god of the sun, of the river, of childbirth, of crops, etc. Events like the annual flooding of the Nile, which fertilized their croplands, were evidences of their gods’ powers and good will.
When Moses approached Pharaoh, demanding that he let the people go, Pharaoh responded by saying, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2). Thus began the challenge to show whose God was more powerful.
Ten Plagues (Exodus 7-11)
3. Moses’ demand certified by miracle (5:23-7:12)
4. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened (7:13-14)
5. First plague: Blood (7:14-25)
6. Second plague: Frogs (8:1-15)
7. Third plague: Lice (8:16-19)
8. Fourth plague: Flies (8:20-32)
9. Fifth plague: Disease on Livestock (9:1-7)
10. Sixth plague: Boils (9:8-12)
11. Seventh plague: Hail (9:13-35
12. Eighth plague: Locusts (10:1-20)
13. Ninth plague: Darkness (10:21-29) 14. Death of the first born (11:1-10)
God’s instructions to Moses and Aaron (Exodus 7:1-9)
And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.3 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments .And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.6 And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, so did they.7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.8 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,9 When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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