Welcome back to today’s Time in the Word. I am finding it hard to finish this last devotion. The Death of the Firstborn is the hardest plague- people die. That is an attention-getter!

I know some folks may still struggle with God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. I tussle that around in my mind as well. I continued to read more and stumbled upon an article from Rabbi Markovitz, you can read that here.

Rabbi Markovitz explained, and I pray I will relay this correctly, that while we all have free will if we continue to make bad decisions, we lose the ability TO make the right choices. It’s an erosion of moral capabilities to make Godly choices. Maybe God gives you over to your desires for making bad decisions? Making good choices becomes a habit until it is natural, and the reverse is true of bad decisions.

Plague Number Ten: Death of the Firstborn

Scripture: Exodus 11-12:1-36, NIV

We left Exodus 10 with Pharaoh telling Moses NEVER to return. In Exodus 11, God shares with Moses one last plague, the Death of the Firstborn. Pharaoh will finally let Moses, the Israelites, and all that belongs to them, go. Moses also instructed the Israelites to go to all their Egyptian neighbors and ask for articles of silver and gold.

Moses goes to Pharaoh and gives him the bad news that around midnight, every first-born Egyptian, whether slave, free, or animal will die. There will be great wailing and anguish, unlike anything the Egyptians have ever known.

Moses makes the distinction that in all Israelite homes, it would be silent- not a dog will bark. God reveals to Moses that Pharaoh and his officials will come to him and tell them to go.

Moving on to Exodus 12, God instructs Moses on how to conduct the Passover and the Festival of Unleaved Bread. Applying lamb’s blood upon the door posts was a sign to the Angel of Death to pass by.

As we read, we can see the preparations for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread took about 4 days. Pharaoh had ample time to think and repent.

Midnight fell and death came calling. Pharaoh, his officials, and all the Egyptian people came to Moses and asked for all of Israel to leave.

All the gods

This last and final plague was a judgment on every single Egyptian god. This judgment included Pharaoh as well, as he thought himself a god. God keeps good accounts and repaid Pharaoh for the evil slaughter of the Israelite firstborn. Mocking God has serious consequences. Especially killing innocent babies and children.

Interesting Notes and Insights

• Moses and Aaron continued to be obedient to God.
• The Israelites were to ask for gold and silver from their Egyptian neighbors, thus returning to them what the Egyptians originally stole when they enslaved them.
• The Passover became an excellent sign of Israel’s active obedience to God.
• God alone delivered this plague.
• God provided the Israelites salvation from death by the blood of a lamb.
• We can be given over to our rebellion and bad decisions.
• When God gives us direction, like the Passover directions, we must follow them.
• God never fails at doing his part.

I wanted to share another chart with you. You can pick that up here,

Sharing bits of insight about the Ten Plagues has been a fun journey. God is so patient with us, he wants no one to perish. God gives us free will to choose to follow him or the world. Our decisions influence other decisions throughout our life. Choose wisely, friends!

Thank you for joining me here, today in Time in the Word.

Welcome back to today’s Time in the Word. Pharaoh had shown some remorse with the Plague of Hail. Pharaoh admitted that he had sinned, God was right, and Pharaoh and his people were wrong. However, Pharaoh and his officials hardened their hearts and refused to let the Israelites go.

I have no doubt that God gives fair warning to all. He has a line in the sand; when you cross it, get ready! God knew Pharaoh had no respect for God as GOD. Pharaoh only knew his little “g” gods through his Egyptian religious upbringing.

God has been working in the Egyptian’s natural world with supernatural force. Challenging Pharaoh, his occult practicing officials, and the Egyptian people.

Some of Pharaoh’s officials believe in the God of the Israelites. I’m sure Pharaoh noted this, and perhaps Pharaoh is making it uncomfortable for these thinking few.

What is a locust?

What is a locust? A locust is a large grasshopper that resides on almost every continent in the world. Locusts are known for their innate ability to respond chemically to changes in their environment and through the sight or touch of another locust.

Only in the “gregarious” phase does the locust begin to swarm. Once in this phase, the locusts grow at a phenomenal rate and hop in their swarms from one vegetative area to another; eating every plant in sight. This vegetation destruction causes social, economic, and international problems. Check out this great article about locusts here, https://www.livescience.com/locusts.html.

In preparation for writing these devotions on the Ten Plagues, I read several articles, many non-Christians trying to debunk the historical evidence of stories from the Bible. Many claim natural occurring incidences.

Plague Number Eight: Locust

Exodus 10:1-20 -NIV

God instructs Moses to go and speak with Pharaoh. God immediately tells Moses that he has already hardened Pharaoh and the official’s hearts. The hardening of their hearts serves a purpose:

1. To show all of Egypt that God alone is God- there is no other.
2. The children and grandchildren of the Israelites will have stories to reflect upon and continue to build faith in the Lord.

Moses questions Pharaoh as to how long Pharaoh can remain stubborn. If Pharaoh refuses to let the Israelites go and worship, a plague of locusts comes within 24 hours. Wall-to-wall locusts are everywhere, eating every piece of vegetation they can find. This means whatever the hail left, spelt and wheat will be destroyed! That’s all the food they had left in the fields. YIKES!

Moses and Aaron leave the meeting. Pharaoh’s official’s lay it on the line, pointing out most of Egypt is destroyed. How long do we let Moses and this god do this to us?

Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron back and tries to compromise; asking the women and children to be left in Egypt, leaving the men to go worship. Pharaoh insinuated that Moses had evil plans for the Israelites. And with that Moses left and summoned the locust with his staff.

Egyptian god or goddesses the plague confronted– Barnes Bible Chart pdf:

• Serapia- god that protected Egyptians from locusts

Interesting Notes and Insights

• Moses and Aaron continued to be obedient to God.
• Moses is performing the act of summoning the plagues.
• Pharaoh begins to relent through the influences of his officials as well as seeing the suffering of his Egyptian people. But will it be enough?
• You can see Pharaoh moving through the stages of grief: anger, denial, bargaining.
• God, through the plagues, has moved through supernatural displays in nature: weather, environment, seasonal crops, animals, and physical affliction.
• What remains, of the wheat and spelt crop, will be eaten by the locust. This now places all of Egypt in dire food supply straits.
• The Israelites remained untouched, unaffected by plagues four through eight.

Can you find plagues in your life? What is happening in the world around you? Is God getting your attention by eliminating things in your life?

Next week, The Plague of Darkness. Thank you for joining me here in Time in the Word.

Resources:

• https://www.livescience.com/locusts.html