“And the LORD said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.” (Exodus 11:1)
Copyright CaptBlackEagle 2020
Things have changed for the Pharaoh. His Servants and Egyptian people were looking more toward Moses than they did toward Pharaoh.
God proclaims that about midnight God will go out into Egypt and he will kill the first born of everything, even the beasts.
“And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.
But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” (Exodus 11:6-7)
Exodus 12 starts with a recipe on how to make a Passover meal.
Unblemished lamb or goat of the first year.
Reserve the blood of the lamb and paint it on the side and upper posts.
Roast with fire to include the head and legs, don’t boil it.
Eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Exodus 12 then tells the children of Israel how to be ready.
“And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.”(Exodus 12:10-11)
“And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.” (Exodus 12:14)
“And Pharaoh said, 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)
Copyright CaptBlackEagle 2020
God had given Moses a plan. God already knew what Pharaoh would do.
Technically I could just skip the whole plague thing. But God had a message for us all.
For Moses to even see Pharaoh was unusual. Pharaoh’s seldom to talk to shepherds. The last Pharaoh to do that was with Joseph. Both of them were dead. The Pharaoh, whose daughter had taken Moses out of the reeds, was dead. There is no doubt that the current Pharaoh knew Moses. He would delight in causing more pain for Moses.
When Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people go for three days to worship God, Pharaoh basically said, “Go back to work, and to make things worse, get your own straw to make bricks.” (Exodus 5:4-19)
The Children of Israel complained to Pharaoh. Pharaoh ignored them. They Children of Israel then complained to Moses. Moses was confused. Moses thought he could just ask Pharaoh, and God would just make it happen. (Exodus 5:20-23)
Pharaoh considered himself a living God. He was a bit full of himself.
When Moses complained to God, God answered in straight terms, “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.” (Exodus 7:5)
The following is a paraphrase of the Plagues Sent to Egypt (Exodus Chapters 7-10)
Aaron cast his rod down in front of Pharaoh and it became a Serpent. Pharaoh’s sorcerers did the same. Aaron’s serpents ate the Pharaoh’s serpents.
The Pharaoh said, NO!
Moses: God turned the river into blood, killed the fish, and made things stink. Let my people go.
Pharaoh’s Sorcerers: Pfft…we can do that.
Pharaoh: NO!
Moses: Let my people go, or I’ll send Frogs.
Pharaoh’s Sorcerers: We can make Frogs too!
Pharaoh: Hey, Moses, can you ask God to get rid of these Frogs?
Moses: Yes, the LORD will get rid of them for you. Frogs gone. Let my people go.
Pharaoh: Can’t hear you.
Moses: Let my people go, or I’ll send Lice to infest everything.
Pharaoh’s Sorcerers: Whoa! We don’t do Lice
Pharaoh: NO! Ouch what bit me?
Pharaoh’s Sorcerers: This is God at work dude.
Pharaoh: I’m not listening.
Moses: Let my people go, or else God will bring Flies to infest the Egyptians. Oh, and the Flies will not bother the Children of Israel in Goshen.
Pharaoh: Look, these Flies are nasty. I’ll tell you what, get rid of the Flies and you can go, but not too far.
Moses: Ok, but no take backs. God removed the Flies.
Pharaoh: I changed my mind. No one leaves.
Moses: Let my people go. If not God will kill most of your cattle, oxen, sheep, donkeys and camels. Except the ones belonging to the Children of Israel.
Pharaoh: NO!!
Moses: Most of your livestock are dead, except the ones of the Children of Israel. Let my people go.
Pharaoh: I ain’t listening.
Pharaoh’s Sorcerers: These boils are painful.
Moses: Let my people go. If you don’t there will be all of the plagues sent to you and tomorrow there will be hail. I would take your cattle inside if I were you.
Pharaoh’s Servants: We are putting our cattle in the house.
Pharaoh: OK…I have sinned and all my people are wicked. Stop all this hail, rain, and thunder. I will let your people go.
Pharaoh: I lied…they can’t go.
Moses: Let my people go, or tomorrow Locusts will eat everything that survived the Hail.
Pharaoh’s Servants: Pharaoh, dude this place is ruined.
Pharaoh: Moses, I’m sorry please forgive me, I will let our people go.
Pharaoh: I changed my mind. No your people can not go.
Pharaoh: Hey!! Who turned out the lights? Moses, get out of here. If I see you again I will kill you.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.” (Exodus 11:1)
Stay Tuned for the most frightening of all Plagues.
“And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.”(Exodus 2:12)
Copyright CaptBlackEagle 2020
Moses, as you can tell, had a temper. Given all of the possible ways Moses could have done things, he didn’t. And that is part of God’s plan. Moses had killed an Egyptian, he knew that he had been found out, and knew the Pharaoh would kill him. So, he did the only thing he could think of…he ran. He ran directly to where God wanted him to be.
Moses ran to the Midianites. Did Moses know of them? Probably. The Midianites are mentioned in Genesis 25:2,4. Abraham’s wife Sarah had died and he married Keturah who gave him a son named Midian. Abraham did not bless them, but he did send them off with goods. The most famous meeting of Midianites was when they took Joseph as a slave to Egypt. How well he knew them is not known. He would have known they were traders in goods and slaves.
Moses married the daughter of Reuel (means “friend of God”) . Over the next 40 years Moses is educated by God.
“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.” (Ex 3:1) Note the difference in the names of his father in law. Jethro means “Excellency”, a high level official in the tribe of Midian.
God begins by speaking to Moses from a burning bush. (Exodus 3:2-22)
The first step is to remove your shoes. God wants closeness, shoes are of the world.
God has seen the afflictions on Israel.
God tells Moses that God will be with him.
Moses wants to know God’s Name. God says, “I AM”. God further states he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God promises his wonders to force Pharaoh to let Israel go.
God continues to teach Moses. (Exodus 4)
He shows Moses just three of the wonders God will show.
Moses does not see himself as worthy of public speaking. God promises to be Moses’s mouth and teach him what to say.
God sends Aaron, Moses’s brother, to be the spokesman for Moses.
God teaches Moses of the signs he will do.
God reminds Moses, through his wife Zipporah, to adhere to the laws of God. In this case circumcision.
Moses and Aaron meet and then go to Egypt to meet with all the Elders in Israel.
“30And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.
31And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.” (Exodus 4:30-31)
“1And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
2And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.”(Exodus 2:1-2)
Copyright CaptBlackEagle 2020
Moses went from being a baby floating in the river to a 40 year old man in the house of Pharaoh. He was born in the tribe of Levi. We remember the way Jacob had told the Levites they would be scattered. (Gen 49:5-7) Jacob didn’t curse Simeon and Levi, he cursed their sin. The future Levites will become priests.
Understanding Pharaoh is an important part of Genesis and Exodus. Pharaoh was the king of Egypt. He was skilled in controlling the Egyptians. Pharaoh’s considered themselves to be gods. Yet they had to hide their bodies in the sand to keep an earthly person from stealing it. Pharaoh was not a god, he was just a man.
Moses was plucked from the water by the Pharaoh’s daughter. He was suckled by his own mother. How long did it take for Moses’s mother to have him and then he goes to live in the Pharaoh’s house? It is a good question, but not much of an answer.
In today’s modern society there are many questions that still exist in rearing a baby. Breast feeding a child, especially your own, brings anti-bodies that nourish your own child. Giving a baby a man-made formula will provide nutrients to help a child physically grow. There is another importance. A mother and her child develop a very early bond between them. Imparting the lullabies of the Hebrew, in Hebrew, begins the education of Moses.
How old was Moses when he began to live in Pharaoh’s house? There are many guess that would seem to fit, in fact, we do not know.
What we do know is that at Exodus 2:11, he knew exactly where he had come from. “11And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.”
