Exodus 7:1-13 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Exodus 7:1-13. For context, we’ll also include Exodus 6:28-30. Let’s go!
Exodus 6:28-Exodus 7:1 (NIV)
28 Now when the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt,
29 he said to him, “I am the LORD. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”
30 But Moses said to the LORD, “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
On Exodus 6:28-Exodus 7:1: Notice the difference in the way Moses saw himself and the way God saw Moses. Moses focuses on his inability and weakness, his “faltering lips” (v30). God says He has made Moses to be like God to Pharaoh and Aaron to be Moses’ prophet (v1). It goes to show that God sees us differently than the way we naturally see ourselves. If like Moses you have a tendency to focus on your weaknesses and limitations, know that God sees you in a completely different light: He sees you as forgiven, strong, an overcomer (see 1 John 2:12-14). Part of becoming more godly is learning to see yourself the way God sees you.
Exodus 7:2-7 (NIV)
2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.
3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt,
4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.
5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
6 Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them.
7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
On verses 2-7: Despite all of their doubts and questions, and despite their relatively old age (see v7), Moses and Aaron still trusted God and “did just as the LORD commanded them” (v6). How could they do so? It’s because Moses and Aaron had to come to the point where they realized that if this is going to work at all, it’s because God made it possible, not them. This realization was right in line with everything God had been saying. Notice how God describes what’s going to happen: yes, Moses would need to speak out everything God commanded him and Aaron would need to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go (v2), but the rest would be God’s doing (v3-5).
What’s the lesson here? Moses and Aaron had to come to the end of themselves before they could see God beginning to use them in powerful ways. This I’m sure is a big reason why God allowed Moses and Aaron to fail at the beginning: so that they would know it is not by their might, their power or their ability that they would succeed, but only by trusting God.
Exodus 7:8-13 (NIV)
8 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”
10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.
11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:
12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
On verses 8-13: Why would God give Moses and Aaron a sign (a staff becoming a snake) that the Egyptian magicians could replicate? Didn’t God know that turning a staff into a snake was something that Egypt’s magicians could also do? Of course He did. But notice what happens: though outnumbered, Aaron’s staff swallows up the magicians’ staffs. In telling Moses and Aaron to throw down the staff, God was in effect throwing down the gauntlet, issuing a challenge to Pharaoh, saying “I can beat you at your own game”. God would do this a few times before God doing miracles that no magician in Egypt can replicate.
What can we learn from this? God prefers to come to us gently and subtly. He prefers to whisper to us than to shout at us. But if we will not respond to His whispers, He will eventually raise His voice to get our attention. The question at that time when He raises His voice will be whether or not our hearts are soft and humble enough still to respond to Him,
Thank You Heavenly Father for the way You deal with us: how You see us in such an encouraging light, how You come to us gently and patiently, and how You wait for us to come to an end to ourselves so that we truly experience Your power at work in our lives. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
