Daily Scripture Reading Exodus 8:25 - 9:12
There is a debate within Christianity known as man’s free will vs. God’s sovereignty. Some people believe God preordains everything that happens, including who will become Christians and go to heaven. Others believe humans have free will in everything and are free to choose right and wrong and whether or not to follow Jesus. Today’s passage teaches us there is truth to both sides of that argument.
Pharaoh did not release the Israelites after the plagues of blood, frogs or gnats, so Yahweh tried flies. He brought swarms of flies upon the Egyptians, but the flies were not in the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived. The land of Egypt was laid waste because of the flies.
Ex. 8:25 ¶ And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.”
Ex. 8:26 But Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we will sacrifice to Yahweh our God what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not then stone us?
Ex. 8:27 We must go a three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to Yahweh our God as He says to us.”
Ex. 8:28 And Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Entreat for me.”
Ex. 8:29 Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you, and I shall entreat Yahweh that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow; only may Pharaoh not deal deceitfully again in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Yahweh.”
Look at the words “deal deceitfully again”. When the land of Egypt was overrun with frogs, Pharaoh promised to release the Israelites if Moses would make the frogs go away. However, after the frogs were gone, Pharaoh broke his promise and did not allow the Israelites to leave (see Exodus. 8:8-15). When Pharaoh wanted the flies to leave his land, he once again promised to release Israel in exchange for relief, but Moses called him out for having broken his promise before.
Ex. 8:30 ¶ So Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated Yahweh.
Ex. 8:31 And Yahweh did according to the word of Moses and caused the swarms of flies to depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained.
Ex. 8:32 Then Pharaoh hardened his heart with firmness this time also, and he did not let the people go.
Once again Pharaoh broke his promise.
Notice this verse says Pharaoh hardened his heart. Pharaoh deliberately resisted Yahweh. This is an argument in favor of man’s free will. Pharaoh made a choice to resist Yahweh.
Ex. 9:1 ¶ Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Come to Pharaoh and speak to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
Ex. 9:2 For if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them,
Ex. 9:3 behold, the hand of Yahweh will come with a very heavy pestilence on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks.
Ex. 9:4 But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel.”’”
Notice the word “distinction”. Yahweh intended to afflict the Egyptians, but not the Israelites. This was another tactic to prove that the plagues were not naturally occurring events. If the pestilence had affected Israel also, then Pharaoh could have pretended the plague was an act of nature, not an act of God.
Ex. 9:5 Yahweh also set a definite time, saying, “Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land.”
Look at the word “tomorrow”. By specifying the time the pestilence would happen, Yahweh added weight to the proof that He is God.
Ex. 9:6 So Yahweh did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died.
Ex. 9:7 And Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened with firmness, and he did not let the people go.
Pharaoh verified that Israel was not affected by the pestilence, but that did not persuade him to submit to Yahweh.
Sometimes it is helpful to notice what is not written or what is not done. In this case, Pharaoh was no longer asking his magicians to imitate the signs that Moses and Aaron were performing. Pharaoh was not even pretending that Moses and Aaron were simply causing illusions or sleight of hand.
Ex. 9:8 ¶ Then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of soot from a kiln, and let Moses toss it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh.
Notice the words “in the sight of Pharaoh”.
Ex. 9:9 And it will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and it will become boils breaking out with sores on man and beast through all the land of Egypt.”
Ex. 9:10 So they took the soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses tossed it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast.
Notice the words “stood before Pharaoh”. If Moses had done this out of Pharaoh’s sight, then Pharaoh could have pretended this was not an act of God. However, when Pharaoh saw Moses toss soot in the air and it became boils, Pharaoh could not legitimately claim the boils were an act of nature.
Ex. 9:11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians.
Ex. 9:12 And Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart with strength, and he did not listen to them, just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses.
This verse tells us Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart. This is an argument in favor of God’s sovereignty.
There is a debate within Christianity known as man’s free will vs. God’s sovereignty. Some people believe God preordains everything that happens, including who will become Christians and go to heaven. Others believe humans have free will in everything and are free to choose right and wrong and whether or not to follow Jesus. Today’s passage teaches us there is truth to both sides of that argument.
Sometimes Pharaoh hardened his heart on his own. Sometimes Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart. This means we need to consider that sometimes we act with a free will, but sometimes God intervenes and forces us to act in certain ways.
What is an occasion when you believe God intervened in your life and made you do something good or prevented you from doing something bad?
What is an occasion when you narrowly escaped disaster and know it had to be God protecting you?
What evidence do you have that sometimes God allows you to exercise free will?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”