The Finger of God (Exodus 7-9)*

Exodus 7:8-9:7

Key Verse 8:19a - “the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God."

Introduction:

Before we get into this passage, I like to take another look at what God said about what He planned to do.

He would bring them out from under the yoke of Egyptians, free them from being slaves, redeem them with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

“I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.” (Exodus 6:7).

“Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 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." (Exodus 7:4-5).

As we noted here, God’s ultimate goal was to let Israel, as well as Pharaoh, know who He was. He would use the same mighty acts to judge one and redeem or save the other. So through the plagues, both Pharaoh and the Israelites came to know who God is.

He is spirit and invisible; nobody has seen him. Even Moses did not see Him, though he saw a burning bush, a sign of God’s presence. Some say that He is unknowable, which has some truth in it.

However, this was not the case when God first created man. At that time, there existed an intimate relationship between God and men; God talked to men, as we talk to our children every day, and they responded to Him without any fear. But after the fall of mankind, this relationship was severed; at one point, God even said that He would not contend with man anymore (Genesis 6:3). Since then, men have become totally ignorant of God. To fill the vacuum left in their hearts, men have created many false gods. However, the one and only God wanted to restore the relationship He once had with people. He would do this by making them like His children, so as to bless them. The first nation He chose was Israel. The prerequisite to becoming God’s children is to know Him. Without knowing Him, how can one have a meaningful relationship with Him? The essence of a relationship with God is ‘worshiping’ God the Lord with honor, according to the knowledge of Himself that He has revealed to us.

God began to reveal Himself to the Israelites and the Egyptians through eleven powerful acts. . The first one was an introductory sign, which was followed by ten plagues. These ten plagues were divided into three rounds, comprised of three plagues each. After the third round was complete, God brought the tenth and final plague. In it, God provided the ultimate revelation about who He was.

In today’s passage, we will discuss the first and second rounds of plagues.

1.    God’s message through His servant, Moses (Exodus 7:8-13)

It is good to know who Pharaoh was in order for us to properly understand his response to God’s revelation.

This Pharaoh, Amenhotep I, was believed to be the second king of the 18^th dynasty (the New Egyptian Kingdom). His father, Ahmose I, overthrew Hyksos’ kingdom and established the New Egyptian Kingdom. His father’s name was formed by combining a deity’s name ‘Ah’ and the other, ‘mose’, for which we do not have a meaning. This New Kingdom began in 1550 BC and ended in 1070 BC. It grew to be the most powerful state in the Near East at that time.

Also, there were thousands of gods in Egypt, so, it is likely that, when Moses called his God “the God of the Hebrews”, Pharaoh might have thought that this god was similar to the many Egyptian gods.

According to Wikipedia, “An Egyptian could worship any deity at a particular time and credit it with supreme power in that moment, without denying the other gods or merging them all with the god that he or she focused on”.

Since Ahmose was a great king and was considered to be a deity, it is reasonable to think that his son, Amenhotep I, had great pride as the son of a great father and deity.

So he held formidable authority, power, and pride. To challenge such a powerful figure was not easy, but God gave Moses and Aaron a power that surpassed that of Amenhotep. Moses threw his staff down, as God had told them. When he did so, it became a snake. Immediately, Pharaoh called in his many well-known and powerful wise men, sorcerers, and magicians. They also seemed to represent the most powerful gods of Egypt. Undoubtedly, they were meant to compete against Moses’ power. Each of them threw their staffs down, which also became snakes. At first glance, it looked as if Moses’ power was no match for Pharaoh’s power, because the fight was Moses’ one snake against the sorcerers’ and magicians’ many snakes. However, in the next moment, Moses’ snake swallowed up one after another of Pharaoh’s snakes. Eventually, it swallowed them all; there were no snakes left!

What did this amazing event tell Pharaoh? Or, what message did God want to convey to him through this? This was a clear demonstration that the God of Moses had power that exceeded all the powers of Egypt. No matter how many snakes they might create, the Egyptian sorcerers and magicians could not overcome God’s one. Also, this event carried a strong, prophetic message to Pharaoh that God would overpower all of the powers of Egypt, no matter how many different, ungodly powers Pharaoh could throw up against Him.

Yet Pharaoh was unimpressed by this; his heart became hard and he would not even listen to Moses and Aaron. After all, in his mind, this was just a sign; this did not cause him or his country any harm at all. However, when one misreads a warning sign, they will surely face serious problems.

I talked with a pilot, who had designed airplane cockpit. When the plane is in the air, monitoring it is very critical. In order to avoid any mishaps, the pilot cannot rely on only one monitor. So, for each function, they monitor two or three different types of monitors, so that when one fails, the others may pick it up. The goal is 100% detection of any possible, early signs of problems. When a plane is in the air, they cannot take 99% security; it has to be 100%. So always the first warning signs are so important and have to be taken seriously. If one fails to act properly, then the outcome could be very serious.

Pharaoh saw all of his snakes had been swallowed up. This was a serious sign, but here, he did not take it seriously. It was not that the message was unclear or ambiguous, but that he was so big and powerful in his own prideful eyes that he missed the sign.

God is gracious even to the ungodly and evil; He does not simply impose His justice and punish them out of the blue sky. He gives a warning sign to all tge ungodly; maybe not just one sign, but possibly two or three, or even more! When warning signs are overlooked, the real thing comes. No one should wait until they face the real thing! Instead, when God gives them a warning sign, they must take it seriously and sincerely.

2.    This is the finger of God (Exodus 7:14-8:19)

As it became clear that Pharaoh was not willing to heed His warning signs, God told Moses and Aaron that He was going to impose a series of plagues on Egypt.

First, the plague of blood.

As God had commanded them, Moses and Aaron went to meet Pharaoh on the bank of the Nile River. There, they warned him of what was coming. In V16, the warning is clear. Since you would not let Israel go, God would turn the water of the Nile River into blood. After that warning, Moses struck the waters of the river with his staff. Not only the water of the Nile, but also all the streams, canals, ponds, and all the reservoirs-- were turned to blood. Blood was everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone. All the fish died and everything stank so badly. All the water of the country was unusable for any purpose. It happened exactly as God had warned. As the God of Moses said, so it happened.

Yet Pharaoh called in his magicians and they did the same thing. They matched up with Moses’ power, and it seemed like the Egyptians’ power and magic was just as good as that of God’s servants. So Pharaoh was not much impressed by this. If this was all that Moses could do, then there was nothing much for him to consider; he refused to listen any further to whatever Moses and Aaron had to say. Instead, he went back to his palace. The Egyptians too ignore and get around this problem by digging wells along the Nile River.

Second, the plague of frogs.

Seven days passed by. It seemed as if the first plague had done nothing to correct Pharaoh’s understanding of God, but God gave him another warning:. if you refuse to listen to God’s requests, then He will send frogs upon you and your people (8:1-2). After delivering this warning, Moses and Aaron struck the waters of the Nile again, and many frogs came out of the water, swarming over the entire land of Egypt.

Frogs were favored creatures in Egypt, and were worshipped in honor of the frog-god, called “Hept”. These frogs came up into Pharaoh’s palace and courtyards, into his officials’ houses, on his people, and into his ovens and kneading troughs. At this time, the magicians also duplicated Moses’ and Aaron’s actions, by demonstrating their power to summon frogs. However, they could not undo the frogs. Pharaoh and his officials were helpless. The frogs became so numerous and annoying to Pharaoh and all of the Egyptians, until Pharaoh could not bear with frogs any longer and called Moses:

“Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD." (Exodus 8:8).

Pharaoh hated these frogs, which were a representation of a god that he had previously honored. His magicians could bring up many frogs, but they could not undo them. Pharaoh began to sense that Moses’ power might be beyond that of his magicians, so he called Moses and Aaron and asked them to remove all of the frogs, seemingly genuine in his plead. Moses gave him a chance to specify when the frogs should disappear; Pharaoh requested it be the next day. As he had requested, Moses prayed to God, who heard his prayer. At exactly the time that Pharaoh had requested, all of the frogs were gone the next day. This was an amazing event; Pharaoh’s team of magicians could not do it, but only the God of Moses did as he had requested. Through this event, the axis between God-Moses-frogs became very clear in Pharaoh’s mind. Undoubtedly, the annoying frogs were God’s work, accomplished through Moses and Aaron. This God could not only bring out frogs, but also remove them by His will and power.

But was Pharaoh now willing to accept God’s demand? As soon as the frogs were gone and he was relieved of this pressure, he changed his mind and overturned his decision; he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses.

Third, the plague of gnats.

So when it became clear that Pharaoh was still not willing to listen, God immediately sent another plague; there was no warning and no show beforehand. God told Moses to strike the dust, which became gnats that spread all over the kingdom. As it was with the frogs, the gnats were everywhere; they were in Pharaoh’s rooms, kitchens, and even sat on his face and skin, making him itch and tingle. At this time, though Pharaoh did not get any previous warning and had not even met with Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh knew that it was God who did this. Likewise, God was pounding upon his heart with increasingly   serious plagues. When his magicians tried to do the same, they could not; they had succeeded in bringing up frogs to match God’s power through Moses, but they could not undo the gnats. Now, there were so many gnats and they annoyed and bothered the magicians so much; however, they were helpless and could not do anything. Through this, they came to this understanding:

“the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God."” (Exodus 8:19a).

Here, the word ‘God’ is Elohim. The magicians were saying that this plague was really from God; it was not man-made or created by magic. This power was far beyond their gods’ powers, on which they had relied upon and exhibited in the two previous events. In this was the power of the real God. No man could display it; only God could have such power. At the same time, this plague served as an indication that God could do anything in His will, without any warning. What would He do next? If Pharaoh had fully appraised God’s authority and power, he would have been fearful; yet his heart was hard and would not listen to God’s request.

This marked the end of the first round of 3 plagues. It became clear to Pharaoh that, what Moses did was not of magic or human trickery, but rather was God’s work. Also, he came to understand that the God of Moses and Aaron was the real God and He was far above any of the Egyptian deities.

In Pharaoh’s mind, the God of the Hebrews was a totally unknown stranger. Thus, he was antagonistic toward Moses’ demand in God’s name;  this command was totally absurd and irrational to him. In his mind, these were ordinary questions: Where is your God? Who is your God?

God answered these questions through the first three plagues, which none of the Egyptian gods or magicians could duplicate or undo.

In this way, Pharaoh came face-to-face with the one and only God through these miracles. This God’s demands were persistent; His word was reliable. He did what He said He would do. His unyielding request was His demand for Israel to be freed to become His people, which Pharaoh could not afford to allow.

3.    I , the Lord, am in this land (8:20-9:12)

Fourth plague (flies).

God told Moses to get up early and present himself to Pharaoh as he was going down to the Nile River. It is not clear why Pharaoh went to the Nile River so early in the morning. If we remember what was happening to Egypt, then it is quite reasonable for him to go to the Nile. There had been three plagues: water turning to blood, frogs coming out of the River and swarming his palace, and gnats covering the land; all of these were related to the River. What was the situation at that time? Had things returned to normal in the River? It was the lifeline of Egypt. As long as the river functioned as it always had, then Pharaoh could withstand any hardships or plagues. There was surely some anxiety and fear in his mind. Last time, God had sent gnats, without warning, and he had suffered greatly. So it was more than likely that this God might do something else all of a sudden, without any warning. While his mind was still unsettled with fear, God told Moses to confront him on his own land, i.e. the Nile River, not in the palace. There, Moses gave him this warning:

“If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.” (Exodus 8:21).

But this time, it would be different; flies would come directly upon the King and his officials.

At this time, God would also do something else that was different.

"But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the LORD, am in this land.” (Exodus 8:22).

He would make a clear distinction between Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, and the rest of the land of Egypt. The reason for this was so that Pharaoh might know that God, the Lord (YHWH), was in the land. The first round of plagues ended with Pharaoh’s acknowledgement that Moses’ God was the real God, Elohim. However, God wanted Pharaoh to also know that He was the Lord, God i.e. YHWH, “I am who I am”. As His name implies, this God is the almighty and eternal God. He alone exists in Himself, by Himself, and for Himself. Pharaoh needed to know this Lord (YHWH) was the God of Moses and the God of Israel.

Just as God had said, this happened the next day at the appointed time. He did not use Moses’ staff or any other earthly means; He simply accomplished it by His own power.

“And the LORD did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.” (Exodus 8:24).

I am pretty sure that Pharaoh could not sleep well the night before. He had to make a decision before the dawn of the next day. He could have told Moses and Aaron that they could leave right away, but he could not or would not do so, because so many things were at stake regarding Egypt’s future. What would they do if one third of the people left? What would happen if the entire labor force left; who could do all the work? He was between a rock and a hard place. As he was lingering between these two fears, the morning came.

Swarms of flies came early in the morning and filled every corner of his palace, including his bedroom and bathroom. There were so many that he could not get around without getting hit in the face with them. As he opened his mouth, some of the flies entered his mouth. Many of them sat in his hair, went up his nose, and covered his body…. Truly this was annoying and unbearable.

Likewise, these flies’ first order of business was to get into Pharaoh’s palace and his officials’ homes. Though it affected the rest of the land of Egypt as well, it was clear that the focus of this plague was Pharaoh and his officials.

God was approaching in His power and was getting very close to Pharaoh. It was like a vast army, approaching Pharaoh’s headquarters. God’s mighty hand was getting close to Pharaoh and his officials. In addition to this, it was clear that this was the God of Moses and the Hebrews, because, just as God had said, Goshen was exempt from this plague.

How long can one live with such dense clouds of flies? In such unbearable conditions, Pharaoh quickly called for Moses and said this:

“Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land."” (Exodus 8:25).

So far, Pharaoh had seen three plagues. Though he came to know that it was God who had done it all, he was not willing to listen to His request. However, he now began to show signs of being willing to hear what God said. This was remarkable progress, but it was not what God wanted. Pharaoh modified God’s command, in order to suit his own desires as well. Moses made God’s message clear:

““We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, as he commands us."” (Exodus 8:27).

When Pharaoh said that the Israelites could go and sacrifice their ‘God’, the original word was Elohim. This was used as a common noun for all of the Egyptian gods. Pharaoh was willing to recognize ‘Moses’ God’ among his many gods; however, Moses used two other names together: the Lord(YHWH) and our God (Elohim), implying clearly that the real God that Pharaoh sensed was YHWH, the only One who exists all by Himself, for Himself, and who exists with all authority and power. That God is YHWH, and His command is for all mankind to worship Him.

“But Moses said, "That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us?” (Exodus 8:26).

What did Moses mean by the God of the Hebrews being ‘detestable’ to the Egyptians?

There should be no interference in our worship of God, YHWH; we must be wholly devoted and dedicated to Him! The sacrifice that Israel was called to make was so different from what the Egyptians did, that it might be repugnant to the Egyptians, just as what the Egyptians did was repugnant to them.

Here, issues concerning worship came up for the first time. There were to be no disturbances and there would be sacrifices of which the Israelites had never thought or heard.

Who can understand Jesus’ crucifixion, the ultimate sacrifice? This was inhumane, barbaric, and beyond any reasonable mind could accept as being God’s will.

The way we worship might arouse irksome feelings and unknowingly or instinctively the world might want to stone us.

All these are involved with the same totality of sacrifice and dedication that YHWH God was demanding of Israel. That commitment could not happen in Egypt!

When Pharaoh realized God’s approaching power was closing in on him, he made a great concession:

“Pharaoh said, "I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me."” (Exodus

Now Pharaoh himself was using the exact name of the God of Moses by combining the Lord (YHWH) and your God (Elohim). He seemed to acknowledge that the God of Moses was not only the true God, but that He was also the eternal God, i.e. YHWH. He further began to make concessions to this Almighty God, i.e. his willingness to let Israel go so that they might offer sacrifice to their God (in 8:8, Pharaoh used ‘the Lord’ for the first time in his request for prayer. It seems that he used YHWH in all of his requests for God’s mercy).

As he had promised, Moses prayed and the flies were gone the next day; however, Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let people go.

What can we understand about Pharaoh’s hardened heart? It might not be an exaggeration that, if more than a million Hebrews left, his kingdom would become weak and might not be able to stand at all, falling victim to foreign invasions. So, Pharaoh was worried about the very survival of his dynasty and his kingdom, but does that justify him rejecting God’s demand? For God’s point of view, Pharaoh and the Egyptian kingdom had committed enough evil against His people. Now, it was time to release His people from their slavery. It is God who determines what is right and wrong; He alone is right and holy. Though Pharaoh showed some willingness to listen to God’s demands, the outcome was the same; at the last minute, he hardened his heart and rejected God’s command. Therefore, God took the next step.

Fifth, the plague on their livestock

Here, God called Himself the Lord, the God of the Hebrews. In this way, He made His concern and affection for the Hebrews clear. “If you acknowledge me as the Lord God, then you must acknowledge my people, the Hebrews, as well! As long as you are detaining My people, I will bring terrible plagues against you.” Also, in order to show that He was for the Hebrews, God made a distinction between Israel’s livestock and that of Egypt.

Just as He had said, the next day, God sent a terrible plague on all of the Egyptians’ livestock, but not on Israel’s. As a result, all of the Egyptians’ livestock died.

This put a great burden on Pharaoh in two ways. First, this was the first time that God had brought death to animals that were very close and necessary to them; the death of the fish and frogs mattered little, but the death of all of their livestock mattered a great deal. This was not only a great economic loss, but also death’s power had come very close to Pharaoh’s living quarters. God’s hand was getting heavy upon both Egypt and Pharaoh.

In fear and anxiety, Pharaoh went over to Goshen, to see if Israel had lost any livestock; however, they had not lost even a single animal.

In this way, God’s hand was focused and heavy. This was a direct death threat that was approaching close to Pharaoh himself. Did this change his mind? No! His heart was still hard and he would not let Israel go! The loss of animals could not be compared to the loss of one third of Egypt’s population or its entire labor force!

Sixth, the plague of boils

As soon as it became clear that Pharaoh would not let Israel go, God, without any warning or delay, told Moses to do something in front of the king.

There was no discussion or exchange of thoughts or plans. Moses went before Pharaoh and did just as God had told him. He took handfuls of soot from a furnace and tossed it into the air. Suddenly this became a dust over the whole land of Egypt and caused festering boils to break out on both people and animals. Even the magicians caught the boils and could do nothing. When one boil comes up on the skin, it is very painful and infectious, and may spread to other parts of the body. If this happens on the butt, one cannot sit. If this happens on the back, he cannot lie down, because of the pain. This is significant because, for the first time, one of God’s plagues affected the human body. Until then, there had been many plagues, but none of them caused any direct harm to a human body or life.

Just before this, all of Egypt’s livestock died by a plague, but that did not affect people. If God wanted, that plague could have killed people too. However, in His patience, God protected the people from that plague. Since Pharaoh refused to listen to God, He immediately sent boils and all of the Egyptians suffered from boils. The magicians were thought to have more power than anyone else, but they suffered from boils as well. If the magicians could get such a plague, then who could escape from the next one? There would be no exceptions. God could inflict diseases on all the people of Egypt.

In this way, God made a clear statement. “If you do not obey or refuse my demand, then something even worse is coming and it will seriously affect your people and your own life as well.” Did Pharaoh hear God’s inaudible but powerful message through these boils? If he did, was he willing to obey God’s command to release His people?

We will hear more about the third round of plagues next week.

After all, what was the message from this second round of plagues?

First, through each of these plagues, God made it clear that He was the Lord God.

In the first round, magicians acknowledged that gnats were the direct work of a true deity, God, Elohim. In this round, God forced Pharaoh to accept that He was Elohim, the Lord God, YHWH, who is eternal, almighty, and autonomous.

Secondly, God forced Pharaoh to see that He was the God of Israel, Hebrews. He showed his personal affect and care by exempting all plagues that came upon Egypt. This was His statement that Israel was His and they must worship as He commanded.

Thirdly, God was claiming that His people were His. Thus, they had to worship Him, undisturbed and fully dedicated. This meant that Pharaoh should let them go, free from any influence by himself or his people. Since Israel was God’s, Pharaoh owned no part of them. He held no authority, or control whatsoever over their lives.

Fourthly, God brought His power against Pharaoh and the Egyptian officials,  inflicting personal damage. He did this without warning, in His own time, and at His sole discretion. In this way, God gave Egypt warning after warning of what would come if they would not obey His demands and let His people, the Hebrews, go.

Even today, God speaks by His power, to bring either punishment or salvation. More often than not, God’s primary language is by demonstrating His power in the form of punishment.

What do Pharaoh’s responses tell us about him?

He began to accept God as the real God, not a mere magical figure. He also came to know God as the Lord and His will for Israel. However, he could not or would not let His people go. Scripture says again and again that Pharaoh hardened his heart. He viewed his power, authority, concerns, and cares as more important than God’s and believed he to be the best judge of who was right and who was wrong. All these errors came from his desire to control Israel as his slaves. His refusal of God’s demand was his cunning effort to achieve his goal of preserving his authority, power, and kingdom. For him, it was better to lose animals and endure sickness like boils than to lose the entire labor force of Egypt; his kingdom must survive. For this end, he was willing to pay the cost; however, he failed to count the real cost, that of disobedience to God Almighty, YHWH, the Lord, and he would soon be called to pay the price for his decisions.

When one fails to acknowledge God’s authority and power over human lives, he will surely face His judgment because all lives belong to Him.