The earth is the LORDS’s (Exo 9-10)

 The earth is the Lord's (Fear Him)

Exodus 9:13-10:29

Key verses 9:15-16

These days many people have experienced the power of Mother Nature – lots of snow and cold weather. Many people were stuck inside or on highway, got damages to their assets, or even got hurt and killed. Though we humans think that we are advanced in knowledge and technology, we cannot but acknowledge that we are helpless in the face the power of Mother Nature. In today’s passage, God unleashes his power on Egypt, using the power of the nature. So far, we have covered the six plagues. The first three plagues (blood, frogs, gnats) demonstrated that God is the LORD. The next three plagues (flies, livestock, boils) revealed that He is God of Hebrews. In today’s passage, we will cover three more plagues – hail, locusts, and darkness. These three plagues manifested that the earth is the LORD’s. What does it mean that the earth is the LORD’s? What does it mean to us? I pray that through this passage God may display his sovereignty and power so that we may truly fear Him.

Seeing that Pharaoh’s heart was unyielding (1:7), God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. (9:12) This time he intensified his warning and then visited Pharaoh and Egyptians with the most powerful and unprecedented disasters.

Hail

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, ¹⁴ or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth…¹⁸ Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now.  

For the first and only time the Lord explained to Pharaoh the purposes of the plagues. His word began with the message, which was repeated continually – “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” However, this time the message was followed by a very grave warning. God said that he would send the full force of his plagues against Pharaoh. ESV reads, “For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself…” Here the word plague (maggephah מַגֵּפָה) means fatal stroke, slaughter of battle, or divine judgment. In other words, from then on God would bring the most powerful and fatal disasters to Egypt such that Pharaoh and his people would know that there is no one like God in all the earth and then repent. Through these plagues God wanted to demonstrate that he is the Owner of the earth and the Judge of the world. This time God said he would send very heavy hail that had ever fallen on Egypt. 

While giving them a serious warning, God also advised Pharaoh and his officials to bring their livestock and everything in the field to shelters to avoid such a plague. God was still gracious to them. Interestingly, from this time on some of Pharaoh’s officials began to fear the word of God. They hurried to bring their slaves and livestock inside. But the others still ignored the word of God and left their slaves and livestock in the field. The next day God sent hail to the land as he said. Let’s see how the hail came.

²³ When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt; ²⁴ hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. ²⁵ Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree.

The hail came down with fire flashing and possibly with tornadoes as well. The hailstorm was so heavy that it destroyed everything in the field – everything growing in the field and every tree. It even hurt or killed people and animals. The biggest hail recorded in USA was seven inches long and weighted 1.5 pounds. Heavy hail is deadly. It damages cars, houses, plants, trees, and even kills people. A report had it that heavy hail killed several hundred people in India. The hail fallen to Egypt must have caused casualties on people and livestock. In a day, the whole land of Egypt became devastated. All the green stuff in the field was destroyed and some dead bodies were scattered here and there. However, there was an only place where it did not hail. It was the land of Goshen where the Israelites were. Pharaoh realized that the hail did not happen by chance but God brought it to Egyptians. He got scared and summoned Moses and Aaron.

²⁷ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. ²⁸ Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”

For the first time after several plagues, Pharaoh admitted his sin and recognized God’s righteousness. He even asked Moses to pray for him and said he would let the Israelites go. He seemed to repent but Moses knew he did not.

²⁹ Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. ³⁰ But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.”

Moses made it clear to Pharaoh that the hail demonstrated that the earth is the LORD’s, but he did not fear the LORD God. Verse 31 indicates that Pharaoh took comfort from what was left in the land and still believed in himself rather than fearing God. When the hail stopped, Pharaoh hardened his heart again.

Locusts

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them ² that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”

Before the previous plague transpired, God told Pharaoh that he brought the plagues so that he might know God is the owner of the earth and so he must fear him. But this time before bringing another devastating plague, God gave a message for the Israelites that God was performing these signs for them to know that He is the LORD and so they must remember his grace and fear him generation after generation.

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ⁴ If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. ⁵ They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. 

God rebuked Pharaoh for not humbling himself before him. So, he would send another devastating plague – locusts. They would fill the whole land. At Moses’ warning, Pharaoh’s officials showed their concern to Pharaoh. They realized that their nation was ruined so much that it would be better to let the Israelites go. So, Pharaoh said to Moses, “Go, worship the Lord your God. But tell me who will be going.” Moses said that all the Israelites, young and old, sons and daughter, should go along with their flocks and herds. But at this Pharaoh said, “No, you cannot do that. I allow only men to go.” He made a compromise to somehow hold the Israelites under him. But Moses rejected it. Then, the LORD made an east wind and brought vast swarms of locusts to the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. ¹⁵ They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

Such a dense swarm of locusts had never been seen before. They covered the face of the whole land and the sky so that the land was darkened. They devoured all the plants in the land.

In 1999, Maryland was covered by so-called Magicicada, which come up from the ground every 17 years. They covered all trees, houses, roads and tennis courts. It was so disgusting and annoying. But they cannot match with the locusts fallen to Egypt. These locusts covered the whole ground and houses and even the sky. There had been something left after the hail, by which Pharaoh was comforted. But God destroyed that too. Every plant and green stuff was devoured. There must have been a great shortage of food. Even Pharaoh dinner table became humble – no salad, no fruit.

Then, Pharaoh hastily called Moses and humbled himself, saying, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷ Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”

Pharaoh described the effect of the locusts as death. God’s judgment on Egypt was getting deadly. Again, Moses prayed for Pharaoh and the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind and carried the locusts into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. As such, God easily controlled the vast swarms of locusts, using wind at will. He can mobilize anything in the earth for his purposes. He controls the earth. But Pharaoh did not repent. The LORD hardened his heart, which incurred another deadly plague.

Darkness

This time God brought darkness without any warning message. When Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. It was pitch black so that no one could see anyone else or move about for three days.

How terrible it must have been living without light for three days? The total darkness paralyzed the Egyptians for three full days, without electricity, TV, Internet, and cell phone. But all the Israelites had light in Goshen. How was it possible that only their place had light while all other areas in Egypt was covered by darkness? It was because God did it. He can do so because he created light, the sun and the moon. He can even stop the sun and the moon. He can totally shut down the sunlight while giving light to certain places at the same time.

Pharaoh was terrorized and then allowed the Israelites to go along with men, women, and children. But he did not allow their flocks and herds to go with them. He still tried to negotiate with Moses not to lose anything as much as he could. Moses rejected his compromise and showed no pity on Pharaoh. Then, Pharaoh got mad at Moses.

²⁸ Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.” ²⁹ “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.”

These three plagues share a common theme in terms of who God is. In these plagues, God mobilized the power of nature according to his will. He threw down hails from above. He brought in locusts and then drove them out, making wind at will. He even covered the sun and the moon by his hands for three days. But the Israelites in Goshen had no hail and no darkness. All this showed that God controlled all the earth. Egyptians worshiped Nut (goddess of the sky), Seth (god of storms and disorder), and Ra (the Sun god), believing that they ruled the earth. But they saw that those gods were totally powerless and became nothing before the LORD because He is the owner of the earth. It is He who controls and rules over the earth. No one else! Through these three plagues, God demonstrated that there is no one like him in all the earth. (9:14) He is not a regional God. He is God of all the earth. He is the Creator God Almighty. He owns the all the earth and everything in it, even our lives. King David said in Psalm 24:1,

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

What does this teach us? What attitude should we have with God then? In 9:30, Moses said to Pharaoh that he must fear God. He must have acknowledged God as the Creator and the owner of the earth. But he claimed that he was the owner of Egypt and of the Israelites. He rejected God’s sovereign ownership over the Israelites and the earth. God was gracious to him, giving him many chances to repent through plagues. But he did not repent, saying, “Who is the LORD that I should obey him?” He hardened his heart and did not fear God. So, God hardened his heart. (9:12; 10:1,20,27; 11:10; 14:8) so that he might have any more chance to repent. Now he would face the judgment of death because he showed no fear of God. Soon he would see that God is the Judge of all.

One day while delivering a message a long time ago, I said to the audience, “We must fear God.” Then someone said, “No, we must not fear God but love him.” What he said was true but he seemed not to understand my point. Actually, he was not the only person who did not like the phrase “Fear God.” Last year I was attending a group Bible study with some other staff members. They talked about God’s grace. And I said that God’s grace should be understood with the fear of God. Then, they stared at me in awkwardness. All of sudden, I became a wet blanket. This generation does not like the notion of fearing God. It sounds very alien and unreasonable to young people in particular. They say, “Why should we fear God? He is gracious.” Yes, you do not have to fear God’s judgment if you believe in Jesus Christ. But if you do not believe in Jesus, you must fear God’s judgment. And even if you believe in Jesus, you still need to fear God because God is holy and he will judge each of us according what we have done. (Rom 2:6; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:12)

We can say many things about fearing God, but according to today’s passage the fear of God is to know that he owns the earth and everything in it and also judges those who reject his ownership and do not honor him properly. All men, including believers, must fear God with reverence.

So, in the passage, God told Moses to teach the Israelites and their descendants to remember how harshly God judged the Egyptians. Even after they got out of Egypt, God always reminded them of what he did to the Egyptians so that they might fear God. Fearing God is not simply to fear God’s judgment. In fact, it is more about who he is and how we should acknowledge and honor him as God the Owner of the earth and everything in it. If we fail to do so, we will face judgment eventually.

Do you fear God? Do you acknowledge that God is your owner and your LORD? Then, how do you honor him and live before him? One big problem of many Christians is that they honor God only by their lips but never acknowledge that God is their owner. Instead, they think that their life is theirs and they live according to their desire and follow secular culture. They put themselves over God’s will and desire. They think that they are theirs not God’s. But remember that the problem of Pharaoh was that he claimed he was the owner of Egypt, his slaves, and even the earth. See how God punished him when he rejected God’s ownership. Today God is seeking those who commit themselves to God out of the holy fear of God.

There lived a young man in Germany. His father was a miner and wanted him to be a lawyer. One day when this young man almost finished his law study, he was caught in a horrific thunderstorm. He was terrified by the thunder and trembled helplessly. For the first time in his life, he felt the power of death and God’s judgment. In fear, he cried, “Save me…I shall become a monk.” He knew that his vow would disappoint his father, but he decided to live his life in the fear of God and thus obeyed the word of God. He began the Protestant Reformation in the 16 century by faith in his word, fighting against the non-biblical truth in Catholic Church. And he was threatened to recant his position and belief. But even before the Emperor, he said, “… my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.”

Such courage comes from the fear of God and the fear of God comes from the faith that God is the owner of the earth and all in it and he is the Judge.

When I joined the army, I was so discouraged by my failures spiritually and academically. I was stationed at a remote place near the sea where there was no tap water and no electricity. I was taunted by others and even persecuted because of my faith. One day I was so sad and knelt down and cried, holding a tree. “Lord, why do you give me these troubles? Who are you?” God did not answer but had me look at the sea everyday day and night. Then I realized that God created the sea and the earth and that I was his. Through such troubles God rebuilt the foundation of my faith based on God’s creation and faith in his sovereignty. God is the owner of the earth and he is my LORD. Then, I came to have peace in mind and my way of thinking changed. After my military service, I committed myself to God to please and honor him. Although I disappointed my parents who expected me to get a good job, I worked as an intern in the church. Then I got a humble job that could support my mission life. I married a woman of faith God wanted me to marry. And I obeyed his world mission command and came here. It was because my fear of God and his grace compelled me to do so. Amen!

I often complain when I am troubled. But God continues to teach me through troubles that I am nothing and I am totally dependent on my LORD and I am his. In troubles we must acknowledge his ownership on us and obey his word. We must put him first over our desire and will. That is the fear of God. Those who fear God listen to his word and obey it and so proclaim his name in all the earth. (9:16,20) Again, to honor God is to fear him and obey his word. Such people do not fear people and the world.

The plagues in today’s passage intensify his judgment. The plague of hail brought about casualties and left almost nothing in the field. Then the plague of locusts covered the whole land and made it dark and then devoured whatever was left. Then, the darkness covered the whole land as if the power of death covered it. In this way, these three plagues were connected in chain and prefigured the judgment of death that was to come with the final plague, which we will study next week.

God teaches us even today that we should know his ownership of the earth and his righteous judgment. May God help us to fear God, the Judge of all the earth, and obey him, the owner of the earth and our life!

By David Yun