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Exodus Session 11 – Plagues 4-6

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Plagues #4-6

Exodus Chapters 8-9

SLIDE: Welcome >

Good morning saints!

We’re continuing on in the Book of Exodus today and will be

getting into plagues #4, 5 and 6.

I want to start today by reading from Peter’s First Letter,

chapter 2:

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy

nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the

praises of him who called you out of darkness into his

wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now

you are the people of God; once you had not received

mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

“Chosen” is a major underlying theme of today’s plagues. The

Israelites are spared from the effects of these plagues but the

Egyptians feel their full impact.


PLAGUE #4 – DOG-FLIES

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SLIDE: PLAGUES 4, 5 AND 6

Plagues #4, 5 and 6 were dog-flies, livestock disease and

boils.

“Each of the ten plagues was an ammonia-laced

scrub-bucket of suds”1 to cleanse the land of

polytheism.

The whole essence of polytheism is the belief that every force

in nature has a god that controls it. In Egypt, they worshipped

the Nile god, the sun god, the cat god, the sheep god, etc.

The Ten Plagues were designed to flip all the laws

of nature on end to demonstrate ― not just for the

Jewish people but for all of humanity, for all of history ―

that He alone controls all of nature, all of the physical

world, and that there is nothing outside of His control. 2

Now, please remember that the first nine plagues WERE

of supernatural origin - they were miracles from the power of

God. However, most of these plagues were natural1

and had occurred previously in Egypt from time to time,

which probably was why it took the Pharaoh some time to see

1 Plague #7 Hail that had fire in the ice was the exception



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them as anything totally out of the ordinary. The 10th plague

– the plague of judgement - however, never occurred before.

It is completely normal - according to the Scriptures -

that God would use ordinary events and circumstances and

nature’s various elements in an extraordinary way to achieve

His purposes. However, there was a significant difference

with the Exodus plagues:

1. PRECISE TIME.- started and stopped ON COMMAND

2. PRECISE LOCATION – miracles 4-9 ONLY AFFECTED

the Egyptians and did not harm the Israelites

3. INTENSITY – while many of the plagues occur

naturally, their magnitude/strength were

UNPARALLELED NOW.

Prior to any of these plagues beginning, God had let Moses in

on His plan:

“But I will harden3 Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my

signs and wonders in Egypt, 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. 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 7:3-5



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I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, he will not listen to you,

and I will visit the plagues on Egypt so that everyone will

know that I am the Creator God.

SUMMARIZE TO DATE

<There were two types of hardening: (explain)>

Snakes: Moses and Aaron go into the place and meet

with the Pharaoh; he tells Moses to show him a “wonder”

(miracle)4; Aaron throws down his staff and it turns into a

snake. The Egyptian magicians do the same, but Aaron’s

staff swallows them. Pharaoh concludes that Moses and

Aaron are just better magicians at this trick; he gives his

heart a pep-talk and walks away unconcerned.

Plague #1 - Nile River turns to blood; Egyptian magicians

duplicate to some degree but cannot stop it. Pharaoh

hardens his heart by giving himself a pep-talk. He

probably thinks that Moses and Aaron are just better

magicians at this particular sign; he turns and walks away

unconcerned.

Plague #2 – Frogs; Egyptian magicians again can

duplicate but cannot stop. But –THERE IS A DIFFERENT

TYPE of hardening of Pharaoh’s heart after this plague.



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–> Pharaoh sees something that gets him uneasy –

‘precision’ - God can STOP the plague at a precise

point in time, unlike the normal polytheistic gods.

This unnerves him a bit, and he hardens his heart

(makes himself stubborn; ignores the facts of what he

sees). He does this in order to avoid the

implications of this ability.

Plague #3 – Gnats (no-see-ums). Uncomfortable but not

totally mind-changing.

SLIDE: Dead Man’s Hand >

Up to now, the first three plagues had affected BOTH the

Egyptians and the Hebrews.

After plague #3, Pharaoh is probably thinking “I can

endure this discomfort as long as those Hebrews slaves can”

and thus only needed to “pump himself up” after plague #3 to

continue to struggle. He hardens his heart by giving himself a

pep-talk.

But… ALL OF A SUDDEN IN PLAGUE #4, the Hebrews will

NOT be affected at all! This will greatly worry him.

BTW - Anyone know the name of this card hand shown on the

screen? Deadman’s Hand. Two pair – black Aces and black

Eights. It is supposedly the hand "Wild Bill" Hickok was holding



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when he was murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota on August

2, 1876. The fifth card is not known for certain.5

This is the poker hand Pharaoh is holding when Plague #4

begins, and he’ll find out soon enough that God

doesn’t bluff

4TH PLAGUE – ‘SWAMS’ Hebrew name: arob6 - swams

Exodus 8:20-32

20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the

morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and

say to him, ‘This is what the Lord (Yehovah) says: Let my

people go, so that they may worship me. 21 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.

22 “‘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 (Yehovah),

am in this land. 23 I will make a distinction between my

people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”

24 And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies

poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his



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officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined7 by the

flies.

25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said,

“Go, sacrifice to your God (eloheim) here in the land.”

26 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? 27 We must

take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer

sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.”

28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices

to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (eloheim) in the wilderness,

but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

29 Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray

to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and

his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he

does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to

offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

30 Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord

(Yehovah), 31 and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies

left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly

remained. 32 But this time also Pharaoh hardened2 his

heart and would not let the people go.

Yehovah speaks to Moses and tells him to confront

Pharaoh where he “goes to the water” - meaning where he 2 ‘Kabed’ “to be heavy, weighty, or burdensome” = make stubborn



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goes to the Nile. This likely was the same place Moses waited

for Pharaoh for the 1st plague - when the Nile was turned

blood red. And, like the 3rd plague, the consequences for NOT

freeing Israel will be another attack of flies, but not the small

no-see-ums; this time it will be their big brothers!

Now, these were a known and dreaded species of fly,

called by the locals “dog-flies”. They "corrupted the land" by

depositing their eggs everywhere. They were a real problem,

particularly as concerned the livestock. These flies fasten

upon every uncovered surface, especially the eyelids and

comers of the eyes, and their bites cause severe inflammation8,

sometimes blindness and even death.

As with the previous plagues, this was not a new

phenomenon - these flies showed up from time to time.

But, what was different was the INTENSITY of their attack,

and their NUMBER.9

God states that His PURPOSE in this 4th

plague is to

demonstrate to Pharaoh that…

“I (am) the Lord (Yehovah), [am] in this land.”

In other words –> to show Pharaoh Who is really the

Boss in Egypt.



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This is the first plague in which Moses and Aaron do not

use a staff. It is an obvious statement that they are not

magicians but merely carrying out the will of Yehovah.

It is also the first plague that brings a degree of ruin to

the land.

And --- there a very important difference begins

now. Yehovah states: “I will distinguish between My

people and your people”.

Up to now, both the Egyptians and the Israelites

have felt the effects of the plagues. Now, ONLY the

people of Egypt will feel their effects; the Israelites

will NOT be affected.

Pharaoh asks Moses to intercede with Yehovah to stop the

plague and then he will let the people make sacrifices in the

land. Moses says that’s not a good idea – the Egyptian

citizens were not very happy with the Israelites right about now

– their livestock is sick and they themselves covered with dog-

fly bites. If they hold their festival locally, the Egyptians will

erupt because the Israelites will probably be required to

sacrifice animals that were sacred to the Egyptians.

Instead, Moses says, let us go on a three-day journey into

the wilderness and hold the festival out of the sight of the

Egyptian people. Pharaoh says, OK, OK already, just don’t go



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too far!! But PLEASE go plead with your God to call off the

attack of the dog-flies.10

Moses does so, the plague STOPS ON CUE. BUT, Pharaoh

goes back on his word – again – he hardens his heart.

‘Kabed’ “to be heavy, weighty, or burdensome” = make

stubborn and ignore the plain facts in front of

you.

TWO MAIN POINTS about this plague that I want to talk about:

It starts and STOPS on cue from Yehovah

Yehovah is able to distinguish between the Egyptians

and the Israelites

1. PRECISION

So what we have here again is a precision in time. The

plagues start and stop on cue from Yehovah. But now,

we see a precision in space – Goshen (where the Hebrews

primarily live) is not effected, only the rest of Egypt.

Pharaoh ignored the impact of plague #3 and gives himself

courage because he reasons that he can outlast the Israelites in

enduring the effects of the plagues.



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But, beginning with plague #4, the plagues will ONLY

affect the Egyptians.

”I am the Creator God in the land.” The fact that not

only can I bring this plague, but I can wondrously

distinguish, not just in TIME (as with the frogs dying

when I said to) but in SPACE ALSO. It will not occur in

Goshen but only in the rest of the land.

2. SEPARATION OF ISRAELITES

The second point here deals with the fact that God DOES

DISTINGUISH between the Hebrews and the Egyptians.

EXPLAIN BRIEFLY – COME BACK TO THIS AT THE END.


PLAGUE #5 – LIVESTOCK DISEASE

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5TH PLAGUE – LIVESTOCK DISEASE

Hebrew name: ‘deber’ - Pestilence11

Let’s move on to the next plague – the disease of the livestock.

Exodus 9

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to 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.” 2 If

you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back,

3 the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your

livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys and camels

and on your cattle, sheep and goats. 4 But the Lord will

make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that

of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will

die.’”

5 The Lord set a time and said, “Tomorrow the Lord

will do this in the land.” 6 And the next day the Lord did it:

All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal

belonging to the Israelites died. 7 Pharaoh investigated and

found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had

died. Yet his heart was hardened (‘kabed’) and he would not

let the people go.

Next is the plague of dever - the death of livestock. Again, we

see precision! God set the time – tomorrow – and it happened

as He said. But the precision this time is to an even greater

extent. God distinguishes between the cattle of the Egyptian

and the cattle of the Israelites, and not even one of the Hebrew



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cattle dies. Some Egyptians did live in Goshen, but

even these were effected while the Hebrew cattle

were not. Like the parable of Jesus: “Two men will be in the

field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be

grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.”

Matthew 24:40-41

So – not only does God control the timing of the

plague – when it begins and when it ends - but He

now demonstrates that He controls where the

effects will strike and not strike.

Now - pretend that you are the Pharaoh and all of your

cattle are starting to die. The first reports come in from the

various provinces - “there’s been these plagues Sir; we don’t

know exactly what it is”.

If you are a responsible Egyptian sovereign, the first

thing you would want is a damage report; like the

TV coverage of the Hurricanes in Texas and Florida

-> How bad it is?

But - Pharaoh’s actual response is:

Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the

animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was

hardened (‘kabed’) and he would not let the people go. (vs. 7)



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He does not look at the power of the plague. He is looking to

see the precision of the plague. Which is very strange

because, you know, if I were the sovereign of Egypt, WE

wouldn’t care a whit about the precision; we just care about

how powerful it is. But that’s not true for Pharaoh.

Pharaoh is still trying to figure out who this

Yehovah fellow is. The gods in polytheism do not have

precision regarding what they do – they can start an avalanche

by rolling a snowball off the mountain, but what it does after

that is beyond their ability to control. They can’t control when

the avalanche will stop nor whether or not it will strike the ski

lodge. But this fellow Yehovah obviously can.

Pharaoh is beginning to realize that he’s dealing

with Someone Who is radically different than any of

the gods he knows.

The ability to control space and time

suggests that he’s dealing with the

Creator.

But what is the Pharaoh’s response once the plague stops?

The same as when he first encountered the precision in God’s

ability – in the case with frogs – he becomes stubborn and

refuses to consider the implications of that the precision

means.


PLAGUE #6 – BOILS

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6TH PLAGUE - BOILS

Hebrew name: ‘shechin’12 - Boils

Let’s move on to the 6th plague – the plague of boils.

Exodus 9:8-12

8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of

soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in

the presence of Pharaoh. 9 It will become fine dust over the

whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on

people and animals throughout the land.”

10 So they took soot from a furnace and stood before

Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils

broke out on people and animals. 11 The magicians could not

stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them

and on all the Egyptians. 12 But the Lord hardened

(‘chazaq’)3 Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses

and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.

The plague of boils (shechin) descends upon all of Egypt

except for Goshen. Again. God again separates away the

Hebrews from the rest of the people. The painful blisters that

affect both man and beast.

Moses and Aaron were to be actively involved in making

this plague occur. Obeying God’s instruction, they picked up

soot from of kiln and threw it into the air, where it would blow

3 ‘Chazak’ – made strong, courageous. Pharaoh could continue because of this “pep-talk” to his heart.


PLAGUE #6 – BOILS

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away and land on all living creatures, and it would cause

painful pustules to arise.

This is the 3rd plague of the 2nd set of plagues – which

means that it is unannounced - Pharaoh received no warning.

Well, the magicians are back again in the narrative. But

this time, it’s to point out that they are NOT involved in trying

to duplicate the plague because they can’t even stand there

before Moses and Pharaoh because they too are afflicted with

the boils.

The Egyptian magicians functioned in many roles, a major

one being advisors and spiritual counsellors to the Pharaoh.

Up to now, they no doubt had been whispering in the

Pharaoh’s ear about what to do.

But now they’re covered with boils – they are

completely powerlessness before the Hebrew God. So

they now hide in their bedrooms in shame.

Pharaoh essentially loses his soldiers in his

spiritual battle with God.

Pharaoh’s knees begin to buckle. He is about to give in,

but God steps in and gives Pharaoh’s heart a pep-talk so that

he can continue.


PLAGUE #6 – BOILS

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Why does God do that when Pharaoh is about to let the people

go? Because Pharaoh is to be given every the chance to

agree.

Remember - It is of paramount importance in this story that

Pharaoh should come to an understanding of who God is, so

that he might make a moral choice to obey or disobey Him,

and thus be held accountable for his actions.

There is only one problem - Pharaoh might

give in - but for the wrong reasons!

What if he lets the Hebrews go - NOT because he theologically

gives up when he realizes that God is the Creator - but

because it’s too hard for Egypt to continue to fight the

battle?

What if he gives in for tactical reasons but NOT

actually for moral or theological reasons?

Teenager cleaning their room – not because they

realize it’s the right thing to do but because they’re

tired of hearing their mother nag them about it.

That’s the case here. Pharaoh is on the brink of giving in for

the wrong reason…


PLAGUE #6 – BOILS

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“God doesn’t want Pharaoh to surrender out of a lack of

strength!... He wants Pharaoh to understand that there is One

God who rules all that exists. This Creator God doesn’t

want to beat those who oppose Him into submission.

That might be the way that the Egyptian gods

work… But it is not the way of the Creator.

The Creator wants His creatures to know the TRUTH of

His existence and to shape their lives around this

truth.”13

So, God strengthens his heart by giving him that

courage to continue a bit longer.

QUESTION: WHY might Pharaoh be at the breaking point here

– it’s only boils, that’s aggravating but it’s not usually deadly,

and it doesn’t impact Egypt’s economy like the previous plague

that killed livestock.

The issue with boils is bodily affliction!

Remember that Job almost lost everything he

had – family, wealth, etc.,

but did not start cursing his fate until his

body was covered with sores.: Job 2.14


PLAGUE #6 – BOILS

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So, Pharaoh – covered in boils and without his magicians to

advise him - is about to give in but God stops him. “Look

Pharaoh - if you want to give in because of practical matters –

because you think it is too hard to continue, but you would

RATHER continue fighting, I will give you the courage to see

your vision through. My question to you is: ‘Do you think it

makes theological sense to give up because I’m the Creator?’

You decide. ”

And here we come back to the issue of free will. If God

gave him the strength of will and the strength of heart to be

able to continue to pursue what he really wants - keeping the

Israelites as slaves - that’s not taking away Pharaoh’s free will;

it’s strengthening his free will.

God strengthens Pharaoh’s free will after plague

#6.

He gives Pharaoh the courage to continue to continue.

The tipping point for Pharaoh is the next plague – hail –

which we’ll look at next time.


SEPARATION

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Separation

[This next section is generally formulated from points

raised in Tom Bradford’s Torahclass, Exodus Lesson 8.15]

Ok. I want to come back to the fact that, starting in

plague #4, God set apart the Hebrews from the Egyptians

regarding the effects of the plagues.

I’m sure that this did not make the Egyptians very happy!

And, this idea of separation ALSO doesn’t

make many people happy today.

It doesn’t fit in well with today’s view of

the word ‘fairness’.

SLIDE: CHOSEN BY GOD

Chosen by God! We often have heard the term that the Jews

are the chosen people.

“Chosen people”. In the Old Testament, Moses says to Israel:

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The

Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the

face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.


SEPARATION

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The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose

you because you were more numerous than other peoples,

for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because

the Lord loved you…” Deuteronomy 7:6-8

“Because the Lord loved you”…

The OT uses other very special words to describe Israel’s

relationship to God: Set Apart, Elect, Loved by God, Separated

These are Biblical terms - applied first to Israel and then

to all those who have accepted and trust in Christ.

And here in Exodus beginning with plague #4, we see this

all-important spiritual principle that completely flies in

the face of the modern world. A principle that if most even

understood it, would be denounced as the most intolerant and

arrogant position a person might harbor.

And it is this: God choses and then separates

His servants away from everyone else, He elevates

them, has higher expectations of them, and

gives them special attention. 16


SEPARATION

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SLIDE: SEPARATION #2

God’s chosen servants are different. But it is Yehovah

Who gives them different status; it is has not come because of

anything they've done to merit such favor but because God has

DECLARED it so.

We see this PATTERN all through the Scripture:

Genesis 1:4 “God saw that the light was good, and He

separated the light from the darkness”.

Abraham was separated from pagan world

Israelites were separated away from Egyptians in the

plagues – God separated the Jews from the Gentiles!

Levites separated from other tribes to be His special

tribe, all His own.

Then, the sons of Aaron separated away to be

priests

Now we who have put our trust in Christ – grafted

into spiritual Israel are chosen people, royal

priesthood, and holy nation (I Peter 2:9)

This is an important point about God - He divides, elects,

and separates. He makes distinctions. And He doesn’t change.


SEPARATION

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This is NOT a God who says we're all one big happy

family.

He does NOT view everyone the same and He is NOT

tolerant or politically correct in order to suit our

ever-changing vanities and preferences.

Unlike much of modern grade-school sports,

not everyone will get a trophy!

To undermine this attribute of God is to create a

false god.

If you are a true Believer and Disciple of Jesus, then the

hit song from so many years ago, "We are the World", DOESN'T

apply to you at all spiritually.

YOU, by the blood of Jesus, have been separated

away from all other humans. The Lord has given you

elevated status and favor. YOU are the modern

spiritual equivalents of Levites

What did YOU ever do to merit this favor?

Nothing. You simply accepted the reality of what

Jesus the Messiah did for you.


SEPARATION

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Being in a system where we are “chosen” for something is

a mixed bag. Pick-up sides in school, selected for one side –>

feels great is you’re picked #1 or #2, not so great if you’re

selected because you’re the last remaining choice.

Hockey – too slow to get out of the way!

But even that’s is better than not being chosen

at all (St Mary’s CHOIR, me and nuns and choir)

Here in Exodus, God says to Pharaoh, “Let My people go”.

MY people.

Nobody seems to have a problem with that statement when

God makes it in Exodus, but that’s not very popular today. I

thought God was the Father of ALL people. He is, but STILL He

says to Pharaoh that the Israelites are His people.

And beginning with the 4th plague, God demonstrates

this by making a distinction – He separates the

Israelites from the Egyptians regarding the

plagues.

Is that fair?


SEPARATION

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“It’s human nature that suffering should be equally

shared, right? … People just hate it that one group thinks they

are special; especially if those people are not part of that

group. And, this is the situation for Believers today… How

often have we heard people sarcastically that Christians and

Messianic Jews seem to think that we have something available

to us……wisdom, love, blessing, favor… that others don’t?

And what about Jesus’ statement “I am the way and the

truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except

through me.” (John 14:6) - sounds somewhat narrow-

minded, doesn’t it?

BUT THE REALITY IS THAT GOD DISTINGUISHES between those

who trust Him from everyone else; that principle and

pattern is the very essence of Salvation, and it is

demonstrated right here in Exodus.

It’s the reason that the WORLD has always hated Israel,

and the reason that the world increasingly hates the

Church, and always will.

But, still - even some of the Israelites had a problem with

the concept of “specially chosen”. Remember in our sessions

in the Book of Numbers, there comes a time when an individual

named Korah disputes with Moses over the fact that only the


SEPARATION

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sons of Aaron – Moses’ brother - can be priests4. Korah was of

the very same Levite clan as Moses and Aaron, so he thinks

Moses is just playing favorites. He tells Moses:

“The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the

Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above

the Lord’s assembly?” (vs. 4)

Korah was saying that it obviously isn’t fair that only one small

group was chosen and set apart to be priests, since EVERYONE

in the community is holy.

“A loving God WOULDN’T say that – it must be

that Moses is making up the rules.”

“Ok Korah”, says Moses, “test your hypothesis and offer

incense in the tabernacle the next morning.”

Korah convinces 250 other leading men of Israel who are

of the same mindset to do likewise. The next morning as they

try to offer incense in the tabernacle - a privilege reserved by

God exclusively for the priests -> fire comes out of the holy

place and turns the entire group into crispy critters. (vs. 35)

4 Numbers 16


SEPARATION

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QUESTION: But – how does God make the choice?

We’re not told! A Sovereign God can and does make

distinctions between people for His Own reasons, and He

doesn’t have to tell us why.

What good would it be to know “why” anyway? – if we

knew, we would only try to meet those conditions, and

thus we would be acting counter the whole message of

the Gospel -> Salvation is by grace alone, not

by works!

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved,

through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift

of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Some people assume that the fact that the Jews referred

to as the “Chosen People” is the cause of anti-Semitism in the

world. I don’t think so. If Jewish "choseness" is in fact the

cause of anti-Semitism, then hatred against the Jews should

disappear when Jews drop the claim that they are chosen.

Many have that that doesn’t make any difference. The real

question is whether the “Chosen People” idea is indeed a

legitimate cause of anti-Semitism – or whether it is merely

another excuse.17 When we come across the desert tribe

named AMALEK, we’ll see that it’s the latter.


SEPARATION

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The reason why I started into this section is to

emphasize the concept of patterns because they allow us to

reasonably know the general nature of how our God responds

to us and to various circumstances.18 Jesus said – as “Just as

Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man

must be lifted up…”5 God operates according to established

patterns…

And if Scripture DIDN’T show us God’s patterns and

principles, and if we did not see them constantly

repeated, then we would have good reason to doubt He

statement that He never changes. There is not even

a shadow of turning, of changing, in Him.

The main issue today with the concept of separateness –

being seen differently in God’s eyes –is that it runs contrary to

political correctness. AND THE TIME IS COMING WHEN IT WILL

BE CLASSIFIED AS A FORM OF HATE SPEECH.

We don’t want to offend the sensitivity of others. We see

this sensitivity play out in how the church approaches

the subject of faith.

Many go out of their way to say that if you have faith in

just about ANY spiritual being, you have a good and

valid faith.

5 John 3:14


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But if that’s true, then “olly olly oxen free” – everyone

who is hiding from God can come out into the open

without losing the game. You have to throw out

Revelation chapter 6, where it says…

Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the

commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and

free man, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the

mountains. And they said to the mountains and the

rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One

seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the

Lamb. For the great day of Their wrath has come, and

who is able to withstand it?”… Rev. 6

Many feel uncomfortable or embarrassed with the concept of

chosenness. It’s so much more acceptable to say that God

makes NO distinction among people or nations – that there

essentially are no chosen people.

Therefore, a loud and growing body of Church leaders

say that no matter what someone calls god (whether that is

Buddha, Krishna, Brahma, or Allah), we’re all essentially

speaking of the same god, just from a different cultural and

language perspectives. It’s just that all these poor misguided

people don’t know that they’re actually worshipping the God of

the Bible.


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Now, if you believe that, then I suppose you also believe

that poor Pharaoh was actually worshipping the God of

the Hebrews, and not his own Egyptian gods…..he was

just ignorant.

Feeling the pressure to place nice with the world, many in

the church have pulled the punch of the Gospel regarding

Jesus being the ONLY way. This is deemphasized in order to

better find the common ground between religions, especially

as we try to reach out to Moslems.

But totally avoiding the crucial issue about Christ only

tends to unintentionally reinforce their belief that He is

NOT the only way – that being a better Muslim or better

Hindu will make them more acceptable to God.

[Recent conversation with Adam (a friend of mine) about Islam

and the Korah being “inspired”.]

“It is funny how mortals always picture us (demons) as

putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is

done by keeping things out.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters


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Please hear me - God distinguishing one from

another is all that separates you and me from an

eternity apart from Him.

And, that distinction is based on one thing

alone: trust in the Savior He has provided,

Jesus of Nazareth. Not good works, not good

intentions.

As nice and warm and fuzzy and peaceful and loving as it

sounds to embrace all gods as just mistaken reflections

of THE true God, DO NOT buy in to this demonic lie.

Wrath downplayed…

Exodus demonstrates the wrath of God toward

opposition to HIM, which is sin. God’s wrath is not

warm and fuzzy, so it is often downplayed today. Take for

example the new hymnal for the Presbyterian Church (USA).

In 2013, the committee putting together a new hymnal

dropped the popular hymn “In Christ Alone” because

the song’s authors refused to change a phrase about

the wrath of God.

The original lyrics say that “on that cross, as Jesus died, the

wrath of God was satisfied.”19 The Presbyterian Committee on


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- 32 -

Congregational Song wanted to SUBSTITUTE THE WORDS, “the

love of God was magnified.”

The song’s authors, Stuart Townend and Keith Getty,

objected. So the committee voted to drop the song from its

new Glory to God hymnal.20 The church issued a statement

saying that there is a lot of disinformation on their decision

and they had nothing against songs citing God’s wrath but

rather the use of the theological word ‘satisfied’. 21

– I Peter 1:1-2 “To God’s elect…who have been chosen according

to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying

work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled

with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.”

SLIDE: CHOSEN PEOPLE

I want to end today just as I started - reading from Peter’s First

Letter, chapter 2:

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy

nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the

praises of him who called you out of darkness into his

wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now

you are the people of God; once you had not received

mercy, but now you have received mercy.”


SEPARATION

- 33 -

We may not know the REASONS for His choice, but we do

know the PURPOSE of choosing us.

Next time

OK - As bad as the first 6 plagues had been, they were

little as compared to the ferocity of the next set of 3. God

gives Pharaoh a grave warning that “this time (plague #7) I will

set my blows upon your heart…..”. The Hebrew word here is ‘leb’

and its essence is that of the INNER self22. This is a person’s

soul where our conscience and our emotions and our wills and

our sense of self resides. What was about to come will not just

effect Pharaoh’s anger and stubbornness; it will finally

penetrate his thick skull and attack his inner being……and it

would “hurt” far deeper than anything prior.

This will be the turning point in the plagues.

Endnotes

1 Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places (pg. 162-63)

2 Aish.com, Rabbi Ken Spiro, History Crash Course #10: Ten Plagues, http://www.aish.com/jl/h/cc/48931787.html

3 Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Hebrew # 7185. Qashah; Phonetic Spelling: (kaw-shaw');

Short Definition: stiffened

4 Strong’s Hebrew # 4159. Mopheth : Phonetic Spelling: (mo-faith'); a wonder, sign, portent

5 Dead Man's Hand, https://www.pokernews.com/pokerterms/dead-mans-hand.htm

6 Strong’s Hebrew # 6157. Arob; Phonetic Spelling: (aw-robe'), swarm – probably a swarm of flies

http://www.aish.com/jl/h/cc/48931787.html

https://www.pokernews.com/pokerterms/dead-mans-hand.htm


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7 Strong’s Hebrew #7843. Shachath; Phonetic Spelling: (shaw-khath'), destroy, ruin, corrupt

8 Alfred Edersheim, Bible History, Book 2, CH. 6

9 Tom Bradford, Torahclass, Exodus Lesson 8 chapter 8-9

10 Ibid.

11 Strong’s Hebrew # 1698. Deber; Phonetic Spelling: Phonetic Spelling: (deh'-ber); pestilence

12 Strong’s Hebrew # 7822. Shechin , Phonetic Spelling: (shekh-een'), a boil, eruption 13 AlephBeta, Rabbi David Fohrman, Parsha Va’era Guide.

https://www.alephbeta.org/guides/get?key=public/guides/parsha/1/Exodus/2/Vaera

14 Rabbi Lord Jonathan Zacks, The Difference Between Signs and Wonders, http://rabbisacks.org/covenant-

conversation-5770-bo-the-difference-between-signs-and-wonders/

15 https://torahclass.com/teacher/35-old-testament-studies/old-testament-studies-exodus/127-lesson-8-chapter8-9

16 Bradford, Numbers Lesson 3 Chapters 2 and 3, http://www.torahclass.com/old-testament-studies-tc/37-old-testament-studies-numbers/197-lesson-3-chapter2-3

17 Ask the Rabbi: Chosen People – Source of Anti-Semitism? http://www.aish.com/atr/Chosen_People_Source_of_Anti-Semitism.html

18 Bradford Exodus Lesson 8 chapter 8-9.

19 http://www.gettymusic.com/in-christ-alone/

20 In Christ Alone’ Dropped From Presbyterian Church Hymnal Over Lyric Dispute And Scriptural Debate Bob Smietana, USA Today, August 7, 2013 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/in-christ-alone-dropped_n_3719253.html

21 Presbyterian News Service, Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian Hymnal producers respond to misinformation Unsuccessful copyright permission led to exclusion of ‘In Christ Alone’, August 9, 2013 https://www.pcusa.org/news/2013/8/9/presbyterian-hymnal-producers-respond-misinformati/

22 Strong’s Hebrew # 3820. Leb, Phonetic Spelling: (labe), inner man, mind, will, heart

https://www.alephbeta.org/guides/get?key=public/guides/parsha/1/Exodus/2/Vaera

http://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation-5770-bo-the-difference-between-signs-and-wonders/

http://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation-5770-bo-the-difference-between-signs-and-wonders/

https://torahclass.com/teacher/35-old-testament-studies/old-testament-studies-exodus/127-lesson-8-chapter8-9

https://torahclass.com/teacher/35-old-testament-studies/old-testament-studies-exodus/127-lesson-8-chapter8-9

http://www.torahclass.com/old-testament-studies-tc/37-old-testament-studies-numbers/197-lesson-3-chapter2-3

http://www.torahclass.com/old-testament-studies-tc/37-old-testament-studies-numbers/197-lesson-3-chapter2-3

http://www.aish.com/atr/Chosen_People_Source_of_Anti-Semitism.html

http://www.gettymusic.com/in-christ-alone/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/in-christ-alone-dropped_n_3719253.html

https://www.pcusa.org/news/2013/8/9/presbyterian-hymnal-producers-respond-misinformati/

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