4: The Plagues (Exodus 7-10) Teaching Outline

Introduction: This week I trimmed a door and then painted it – poorly. I’m such a terrible house painter that when my family gets together, tales of my past wall painting adventures are recited for amusement. Am I insulted? No. If part of the family tradition were stories about my terrible teaching, that would be painful. Some criticism matters. We previously discussed Exodus 5:2, where Pharaoh said he did not know the God of Israel, and he had no reason to obey Him. We will learn this week that the plagues on Egypt were not simply punishment for disobedience; they belittled the gods that Pharaoh knew and presumably feared. Let’s plunge into our study of the Bible and learn more!

I. Uraeus

A. Read Exodus 7:10-12. Were the staffs of the sorcerers real snakes? (Verse 12 specifically states, “they became serpents.” We previously discussed that this power was undoubtedly demonic.)

B. Read Exodus 7:13. What reaction was Moses looking for in Pharaoh? (No doubt Moses wanted Pharaoh to say, “I’m not fighting with your God. You can go.”)

Was this a credible demonstration of the power of God over the Egyptian gods?
Think about the pictures you have seen of the crown worn by Pharaoh. What is on the front of the crown? (It is a hooded cobra. According to an Internet presentation by the Carlos Museum of Emory University, this crown is called an uraeus, from the ancient Egyptian word yaret, which means “the one that rears up.” A common American expression by one who is defeated is “he ate my lunch.” God belittles the god worn by Pharaoh by eating it for lunch!)

C. Read Genesis 3:1. Whose “lunch” is really being eaten? (Satan’s. Pharaoh is Satan’s agent, and Satan is not giving up easily.)

II. Hapi and Osiris

A. Read Exodus 7:15-16. Why do you think Pharaoh would go “out to the water” in the morning?

B. Read Exodus 7:17-19. What did the Nile do for the Egyptians? (It brought life. It produced crops. Hapi and Osiris were Egyptian gods associated with the Nile.)

Why, of all things, would God turn the water of the Nile (indeed all the water) into blood? Why not oil, vinegar, sludge, or something else?

C. Read Leviticus 17:11. What does blood symbolize for the Hebrews (and now Christians)? (Blood brings atonement. It gives us eternal life. It is God’s symbol of life, not water. Thus the Egyptian symbol for life is now replaced with God’s symbol for life.)

III. Heqet

A. Read Exodus 8:5-7. Imagine a discussion about conquering Egypt and one person suggests, “Let’s send frogs.” What would you think of that suggestion?

While researching the ancientegyptblog.com I found that the Egyptian god Heqet (or Heqt) was a woman with a frog head. She was the fertility goddess. Heqet also had the task of making sure that the crocodiles ate enough frogs to keep their numbers in check. Why would God target Heqet?

B. Read Exodus 1:9 and Exodus 1:22. What was Pharaoh attempting to do with the number of the Hebrews? (He was trying to limit the number of boys.)

Should Pharaoh understand that God has a message that He can control the fertility of the Egyptians? Recall that the relative number of Egyptians and Hebrews was what started the problem.

C. Look again at Exodus 8:7. Is this helping? Why would the magicians create frogs? (They simply looked at this as matching the power displayed by God. Note the text does not say they created frogs, rather they made them “come up on the land.”)

D. Read Exodus 8:8-10. For the first time Pharaoh agrees to let the Hebrews go to sacrifice. Why do you think Moses asked Pharaoh when, exactly, he would like the frogs to be gone? (This shows the power of God. Unlike Heqet, He can bring the frogs and He can take them away.)

IV. Geb and Set

A. Read Exodus 8:16-17. Geb was the god of the earth and dust, and Set the god of the desert and chaos. Why would God send gnats? (If you thought the frogs were annoying, God now sends insects that suck blood from humans.)

B. Read Genesis 2:7 and Genesis 2:19. What is the relationship between the ground and God? (God used the ground to create man and animals.)

C. Read Exodus 8:18-19. The magicians could not mimic the creation of gnats from the earth. Why would they admit this represented the power of God? (This is an excuse. So far they have mimicked the signs of Moses and Aaron. But now they are dealing with not only a God, but one stronger than their gods.)

D. Read Luke 11:19-20. What should Pharaoh have concluded? (The Kingdom of God has come upon him.)

V. Uatchit and Khepri

A. Read Exodus 8:20-22 and Exodus 8:13-14. Put yourself in the place of the Egyptians. You have all of these dead, smelly frogs around you and now you have flies which are no doubt landing on the dead frogs and then landing on you! Aside from being annoying and painful, why would God send flies? (Khepri was the god of new birth. Uatchit was the goddess of the flies and she guarded all life in the Nile Delta. Now these gods are feasting on dead frogs and humans!)

B. Look again at Exodus 8:22. How does this fit into the dispute between the true God and the Egyptian gods? (The Hebrews are protected against the flies.)

C. Read Exodus 8:25-28. Pharaoh is now in negotiations with Moses! What reveals the defeat of the Egyptian gods? (Pharaoh asks that prayers to the Hebrew God be made for him.)

D. Read Exodus 8:31-32. Are you like this? You pray that God will help you with a specific problem, and when He does, you go back to your old ways?

VI. The Lesson

A. We still have plagues five through nine left in this study. Like those we just examined, each belittles the gods of Egypt. Read Exodus 9:15. What does God tell Pharaoh is an alternative to the plagues? (God could have killed them all with “pestilence.” God has created difficult and annoying problems, but He did not wipe out the Egyptians as a nation.)

B. Read Exodus 9:16. What reason does God give for sending plagues and not death? (To show God’s “power so that [God’s name] may be proclaimed in all the earth.”)

Does this explain why God targeted the gods of Egypt?
Read Exodus 9:11. Who is God attacking here? (The plague of boils keeps the magicians from confronting Moses. Satan’s agents are immobilized.)

C. Read Exodus 9:17. What is at the heart of Pharaoh’s sin? (He is exalting himself against the people of God.)

Is this a problem in your life? Do you exalt yourself by harming those who love God?

D. Read 1 Samuel 2:30. Is God against a person being honored? (If you honor God, He will honor you. Pharaoh’s sin was that he would not honor the true God of Heaven.)

In plagues five, seven and eight God destroys the wealth of Egypt. What is the lesson in this?

E. Friend, will you make the primary goal of your life to bring honor to God? If that is not already your goal, why not decide right now to make that your goal?

VII. Next week: Passover.

Copr. 2025, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.