Daily Lesson for Tuesday 22nd of July 2025

The ten plagues in Egypt were aimed not at the Egyptian people but at their gods. Each plague hit at least one of them.

God instructed Moses that the dialogue with Pharaoh would be difficult and almost impossible (Exodus 7:14). However, God wanted to reveal Himself to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians. Thus, He decided to communicate with them in a way that they could understand. Also, the Hebrews would benefit from this confrontation because they would learn more about their God.

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The first plague was aimed against Hapi, the god of the Nile (Exodus 7:17-25). Life in Egypt was totally dependent on water from the Nile. Where there was water, there was life. Water was the source of life, so they invented their god Hapi and worshiped him as the provider of life.

Of course, only the living God is the Source of life, the Creator of everything, including water and food (Genesis 1:1-2,20-22; Psalms 104:27-28; Psalms 136:25; John 11:25; John 14:6). Changing water into blood symbolizes transforming life into death. Hapi was not able to provide and protect life. These are possible only through the power of the Lord.

God then gives Pharaoh another chance. This time the frog goddess, Heqet, is directly confronted (Exodus 8:1-15). Instead of life, the Nile produces frogs, which the Egyptians fear, detest, and abhor. They want to get rid of them. The precise time when this plague was taken away demonstrated that God’s power was also behind this plague.

The third plague has the shortest description (Exodus 8:16-19). The type of insect here (Heb. kinnim) is not clear (gnats, mosquitoes, ticks, lice?). It was directed against the god Geb, the Egyptian god of the earth. Out of the dust of the earth (echoes of the biblical Creation story) God brought forth gnats, which spread throughout the land. Unable to duplicate this miracle (only God can create life), the magicians declared, “This is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). Pharaoh, however, still refused to budge.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-04-the-first-three-plagues/

Daily Lesson for Monday 21st of July 2025

Nine times in Exodus the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is ascribed to God (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3; Exodus 9:12; Exodus 10:1,20,27; Exodus 11:10; Exodus 14:4,8; see also Romans 9:17-18). Another nine times Pharaoh is said to have hardened his own heart (Exodus 7:13-14,22; Exodus 8:15,19,32; Exodus 9:7,34-35).

Who hardened the king’s heart—God, or Pharaoh himself?

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It is significant that in the Exodus story of the ten plagues, in each of the first five plagues, Pharaoh alone was the agent of his heart hardening. Thus, he initiated the hardening of his own heart. From the sixth plague on, however, the biblical text states that it was God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 9:12). What all this means is that God strengthened or deepened Pharaoh’s own choice, his willful action, as God had told Moses He would do (Exodus 4:21).

In other words, God sent plagues to help Pharaoh repent and to free him from the darkness and error of his mind. God did not create fresh evil in Pharaoh’s heart; instead, He simply gave Pharaoh over to his own malign impulses. He left him without God’s restraining grace and thus abandoned him to his own wickedness (see Romans 1:24-32).

Pharaoh had his free will—he could choose for or against God—and he decided against.

The lessons are obvious. We have been given the ability to choose between right and wrong, good and evil, obedience or disobedience. From Lucifer in heaven, to Adam and Eve in Eden, to Pharaoh in Egypt, and to us today—wherever we abide, we choose either life or death (Deuteronomy 30:19).

An analogy: imagine sunshine that beats on butter and clay. Butter melts but clay hardens. The heat of the sun is the same in both cases, but there are two different reactions to the heat, and two different results. The effect depends on the material. In the case of Pharaoh, one may say that it depended upon the attitudes of his heart toward God and His people.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-04-who-hardened-pharaohs-heart/