(sing with me)
Bennie!
Bennie!
Bennie and the Jetsssss.
You know, she's got "electric boots" and a "mohair suit?"
Wow.
God waited a week (after the plague where the Nile River turned to blood, stinking to "high heavens." He told Moses to go tell Pharaoh that the frogs were coming.
I wonder if P.O.D. ever thought about re-doing "Breathe Babylon" and replace the line about "the plagues are coming..." with references to the individual plagues, like "the frogs are coming, the frogs are coming..." I dunno, just a thought.
God told Moses to tell Aaron to stretch out his hand over the streams and canals and ponds, making frogs come up on the land of Egypt. He did as he was told and the frogs came, but Pharaoh's magicians did the same trick. Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, though, and told them to pray to the Lord to take the frogs away, promising that if that happened, his people could go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.
Interesting thing here: Pharaoh thought this was all about a 3 or 4 day vacation -- maybe longer -- and then he'd have his slaves back. In his mind, I guess, he was negotiating for a simple amount of leave time. In reality, however, God and Moses and Aaron had another goal in mind -- total deliverance and "good riddance."
Moses prayed, asking God ... crying out to God, actually, about the frogs. Exodus 8:13 says: "And the Lord did what Moses asked." That is an amazing verse. If I was an excitable preacher, I'd stop right there and talk about that, repeating the phrase, turning it over to drive the point home that God listens to His people, that He will sometimes do what they ask. That is amazing and wonderful. God is God and He is in control, yet He still interacts with His people and answers their prayers.
The frogs died by the droves. They were piled into heaps and the "land reeked of them." Did you know that the Bible has the verb "reeked" in it?
"But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief to his problem, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said."
Isn't that just like as people? We cry and moan when things are going bad; we even make bold promises to God. But when the promise comes or the problem subsides, we get back to our routines, often times forgetting about our bold promises to God. How foolish of us! We should remember what God has done for us and thank Him.
The Lord instructed Moses to tell Aaron to stretch out his staff and strike the dust of the ground, and it became gnats, swarming everywhere. Pharaoh's magicians tried doing this, but couldn't. They said, "This is the finger of God." Pharaoh didn't budge, though. The Lord then instructed Moses to go meet Pharaoh in the morning when he went to the water. I bet Pharaoh bathed in a river or something. The Lord said that He'd bring flies like never before -- only they would not swarm in the land of Goshen, where His people were. He made a clear distinction, so Pharaoh would know ... "that I, the Lord, am in this land." What a great declaration to hear and believe. After the flies came, Pharaoh told Moses his people could go sacrifice to their God ... but "here in the land." Moses didn't budge. "We must take a three-day journey into the desert," he said. Pharaoh said okay, "but not very far." Then he said, "Now pray for me."
What a great command, but what selfish motives. It's like he wanted Moses to talk to his God, not address the Lord himself. Still, it's progress in the evangelization of the Pharaoh. How would you like to witness and share and work towards the salvation of someone whom God was hardening their heart? Ha ha, it would be kind of frustrating, wouldn't it?
Moses prayed to the Lord to take the flies away. He did. And guess what? Pharaoh hardened his heart again!
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at May 16, 2007 10:43 AM