Read: Exodus 7:25-9:35; Matthew 19:13-30; Psalm 24:1-10; Proverbs 6:1-5
Today we read the next six plagues. We can learn from these plagues the ways God responds to continual rebelliousness. God turned the drinking water to blood, killing all the fish. Seven days later he used that blood to produce an immense number of frogs. In Revelation 16:13 John saw there unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. So, these frogs which represented unclean spirits came out of unclean water and manifested on the earth.
The frogs got the attention of Pharaoh and he summoned Moses and Aaron and begged them to take the frogs away. When the frogs were gone, Pharaoh changed his mind.
The second plague was the dust that turned into gnats. God had promised Abraham that his seed would be as the dust of the earth and through it all the earth would be blessed. Satan’s seed becomes like gnats that sting and curse the people and the earth. God’s seeds are like trees of righteousness that bring fruit and blessing to the earth. Dust represents our posterity on the earth - our family line.
The magicians couldn’t reproduce this miracle and pronounced it as the “finger of God”. Satan can not produce life. Jesus would use his finger to write in the dust and save a woman caught in adultery. He rewrote her posterity.
Pharaoh didn’t repent so God sent the third plague of flies. Satan is known as the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). Flies bring disease and filth.
From this time on the plagues never reached Goshen and were only reserved for Egypt. Pharaoh did a quick repentance here which only lasted a short time and then he still refused to let them leave.
The fifth plague was against their livestock: horses, donkeys, camels cattle, sheep and goats. This was an attack on the goddess Isis. All their animals died along with their sacrifices and meat. Pharaoh didn’t flinch.
The sixth plague was boils. Moses didn’t warn Pharaoh about this one since he didn’t repent about the last one. Moses took soot from the oven and threw it into the air and it produced the boils. The magicians couldn’t even appear in public they were so stricken. Pharaoh refused to listen.
The seventh was hail from heaven. Moses told Pharaoh about this one first and gave him the opportunity to stop it if he would just let them go, but he opted to be stubborn.
God told Pharaoh that He could have him wiped off the face of the earth but He was sparing him for the purpose of showing him His power and for the purpose of spreading His fame throughout the earth. At that time, the Pharaoh was considered the god of the earth, but God was proclaiming to him that He was God of the whole earth.
Some of Pharoah’s own officials feared God and brought what was left of their livestock inside. The devastating hail fell and continuous lightning hit until it left Egypt in ruins. This got Pharoah’s attention and he confessed he had sinned by not listening.
His repentance lasted till the sun came out.
In Matthew, Jesus showed how much he honors and loves children. He used them as examples of how our trust in him should be.
The rich man who trusts in his riches thinks he is an adult, but really he is bound by his riches. That is why we need to have the heart of a child. Children have no concern for the cares of this world. Every thing he has comes from his father and that is the mentality we need to have.
Lord, help us to see that our abilities are given to us by you to bless your kingdom. Our riches are yours to build your kingdom.
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