Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 9 LEB; Ch. 10-12 GNT

Associate Producer

Jørn Rune Reinertsen

Podcast Introduction

This is the Law Monday, and our reading is Exodus 9-12. I’m calling this episode “Is God Unfair?”

Comments on Exodus 8-12

Was it unfair for God to harden Pharaoh’s heart? Why should Pharaoh be held accountable if God caused his heart to be hardened?

First, let’s remember what Romans 6:23 says: For the wages of sin is death.

Pharaoh was an evil man. He was what we would call today a dictator. He had horribly mistreated the Israelites. As an example, do you remember how Moses came to be raised in Pharaoh’s household? The Pharaoh had ordered every male Hebrew baby that was born, to be killed. But Moses’ mother, in order to save him, put him in a basket and set him adrift on the Nile river, where he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter, who took him in.

In Exodus 1:16, we are told that  For over 400 years, the Israelites had been slaves of the Pharaohs in Egypt. This Pharaoh was in a long line of those who mistreated God’s chosen people. And it could be reasonably assumed that the Egyptian population followed their leaders’ lead. They probably thought of the Israelite people as “less than”, as people who could and should be mistreated.

Also, remember that we are told that Pharaoh hardened his own heart in Exodus 8:15 (15But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.) and Exodus 8:32 (32But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.). 

So with Pharaoh hardening his own heart, he perhaps brought on himself the further hardening by God. Have you ever heard of a parent catching a teenager smoking a cigarette, and then as punishment, the parent making the teen smoke more cigarettes until they get sick? The goal of the parent was not to make the child sick. The goal was to correct his behavior in such a way the they never want to even touch another cigarette. It was the teen who brought it on himself, wouldn’t you say? Perhaps there was an element of this in God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.

And getting back to Romans 6:23. The Pharaohs and Egypt had a 400 year history of sinning against God by the way they treated the Israelites. The wages of sin is death. God would have been just, even if He had completely wiped them from the face of the Earth. But He didn’t. He showed them mercy by allowing them to continue to exist. 

Something to think about.

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Transcript

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Transcript corrected by Sister Denise

Exodus 9-12: Is God Unfair? (LSOYB S13E107)

[TEASER – 0:00]
The goal was to correct his behavior.

[INTRO S13E107 – 0:10]
Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring One Year Bible, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is our 13th season, and it’s a daily podcast where we’ll read through the entire Bible. This is The Law Monday, and our reading will be Exodus 9 through 12. I’m calling this episode “Is God Unfair?”

But we’ll get right to it right after we pray.

Our heavenly Father, we thank you for our time together and ask you to bless the reading of your Word today. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

Okay, let’s begin.

[EXODUS 9 (LEB) – 0:49]
Exodus, chapter 9.

(1) And Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, “Release my people so that they may serve me.” (2) But if you are refusing to release and you still are keeping hold of them, (3) look, the hand of Yahweh is about to be present with a very severe plague on your livestock that are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the cattle, and on the sheep and goats. (4) But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and not a thing will die from all that belongs to the Israelites.’” (5) And Yahweh set an appointed time, saying, “Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land.”

(6) And Yahweh did this thing the next day; all the livestock of Egypt died, but from the livestock of the Israelites not one died. (7) And Pharaoh sent to check, and it turned out not even one from the livestock of Israel had died, but Pharaoh’s heart was insensitive, and he did not release the people.

(8) And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, “Take for yourselves full handfuls of soot from a smelting furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heavens before the eyes of Pharaoh. (9) And it will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and it will become on humans and on animals a skin sore sprouting blisters in all the land of Egypt.” (10) And they took the soot of the smelting furnace, and they stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it toward the heavens, and it became skin sores sprouting blisters on humans and on animals. (11) And the magicians were not able to stand before Moses because of the skin sores, for the skin sores were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. (12) And Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken to Moses.

(13) And Yahweh said to Moses, “Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, he is going out to the water, and you must say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, “Release my people so that they may serve me. (14) For at this time I am sending all of my plagues to you personally and among your servants and among your people so that you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth. (15) For now I could have stretched out my hand, and I could have struck you and your people with the plague, and you would have perished from the earth. (16) But for the sake of this I have caused you to stand—for the sake of showing you my strength and in order to proclaim my name in all the earth. (17) Still you are behaving haughtily to my people by not releasing them. (18) Look, about this time tomorrow, I am going to cause very severe hail to rain, the like of which has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. (19) And now send word; bring into safety your livestock and all that belongs to you in the field. The hail will come down on every human and animal that is found in the field and not gathered into the house, and they will die.” ’ ”

(20) Anyone from the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of Yahweh caused his servants and livestock to flee to the houses. (21) But whoever did not give regard to the word of Yahweh abandoned his servants and his livestock in the field.

(22) And Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand to the heavens, and let there be hail in all the land of Egypt, on human and on animal and on all the vegetation of the field in the land of Egypt.” (23) And Moses stretched out his staff to the heavens, and Yahweh gave thunder and hail, and fire went to the earth, and Yahweh caused hail to rain on the land of Egypt. (24) And there was hail, and fire was flashing back and forth in the midst of the very severe hail, the like of which was not seen in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. (25) And the hail struck in all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, from human to animal, and the hail struck all the vegetation of the field and smashed every tree of the field. (26) Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail.

(27) And Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones. (28) Pray to Yahweh. The thunder of God and hail are enough, and I will release you, and you will no longer have to stay.” (29) And Moses said to him, “At my leaving the city, I will spread out my hands to Yahweh. The thunder will stop, and the hail will be no more, so that you will know that the earth belongs to Yahweh. (30) But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the presence of Yahweh God.”

(31) And the flax and the barley were struck, because the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. (32) But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, because they are late-ripening.

(33) And Moses went from Pharaoh out of the city, and he spread his hands to Yahweh, and the thunder and the hail stopped, and rain did not pour on the earth. (34) And Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder stopped, and he again sinned and made his heart insensitive, he and his servants. (35) And Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not release the Israelites, as Yahweh had said by the agency of Moses.

[EXODUS 10 (GNT) – 6:16]
Exodus, chapter 10.

(1) Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go and see the king. I have made him and his officials stubborn, in order that I may perform these miracles among them (2) and in order that you may be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I made fools of the Egyptians when I performed the miracles. All of you will know that I am the Lord.”

(3) So Moses and Aaron went to the king and said to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. (4) If you keep on refusing, then I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. (5) There will be so many that they will completely cover the ground. They will eat everything that the hail did not destroy, even the trees that are left. (6) They will fill your palaces and the houses of all your officials and all your people. They will be worse than anything your ancestors ever saw.’” Then Moses turned and left.

(7) The king’s officials said to him, “How long is this man going to give us trouble? Let the Israelite men go, so that they can worship the Lord their God. Don’t you realize that Egypt is ruined?”

(8) So Moses and Aaron were brought back to the king, and he said to them, “You may go and worship the Lord your God. But exactly who will go?”

(9) Moses answered, “We will all go, including our children and our old people. We will take our sons and daughters, our sheep and goats, and our cattle, because we must hold a festival to honor the Lord.”

(10) The king said, “I swear by the Lord that I will never let you take your women and children! It is clear that you are planning to revolt. (11) No! Only the men may go and worship the Lord if that is what you want.” With that, Moses and Aaron were driven out of the king’s presence.

(12) Then the Lord said to Moses, “Raise your hand over the land of Egypt to bring the locusts. They will come and eat everything that grows, everything that has survived the hail.” (13) So Moses raised his stick, and the Lord caused a wind from the east to blow on the land all that day and all that night. By morning it had brought the locusts. (14) They came in swarms and settled over the whole country. It was the largest swarm of locusts that had ever been seen or that ever would be seen again. (15) They covered the ground until it was black with them; they ate everything that the hail had left, including all the fruit on the trees. Not a green thing was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

(16) Then the king hurriedly called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. (17) Now forgive my sin this one time and pray to the Lord your God to take away this fatal punishment from me.” (18) Moses left the king and prayed to the Lord. (19) And the Lord changed the east wind into a very strong west wind, which picked up the locusts and blew them into the Gulf of Suez. Not one locust was left in all of Egypt. (20) But the Lord made the king stubborn, and he did not let the Israelites go.

(21) The Lord then said to Moses, “Raise your hand toward the sky, and a darkness thick enough to be felt will cover the land of Egypt.” (22) Moses raised his hand toward the sky, and there was total darkness throughout Egypt for three days. (23) The Egyptians could not see each other, and no one left his house during that time. But the Israelites had light where they were living.

(24) The king called Moses and said, “You may go and worship the Lord; even your women and children may go with you. But your sheep, goats, and cattle must stay here.”

(25) Moses answered, “Then you would have to provide us with animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to the Lord our God. (26) No, we will take our animals with us; not one will be left behind. We ourselves must select the animals with which to worship the Lord our God. And until we get there, we will not know what animals to sacrifice to him.”

(27) The Lord made the king stubborn, and he would not let them go. (28) He said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Don’t let me ever see you again! On the day I do, you will die!”

(29) “You are right,” Moses answered. “You will never see me again.”

[EXODUS 11 (GNT) – 10:28]
Exodus, chapter 11.

(1) Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will send only one more punishment on the king of Egypt and his people. After that he will let you leave. In fact, he will drive all of you out of here. (2) Now speak to the people of Israel and tell all of them to ask their neighbors for gold and silver jewelry.” (3) The Lord made the Egyptians respect the Israelites. Indeed, the officials and all the people considered Moses to be a very great man.

(4) Moses then said to the king, “The Lord says, ‘At about midnight I will go through Egypt, (5) and every first-born son in Egypt will die, from the king’s son, who is heir to the throne, to the son of the slave woman who grinds grain. The first-born of all the cattle will die also. (6) There will be loud crying all over Egypt, such as there has never been before or ever will be again. (7) But not even a dog will bark at the Israelites or their animals. Then you will know that I, the Lord, make a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites.’” (8) Moses concluded by saying, “All your officials will come to me and bow down before me, and they will beg me to take all my people and go away. After that, I will leave.” Then in great anger Moses left the king.

(9) The Lord had said to Moses, “The king will continue to refuse to listen to you, in order that I may do more of my miracles in Egypt.” (10) Moses and Aaron performed all these miracles before the king, but the Lord made him stubborn, and he would not let the Israelites leave his country.

[EXODUS 12 (GNT) – 11:57]
Exodus, chapter 12.

(1) The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Egypt: (2) “This month is to be the first month of the year for you. (3) Give these instructions to the whole community of Israel: On the tenth day of this month each man must choose either a lamb or a young goat for his household. (4) If his family is too small to eat a whole animal, he and his next-door neighbor may share an animal, in proportion to the number of people and the amount that each person can eat. (5) You may choose either a sheep or a goat, but it must be a one-year-old male without any defects. (6) Then, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, the whole community of Israel will kill the animals. (7) The people are to take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts and above the doors of the houses in which the animals are to be eaten. (8) That night the meat is to be roasted, and eaten with bitter herbs and with bread made without yeast. (9) Do not eat any of it raw or boiled, but eat it roasted whole, including the head, the legs, and the internal organs. (10) You must not leave any of it until morning; if any is left over, it must be burned. (11) You are to eat it quickly, for you are to be dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. It is the Passover Festival to honor me, the Lord.

(12) “On that night I will go through the land of Egypt, killing every first-born male, both human and animal, and punishing all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. (13) The blood on the doorposts will be a sign to mark the houses in which you live. When I see the blood, I will pass over you and will not harm you when I punish the Egyptians. (14) You must celebrate this day as a religious festival to remind you of what I, the Lord, have done. Celebrate it for all time to come.”

(15) The Lord said, “For seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast—eat only unleavened bread. On the first day you are to get rid of all the yeast in your houses, for if anyone during those seven days eats bread made with yeast, he shall no longer be considered one of my people. (16) On the first day and again on the seventh day you are to meet for worship. No work is to be done on those days, but you may prepare food. (17) Keep this festival, because it was on this day that I brought your tribes out of Egypt. For all time to come you must celebrate this day as a festival. (18) From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month to the evening of the twenty-first day, you must not eat any bread made with yeast. (19-20) For seven days no yeast must be found in your houses, for if anyone, native-born or foreign, eats bread made with yeast, he shall no longer be considered one of my people.”

(21) Moses called for all the leaders of Israel and said to them, “Each of you is to choose a lamb or a young goat and kill it, so that your families can celebrate Passover. (22) Take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the bowl containing the animal’s blood, and wipe the blood on the doorposts and the beam above the door of your house. Not one of you is to leave the house until morning. (23) When the Lord goes through Egypt to kill the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the beams and the doorposts and will not let the Angel of Death enter your houses and kill you. (24) You and your children must obey these rules forever. (25) When you enter the land that the Lord has promised to give you, you must perform this ritual. (26) When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’ (27) you will answer, ‘It is the sacrifice of Passover to honor the Lord, because he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. He killed the Egyptians, but spared us.’”

The Israelites knelt down and worshiped. (28) Then they went and did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

(29) At midnight the Lord killed all the first-born sons in Egypt, from the king’s son, who was heir to the throne, to the son of the prisoner in the dungeon; all the first-born of the animals were also killed. (30) That night, the king, his officials, and all the other Egyptians were awakened. There was loud crying throughout Egypt, because there was not one home in which there was not a dead son. (31) That same night the king sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “Get out, you and your Israelites! Leave my country; go and worship the Lord, as you asked. (32) Take your sheep, goats, and cattle, and leave. Also pray for a blessing on me.”

(33) The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country; they said, “We will all be dead if you don’t leave.” (34) So the people filled their baking pans with unleavened dough, wrapped them in clothing, and carried them on their shoulders. (35) The Israelites had done as Moses had said, and had asked the Egyptians for gold and silver jewelry and for clothes. (36) The Lord made the Egyptians respect the people and give them what they asked for. In this way the Israelites carried away the wealth of the Egyptians.

(37) The Israelites set out on foot from Rameses for Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men, not counting women and children. (38) A large number of other people and many sheep, goats, and cattle also went with them. (39) They baked unleavened bread from the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for they had been driven out of Egypt so suddenly that they did not have time to get their food ready or to prepare leavened dough.

(40) The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. (41) On the day the 430 years ended, all the tribes of the Lord’s people left Egypt. (42) It was a night when the Lord kept watch to bring them out of Egypt; this same night is dedicated to the Lord for all time to come as a night when the Israelites must keep watch.

(43) The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the Passover regulations: No foreigner shall eat the Passover meal, (44) but any slave that you have bought may eat it if you circumcise him first. (45) No temporary resident or hired worker may eat it. (46) The whole meal must be eaten in the house in which it was prepared; it must not be taken outside. And do not break any of the animal’s bones. (47) The whole community of Israel must celebrate this festival, (48) but no uncircumcised man may eat it. If a foreigner has settled among you and wants to celebrate Passover to honor the Lord, you must first circumcise all the males of his household. He is then to be treated like a native-born Israelite and may join in the festival. (49) The same regulations apply to native-born Israelites and to foreigners who settle among you.” (50) All the Israelites obeyed and did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. (51) On that day the Lord brought the Israelite tribes out of Egypt.

[COMMENTARY – 18:43]
Well, what do you think? Was it unfair for God to harden Pharaoh’s heart? Why should Pharaoh be accountable if God caused his heart to be hardened?

Well, first, let’s remember what Romans 6:23 says, “…for the wages of sin is death.”

Pharaoh was an evil man. He was what we would call today a dictator. He had horribly mistreated the Israelites. As an example, do you remember how Moses came to be raised in Pharaoh’s household? The Pharaoh had ordered every male Hebrew baby that was born to be killed. But Moses’ mother, in order to save him, put him in a basket and set him adrift on the Nile River where he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter who took him in.

In Exodus 1:16, we’re told that for over four hundred years, the Israelites had been slaves of the pharaohs in Egypt. Slaves. This Pharaoh was in a long line of those who mistreated God’s chosen people. And it could be reasonably assumed that the Egyptian population followed their leaders’ lead. They probably thought the Israelite people as less than, as people who could and should be mistreated.

Also, remember that we’re told that Pharaoh hardened his own heart in Exodus 8:15. That verse said, “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.” And also back in Exodus 8, verse 32, we’re told, “But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.”

So with Pharaoh hardening his own heart, as we read more about today, he perhaps brought on himself the further hardening by God. Have you ever heard of a parent catching a teenager smoking a cigarette, and then as punishment, the parent making the teen smoke more cigarettes until they got sick? Of course, the goal of the parent was not to make the child sick. The goal was to correct his behavior in such a way that they never want to even touch another cigarette. It was the teen who brought it on himself, wouldn’t you say? Maybe there was an element of this in God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.

And a couple of minutes ago, I mentioned Romans 6:23, which says “The wages of sin is death.” Well, the pharaohs in Egypt had a four hundred-year history of sinning against God, by the way they treated the Israelites. The wages of sin is death. God would have been just even if he had completely wiped them from the face of the earth, but he didn’t. He showed them mercy by allowing them to continue to exist.

There’s something to think about.

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[OUTRO S13E107 – 23:48]
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Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. I enjoy our time together. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

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