Exodus 7:1-25
Q.1. What was the relationship between God and Moses and Aaron? How old were Moses and Aaron? Would their mission succeed? In what way? – (Exo.7:1-7)
God placed Moses in an elevated position, and told him – 1 … See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land (Exo.7:1-2). Aaron was eighty-three years of age. Moses did not begin his formal ministry, which lasted for forty years, until he was eighty years old (It would be equivalent to starting our ministry at fifty). It has been observed that Moses took forty years to learn that he was someone, forty years to learn that he was no one, and then forty years to learn to become a great servant of God. Their mission would succeed because God promised – The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst (Exo.7:5). However, this would not be before there was strong resistance from Pharaoh, so -… that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt (Exo.7:3). With these assurances, Moses and Aaron obeyed (Exo.7:7).
Q.2. How was Moses to renew his appeal to Pharaoh? Could the magicians of Egypt match the miracle from God? What was Pharaoh’s response? – (Exo.7:8-13)
This time God armed Moses with signs and wonders, so – the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out My hand on Egypt (Exo.7:5). He was to tell Aaron to – …Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent (Exo.7:9). However, – Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts (Exo.7:11). Even when Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs – Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said (Exo.7:13).
Q.3. What request was Moses to make of Pharaoh? What plague would God send to Egypt? For what purpose? What made Pharaoh harden his heart? – (Exo.7:14-21)
The Lord then instructed them on what to say – …`The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.” (Exo.7:16). They were to follow up their request with a show of God’s power – … By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood (Exo.7:17). Aaron was then to stretch out his staff over the Nile and all the reservoirs, to turn them to blood (Exo.7:19). The fish would die, and the water become almost undrinkable (Exo.7:18-21). However, the magicians of Egypt replicated the miracle, so Pharaoh refused to take notice of God (Exo.7:22).
NOTE: Moses was a great prophet, called by God as an instrument in His hand. He performed many signs, or “wonders”, attempting to convince Pharaoh to grant the Israelites freedom from their bondage of slavery to the Egyptians. These “wonders” are more commonly referred to as “plagues” sent from the God of Israel to prove that the “One True God” was far greater than all of the multiple Gods of the Egyptians.