By Kyle Beshears
Instructor of Christian Studies, University of Mobile
Confrontation
Exodus 7:1–13
Strategy Explained (1–5)
From Moses’s perspective, it seemed that God’s plan for redeeming His people from Egypt was lost. The first attempt Moses made to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go resulted in the Egyptian king doubling down on the severity of his tyranny (Ex. 5). Moses, distraught by Pharaoh’s reaction, questioned why God had ever sent him back to Egypt in the first place (Ex. 5:22). Yet, God is never surprised because He is sovereign. He knew what would result from Moses’s first attempt. So, God laid out His strategy of succeeding in redeeming His people from slavery. First He reminded Moses who He is. “I am Yahweh” (Ex. 6:28), God said, calling Himself by the same name revealed to Moses just earlier in Ex. 3.
How soon Moses forgot who God is. God is the God who keeps His promises of covenantal blessing (v. 4). He hears the plight of His people and moves to redeem them (v. 5). His strategy is always one of blessing and redemption for His people.
Simple Obedience (6–7)
After God explained His strategy for redemption, we are told that Moses, now 80 years old, and Aaron, 83, “did just as the Lord commanded them” (v. 6). Compare the difference between God’s initial call to Moses from the burning bush (Ex. 3) to the immediate obedience we see here. At God’s initial call to obedience, Moses gave the Lord excuses for his unwillingness to obey. Yet, with this call to obedience, Moses “did just” as God asked.
Do you struggle with obeying the Lord? You are in good company. Obedience to the Lord takes practice and perseverance. By the power of the Holy Spirit, who places within us new desires toward God and showers us with grace, we can grow in our obedience of faith (Rom. 1:5). We need only look to Christ as our chief example of humble obedience (Phil. 2:8). And, as we see with the advanced age of Moses and Aaron, it is never too late to begin practicing godly obedience.
Signs and Wonders (8–13)
Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh a second time. This time, however, God’s request for His peoples’ liberation is accompanied with a wondrous miracle. Aaron throws down his staff and it transforms into a serpent. The power of God through one of His servants manifests itself in a powerful and miraculous way before Pharaoh. Yet, instead of relenting to God’s request, the so-called god-king of Egypt attempts to match the work of the Lord God who, lest we forget, is the Creator of Pharaoh, staffs and serpents. It takes a whole entourage of “wise men and sorcerers,” many more than one man (Aaron), to reproduce the miracle (Ex. 7:12). Pharaoh’s heart was hardened when the serpent from Aaron’s staff ate the others, so he would not listen to the Lord.
Here we see the need for a regeneration of our hearts in contrast to the renewal of our minds. Logically, the king of Egypt should have thought through the implications of the miracle he witnessed from the servants of the King of kings. Rationally, his thoughts should have led him to obedience. Yet, it was his heart that resisted.
God has shown us the miraculous, from the intricate balance of cosmic laws to the conception of new life, so that we are without excuse (Rom. 1:18–20). Ours is not simply a head problem, but a heart problem. Even in the face of miracles, some hearts will not submit to the Lord. We must cast our hope, then, on the God who promises to give His people new hearts (Ezek. 36:26). And, as we’ve seen from this story, God keeps His promises.
Share with others: