exodus 7 and 8

The Hebrew paragraph divisions for our chapters are:

Exo 7:1-7 {p} Moses to tell the word of the LORD to Pharaoh + Pharaoh will not heed
Exo 7:8-13 {s} Aaron’s rod becomes a serpent + magicians’ rods become serpents
Exo 7:14-18 {s} Warning re: the river will become blood
Exo 7:19-25 {p} The river becomes blood + magicians did also
Exo 8:1-15 {s} The plague of frogs + magicians did also
Exo 8:16-19 {s} The plague of lice + magicians could not do also
Exo 8:20-32 {p} The plague of flies + no flies in Goshen

Now the teaching tool of the Hebrew paragraph divisions really shine in today’s reading! The strong themes are:

Exo 7:1-7 {p}

This a summary of what will happen in the next several chapters. God will tell Moses what He commands. Aaron will speak to Pharaoh for Moses. God will harden Pharaoh’s heart and he will not listen. God will multiply His signs and wonders in Egypt, so that he will bring out the hosts of His people by great judgments. And in the end,

“And the Egyptians shall know that I am YHVH, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” Exo 7:5

God is going to reveal who He is, who YHVH is, to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians (and presumably, to Moses and Israel as well) in the events culminating in Israel’s great deliverance. Remember that Pharaoh declared he did not know who YHVH was. Remember that God revealed to Moses that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew God as El Shaddai, but not as YHVH; He emphasized to Moses that He was going to reveal what “I am YHVH” means. So let’s play close attention also!

The next strong theme is Exo 7:8-25, the weak paragraphs within it are divided:

Exo 7:8-13 {s} Aaron’s rod becomes a serpent + magicians’ rods become serpents
Exo 7:14-18 {s} Warning re: the river will become blood
Exo 7:19-25 {p} The river becomes blood + magicians did also

This is not surprising. This first plague is different in its paragraph divisions from the other plagues which follow, and the reason that is, the Scripture is teaching us what “I am YHVH” means. The first weak paragraph reveals that God spoke His word and His command to Pharaoh. God moreover confirmed that it was His word and His command by the sign of the rod becoming a serpent. So God made His will known to the unbelievers, and He confirmed that it was His will to the unbelievers. He gave them an opportunity to repent and to obey. Nothing bad happened to the land of Egypt as yet.

Do you see how fair God is being with those who do not know Him?

In the next weak paragraph, God repeated His word and His command with a stronger warning and a judgment to follow if He is not heeded. The fact that the weak paragraph ends after the instruction, and before anything else happens, reveals that God gave an opportunity to the unbelievers to repent and obey, before the plague actually came upon them.

Do you see how fair God is being with those who do not know Him?

The final weak paragraph of this section, is the actual accomplishment of the judgment warned of. This reveals that YHVH accomplishes His word — as the we have learned in God’s dealings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis, but which the Egyptians do not know, and perhaps even the Israelites do not know.

Do you see how fair God is being with those who do not know Him? The Egyptians could still get water by digging. So the judgment increased their inconvenience, but it was not life- threatening. Pharaoh could at any time end the inconvenience to his people, by repenting and obeying.

When God said that He would multiply His wonders in Egypt, it is true – He is starting out small, both in awesomeness and severity. We will see God multiplying His wonders in Egypt as we go forward!

The next strong theme is Exo 8:1-32, the weak paragraphs within it are divided:

Exo 8:1-15 {s} the second plague of frogs + magicians did also
Exo 8:16-19 {s} the third plague of lice + magicians could not do also
Exo 8:20-32 {p} the fourth plague of flies + no flies in Goshen

These three plagues have two things in common:

1) the inconvenience to Egypt increases, while no life is harmed, and
2) the glory to YHVH’s name increases incrementally.

God’s wonders are multiplying!

Notice that the first plague in this set, of frogs, Egypt’s magicians are able to duplicate. The next plague in this set, of lice, Egypt’s magicians are not able to duplicate. Glory increases to YHVH’s name as Egypt’s magicians add their witness that this sign was accomplished by the finger of God and is not possible by occult arts. For the third plague in this set, of flies, God sets Goshen apart and makes a distinction between His people and Pharaoh’s people.

It causes glory to increase to YHVH that He is able to strike a people. It causes even more glory to increase to YHVH that He is able to not strike a people. He did not strike His people, when the Egyptians were being struck. Even the devil can exercise power to harm. But only the LORD exercises power to prevent harm. Only the LORD exercises mercy! It is the exercise of His mercy that causes greater glory to increase to His name!

For further reading:
The Plagues and the Exodus