Read Exodus 7:8-8:19 at Bible Gateway.
the teaching tools of scripture
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Exo 7:8-13 {s} Aaron’s rod becomes a serpent + magicians’ rods become serpents
Exo 7:14-18 {s} Warning: 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 gnats + magicians could not do also
Exo 7:8-8:19 chiastic structure
What struck me about this structure, which is a chain of miracles and plagues showing forth the might of YHVH (however without loss of life, as He is starting small and multiplying His wonders in Egypt), is that the central axis is a sentence fragment:
And seven days were fulfilled … Exo 7:25
Why out of all that could be the central axis and the main point of the parashah, is this the central axis? Seven days is a full week, and the seventh of those days is a day of rest from the labor we inherited as a result of sin. It’s a length of time representing a complete whole, in which there were no plagues or judgments. The central axis highlights the fact that God is providing time, after one plague ends, and before the next begins, so that men – in this case, Pharaoh and the Egyptians – can reflect on what has just transpired, meditate on its meaning, and come to an accurate conclusion. In other words, to learn the lesson that is being taught.
I believe that Torah is teaching us even in the midst of judgment, about the goodness of God toward those who do not know Him. He is more good and more generous than we often credit Him!
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