Sunday, June 30, 2013

Exodus 7:13-10:29 Notes: The First Nine Plagues


Exodus Study Section 11: The First Nine Plagues - Exodus 7:13-10:29


Theme or topic of this section
Miraculous Signs for Pharaoh
The Ten Plagues and Results
Let My People Go!

Some interesting points
- this is very political.  The Egyptian people suffered from Pharaoh’s decisions.  This applies to any nation whose leader makes decisions, for instance, takes the country into war. Hitler, Castro, etc. etc.

- the Egyptian gods are not as powerful as our God.  Our God created all things.  It is a clever scheme on the part of God, to pick these particular plagues.  God has a plan: he is attacking the symbols of the Egyptian gods.

What we learned about Pharaoh:
- It’s a wonder Pharaoh didn’t have a revolt from the Egyptians.
- Pharaoh’s response was that he said he would let the Hebrews go, but then reneged… as God predicted.  
- Pharaoh still thinks he is in control of everything.
- Pharaoh could not stand to be defeated.
- He has no concerns for anybody but himself and how he is perceived. 
- He is arrogant.

What we learned about the nature of God from this passage
God is a very powerful God.
Our God created all things, including the things that the Egyptians think are gods.

What we learned from this passage that we can apply to our lives
- We wouldn’t want to be a slave!
- Trust the word of God – he follows through on what he says he will do.
- There is liberation in letting go of worrying about big, intractable problems, and instead allowing God to work.
- Let God be God.  “Lean not on your own understanding.”
- Having a relationship with God is important.
- Eat the foods from the Bible and you will live 900 years.
- We learned about the importance of our leaders (church leaders, congress, president, other elected leaders, etc) making good decisions because we are all affected by those decisions.
- Would we have the courage to speak out against a leader’s bad decisions?

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