Exodus 1-8

A quick recap of what has happened in these 8 chapters:

Chapter 1:1-7 could be summarized by saying that the Israelites were having tons and tons of babies, so much so that, "the land was filled with them"

The rest of chapter 1 tells us that the new king of Egypt noticed that the Jews were becoming too populated and if they wanted to could overtake them so he devised a plan to control the population by killing all the sons born. I find it interesting that the solution to the population explosion back then was the same as it is now: kill children. Back then they killed them at birth; today we kill them before birth. The principle is the same: there isn't enough room here for all of us, therefore kill the ones that take up the least amount of space. This is sound logic, if you're a child of the devil. The sons of God know better:

WE DO NOT MURDER THE UNBORN TO MAKE LIFE MORE COMFORTABLE FOR THE BORN

I find myself wanting to veer off from the rest of this blog to focus on attacking abortion and the evil mindset that is inherent in its practice and theory. But that topic is for another day.

Chapter 2-4 and a half or so give us a leader named Moses. Moses' mom hides the newborn because she's afraid of the law that says the child should be killed. (Again, my mind is racing towards our country's whacked out abortion laws) but eventually decides to put the little boy on a raft and floats him down the river to at least give him a chance. (she's leaning heavily on faith here folks) Before he sets sail, the daughter of the king comes down to the river to bathe and finds the baby. Basically what happens is that Moses' life is spared and he's raised and then becomes the son of the king's daughter.

Moses then grows up and sees how the Egyptians are treated and actually kills a guard who was beating a Hebrew slave. At this point he runs away from his privileged upbringing and marries a lovely lass from Midian. Moses becomes a shepherd, helping his father in law, Jethro, tend his sheep.

God, during this time begins to act and starts to unfold His long awaited plan to set His people free from slavery. He calls Moses by showing up in a burning bush and tells him to go back to Egypt and to tell Pharaoh that God has decided that it is time for the Hebrews to be set free so they can begin this stage of redemptive history.

Moses questions God and God sets Moses straight and sends him on his way telling him that God will do mighty wonders before the world's eyes that will convince Pharaoh to eventually set the Hebrews free.

God tells Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, "Let my son go that he may serve me." If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.'"

Long story short, chapters 5-8 are Moses and Aaron telling Pharaoh what God said and Pharaoh telling them in effect, "Who is God? I don't know God. I'm not setting the Hebrews free. Y'all are dumb for even asking."

Oh, and at this point, Moses is 80 years old.

God speaks to Moses again and tells him that He's going to stretch out His mighty hand and do wonders before Pharaoh and yet still harden Pharaoh's heart so that he won't let the Hebrews go.

Chapters 7 and 8 are the first four plagues:

1. Water to blood: An interesting plague. The Egyptians worships the Nile. They had also bloodied its waters with the lives of the newborn Hebrew children. Now God had turned their whole source of life into blood and cursed them.


2. Tons of frogs: Everywhere the Egyptians turned there were frogs. I suppose God could have used Lions or Tigers...or ever Bears...(oh my) but He chose a little frog to impede the lives of the Egyptians. Such a mighty nation brought to utter stand still because of such a vast majority of small creatures.


3. Plague of Gnats: This plague was an attack by God on the Egyptian priests. They had rituals that called for a clean area and these tiny creatures were able to keep them from performing their satanic rituals. The priests also tried to recreate this miracle but were unable to.


4. Plauge of Flies: At this point, Pharaoh was going to relent a little bit and allowed the Hebrews to go into the wilderness to worship God as He had commanded. But as we'll soon see, the relenting goes away and Pharaoh's heart is hardened yet again.