Exodus 9:13 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
14 For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.
15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
17 As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?
18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
19 Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.
We are now looking at the seventh plague that God was going to send against Egypt. Again we see the importance of rising early in the morning. Pharaoh needed to hear from the LORD first thing in the morning. He did not want to hear from the LORD, but He needed to hear the truth.
Once again the demand was the same. Pharaoh needed to understand he did not own the nation of Israel. They were sojourners in that land. They were not a part of the Egyptian nation. God never intended them to assimilate into that culture and that land. God had promised Abraham a land and He does not go back on His promises. It was time now for Israel to stop serving Pharaoh and to start serving the LORD. The LORD was certainly a much better Master than Pharaoh could ever be. God would provide all that was needed for Israel to be able to serve Him faithfully. They would need to choose to serve Him, but the wisdom and the strength would all be there. The rewards of serving the LORD are great as well.
In verse 14 we see that the LORD was going to intensify His plagues upon Pharaoh and upon all the nation of Egypt. The LORD’s goal was that Pharaoh and all the people would know there is no God like the true God. That is an important truth that people need to know today as well. God has given His people the opportunity over the past two+ years to show the world that there is no God like the true God. Peter and John proved that in their day. The apostle Paul proved that in his day. We need to do the same and we can if we know the true God.
In verse 15 we are given further detail of the extent of the damage that would happen with this next plague. No other nation would face such a judgment from the LORD. No other nation was guilty of defying the LORD in this manner at that time. The Egyptians were not just wicked sinners. They were trying to claim ownership of an entire nation that belonged to God.
Zechariah 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
In verse 16 we see that God raised up Pharaoh to shew forth His power. Pharaoh could have chosen to know the LORD and to serve Him faithfully. He chose to defy the LORD, but either way, the LORD would show forth His power. The entire world has been given the opportunity to read these accounts and to see the powerful hand of God at work in the midst of one of the strongest nations in the world of that time. The world has seen how the true God is able to bring a nation to its knees whether they like it or not. The lesson here should not be lost. The most independent thinker is not beyond the reach of the true God. Those who want to dare God to do something about their hard-heartedness need to see they are the fools. Hitler did not survive the LORD. Idi Amin did not survive the LORD. The various communist leaders of the past did not survive the LORD. All those who defy Him today will not stop Him from enacting His plan. That applies to the antichrist as well.
In verse 17 God tells us what was going on in Pharaoh’s heart. He was trying to prove himself to be the god of the nation of Israel. He was trying to prove that he had the power and authority to keep them in bondage for as long as he wanted to.
In verse 18 we see that the LORD again gave a forewarning of what was coming. It would not happen that day, but the very next day. This plague would be of hail such as had never been seen in Egypt since the foundation of that nation. Egypt had been allowed to prosper. Egypt had even been given the privilege of being the bread basket of the nations around her for a time. Egypt squandered all that. They forgot about Joseph. They forgot about the blessing that God had granted them. They had shown respect for Joseph and his family for a time. However, they soon saw Israel as an enemy that must be subdued. That was a major mistake on the part of the Pharaohs and of the people of Egypt. They had four hundred years to learn to know and trust the LORD. They had not done that.
Now they had one more day to reconsider their direction. God even gave them counsel as to how they could avoid the destruction that was sure to come if they did not heed the warning.
In verse 19 the LORD directed Moses to counsel Pharaoh that he tell the people to gather all their cattle home and that all people stay inside during this plague. The best thing would have been for Pharaoh to listen to the LORD. The best thing would have been for the people to listen to the LORD. However, if Pharaoh wanted to continue to be stubborn, at least some of the people might listen and protect themselves and their cattle from this hail that was coming. The LORD assured them that if they did not provide shelter for themselves and their cattle, those exposed to the hail would die. This would be a grievous hail storm.
I have witnessed the damage a hail storm can do. I have seen crops torn up from the hail. I have seen cars damaged from the hail. I do not remember hearing of anyone being killed by the hail. There probably have been some, but this hail storm that the LORD was sending would be different from anything they had ever experienced before. This was not the result of global warming or man-made climate change. This was the result of the God of Creation using His Creation for His righteous purposes. We know that the LORD would want to bless man with bountiful harvests. We also know that the LORD created man to glorify Him. It is not reasonable to assume that the LORD will continue to pour out His blessings when man chooses to reject Him.
As we look at our situation and the weather patterns we have in Canada and in other parts of the world, we need to understand that it is the LORD that is in charge of the weather. He shows us that He has the power to give us good weather in every season. He also has the power to give us weather that is not very favourable to crop production or even to being outside. All the taxation and the propaganda that we hear from our P.M. and from Klaus Schwab is hot air. It is designed to make the common person miserable and a slave to them. Due to the fact that most people do not believe in the true God, they choose to believe the lies. Without a right foundation, a person has no way to know what the truth is. Those who are saved can trust in the LORD and we can pray for those who are lost, that they might come to see their need to be saved and serve the true and living God.
Pastor Bartel
