Moses And The Plagues

by Chris Simmons

Moses and Aaron fulfilled the Lord’s charge to go to Pharaoh and demand that he let His people go to worship and serve Him. Pharaoh not only rejected their request but increased the Israelites’ labor and made their tasks more difficult (Exodus 5:1-9). God, who knew Pharaoh’s heart, knew that Pharaoh would only let them go “under compulsion” (Exodus 6:1) and began a series of ten plagues that would accomplish several purposes of His.

First of all, the plagues accomplished the objective of hardening Pharaoh’s heart. There is much concern given to the fact that the scriptures refer to the fact that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart (4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 14:4, 8). Does this mean that God took away Pharaoh’s free will? Does it mean that God forced Pharaoh to rebel against His will? Calvinistic doctrine advocates that God has the right and in fact does exercise the right to choose who will be righteous and who will be evil. If such were true, then it would be a lie to say that “God is not one to show partiality” (Acts 10:34) or that “there is no partiality with God” (Romans 2:11; cf. Colossians 3:25; I Peter 1:17; Deuteronomy 10:17-18; II Chronicles 19:7). So if God did not take away Pharaoh’s free will, then what does it mean that God hardened his heart?

The answer lies in the fact that the scriptures mention two other sources for the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. One is Pharaoh himself. We read in Exodus 8:32, “But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.” The words “this time also” indicate that each time Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, it was because Pharaoh did the hardening. Pharaoh suffered from an acute case of pride and arrogance and he continually refused to humble himself in God’s eyes in spite of the overwhelming evidence (Exodus 10:3). His stubbornness (Exodus 13:15) is what caused the plagues to continue and not his lack of free will.

The other source of hardening mentioned in the scriptures was the plagues themselves. On at least six different occasions it is simply recorded that “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” (7:13, 14, 22; 8:19; 9:7, 35) in response to each succeeding event that transpired at God’s command. In providing for each of the plagues, God in fact was providing for the circumstances and the opportunity for Pharaoh’s pride and stubbornness to continue to grow and cause his heart to become harder and harder. In that sense, it can be said that God, Pharaoh, and the plagues themselves all hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

Second of all, the plagues are to be viewed as a demonstration of God’s divine power. We read in Exodus 9:14-16 of God’s own explanation for the plagues that were to come, “For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth. But, indeed, for this cause I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power, and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.” God’s judgment upon man is an opportunity for us to be impressed and awed by God’s infinite power. We read in Jeremiah 16:21 in reference to God’s judgment upon His own nation, “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know – This time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is the Lord.” It is noted that Pharaoh’s magicians were able through their deception to simulate some of the early plagues (7:11, 22; 8:7), but it quickly came to the point that their trickery could no longer accomplish what God’s power could and the magicians noted to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God” (8:19). Just as Simon knew the difference between a magic trick and divine power, so also Pharaoh’s magicians knew that what they were experiencing was beyond human ability.

Third, the plagues were to make God’s people known and revered among all the nations. The nations indeed heard of God’s “fame” through the plagues and deliverance He brought about (Numbers 14:15). Even without newspapers, radio, television or e-mail, the “reports” of “all that He did in Egypt” had made their way to all the nations inhabiting the promised land (Joshua 9:9). It didn’t take long, as it is recorded just after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, that “the peoples have heard” and trembled (Exodus 15:14) over what God had done. The inhabitants of Jericho had heard God miraculously delivered the Israelites through the Red Sea (Joshua 2:10). May we fear and respect our heavenly Father for the “mighty hand” (Deuteronomy 5:15) He demonstrated in making for Himself a people for His own possession.