Exodus 8

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0:00 Raise your hand. I'm curious. You can close your eyes if we don't need to shame anyone, but I'm curious who learned about the ten plagues as a kid. I'm just curious if I'm in the room. A lot of us, not all of us. I learned about the ten plagues as a kid. But I did learn in seminary that each of those plagues do correspond with a different deity in Egypt.

0:32 So they're not random. The Nile was a god. The frog was the symbol for the god of fertility. All of these plagues correspond. So one by one, the god of Israel is demonstrating his power over or his supremacy relative to the gods of Egypt. It always comes back to the scriptures called the Thorsfors,

1:02 but the priests of Egypt to see if they could match it, if their god could match what the god of Israel was doing. So it's important that it comes and goes at the word of God through his prophet Moses, because it demonstrates it's not random, but under the control of God. And he's demonstrating that he's stronger than all the gods. And of course then Pharaoh himself, the Pharaoh, was a god. And so that last plague of taking the first form is a demonstration that he's stronger, even in Pharaoh, and then not with Pharaoh, with lents.

1:38 Our Old Testament reading is from that section of the plagues. Let's look there together as in Exodus chapter eight. I took me a minute to figure out why they picked a random, it seemed like a random section in the middle of the story of the plague, but we'll get to it here. And this part of what I love, we're doing the lecternery this year. And it reminds me when I was in seminary, the first year and a half, I was just straight frustrated with the process.

2:26 I felt like I had taken classical Greek in college to get ready, but I hadn't taken coin A Greek, the Greek that the New Testament has written in. And when you get to seminary and you haven't taken coin A Greek, they don't let you take any other classes, you can only take Greek. So my first semester, I was so frustrated, like I'm an adult, let me decide how much work I can handle. I'm here to take classes, I only get to take one class, four days a week, and then the rest of it, I'm just like, I played a lot of prison golf, I baked a lot of cake, I didn't have much to do.

3:07 It was so frustrated. And then they had this whole, they really structured the course load where it was really narrow. You didn't get a lot of age, like you didn't get to pick your classes, you had to take the classes in the order that they wanted you to take them in. And I was so frustrated, right? And about a year and a half in, I thought, I don't know that I can take this, these jokers don't know what they're doing. And I was in prayer at one point, asking the Lord, can I leave these jokes, can I leave this place?

3:40 And I felt like the response that came in my head was like, what? How many classes have you made? Downboard. Oh, maybe you don't know what you're talking about. And I remember thinking, okay, even if they fail at making me a pastor because their process is dumb, at least I will have learned humility, right?

4:11 So let me fully engage in the process. I wrote a little column for our seminary newspaper on all the friends of mine who were jumping through hoops at seminary rather than engaging in how we were sitting in judgment. And that's one of the things I like about doing this lecture for the year is together as a group of people, we are submitting to this, like, order of what we're going to focus on and think about. I would not have picked this passage for us, and it took me a minute to figure out why anyone would have picked this random passage for a Sunday morning in the middle of the 10 planes.

4:50 But there's reason there. So let's look at it. It's in Exodus 8. Now I got a number exactly what it is. So I read the right passage for you. Exodus 8 verses 16 through 24. I don't know if we'll get to through all of it, but it says, or Exodus 8 verse 16.

5:26 Then the Lord said to Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt. They did so and they stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in the land of Egypt. The magicians tried their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not.

6:02 So there were gnats on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, this is the finger of God, but Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. And then the Lord said to Moses, rise up early in the morning, present yourself to Pharaoh as he goes out to the water and say to him, that says to the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me. Or else if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people and into your houses.

6:33 And the houses of the Egyptian shall be filled with swarms of flies and also the ground on which they stand. But on that day, I will set apart the land of Goshen where my people dwell so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this shall be, this sign shall happen. And the Lord did so and there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and through the servant houses and throughout all the land of Egypt, the land was ruined by the swarms of flies.

7:06 Okay. That's in flies. Okay. The first thing to remember is the context that we're in. Remember that the Israelites came into Egypt like miraculously provided by God through that, through Joseph, that like random he's sold into slavery and ends up like the Viceroy to the strongest military power of the day.

7:38 And then through the ability to interpret dreams, prophesize that a famine is coming and so stores up food in Egypt so that when the rest of the relative world within their purview is dying from a famine, Egypt is thriving. And they're able to continue to live and prosper. And then because Joseph is an Israelite and through the, you know, that story of forgiveness, the Israelites make their way back into Egypt and they're provided for and they're given the land of Goshen, which is arguably the best section of Israel.

8:15 And so the Israelites thrive for 200 years, like do the math 200 years ago is what? 1800s? Okay. For 200 years, they thrive. Right. And then for 200 years, they're slaves 400 years. How far goes 400 years? That's like as old as our country. Am I right? Am I doing that math right? Somebody not at me.

8:45 Older. Older. That's a long time. That's a long time to be like in a place, but ethnically diverse, to remember origin stories. Of course, most of them had forgotten origin stories of their people. They did not know the name of their God. They knew that they were distinct. And in some places, they knew their God was distinct. Remember Moses famously starts to try and defend his people.

9:17 He does it on his own accord. Gets thrown out. God brings him back. Now 400 years, the Israelites have been in Goshen in Egypt. They're a whole ethnic group, enslaved inside of arguably the largest military power of the day. And the exile comes back and says, let my people go. And then one by one, the God of this ethnically diverse enslaved people starts demonstrating

9:49 his power over the gods of the strongest military power of the day. And what you see is it's like very slowly the God of creation in life, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is moving God's presence closer down to Egypt. And as they do the earth and the gods of Egypt are responding in almost in chaos. There's this battle and God is demonstrating his power by controlling the arrival and the departure

10:20 of all these things that supposedly these gods, one at a time, doing all ten of them. I want you to see that what happens in the ten plagues is this cosmic battle to liberate God's people from the strongest military power of the day. And it takes the very presence of the unbounded infinite God moving down into Egypt just to do this one thing. And the plagues are the like symptoms of the proximity of God coming down to liberate Israel.

10:56 Big cosmic battle. It takes that, right? 400 years in 200 years enslaved, 400 years outside of their homeland. It is a battle. Pharaoh is not interested in losing his enslaved workforce. Meghan and the kids went to New Orleans for spring break. I couldn't go with them, so other stuff.

11:27 I went to this place, the Whitney Plantation outside of New Orleans, which I had been to with Demetrius and a couple other people a couple of years ago, which is one of the few museums to slavery in the United States. Did New Orleans because New Orleans is where a lot of the second generation slave trade was. They would get shipped down river from Virginia and stuff where they came in. They would get shipped down river and then they would propagate slaves in New Orleans for sugar plantation.

11:58 And this one sugar plantation, now called the Whitney Plantation, has a museum to the experience of enslaved Africans who are used to produce sugar. And one of the things occurred to me when I toured that property that hadn't really occurred to me before. Because the family that owned that plantation that grew sugar owned that farm for generations but there was a point. They had a nice family business, supplying sugar around them, taking care of themselves.

12:28 There was a point where one generation came in where they realized if we bought some humans, we could ramp up our production significantly. We could produce way more. We could be way wealthier. I had learned when I was a kid that this southern economy subsisted on slavery, that if they didn't have slaves, the southern economy would fall apart. Which I realized when I went to see the Whitney Plantation, isn't all the way true.

13:02 It just means some people who were mega wealthy would be less wealthy if they had to pay their work for it. It wasn't a necessity. What occurred to me when I toured that Whitney Plantation was greed is what drove and kept a hold on slavery. You can see Pharaoh, God says, go get him when he gets out on the water. It's not that he's like going out on the water to fish. He's on his like pleasure boat cruising down the Nile River with his millions in slaves.

13:34 He doesn't want to give them up. Because he likes what he has acquired for himself. He doesn't want to give up his advice because he likes the things he has. Freed is like a stranglehold on people. It was on Pharaoh. So Moses goes there and says, let the people go.

14:04 And of course Pharaoh's not interested, right? And so then Aaron does the thing for Moses and then that's come. But what I want you to see was their magicians tried secret arts verse 18 tried by their secret arts to produce nats, but they could not. So there were nats on man and beast and the magicians said to Pharaoh, this is the finger of God.

14:37 That phrase, the finger of God occurs very few places in the scriptures, like maybe two. And later of course in the soul we had that the hand and the outstretched arm of God parted the red sea and rescues the Israelites. Isaiah says the same thing that the hand and the outstretched arm of God rescued the people. What we see here is that God is putting down a finger to pull the nats out.

15:12 That God is moving towards his people. And of course he is rescuing an enslaved nation. It will take their presence of God to come down and get them. Right? Okay. Now look at our gospel reading. Luke 11, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, verses, and Corinthians, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke chapter 11.

15:49 Let's start at verse 14. This is the gospel reading that they give us. When God finally does move from finger to hand and outstretched arm, then this act of God, the victory in the cosmic battle over Egypt, the rescuing of Israel, the decimation of the strongest military power of the day, and the installation of Israel in Canaan becomes the defining act of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

16:25 He is the one who rescued them from Egypt, the one who brought them through the Red Sea. He comes down with the finger first, then the hand and the outstretched arm in order to rescue his people, and then this is what he is known by. We know God by what he does. He rescues Israel from Egypt. Okay. And then look at Luke chapter 11 starting at verse 14. Now he was casting Jesus. Now Jesus was casting on a demon that was mute. And when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the people marveled.

17:01 But some of them said he cast out demons by the elves above the prince of demons. While others to test him kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, every kingdom is divided against itself is laid waste and a divided household falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by the elves above. And if I cast out demons by the elves above, then by whom do your sons cast them out?

17:34 He's saying, look, you have people who cast out demons. I have people who cast out demons. Are we on the same team or a different team? Does it take the elves above in order to cast out demons? If it does, your own people are doing it that way. But look even further. Therefore, they will be your judges, verse 20. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God is going upon you. And then he goes down to teach a lesson out of that. This is the reason they put these two passages together. It might be the only two places where the phrase,

18:05 finger of God occurs in the story of scripture. And hello, one is to rescue a nation in a defining act of the God of creation and life. Creation, Red Sea. Right? The second is for one dude who can't talk. Finger of God. The same finger of God who launches the cosmic battle against the deities of Egypt

18:39 and rescues an enslaved nation from the strongest military of their power of the day is this fact for one dude. I just want you to see. If we got of creation and life, we got of the Red Sea, the God of Christ in the church, we'll rescue some folks from danger. Like stop at nothing, who come and get people.

19:14 Stop at nothing to come and get people. Have you been rescued by the God? I've been thinking about this. We've been meeting on Thursday's evenings and talking through these passages

19:48 on Sunday a little bit more in depth. One of the things that came out in the conversation this past Thursday was to be people of great faith. We need to be in positions where great faith is required. To be people who know the rescue of God, we are in positions that require rescue. I don't know if you caught it,

20:22 but it said that Pharaoh floating down the Nile on his pleasure cruise, his heart was hardened. Lot of ink has been spilled trying to figure out what that means. I think one of the things we can take from it is he was in that manifest presence of God, and in locked up in his grave saw no need for rescue.

20:52 Completely blind. And so rather than being his heart melted, his heart was hardened. Like the presence of God hardened his heart rather than melting his heart because he was so locked up in his grave he felt like he had no need for rescue. Comfortable. I, Pharaoh, needed nothing besides Moses and his God go away.

21:33 Do you need? I've been thinking about that story of this story. I've been thinking about how often the people of God are like either in peril or on some adventure. Like they're on a boat in the middle of a storm, right? They're walking through deserts, they're conquering lands, they're dealing with demons like they are people in need of rescue and salvation.

22:09 They are people broken and in desperate need of forgiveness and hope. And I just don't want to be floating down the Nile on the pleasure cruise. I want to be locked up with my plantation and this thing in God among the slaves.

22:43 Someone who needs God. Jesus said that the position came to heal. This is a good season of the year. This is what Lent is for. Acquaint ourselves with our need. In order that when we come to the day of resurrection, we celebrate as people who need resurrection.

23:23 You can see now why they put us with Psalm 136. This phrase that we repeated to steadfast love and duers forever. Is that how we said it? Is steadfast love and duers? How did we say it? His love and duers forever. It's a difficult word to translate from the Hebrew, Beverly is probably on. I think you have a little, can I see your necklace that says,

23:55 Kesseth? Yeah, he said. Yeah. So it's a Hebrew word that's not directly love. It's more directly like covenant faithfulness. Commitment, which is why some would translate it as steadfast love. That God's commitment, steadfast love and commitment for His people, to lack forever is commitment to you forever.

24:34 Through all your stacked up good choices, this commitment is there. Through all your cascading failures, that commitment is there. When you are obtuse and locked in your greed and your possessions, he is committed yet. When they fail you and run out and you realize your folly of an

25:05 faithfulness, forever the covenant faithfulness of God is there for you. What I'm saying is this morning, whether you find yourself contented and at ease, very rarely are the people of God contented and at ease in this order. They are on adventures in peril and in need of rescue. If you find yourself contented at ease or if you find yourself broken and afraid, God's covenant faithfulness is there for you.

25:38 I'm going to pray that we might be people who need and receive faithfulness of God. Hey Lord, thank you for your covenant faithfulness demonstrated in the plague and the Red Sea in the person of Jesus and over and over again in our lives from our baptism on forward. Lord, demonstrate your covenant faithfulness to us. Because we are people who need a claim test with our need.

26:13 This morning, we despair. Use this name before His sake we pray.