Exodus 7:8 – 12

 

The Bible is full types and antitypes.

 

Type is "a figure or representative of something to come”

Antitype is the reality of the type.

 

Let say you step in the mud. The impression you leave is the type of your foot but the antitype is your foot.

 

The OT is full of types which lead to antitypes in  NT.

 

Hebrews 10:1 teaches us that the law of Moses was a shadow or representation of what we now have under the new covenant.

 

Lets look at example.

 

Romans 5:14  4 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

 

Paul is telling us that Adam was a type or shadow of Jesus which make him the antitype.

Look at 1 Cor. 15:45 and Paul will give us even more detail about Adam and he relates Jesus.

 

1 Corinthians 15:45-49  5 And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.  47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.  48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.  49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

 

The reason why I have explained this is because as we grow through our OT lessons there will many times that show you these type and antitypes. In our lesson tonight we will be examining the 10 plagues and how the Pharaoh is a type of Satan.

 

So let us begin by reading Exodus 7:8

 

Exodus 7:8-13  8 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,  9 "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Show a miracle for yourselves,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.' "  10 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the LORD commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.  11 But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.  12 For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.  13 And Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the LORD had said.

 

God knew that Pharaoh would ask for a sign and so Aaron was to through his staff down and it would become serpent. When I put myself in the shoes of this Pharaoh I can understand why he would want proof that Moses and Aarons God really existed. You might remember last week I mentioned that they worshiped around 2000 different Gods and so another God to Pharaoh wouldn’t really seem that big of a deal. Well we find that was right and the Pharaoh ask for a sign and Aaron gives him one. However, the Pharaohs magicians were able to reproduce this miracles with their staffs. One may ask how were they able to do this. There are several possibilities. First of you will notice the magicians were called after Aaron staff was turned into a serpent. It possible that they were told what he did and had time to prepare a  trick to do the same thing. There a magicians who can do this same trick today. Another possibility was the magicians had some sort demonic help in doing this. The serpent provided by God  eat up these serpents  showing that God power  was far greater than these magicians.  However, the Pharaoh did not want to believe and heart grew heard just as God said it would.

 

This reminds of the Pharisees and the Sadducees in the NT. Jesus had shown many miraculous signs and wonders to prove that he was the son of God and these men could not deny these miracles but just the Pharaoh the harden their heart. Many today harden their hearts as well because they don’t want accept the truth that is found within Bible.

We must be careful that we don’t allow ourselves to harden our heart against God.

 

This brings us to the 10 plagues. Its interesting that most these plagues that God brings on Egypt shows that God has power over their supposed different Gods.

 

1 plague Exodus 7:14-25. water to blood

Once again Moses tells Pharaoh let my people go and if he does not all the waters in Egypt will be turned to blood. Of course Pharaoh would not listen and Moses tell Aaron to hold out his rod stretching his hand of the waters and just as Moses all the water turned to blood and even the fish died and began to stink. The Egyptians considered the Nile river as a God yet even was to turned to blood. But once again Pharaohs magicians were about to turns water to blood themselves and  this caused the Pharaoh to harden his heart again. You might be thinking if all the water was turned to blood then where did the magician get  clean water to turn to blood. I believe the answer is found in verse 24.

 

Exodus 7:24  4 So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river.

 

The water that was underground was ok and so this is most likely place they got their clean from.

 

 

 

2 Plague Exodus  8:1-15 frogs

 

Once again Moses tells Pharaoh to let my people go or you will plagued with frogs. The Pharaoh didn’t listen and sure enough here came the frogs they were everywhere. Verse 7 tells us the magicians were able to bring about frogs as well, however apparently they were not able to make the frogs go away because the Pharaoh ask Moses to get rid  of the frogs.

 

Exodus 8:8-10  Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, "Entreat the LORD that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD."  9 And Moses said to Pharaoh, "Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only."  10 So he said, "Tomorrow."

 

Pharaoh make the promise that he will let the children Go if Moses get rid of the frogs. One thing  I cannot understand about the text we just read is Why oh why when Pharaoh had the chance to name when the frogs would go away why did he say tomorrow why not right now. Moses kept his  word and the frogs died but when Pharaoh saw they gone once again he harden his heart and would not let the children of Israel go. The Pharaoh is like satin here because he didn’t mind lying to get his way.

 

3rd plague Exodus 8:16-19 lice

In this 3rd plague Aaron touches dust of the earth and it become lice or some say flees and they get every person and every animal and the magician tried to reproduce this miracle but they could not and they make a great confession.

 

Exodus 8:19  19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the LORD had said.

 

The magicians understood that was a powerful God but not Pharaoh because he still hardened his heart.

 

4th plague Exodus 8:20-32 flies

 

This plague is interesting because this time God was show the Pharaoh that he was God by causing a swarm of flies to fill the land of Egypt but not the land of Goshen where the children of Israel were. Just as Moses stated the flies only plagued the Pharaohs people. Could you image how weird that would be and how hard it would be to deny that God was controlling all of this. We learn 2 more way that Pharaoh is a type a satin.

 

Exodus 8:25   25 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God in the land."

 

Pharaoh is trying to get Moses to compromise with him and go against what God has said. He willing to let them  sacrifice only if they do it there instead of the wilderness. Satin is the same way today he want us to comprise with him and go against what the word of God says so that he can still have us under his control. Moses basically says  no way we must go out into the wilderness.

 

Exodus 8:28  28 And Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Intercede for me."

 

Again, he tries to make it sound good. I let you go just don’t go very far. This is similar to what Satan does as well. He might say go ahead worship God but to go very far outside of worldly things. Keep one foot in and let the other go out.

 

2 Corinthians 6:17  17 Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord.

 

Moses doesn’t accept this either and tells Pharaoh to stop be deceitful and when Moses removes the flies once again Pharaoh will not let the people go.

 

5th plague Exodus 9:1-7 diseased animals

 

In this plague the animals of Egypt would get a disease and die but none of the livestock of the children Israel would get a disease. Just as Moses said all the things came to pass but still the Pharaoh hardened his  heart.

 

6th plague Exodus 9:8-12 boils

 

This was the plague of the boils. Moses and Aaron took handfuls of ashes from the  furnace and scattered them in the air and boils came on man and beast. 1 Boil is painful  enough I couldn’t even image being covered with boils. Verse 11 tells us that the magicians couldn’t even stand before Moses because of the boils. But not even this made Pharaoh let children of Israel go.

 

7th plague Exodus  9:13-35 hail

 

In this plague the Pharaoh is warned if he doesn’t let the children of Israel go God will unleash a heavy hail and rain that Egypt has never seen before. He tells them that if they are out in the field man or beast that they will be killed by the hail. God gives Pharaoh and his people a fair warning so they could protect their lives and what was left of their animals life.

 

Exodus 9:20-21   20 He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:  21 And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field.

 

Some of these people were starting to get a clue that when Moses said his God was going to do something they knew it was going to happen. But there still those like the pharaoh who were mule headed and still did not want to accept the truth and so they stayed out in the field and they died. Because of the stubbornness they paid with their life. There are a lot people in this world today that are just as stubborn as these Egyptians. Even when they are presented with the truth of the word and they can clearly see what they must do to be saved they simple resist the truth and they to will end up suffering the consequences which will be far worse than simply losing their life. Once again we see in verse 26 that the children of Isreal did not receive any rain or hail. In verse 28 the Pharaoh pleas with Moses and falsely claims he will let his people go if will make the hail and the rain stop. Moses stops the hail and once again the Pharaoh changes his mind and will not let them go. Also in this plague all their crops were destroyed and even the trees suffered great damage but you will notice in verse 32 that the wheat and the spelt were not touched because they had not grown out yet. That information becomes important for our next plague.

 

Exodus 10:1-20 8th plague locust

Moses warns pharaoh if you do not let my people go you will plagued with locust. They will be so many that you will not be able to see the earth and they fill your houses. They will eat everything that is left. We know that there would know be wheat, spelt leafs in the trees but all this would be gone.

 

Exodus 10:7  7 And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

 

They were basically saying wake up and smell the coffee let these the people go. This must of got the attention of Pharaoh because he calls Moses and Aaron and tells them they can go worship their God but we learn from 11 he only wants the men to go so the children and women would be left behind. Once again Pharaoh is being like satin wanting  Moses to compromise with Gods request. After Moses and Aaron were booted out of the Pharaohs site Moses stretches out his rod and east wind blows in this huge swarm of locust.

 

Exodus 10:16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.  17 Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only.

 

Once again Moses complies and west wind comes up and takes all the locust into the red sea and once again the Pharaoh changes him mind and sins against God again. While Pharaoh is a type of Satin there are defiantly people living today that act the same way that he did. I am reminded of those who are addicted to drugs they will tell you over and over I am not going to take drugs any more I know what they do. But what do they do a lot of times they turn right around and get themselves back on drugs again.

Proverbs 26:11  1 As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool repeats his folly.

 

Exodus 10:21-29 9th plague darkness

In this  plague all of Egypt is pitch black for 3 days. It the kind of darkness that you can see your hand in front of your face. God makes a difference between the Egyptians and his people because they had light in their dwellings. Once again the Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron  and  tries one last time to make them compromise.

 

Exodus 10:24  24 Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, "Go, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you."

 

Just like the devil the Pharaoh was being persistent but Moses tells him no way. We have to have our animals so we can offer sacrifices to the lord. But Pharaoh didn’t want this  to happen so he would not let them go again. He even Moses that if he sees him again he will kill him. Moses tells him don’t worry I wont see your face again.

 

10th plague Exodus 11:1-10; 12:29-30 death of the 1st born

 

God tells Moses after this plague the Pharaoh will let my people go. Because in this plague God said he would go out about midnight and all the first born of Egypt and even the animals will die and the text tells us that there would be crying in Egypt. Again God make a distinction between the Egyptians and children of Israel because he was not going to kill their first born neither man or animal. Now between the time of this statement and the time God comes and kill the first born the Passover is instituted and we are going to examining it more closely next week but the children of Israel  were to put blood on the lintel and the 2 door post so that  the destroyer would pass them by. They did this and sure enough at midnight the destroyer came and all the 1st born Egypt died and finally the Pharaoh let the children of Israel go. This is sad that it had to go this far for the Pharaoh to accept the truth but many are like Pharaoh today because sometimes it takes a major event to happen in their lives before they will finally obey the truth. We must be careful today that we don’t try to comprise the truth or allow ourselves to become so stubborn like the Pharaoh was.