The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 7:10-12,
"So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs."
"So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs."
The Lord had sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh to demand he let the Israelites go into the desert to worship him. The Lord, anticipating Pharaoh would ask for a sign, told Moses to have Aaron throw his staff to the ground in front of Pharaoh and it would turn into a snake! A miraculous event!
When they did so, Pharaoh had his "wise men and sorcerers" do the same thing. How was that possible?
In reading Douglas K. Stuart's commentary on Exodus, "The New American Commentary", he provides four thoughts about this:
The first is that Moses and Aaron were not "magicians". God actually turned a wooden staff into a real bona-fide living snake. Pharaoh's boys were magicians who may have simply imitated what Moses and Aaron had performed through some kind of magical deception.
The second thought is that Pharaoh's magicians performed their work "by their secret arts" rather than any supernatural means (with the help of Satan, demons, etc.)
The third is that Aaron's snake swallowed up what Pharaoh's men produced, something they could not, nor even attempted to duplicate. The power of God through Moses and Aaron was vastly superior to their ability.
And, fourthly, it was God's intent to start small-scale. The miracle performed by Moses and Aaron was intentionally simple to draw Pharaoh into this God-ordained drama. God had hardened Pharaoh's heart intentionally to bring about this very dramatic exodus of Israel from Egypt and used this simple miracle that might appear to be duplicated in some way by Pharaoh's magicians.
The whole of it is quite an interesting tale. What are your thoughts on it?
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
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