Exodus 9 Devotional
by Pastor Mark Hudson
The narrative regarding the plagues is fascinating as God confronts the idolatry of the Egyptians. God is having his way with Pharaoh. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart for His own purpose. There are many reasons why the exodus happened the way it did. One, we know the Hebrews would not have gone on their own. Once they left they seemed to look with longing on their days of slavery.
Second, these plagues demonstrated God’s power over the idolatry of the gods of Egypt. As you may have heard in sermons or these devotions, the plagues are directed at the many gods the Egyptians worshipped Ex 12:12.
The plagues and the exodus was a way for the Hebrews to get gold and wealth. Of course, they used some of that gold to make the golden calf but they needed wealth for their trip Ex 12:36; 32:1ff
The plagues and the exodus exalted Moses in the eyes of the Hebrews Ex 11:3; 14:31; 34:32ff. Without the drama of these early chapters in Exodus would the Hebrews have trusted Moses enough to leave?
The plagues demonstrate God’s power to the Hebrews (Ex. 10:2) as well as the Egyptians 7:5; 12:12. God shows His power through
We also see a punitive reason for the Exodus. God was well aware of this injustice and he wanted to punish the Egyptians Ex 2:23ff; 9:17. Pharaoh was an evil man who enslaved the Hebrews treated them violently and cruelly. Egypt benefitted greatly from free labor. Pharaoh deserved the punishment from God.
Yet, the most important reason is found in v 16, “16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” This is the verse Paul uses in Romans 9, “16So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”
We must never think of God as limited or constrained. God is in absolute control of the universe, nations, economies of the world, ungodly political leaders, and every individual in the world. As R.C. Sproul used to say, there is no maverick molecule. See Ps. 115:3; Eph 1:11; Rom 11:33-36.
Permit a brief story. I was an Arminian (I was not Reformed at all) going into seminary. I did not believe in the truths I now believe the Bible teaches. I was sitting in a theology class learning what the Bible teaches about God. Going into seminary, I was not too knowledgeable about the Bible or theology. I loved seminary but it was all new to me. So these verses I was being taught are hammering away at my view of God. This went on for some time. I loved these truths but this was not my view of God.
One day, I realized I needed to make a decision. After all, I wanted to be a pastor. I either had to believe what the Bible so clearly taught or reject the teaching outright. I took a Bible, found a quiet place by a pond in the middle of the campus and vowed I would not get up until I decided once and for all what I believed. So I read Ephesians 1 and Romans 9. It was a rather short battle. I felt like I had no contrary response to what the Bible taught. I knew what the Bible taught. It was not hard to conclude that God was in absolute control. I left that area of the seminary with a commitment to the Biblical theology that I love, embrace and teach.
My encouragement to you is to read the Bible for yourself. We can’t answer our own objections let alone others at times. I don’t have it all figured out. No one has it all figured out completely. But I know what the Bible teaches about God. What a blessing to know that God “has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.” I can rest in that glorious truth as simple child. Maybe we need the inner posture of this psalm.
“O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me” Ps 131:1-2.