Day 34 - The First 7 Plagues

The story moves quickly today. We encounter the first seven plagues: turning the water to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, death of livestock, boils, and then hail. In the first two plagues you see that the magicians of Egypt are able to replicate what Moses and Aaron declare, but from that point on they are unable to do so and their response in the third plague is: This is the finger of God! (8:19).

Yet we also continuously see a repeated pattern: the plague comes, Pharaoh pleads, the Lord relents, and Pharaoh’s heart is hardened. But look back at 7:14: Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn, and he still refuses to let the people go.” This was after Aaron’s staff (snake) swallowed the staffs (snakes) of the magicians.And it is interesting that the NLT didn’t say his heart was hard - and that’s because it’s a different word. It could be translated as his heart was heavy.

John Currid gave some help in understanding the background to this concept:

“At this time the Egyptians believed that when someone died the person went to judgement in the underworld. The individual’s heart—which was thought to be the very essence of the person—was weighed on the scales of truth. On one pan sat the feather of truth and righteousness; on the other lay the heart of the deceased. If the heart was heavy or weighty with misdeeds, the person was unjust, condemned and thrown to the Devouress to be eaten. If the heart was pure, the deceased would go to the Egyptian afterlife.

In the exodus account the verdict that Pharaoh’s heart was heavy reflects the concept of his heart being filled with iniquity and injustice. His dealings with Israel, and for that matter his own character in general, were unrighteous. God was simply judging Pharaoh as one with a heavy, sinful heart!”

( Currid, J. D. (2000). A Study Commentary on Exodus: Exodus 1–18 (Vol. 1, pp. 165–166). Evangelical Press.)

Once again the condition of the heart of man is vital.