Introduction: Read Exodus6v26to10v29.

I do not intend to go through the plagues one by one appealing and fascinating though they are. Rather, I will examine whether the contest between God and Pharaoh has any lessons for us today.

(1) God's commitment to human freedom.

Surely the easiest thing for God to have done would have been to manipulate Pharaoh's brain. If his brain was flooded with endorphins at the thought of letting the Israelites go; if he consequently felt euphoric about granting them a jaunt into the desert, then surely he would have conceded to Moses' request! But God does not act like this!

There was a huge contrast between the attitudes of Pharaoh and Cyrus king of Persia. Cyrus allowed the Jewish exiles back to their homeland to rebuild the temple. We are told in the book of Ezra: The LORD moved the heart of the king of Persia .... . Ez1v1. But God no more manipulated Cyrus than he did Pharaoh. There were a number of factors that contributed to Cyrus' decision. The Israelites were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. The Persians defeated the Babylonians and took over their empire. They could afford to be magnanimous to the Jews. We must not overlook the influence of Daniel who prospered during the reigns of the Persian kings, Darius and Cyrus. See Dan6v27. Daniel was a very high ranking official in the Persian empire and doubtless spoke up for his people and encouraged Cyrus to let them return to Judea.

God has many ways of achieving his purpose but he alway does so under the constraint of leaving men free and responsible for their actions.

(2) God marshalled natural catastrophes to force Pharaoh's hand.

You could argue that God used force to change Pharaoh's attitude. The king could have agreed to the request of Moses and Aaron at their first meeting. Instead Pharaoh said: "Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go?" 5v2. This was Pharaoh's settled and uncompromising position: "Who is the LORD." He was determined to hold on to his Hebrew slave labour force. If he let them go a three day journey into the desert he would never be able to round them up again.

Pharaoh did not know who he was up against. God used naturally occurring phenomena in a way that exerted great pressure on Pharaoh. The first plagues were unpleasant and inconvenient without being life threatening. It is possible drought reduced the flow of the Nile so that a red algal bloom developed. This would reduce the oxygen content of the water so that fish died. It might also cause the frogs to take to dry land. Stagnant water is good for mosquitoes (gnats) and the heaps of dead frogs would be just the place for bluebottles to lay their eggs to later produce a plague of flies. So it is possible the first four plagues were related.

Eventually the plagues become more and more serious resulting in loss of livestock, crops, health and life. The last three may be linked to unusual weather conditions: violent thunder storms, a strong west wind and a prolonged sandstorm that blotted out the light.

Pharaoh's intransigence plunged the country into crisis. His advisors appreciated the situation. They told him: "Do you not realise that Egypt is ruined?"

Pharaoh knew the LORD was in control. The plagues started and ended when Moses, the LORD's spokesman, said they would. The Israelites, in the land of Goshen, escaped all but the first three plagues. Pharaoh checked to confirm that this was so.

In the end Pharaoh had to concede defeat. God forced him to let the Hebrews go.

Some people might question God's strategy. Couldn't he just have targeted Pharaoh and his advisors? If Pharaoh had suffered one bodily ill after another - each successive malady being more distressing than the last - surely this would have had the desired outcome. I think we must assume that the Egyptian people were complicit in the enslavement of the Israelites.

Before we question God for using force we need to remember what transpired when the northern states of the U.S.A. decided to abolish slavery. The southern states seceded from the Union and civil war broke out. The northern states FORCED the south to comply. There is no doubt that the south suffered greatly from the war and the years of neglect that followed. Some innocent people suffered but this was considered a price worth paying to remedy a great evil.

The same sort of thing happened in the Second World War. Hitler had to be stopped. No civilised country can stand idly by and let a wicked group of rulers practice genocide. The German people, including some who were innocent of any wrongdoing, suffered because as a whole they did nothing to stop the persecution of the Jews. The Americans dropped two atom bombs on Japan because their leaders were intransigent and unwilling to surrender. It would have cost the Americans huge loss of life to take all the Japanese islands.

God will not allow rampant evil to go unchecked. Sometimes he harnesses the forces of nature and on other occasions the combined forces of men to achieve his purpose. The surprising thing is that God rarely intervenes. The ten plagues of Egypt are almost a one off.

(3) The use of force is an imperfect instrument for changing hearts.

I think quite a lot of Christians enjoy the account of the ten plagues of Egypt. God taught Pharaoh a lesson for being contemptuous of him. God displayed his power. None could control the forces of nature like the LORD. In the end Pharaoh was compelled to give in. There are militant believers who would love God to smite their enemies hip and thigh; to put the opposition to flight!

The problem with using force is that it doesn't soften hearts. It can do the very opposite. It can do what it did in Pharaoh's case - harden a heart. From beginning to end Pharaoh did not want to free the Hebrew slaves. They were a huge economic asset. There are three indications of the king's unwavering purpose:

(a) During the worst of the plagues Pharaoh promised to let the Hebrews go into the desert if only Moses' God would bring the suffering to an end. As soon as a plague was over Pharaoh reneged on his promise.

Many folk are just like Pharaoh. When they are in trouble they make promises to God. If only God will deliver them they will mend their ways and be at church every Sunday. As soon as the situation improves their promises are forgotten.

(b) As the plagues progressed Pharaoh sought a compromise. He proposed that:

• The Israelites worship the LORD in Egypt. See 8v25.

• The Israelites go into the desert but not too far. See 8v28.

• Only the Hebrew men should go and make sacrifices to the LORD. See 10v11.

• Every one could go but the flocks and herds must be left behind. See 10v24.

Pharaoh did not have much success in getting Moses to compromise. I fear Satan is more successful. Here are some comparable strategies he uses:

• You don't have to go to church - you can worship God just as well in your own home. How can anyone obey Jesus and love their fellow Christians if their religion is a private affair.

• There is no need to take Christianity too far. It is taking things to extremes to meet for worship more than once a week.

• It is wrong to inflict your beliefs on your children. They shouldn't be made to attend church - let them stay at home and play computer games.

• Christianity has nothing to do with business - flocks and herds! It is best to keep Christianity out of business altogether.

(c) In the end Pharaoh was forced to let the Israelites go. God succeeded in his aim of freeing his people but Pharaoh's heart remained hard. Pharaoh had second thoughts and sent his army after the Israelites. He could not bear to lose his free labour.

Sometimes force has to be used to overcome a great evil, however, better by far to get results by changing hearts. I am sure Daniel and other Jews in high places within the Persian administration used their influence to persuade Cyrus to allow the Jews to return to their own land. Cyrus was won over to the extent that he handed back the articles of silver and gold that Nebuchadnezzar had looted from the temple and placed in the temple of his god.

Jesus foreswore the sword. He told Peter who brandished a sword at his arrest, "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels." Mt26v52and53. Yet there have been periods in history when Christians have resorted to coercion and terror to make converts.

(4) Moses grows in the job.

Moses initially was very reluctant to be involved - especially after his first early setback. He said to God: "Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?" 6v30. God must have been pretty fed up by now with the excuses of Moses but with great forbearance he tells his reluctant spokesman that Aaron can be his prophet because: "I have made you like God to Pharaoh."

Aaron begins by acting on behalf of Moses. He is the one that stretches out his staff at the commencement of the first three plagues. However, by the fourth plague Moses is in control. He is the one who argues with Pharaoh about the conditions needed for sacrificing to the LORD. From now on Moses is in the forefront. He is the one who negotiates with Pharaoh and stretches out his staff to begin and end the remaining plagues.

We can see how much Moses' confidence and authority have grown by how he addresses Pharaoh during the plague of darkness when the king says the Israelites can go worship the LORD but they must leave their herds and flocks behind. Moses retorts: "Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind." 10v24.

There is no doubt that if God calls a man or a woman to a task and it is taken up, albeit reluctantly, he, or she, will grow into it. There are many instances of this: Gideon, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, John Wesley, William Booth - and so one could go on.

The key to Moses' success is to be found in chapter7v6: And Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them. They stuck to the script. Many of us fail to realise our potential as Christ's servants because we deviate from the script he has left us.

Conclusion.

Pharaoh, notwithstanding the immense power he exercised, was not in control of the disasters that befell his country. The account of the 10 plagues of Egypt is a salutary reminder that nor are we. Prolonged drought, persistent volcanic ash clouds and influenza epidemics could have profound global repercussions. The Christian's only security resides in God.

Sovereign Ruler of the skies,
Ever gracious ever wise;
All my times are in Thy hand,
All events at Thy command.