January 2000
Exodus Chapters 6-7
Moses was somewhat dejected after the Pharaoh rejected his first demand to let the children of Israel leave Egypt. In fact, his request had simply made the Pharaoh increase the burdens against the people of Israel.
Moses returned to visit with God. Moses asked the Lord why the Lord had sent Moses to Pharaoh. The result was worsened conditions for the Israelites who now were also mad at Moses. The Lord wasted no unnecessary words in his response to Moses, which begins the 6th chapter of Exodus.
"Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh..." Exodus 6:1. The Lord made very clear His explanation to Moses of who was in charge:
"I am the Lord."
The Lord then renewed His covenant to Moses for the Israelites. He reminded Moses that he had made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give to the Israelites "the land of Canaan". The Lord said He hears the cries of the Israel people being held bondage in Egypt and the said: "I have remembered my covenant." Exodus 6:5.
"I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
"And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." Exodus 6:6-7.
Moses tried to go and convince the Israelites that they would be saved, but they did not believe him because Moses’ last efforts had only increased their bondage. The Lord then instructed Moses: Go speak again to the Pharaoh and tell him to "let the children of Israel go out of his land."
Moses questioned the Lord’s instruction, asking why should the Pharaoh listen to him. The Lord responded, charging Moses and his brother Aaron to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. The remainder of the 6th chapter of Exodus provides the Lord’s description of the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel and the genealogies since the original sons of Jacob of about 500 years earlier. Exodus 6:8-30.
At the beginning of the 7th chapter of Exodus, the Lord renews his charge to Moses and Aaron to go unto the Pharaoh and get the Israelites freed. Moses was 80 years old at the time and Aaron was 83.
The Lord instructed Moses and Aaron to be prepared to show the Pharaoh a miracle if the Pharaoh questions their authority as representatives of the Lord. The Lord told Aaron to cast down his rod and it would turn into a snake.
Moses and Aaron then again confronted the Pharaoh. Aaron cast down his rod and it became a snake. The Pharaoh then called upon his court of magicians, and they appeared to do the same thing, producing snakes on the floor. when they threw down their rods. However, Aaron’s rod swallowed up the magician’s rods. Exodus 7:12.
The Lord then gave more miracle powers to Moses and Aaron. The Lord told Moses and Aaron to meet the Pharaoh the next morning at the side of the river. Using their rod, they were to say to Pharaoh: "The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness..." If the Pharaoh did not respond the rod was to be cast into the river and turn the water into blood.
Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In front of the Pharaoh they put the rod into the river, and the water turned into blood. The river began stinking and the fish all died. They waved the rod over the land and all the water in Egypt turned into blood. There was no water to drink or bathe. The Pharaoh’s magicians copied the miracle with a trick of their own.
However, the Egyptians began digging wells trying to find water. Seven days passed with the water remaining as blood.
The Pharaoh still refused to free the Israelites.