Recap
So far in Exodus, we’ve witnessed the Israelites, descendants of Jacob, facing a grim reality in Egypt. Initially welcomed, their burgeoning population soon becomes a threat, leading to their enslavement and a chilling decree to kill all newborn Israelite boys. Amidst this darkness, Moses is born, saved by his mother's quick thinking and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter.

Raised in the royal palace, Moses is torn between his Israelite heritage and Egyptian upbringing. His inner turmoil erupts when he kills an Egyptian to protect an Israelite, forcing him into exile. In the wilderness, he marries a shepherd girl, continuing the biblical motif of significant encounters at wells. The narrative reaches a pivotal moment with the Burning Bush. God, identifying Himself as Yahweh, tasks Moses with liberating the Israelites.

But Moses comes up with excuse after excuse for why he shouldn’t be the one to save the Israelites, and we get the first time God is described as angry. But God being merciful allows for Aaron, Moses’ brother, to go with him and make up for Moses’ failings.

So Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and tell him to release their fellow Israelites. Instead, Pharaoh takes this as an insult and furthers oppresses the Israelites with more work. When the people and Moses complain to God, he reassures them that he will bring them out of slavery.

We then got a brief genealogy as a recap of how we got here. The tribe that gets the most focus is Levi, as this is the tribe both Moses and Aaron are from.

Exodus 7-9
Today’s reading has one of my favourite stories. Moses and Aaron are visiting Pharaoh and to show they are from God, Aaron throws his staff down and it turns into a snake. The magicians of Egypt came and also turned their staffs into snakes.

These guys had real power. Through their spells and incantations, stuff that the Bible associates with the demonic, they were able to perform this miraculous feat. But as soon as the staffs had been turned into snakes, Aaron’s snake ate them all up.

I believe this story has a lot to teach us about the demonic today. As Christians, we can fall into two different traps when it comes to the demonic. The first is we can believe it’s not real or that big a deal. But just as these magicians had very real power, demons and demonic forces are very real. By ignoring them or pretending like they don’t exist, we risk leaving our defences down when we need to have them up.

The second trap we can fall into is believing that the demonic is too powerful for us and that we should be afraid. While the demonic is real, its power is nothing compared to what we have through the Holy Spirit as Christians.

In the same way that Aaron’s snake was able to eat the magician’s snakes, no problem, we can have confidence that the Holy Spirit in us is stronger than any demonic forces that come against us. We don’t have to wrestle or fight against them. We merely stand in the truth of who we are in God.

We then have the first few waves of plagues. What’s interesting is that each of the ten plagues addresses a different Egyptian god. The Egyptians gods were in charge of different areas, but the plagues were there to show that God is more powerful than the Egyptian gods in every area.

1) Water turned into blood - Hapi (god of the Nile)

2) Frogs come from the river - Heket (goddess of fertility and water. Had the head of a frog)

3) Gnats from the dust of the earth - Geb (god of the earth)

4) Swarms of flies - Khepri (god of creation and rebirth. Had the head of a fly)

5) Death of cattle and livestock - Hathor (goddess of love and protection. Her animal form was a cow)

6) Boils and sores - Isis (goddess of medicine)

7) Hail fell from the sky - Nut (goddess of the sky)

8) Locusts from the sky - Seth (god of storms and disorder)

9) Three days of darkness - Ra (god of the sun)

10) Death of the firstborn - Pharoah (‘god’ over life and death of his subjects)
 We see God harden Pharaoh’s heart. We might think that’s unfair, that God forces Pharaoh to disobey him and then punishes him for it. But for the first five plagues, Pharaoh hardened his own heart, so God had given him plenty of chance.

While the magicians of Egypt were able to mimic the first two plagues, by the third their magic was no longer powerful enough. Even they realise that these plagues are from God (Exodus 8:18-19). Then, by the sixth plague, they can’t even stand before Moses because of the boils they had received (Exodus 9:11).

It’s also interesting that to begin with Aaron is the main guy who’s actually doing the plagues. God tells Moses, then Moses tells Aaron and Aaron does it. But as we read through the plagues, God does a few himself and then Moses starts to become the main guy. Almost as though God is easing Moses into taking full leadership of what he has commanded.

Psalm 19
This psalm is attributed to King David and falls into the category of wisdom psalm (see also Psalms 25; 34; 37; 49; 73; 111; 112; 128). These psalms focus primarily on sharing wisdom with the reader and often reference the Torah or God’s law (the scriptures).

Psalm 19:1-6 - Nature declares God’s glory

Psalm 19:7-11 - Scripture declares God’s goodness

Psalm 19:12-14 - The psalmist ponders how their life declares God’s praise
The psalmist opens with a powerful truth. All creation declares God’s glory. It is constantly calling out as an example of his handiwork.

While this creation may not have words to speak, its message is clear. There is a creator, God. Perhaps the pinnacle of God’s creation is the sun, as it provides life and light to all.

As the psalmist moves into the next section of the psalm, they focus on God’s law. The scriptures. While the first half of the psalm talks about God (el), the second half uses God’s name Yahweh (often translated as LORD). Nature declares that there is a god, but scripture tells you his name and his nature.

And so the psalmist goes on to list all the characteristics of God’s law;

Yahweh’s law is perfect - it revives the soul
Yahweh’s law is a trust testimony - it makes the simple wise
Yahweh’s laws are right instructions - they rejoice the heart
Yahweh’s law is a pure commandment - it enlightens the eyes
The fear of Yahweh’s law is clean - it endures forever
Yahweh’s law is a righteous set of rules
Yahweh’s law is worth more than gold
Yahweh’s law is more pleasant than honey
Yahweh’s law warns his servants (to avoid danger/sin) and rewards those who keep it
Having observed nature and scripture, the psalmist now looks inwardly at how their own life declares Yahweh’s goodness. They ask the Lord to search them and point out their faults. They don’t want to be guilty of anything unknowingly and dishonour God’s name.

The psalmist ends by asking that the state of their words and hearts be acceptable before God. As we look to the awesomeness of nature and the goodness of scripture, like the psalmist, we are led to look inward, to ask God to help us better declare his glory in our lives.