The Fifth Plague (Ex. 9:1-7)

4/4/2008 10:21 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time           Focus:  The Fifth Plague

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 9:1-7

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and speak to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me.  2  "For if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them, 3  behold, the hand of the LORD will come with a very severe pestilence on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks. 4  "But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel."’"  5  The LORD set a definite time, saying, "Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land."  6  So the LORD did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died.  7  Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.”

            What were some of the reasons that God was bringing these plagues upon the nation of Egypt?  I think the first reason is really quite obvious, and that is so that Pharaoh will let the children of Israel leave Egypt to worship God.  God was also showing Pharaoh and the leaders of Egypt that He is the One and only True and living God.  The next reason is God was exposing to Egypt that the gods that they worshiped were false gods including Pharaoh.  God was also reminding His chosen people that He was fighting for them and they could trust Him to take care of them.

            Now onto the fifth plague, and that plague was told to Pharaoh by Moses, that there would come some sort of pestilence upon the livestock of the Egyptians that would kill all that are in the fields that belonged to the Egyptians.  The reason that it is said that only the livestock that were in the field is because there is more livestock mentioned in the next plague.  Again there is a distinction between the livestock of Egypt and that of Israel, as none of the livestock of Israel were killed. 

            After this plague took place Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened against the Lord.  “The opposite of a hard heart is a heart that fears God, and that reverential fear motivates us to obey the Lord’s commands.”  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  “How blessed is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.”   Paul writes these words to the Ephesian church, “17 ¶  So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18  being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.”  (Eph. 4:17-18)

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I would think that the best thing that I can take from this section of Scripture is to remember that I should not have a hard heart towards the thing of the Lord, but to fear the Lord as Proverb 9:10 says.  I also want to remember the word used in verse four concerning the livestock of Israel, and that word is distinction.  Distinction means to set apart and that is what God did for the livestock of the children of Israel, and what He did for the children of Israel, and what He has done for me, for He has set me apart for His wonderful salvation, set me apart so that I might worship Him and serve Him.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord for the financial trouble that we find ourselves in at this time of our life.

Memory verse for the week:                       Philippians 3:8

8.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.