Lesson 18 – Let My People Go

1.     Moses leaves Midian

2.     Moses meets Aaron

3.     Moses and Aaron enlist the support of the Hebrew elders

4.     Moses meets with the Pharaoh

5.     Pharaoh punishes the people by making them collect their own straw to make bricks.

6.     The people are broken and will not listen to Moses.

  • Reading the Scripture
  • Study Questions
    • What do we think of God hardening hearts?

1.    Why might it be better for God to harden hearts than to think otherwise in such cases of injustice?
God is in control
What is more encouraging -- to believe that Pharaoh was defying God, or to believe the defiance was part of God's Plan?

2.    Was that fair to Pharaoh, if God hardened his heart and then punished him for it?

3.    What if God hardened your heart and then punished you for it?

4.    Where do hardened hearts exist for us, and in the world?

5.    Have there been times in your life when seemingly bad things have occurred that later appear to have helped you to change your life for the better?

    • Miracles

1.    Do we believe that these all happened as it is recorded? Or has it been touched up a bit?

2.    Is it important to us that the miracles happened exactly as the scripture says?

3.    Are there areas in your life that God is seeking to liberate you, but your heart is too hard?

 

  • Memory verse: Exodus 15:2a

Yahweh is my strength and my might, and has become my salvation.

 

Bible Background (taken from Journey through the Bible, Christian Board of Publications, 1995, p. 60)

1The story of the plagues in Egypt must have been told and retold many times before it was written down. Some unevenness does show up, leading scholars to think that there may once have been a series of seven plagues, later expanded to ten. Most of the plagues are catastrophes that happen from time to time in the Middle East, due to natural events in times of drought, dust storm, etc. But the story is woven together well, and makes several points that stand out clearly.

2First, we should note that when the challenge of Moses and Aaron is put to Pharaoh, matters are made worse, not better. Pharaoh requires that the Israelites go out themselves and gather the straw they need to make bricks. The expression "making bricks without straw" is really a misreading of the biblical story. The bricks still have straw, but the straw is not furnished to the brick makers; after Moses' interference, they have to gather straw for themselves, and they still must deliver the same number of bricks daily. The Israelite overseers, who have the pressure put on them by their Egyptian bosses, turn against Moses and tell him that he is going to get them all killed.

3Moses complains to God, but God tells Moses to remind the people that God is promising them not only freedom from slavery but a new home-land as well. Moses does so, without success. These slaves have had their spirits broken by the grinding oppression and the leanness of their lives. It is a familiar story: When people have suffered poverty and joblessness for years, they lose all capacity to hope, to believe that things can improve.

4Moses makes his move, along with Aaron, but not before God says that it is a part of God's plan for Pharaoh not to let the people go, not of his own accord. God will harden Pharaoh's heart. Actually, the text speaks in three ways about Pharaoh's hard heart. Sometimes, the text says that God will harden Pharaoh's heart. (See Exodus 7:3, for example.) At other times, we read that Pharaoh hardens his own heart, stubbornly refusing to let the people go, even though (as his own advisers point out) it would be best for Egypt to do so. And still other texts speak more generally: Pharaoh's heart just gets hard. These are good clues to the fact that ancient Israelites did not view God's guidance of this struggle between Pharaoh and Moses in some mechanical way. God was involved in the struggle, often as a silent but present partner, while human being did their part. Probably the storytellers intended to make clear to hearers and readers the following points: (1) God would harden Pharaoh's heart from time to time to assure that he and the Egyptians did not get off too lightly for having enslaved and tortured the Israelites. People have to pay for their evil deeds. (2) Pharaohs and kings and other leaders of countries are proud and stubborn people, often insisting on their own way even if it brings terrible harm on the people they are supposed to lead and protect. (3) At the same time, hardness of heart, human mistreatment of other human beings, is and remains a mystery. Just as we ourselves hurt people needlessly, doing harm that we really had not intended to do, so also world leaders like Pharaoh sometimes just get mean and vicious and refuse to do what is right. This theme of hardness of heart, then, offers a clue to the mystery of God's guidance of the world. God has a plan, a purpose, and pursues that plan. Human beings have freedom and can cooperate with God's plan, but they often reject it.

5The series of plagues comes. First, there are nuisance plagues, hard to take, but not threatening to the lives of the people. (The water is turned blood red, frogs cover the land, gnats swarm over the land, and then flies come.) But then, the plagues hit home more severely: Animals contract diseases, boils afflict animals and humans alike, a hailstorm comes that ruins the Egyptian crops (but not the Israelite crops), and locusts devour everything in sight. Then comes a darkness so deep that one seems to be able to feel it. What can be happening?

6Pharaoh sometimes repents and agrees to let the people go, but then changes his mind. At last he offers to let Moses and the people go into the wilderness to worship God, but they must leave their livestock and other possessions. But Moses will accept no compromise. The people are instructed to borrow treasures from their Egyptian neighbors in preparation for departure. The people lend (which really means they give) treasures to them because they want these slaves, who have such a powerful God, to leave Egypt for good. So the stage is set for the final test. Pharaoh has one more opportunity to let the slaves go to freedom. If he does not, then the tenth plague will strike: The firstborn children of all the Egyptians, and the firstborn of all their livestock as well, will surely die. It need not be so, but it will be so unless the Egyptians are finally ready to give up their slaves. Will Pharaoh do so, or will he stubbornly refuse, even if it costs him the life of his own son and the lives of the firstborn of all the Egyptian families? We can see that when freedom comes, it often takes a terrible, terrible toll in human life.

 

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 Scripture

Exodus 6:28-11:10

28 On the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

29 he said to him, "I am Yahweh; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you." 

30 But Moses said in Yahweh's presence, "Since I am a poor speaker, why would Pharaoh listen to me?" 

                                                                                        CHAPTER 7                                                                                      

1 Yahweh said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 

2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land. 

3 But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. 

4 When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 

5 The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them." 

6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as Yahweh commanded them.

7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh. 

8 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron,

9 "When Pharaoh says to you, 'Perform a wonder,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.'" 

10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as Yahweh had commanded; Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 

11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their secret arts. 

12 Each one threw down his staff, and they became snakes; but Aaron's staff swallowed up theirs. 

13 Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as Yahweh had said. 

14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; stand by at the river bank to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake. 

16 Say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, "Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness." But until now you have not listened.' 

17 Thus says Yahweh, "By this you shall know that I am Yahweh. " See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood. 

18 The fish in the river shall die, the river itself shall stink, and the Egyptians shall be unable to drink water from the Nile.'" 

19 Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt--over its rivers, its canals, and its ponds, and all its pools of water--so that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout the whole land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'" 

20 Moses and Aaron did just as Yahweh commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the river, and all the water in the river was turned into blood,

21 and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt. 

22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts; so Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them;  as Yahweh had said. 

23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. 

24 And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river. 

25 Seven days passed after Yahweh had struck the Nile.

                                                                                        CHAPTER 8                                                                                      

1 Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 

2 If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. 

3 The river shall swarm with frogs; they shall come up into your palace, into your bedchamber and your bed, and into the houses of your officials and of your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. 

4 The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your officials.'" 

5 And Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, the canals, and the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.'" 

6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 

7 But the magicians did the same by their secret arts, and brought frogs up on the land of Egypt. 

8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, "Pray to Yahweh to take away the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to Yahweh." 

9 Moses said to Pharaoh, "Kindly tell me when I am to pray for you and for your officials and for your people, that the frogs may be removed from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile." 

10 And he said, "Tomorrow." Moses said, "As you say! So that you may know that there is no one like Yahweh our God, the frogs shall leave you and your houses and your officials and your people; they shall be left only in the Nile." 

12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried out to Yahweh concerning the frogs that he had brought upon Pharaoh. 

13 And Yahweh did as Moses requested: the frogs died in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 

14 And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank.

15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to them, just as Yahweh had said. 

16 Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt.'" 

17 And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came on humans and animals alike; all the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt. 

18 The magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, but they could not. There were gnats on both humans and animals. 

19 And the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God!" But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as Yahweh had said. 

20 Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 

21 For if you will not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, your officials, and your people, and into your houses;  and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies;  so also the land where they live. 

22 But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I Yahweh am in this land. 

23 Thus I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign shall appear tomorrow.'" 

24 Yahweh did so, and great swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh and into his officials' houses; in all of Egypt the land was ruined because of the flies. 

25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land." 

26 But Moses said, "It would not be right to do so; for the sacrifices that we offer to Yahweh our God are offensive to the Egyptians. If we offer in the sight of the Egyptians sacrifices that are offensive to them, will they not stone us? 

27 We must go a three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to Yahweh our God as he commands us." 

28 So Pharaoh said, "I will let you go to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the wilderness, provided you do not go very far away. Pray for me." 

29 Then Moses said, "As soon as I leave you, I will pray to Yahweh that the swarms of flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh, from his officials, and from his people; only do not let Pharaoh again deal falsely by not letting the people go to sacrifice to Yahweh." 

30 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to Yahweh.

31 And Yahweh did as Moses asked: he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his officials, and from his people; not one remained. 

32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and would not let the people go. 

                                                                                       CHAPTER 9                                                                                       

1 Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 

2 For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, the hand of Yahweh will strike with a deadly pestilence your livestock in the field: the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 

4 But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing shall die of all that belongs to the Israelites.'" 

5 Yahweh set a time, saying, "Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land." 

6 And on the next day Yahweh did so; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the livestock of the Israelites not one died. 

7 Pharaoh inquired and found that not one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the people go. 

8 Then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw it in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 

9 It shall become fine dust all over the land of Egypt, and shall cause festering boils on humans and animals throughout the whole land of Egypt." 

10 So they took soot from the kiln, and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses threw it in the air, and it caused festering boils on humans and animals. 

11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils afflicted the magicians as well as all the Egyptians. 

12 But Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he would not listen to them, just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses. 

13 Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, and say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 

14 For this time I will send all my plagues upon you yourself, and upon your officials, and upon your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 

15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 

16 But this is why I have let you live: to show you my power, and to make my name resound through all the earth. 

17 You are still exalting yourself against my people, and will not let them go. 

18 Tomorrow at this time I will cause the heaviest hail to fall that has ever fallen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 

19 Send, therefore, and have your livestock and everything that you have in the open field brought to a secure place; every human or animal that is in the open field and is not brought under shelter will die when the hail comes down upon them.'" 

20 Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of Yahweh hurried their slaves and livestock off to a secure place. 

21 Those who did not regard the word of Yahweh left their slaves and livestock in the open field. 

22 Yahweh said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that hail may fall on the whole land of Egypt, on humans and animals and all the plants of the field in the land of Egypt." 

23 Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and Yahweh sent thunder and hail, and fire came down on the earth. And Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt;  there was hail with fire flashing continually in the midst of it, such heavy hail as had never fallen in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 

25 The hail struck down everything that was in the open field throughout all the land of Egypt, both human and animal; the hail also struck down all the plants of the field, and shattered every tree in the field. 

26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail. 

27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "This time I have sinned; Yahweh is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 

28 Pray to Yahweh! Enough of God's thunder and hail! I will let you go; you need stay no longer." 

29 Moses said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to Yahweh; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is Yahweh's. 

30 But as for you and your officials, I know that you do not yet fear Yahweh God." 

31 (Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.  But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are late in coming up.) 

33 So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and stretched out his hands to Yahweh; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the earth. 

34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned once more and hardened his heart, he and his officials. 

35 So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as Yahweh had spoken through Moses. 

                                                                                       CHAPTER 10                                                                                      

1 Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his officials, in order that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I have made fools of the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them--so that you may know that I am Yahweh." 

3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 

4 For if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country. 

5 They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the last remnant left you after the hail, and they shall devour every tree of yours that grows in the field. 

6 They shall fill your houses, and the houses of all your officials and of all the Egyptians--something that neither your parents nor your grandparents have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.'"  Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. 

7 Pharaoh's officials said to him, "How long shall this fellow be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship Yahweh their God; do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?" 

8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, "Go, worship Yahweh your God! But which ones are to go?" 

9 Moses said, "We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, because we have Yahweh's festival to celebrate." 

10 He said to them, "Yahweh indeed will be with you, if ever I let your little ones go with you! Plainly, you have some evil purpose in mind.  

11 No, never! Your men may go and worship Yahweh, for that is what you are asking." And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. 

12 Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may come upon it and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left." 

13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night; when morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts. 

14 The locusts came upon all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever shall be again. 

15 They covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was black; and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left; nothing green was left, no tree, no plant in the field, in all the land of Egypt. 

16 Pharaoh hurriedly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against Yahweh your God, and against you. 

17 Do forgive my sin just this once, and pray to Yahweh your God that at the least he remove this deadly thing from me." 

18 So he went out from Pharaoh and prayed to Yahweh.

19 Yahweh changed the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea; not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. 

20 But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go. 

21 Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt." 

22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was dense darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. 

23 People could not see one another, and for three days they could not move from where they were; but all the Israelites had light where they lived. 

24 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses, and said, "Go, worship Yahweh. Only your flocks and your herds shall remain behind. Even your children may go with you." 

25 But Moses said, "You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings to sacrifice to Yahweh our God. 

26 Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must choose some of them for the worship of Yahweh our God, and we will not know what to use to worship Yahweh until we arrive there." 

27 But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was unwilling to let them go. 

28 Then Pharaoh said to him, "Get away from me! Take care that you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.  " 

29 Moses said, "Just as you say! I will never see your face again."

                                                                                       CHAPTER 11                                                                                      

1 Yahweh said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go from here; indeed, when he lets you go, he will drive you away. 

2 Tell the people that every man is to ask his neighbor and every woman is to ask her neighbor for objects of silver and gold." 

3 Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, Moses himself was a man of great importance in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's officials and in the sight of the people. 

4 Moses said, "Thus says Yahweh: About midnight I will go out through Egypt. 

5 Every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the female slave who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 

6 Then there will be a loud cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as has never been or will ever be again. 

7 But not a dog shall growl at any of the Israelites--not at people, not at animals--so that you may know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. 

8 Then all these officials of yours shall come down to me, and bow low to me, saying, 'Leave us, you and all the people who follow you.'  After that I will leave." And in hot anger he left Pharaoh. 

9 Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you, in order that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt." 

10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; but Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.     

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