MONDAY 11 October 2021 “Livestock” Exodus 9:1-7

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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends, as we begin a new week together in our journey with Moses.

I wonder what ‘financial security’ means to you my friends all around the world? In some societies, ‘financial security’ is found in having many children who will be working to provide and care for you in your old age. In other societies it’s a dependence on the government to provide social benefits including health care, a steading income in your old age, and perhaps even housing. In some societies it means farmlands and gardens, while in other places it’s animals, even only a few such as camels or cows or sheep and goats. In Egypt, in the days of Moses, for the Pharaoh part of his financial security was a very large slave population doing much of the hard labor of the country. For many Egyptians their financial security was in their animals, so when Moses received word from God that the next plague would strike the livestock, oh my that was a big deal! Come on friends, let’s rejoin Moses as once again he is hearing a fresh and troublesome word from God.

“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD the God of the Hebrews says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me….” (Ex. 9:1) Pause just a moment. Repeatedly Moses has been telling Pharaoh WHO the Almighty God is… as Moses uses His name “the LORD”. That’s the name God explained to Moses at his burning bush encounter as recorded in Exodus 3, remember? God has repeatedly instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh that “the LORD” has a special relationship with those Hebrew slaves. God calls them “My people”!

Also, “the LORD” has repeatedly told Pharaoh to allow these enslaved Hebrews to get out of their mud pits and take a several day journey away from Egypt for the primary purpose of worshiping their God as a large assembly of God’s people. And finally, each time God has sent a message to Pharaoh through Moses it has come with a warning. If the Pharaoh refuses, then God will send some great calamity upon the land and people, the leadership and even the Pharaoh himself. But each time Pharaoh’s heart has grown more and more hard and stubborn. In part it’s Pharaoh’s pride, but it’s also God actually hardening Pharaoh’s heart, providing God more opportunity to prove Himself as unique and as the only true, living, all powerful God. It has been a remarkable few weeks for Pharaoh, his Egyptians, Moses and Aaron and the Hebrew slaves! I doubt any of us can really imagine what those days were like.

God had made it clear that the purpose of these cataclysmic, disastrous plagues is twofold… first so the Egyptians and Pharaoh will recognize the God of the Hebrews is the only true, living God. And secondly, so the Pharaoh will finally surrender and release these nearly 1 million Hebrew slaves, not just for a day or two, but permanently! The message Moses was hearing from God in Exodus 9 continues: “Tell Pharaoh, ‘if you refuse to let the Hebrews go and continue to hold them back, the hand of the LORD will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field, on your horses and donkeys, camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. But, the LORD will again make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animals belonging to the Israelites will die.” (Ex. 9:2-4)

Now let’s pause again for just a moment. Did you notice God gives Moses three different words by which God describes the slaves He wants released? First God calls them “the Hebrews”, the same word He has used many times. It refers to the fact they are descendants of Abraham from the land of Canaan. Secondly, God calls them “Israel” in contrast to “Egypt”. In this way God is contrasting two great nations each of which have their own culture, customs, geographical land and even language. Finally God calls them “Israelites”, and here God is referring to the fact that this huge group of people can EACH and ALL trace their family heritage back to one of the 12 sons of the grandson of Abraham known as Jacob whom God renamed Israel.

Also, did you notice the focus of this particular plague? The financial security of a very large portion of the Egyptian people and their economy! Just think about how much of Egyptian life would be affected if a large portion of the Egyptian livestock perished! But did you also notice God once again predicted that a clear distinction would be made between ownership of the livestock. Only livestock owned by Egyptians would die! I wonder if you see the very significant difference between this plague & the plague of flies which also did not affect the Hebrews? With the flies it was as if God created an invisible curtain all around the land of Goshen where the Hebrew slaves lived, which stretched from the ground all the way up into the stratosphere. That curtain kept the flies OUT of Goshen! But this plague on the livestock was not a geographical plague it was an OWNERSHIP plague!

Look at Pharaoh! His eyes are squinting as he looks out the window as he listens to Moses. Out there he sees wonderful livestock and because of the frogs, the gnats and the flies, Pharaoh knows he cannot discount Moses’ warning. So Pharaoh looks at the fields of livestock and imagines them lying on their backs on the ground with the legs flailing as they die. Oh it would be a terrible economic blow to Egypt and to thousands, maybe millions of Egyptians who depend on their animals for nearly everything. But look closely. I see Pharaoh turning his head back and forth… looking out the window at the livestock, and looking back at Moses. In his mind Pharaoh is asking one question… ‘How could this God of Moses possibly distinguish between the animals? How could this God kill one cow, the one owned by an Egyptian, but let another cow in the same grazing pasture live because it was owned by a Hebrew? No god can know that much detail about people and their lives, their financial holdings. That’s simply impossible.’

Is that impossible, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends around the world? How much do you think God knows about you and me and all of us? Perhaps the better question is this: ‘Is there anything, anything at all, that God does NOT know about you or me or any person, anywhere on this planet? If so, what is it, and why doesn’t God know about it?’

No, the truth is God is ALL KNOWING. It’s called Omniscience. There is no piece of information, from eternity past to eternity future, that God does NOT know! Now ponder the significance of that statement!

Let’s rejoin Moses and Pharaoh, as Pharaoh keeps staring out his palace window. The Exodus record says: “The LORD set a time and Moses said, ‘Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land.’ And the next day the LORD did it: The livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. Pharaoh sent men to investigate and they found it to be true, not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died! Yet Pharaoh’s heart was unyielding and he would not let the Hebrews go.” (Ex. 9:5-7) Oh my, oh my! Do you see something new and terribly devastating here my friends? Up to now, the plagues have been troublesome and very inconvenient, but now the lives and livelihood of the Egyptians is directly affected and not just for today. Can you imagine how long it would take the Egyptians to raise up herds and flocks again to replace all that would be lost? But with Pharaoh, his prideful, angry, hard heart was unmoved.

Oh my friends, have you ever seen this depth of pride, arrogance, anger, stubbornness in someone? Is there even a little bit of it in you and me? Once again God calls us to stand amazed as we consider this plague. Amazed at the incredible omniscience of God in distinguishing ownership of the animals, but also we should be amazed at how dark, hard, stubborn, immovable, untouchable an angry heart can become. And oh what great damage can be inflicted by such angry hearts. But one last question… do you know anyone today, who once had a heart like Pharaoh’s but then they met Jesus, and they are entirely different today? I hope so! Here’s a song to help us consider that heart changing power of Jesus, is there someone you know who needs the life change Jesus can bring to them?

Today’s Scripture is Exodus 9:1-7.

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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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