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VI. THE DUEL WITH PHARAOH, THE FIRST NINE PLAGUES, Ex. 5-10. We now come to some of the most dramatic scenes in the Bible. We are watching a contest between two opposing forces, that lasted for months between two 'great nations, and that changed the course of the history of the world. It is all the more fascinating because, in God's providence, there have recently come to light inscribed monuments which were hidden for thousands of years, which place before us the surroundings in which the contest took place, and even statues of some of the

actors.

The Question at Issue was the Freedom of a Nation. Will Egypt permit the Israelites to go free to their Promised Land?

Or will God through Moses compel Pharaoh to let them go?

A Skirmish. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and say to him: Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel, Let my people go a three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto Jehovah. 5:1-4.

Pharaoh answers by making the burdens of the Israelites heavier, and their oppression more bitter. 5:5-19.

The Israelites to Moses and Aaron You have put a sword in the hand of Pharaoh to slay us. We are worse off than before. 5:20-23.

Jehovah: I have heard their groaning; I will rid them out of their bondage; I will bring you to your promised land. 6:1-9.

A Second Skirmish. Moses and Aaron went again before Pharaoh and showed the sign of the rod becoming a serpent. The Egyptian magicians did the same and Pharaoh's heart was hardened. 6: 10, 11; 7: 8-13.

In all the nine plagues which follow there is a natural basis in God's laws of nature. The notes of time are those given in the Int. Crit. Com. The plagues cover a period of eight or nine months, from midsummer to the last of March the following year.

1. The First Contest; Turning the Waters of the Nile into Blood, 7: 15-25. In June, when the Nile was at a low stage. Pharaoh, walking on the banks of the Nile in the field of Zoan (Ps. 78: 12), refused to let the people go.

Aaron, at Moses' command, smote the waters of the river in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the waters in the river and ponds and pools fed by the river, turned into blood; and the fish died. This lasted seven days.

The magicians did the same, but the result was a victory for Moses because while they could produce the same result, apparently, with their enchantments, they could not relieve the distress, but only add more misery.

2. The Second Contest; The Frogs, 8: 1-15. In the early autumn, September, when the Nile had risen to its height. Again Pharaoh is threatened but refuses to let the people go.

Aaron, by command, stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. Frogs innumerable, everywhere.

The magicians did so with their enchantments, but they utterly failed to remove the frogs when desired.

This was only one of the natural troubles of the land greatly magnified, the coming and going of the increase being directly at the word of Moses that Pharaoh might "know that there is none like unto Jehovah.'

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Frogs in the houses, frogs in the beds, frogs baked with the food in the ovens, frogs in the kneading-troughs worked up with the flour; frogs with their monotonous croak, frogs with their cold slimy skins, everywhere, from morning to night, from night to morning, frogs.". - E. M. Merrins, M.D.

The plague was removed at the request of Pharaoh, at the exact time which he set, but he hardened his heart, and did not let the people go.

3. The Third Contest; The Plague of Lice, Ex. 8:16-19. In September or October. Aaron with his rod smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man and beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.

Note that for the first time the magicians failed to produce the same apparent result with their enchantments, because they had no time to prepare. No notice was this time given beforehand. Then they said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh refused to obey.

4. The Fourth Contest; The Plague of Flies, Ex. 8: 20-32. Here again warning of the plague was given to Pharaoh, but the magicians are not said to have attempted to produce the result. Another condition is stated. For the first time there is to be a distinction made between the Israelites and the Egyptians. The plague is to be

confined to Egypt; no swarms of flies are to come into Goshen, that "thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth."

This plague was in "October, in which month gnats and mosquitos are especially common in Egypt."

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Swarms of Flies. The Hebrew word, translated flies," expresses the idea either of incessant involved motion in a dense swarm, or more probably of a large number of varieties of insects."-Int. Crit. Com. Not only house-flies, but cattleflies, mosquitoes, fleas, midges, and all kinds of stinging insects. The Egyptians feared these insects as bringing the plague, and there was reason, for it is now well known that flies, mosquitoes, and fleas are among the principal agents of spreading pestilences and plagues. Cuba and the Canal Zone have been made free from yellow fever and malaria, and generally healthy, by destroying the mosquitoes in those regions.

Pharaoh is now ready to yield a little : I will let you go to sacrifice to Jehovah in the land of Egypt.

Moses: That will not do, lest our sacrifices to God be mingled with the abominations of the Egyptians.

Pharaoh: I will let you go, only not very far away.

Moses then promised to entreat Jehovah to remove the plague. It was done; but Pharaoh again hardened his heart, and would not let the people go. 5. The Fifth Contest; The Cattle Plague, Ex. 9: 1-7. pestilential effects of decaying matter spread by flying insects."

In November. "The

The murrain is "a malignant, epizootic contagious fever, affecting domestic animals." It is common in Egypt, especially after the subsidence of the Nile floods. This plague also was threatened beforehand, and the separation also made between the cattle of the people of Israel and of the Egyptians.

Pharaoh sent messengers into Goshen, " and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead." But he did not let the people go.

The Israelites were cattle raisers and shepherds; and the murrain was kept from them to prove God's care over his own "that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth." 9: 14.

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6. The Sixth Contest; Boils with Blains, Ex. 9: 8-11. In November-December. Boils, " a general term for ulcers and sores.' - Int. Crit. Com. "Blains " were ulcers, open sores. Probably the bubonic plague, which attacks animals as well as "Buboes with superficial carbuncles are the equivalent of boils with blains. The magicians "could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.'

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But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he still refused to let the Israelites go. 7. The Seventh Contest; A Cyclone of Hail and Flaming Fire, Ex. 9:13-35. "About the middle of January, when the barley was in the ear. "The cattle plagues had lasted 2 months."

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"The Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail."

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Pharaoh. Go, call Moses and Aaron. And he said unto them, I have sinned this time the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.'

But when the storm ceased he hardened his heart, and would not let the children of Israel go.

8. The Eighth Contest; The Plague of Locusts, Ex. 10: 1-20. Early in March. "The highly electrical storms begin 25 days before the vernal equinox. The east winds brought the locusts." - Dr. Merrins.

Moses and Aaron, to Pharaoh. "Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, or else I will bring the locusts into thy borders."

Pharaoh's servants. How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

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Pharaoh was willing that the men alone might go. But Moses insisted that all the people, young and old, with their flocks, should go. And Pharaoh drove them from his presence.

Moses stretched forth his rod over Egypt. An east wind brought locusts over the whole land. They covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was

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darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left and there remained not any green thing. . . through all the land of Egypt." "Before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after

them shall be such."

"A traveller gives an account of a similar visitation at Novgorod in 1646; The ground was all covered, and the air so full of them that I could not eat in my chambers without a candle; all the houses being full of them, even the stables, barns, chambers, garrets, and cellars. When a door was opened an infinite number came in. There was no opening one's mouth but some would get in. When we went to cut a piece of meat we cut a locust with it."

See accounts in the papers and magazines of the plague of locusts in Syria in the spring of 1914.

Pharaoh again begged for forgiveness and respite. The Lord brought a west wind which carried all the locusts into the Red Sea. But Pharaoh after all refused to let

the people go.

9. The Ninth Contest; The Plague of Darkness, Ex. 10: 21-29. The electrical storms charged with the darkening dust kept blowing into April. Whatever the natural basis, like that of the London fogs, or clouds of sand from the desert, the intense darkness was supernatural in its intensity, and perhaps also the nervous depression which often accompanies it.

The effect was increased by the fact that Goshen was exempt.

Pharaoh was so deeply impressed that he yielded a little more than before, and offered to let the people go with their children, provided they left their flocks and herds in Egypt.

Moses refused this partial consent.

Pharaoh Then "get thee from me and see my face no more, or ye shall die." Moses : "Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more." (The tenth plague will be considered in the next lesson.)

LESSON III (16). — January 19.

THE PASSOVER. Exodus II: 1-12:36.
PRINT Exodus 12:1-14.

GOLDEN TEXT.

I COR. 5:7.

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Our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ.

Additional Material for Teachers: 2 Chron. 30: 1-27; 35: 1-19; Ps. 105: 36

38; Matt. 26: 26-29; Heb. 11: 28.

Primary Topic: PREPARING FOR A JOURNEY.

Memory Verse: He brought forth his people with joy. Ps. 105: 43. Junior Topic: A FESTIVAL OF DELIVERANCE.

Memory Verses: Ps. 107: 13-15.

Intermediate Topic: THE MEANING OF THE PASSOVER.
Senior and Adult Topic: VALUE OF RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS.

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THE ROUND TABLE.

FOR RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION. The Passover Feast:

How celebrated.

Its purpose and value.

Why no leaven was used.
Meaning of the bitter herbs.

How the blood saved those who placed it on their
houses.

Other noted Passovers in the history, of the Hebrews.
Meaning of the people being ready to march.
Christ our Passover, illustrated by this first Passover.
The death of the first-born of the Egyptians.
Borrowing (asking) from the Egyptians.
The value of Memorial Days.

Exposi

THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY. Commentaries on Exodus : tor's Bible; McNeile in Westminster Commentary; International Critical Commentary; The New Century Bible. Edersheim's The Temple and Its Services. H. C. Trumbull's The Blood Covenant, and The Threshold Covenant. The Lord's Supper, in the Gospels. The description of "The Samaritan Passover," in Dr. Trumbull's Studies in Oriental Social Life.

THE LESSON IN ART.

The First Passover, Bonts,* Stuerbondt. Pharaoh urging Moses to leave Egypt, Doré.*

Departure of the Children of Israel, Veronese,* and by an unknown artist.* Moses, Michelangelo,* Dolci.*

INTRODUCTION. Nine great plagues falling upon Pharaoh and Egypt had failed to make him willing to let the children of Israel go free. He hardened his heart against giving permission; for to lose so many thousands of slaves from Egypt might have been disastrous. He therefore said to Moses, "Get thee from me . . . for in the day that thou seest my face thou shalt die." And Moses said, "Thou hast spoken well; I will see thy face again no more."

There was one more Plague to fall upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians; so terrible that when it came they would thrust the Israelites out quickly, saying, "Get thee out."

FINANCIAL AID FROM THE EGYPTIANS, EX. II: 2, 3; 12: 35. In the prospect of their departure [it would have been too late if the Israelites had waited till it was time to go, at midnight] they were bidden to ask [not to "borrow "] jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, not as a loan, but for permanent possession. The property which they would leave behind them in Egypt would be of far greater value than these jewels. The houses, the furniture, the flocks and herds either too young or too old to travel, the crops in gardens and fields, were of much more value than what they received from their neighbors. The transference." was neither a swindle nor a robbery, but as fair a transaction as was possible in the circumstances.” Condensed from Blaikie.

It was this exchange that enabled them to give to the Tabernacle, and gain support in their long travels.

Even had they left nothing behind in exchange for the jewels, it yet would not have been unfair, since they had worked very hard for long years for the Egyptians without payment, save stripes and hardships.

Mr. Ingersoll long ago, and others since, said, "Honest, now, do you call that a square transaction ?" It would not have been honest if they had "borrowed" they did not borrow, they asked (see revised versions) for a small part of what was really due them.

12: 1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

2. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

3. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.

4. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls: every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

6. And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

Some one has answered this objection by imagining that the following remarkable business correspondence had lately been discovered in one of the ancient tombs of Egypt:

MESSRS. MOSES, AARON & Co. :

Gentlemen: You and your people obtained a loan of me and my people of sundry gems, gold and bronze rings, and nose and ear ornaments, to the value of five hundred shekels of silver, of which an itemized bill is enclosed. Please return the same, or remit the amount by certified check, and oblige,

MR. PHARAOH RAMESES :

Respectfully yours,
PHARAOH.

My Dear Sir: Yours, enclosing bill, received, and contents noted. I enclose you statement showing balance due. We have put our wages at the lowest figure short of starvation, and they amount to twelve thousand shekels of gold. Please deduct the amount of your bill, and ship the balance in specie, via Joppa, and much oblige,

Very respectfully yours,

MOSES, AARON & Co.
Christian Union.

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I. THE FIRST PASSOVER, THE RELIGIOUS NEW YEAR'S DAY OF THE JEWS FOR ALL TIME, Ex. 12:1-12. The month Abib, in the spring of the year, was made the beginning of months, the first month of the year, to the Hebrew nation. The New Year's Day began with the full moon, on the 14th day of the month, the day of our Easter, which celebrates the rising of Jesus from the dead. It is a moveable feast, always beginning some time in March or April.

"In

It was the religious year that began at this time, and according to Professor Beecher "is the only year used in the Bible for chronological purposes." The civil year began with Tisri (including the last of September and first of October). secular matters they retained the old date of commencement. Similarly, while in England the civil year was always reckoned from the first of January, the ecclesiastical year was, until the middle of the eighteenth century, reckoned from Easter.". Tristram.

First, The Lamb for the Sacrifice was chosen on the 10th of the month, to be all ready for the festival on the 14th. The lamb must be without blemish of any kind, a perfect lamb. "If it bore the mark of the slightest deformity, or even deficiency, it would have been unfit to represent him of whom it is said, We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.' -Kitto. A male. As taking the place of the male first-born of Israel." Delitzsch. Of the first year. A year old; literally the son of a year; "because it was not till then that it reached the full, fresh vigor of its life." - Keil.

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