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Who Was Pharaoh? |
The first observation is that the
term “Pharaoh” is used both as a
name and a title. When used as a
title, it is similar to a shah,
king, or potentate. Throughout the
books of Moses there is no hint as
to which Pharaoh was the ruler at
the time of the exodus. It is
impossible to specifically identify
him. He is referred to as “Pharaoh”
(Ex. 1:11), “Pharaoh king of Egypt”
(Ex. 6:11), “King of Egypt” (Ex.
1:15). There can be the argument
that it was Thutmose IV but it is
irrelevant.
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Who this Pharaoh was we do not know
with certainty and there has been as
much as five kings suggested. Had
God wanted us to know who it was it
would have been recorded. That
which is manifested is the attitude
of the king toward God and his
distain for the children of Israel.
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a) |
From a reading of Isaiah which
reads, “For thus saith the Lord
GOD, My people went down aforetime
into Egypt to sojourn there; and the
Assyrian oppressed them without
cause” (Isa. 52:4). It may be
argued the word Assyrian is an
obscure title for the Egyptian
King. However, the word
“Assyrian”is used thirteen times in
the scriptures, and it never is a
substitute for an Egyptian. When or
how they became the ruling power
with the Pharaoh being lesser king
is not known. He was not one of the
Hyksos dynasty, however, he had
great authority. This being so, the
ordinary nomad walking to Egypt
could never have an audience with
the Pharaoh. Because Moses was
going to meet the Pharaoh, he could
not go in apologetically and make a
suggestion to Pharaoh (Ex. 5:1). He
was to go in with the confident
assurance God was with him. He was
to tell Pharaoh that which God
demanded him to do. It was not a
polite suggestion or request. |
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When we think of Moses, we consider
him as a great man, and he was.
However, to the Israelites and the
Egyptians, he was a nomad who came
in from the desert and declared to
the children of Israel that God was
going to release them and demanded
of Pharaoh to let them go. The
natural reaction of the Prince of
Egypt was contempt (Ex 5:2). The
Egyptians had some 2000 gods and
goddesses, so who was Moses’s God to
make demands of Pharaoh who was seen
as a god to the Egyptians? In
giving the command to let my people
go (Ex. 5:1; 7:16; 8:1; 9:1) there
is the unspoken acknowledgment that
Moses God is superior to Pharaoh and
the gods of Egypt.
This posed a major question, “How
can a satanically darkened mind and
stubborn prideful heart be broken to
the point where it yields to the
Living God?. God also had Moses
inform Pharaoh some of the
consequences if he would not let
them go (Ex. 8:21; 10;4) and almost
a plead with Pharaoh to let them go
(Ex. 10:1).
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The Slaying of
Moses |
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The narrative of God who sought to
slay Moses (Ex. 4:24) is
interesting. Why after telling Moses
he was going to send him to Egypt to
deliver his people would God then
seek to slay him? How this came
about we do not know, but it seems
from the context that Zipporah had
objected to the circumcision of her
boys, so indicating she was not only
a Gentile, but opposed to the
rights and laws of God. One would
expect there were situations in the
home between her and Moses since she
was back in her father’s house when
God used Moses on the greatest
demonstration of God’s power in the
redemption and deliverance of His
people. |
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Into Egypt |
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When Moses and Aaron went into Egypt
the first activity was to gather the
elders of Israel (Ex. 4:29). Having
done so, he spoke of how God had
sent him and showed the signs (Ex.
3:16-17; 4:1-9). The Lord knew the
message of Moses would be met with
scepticism and unbelief therefore
God gave Moses the signs for them
(Ex. 4:1, 5, 8, 9). The first two
signs were spoken of as “the voice”
(v. 9) because this is the Lord
speaking through the signs. It
seems that the third sign was that
which clinched the people to believe
(v. 41). |
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The question then becomes, “Did the
signs have a deeper significance, a
spiritual significance, or were they
for the sole purpose of assurance of
who Moses was? On this I have
reservations. It is my
understanding the purpose of the
signs (Ex. 3:16-17) was to convince
the Israelites that Moses was sent
by God to deliver them and had been
sent by God (Ex. 4:5), “hath
appeared unto thee” note the word
“they” (vv. 1, 5, 8, 9). The signs
assured Moses that God was with him,
and in addition the Israelites would
be assured of leaving Egypt and go
to their promised inheritance. This
would really be questioned when the
Egyptian magicians did the same
things, thus indicating their gods
were just as almighty as Moses' God. |
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Moses In Midian and Going To Pharaoh
Moses went into Pharaoh’s palace
knowing that Pharaoh would not let
them go (Ex. 4:21) and facing
Pharaoh said, “Let my people go,
that they may hold a feast unto me
in the wilderness” (Ex. 5:1).
Pharaoh had no idea of who he was
dealing with and God started to send
the plagues. |
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a) |
Observation: The purposes of the
plagues were at least fourfold: |
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“The Egyptians shall know that I am
the LORD” (Ex. 7:5) |
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“Against all the gods of Egypt” (Ex.
12:12) |
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To demonstrate to his people the
superiority of God above all earthy
idols by their gods not being able
to do what God did. |
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To God to show forth His power (Ex.
9:16) |
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b) |
One observation is Moses told
Pharaoh when a plague would begin
(Ex. 7:16-17; 8:2, 21-23; 9:3-5;
9:13-15) and when it would end (Ex.
8:10; 9:29).
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In the first meeting with Pharaoh,
Moses, in the name of God, declares
to Pharaoh to let God’s “people
go”. He declares to Pharaoh that
they are God’s people, “Let my
people go” (Ex. 5:1). The God of
the Hebrews meant nothing to Pharaoh
so in contempt he asks, “Who is the
Lord?”
(Ex. 5:2).
The Prince
of Egypt, being great in his own
mind, failed to realize God had
raised him to that position (Rom.
9:17; Ex.14:17-18). Instead of
letting God’s people go he made life
more bitter for them. God knew that
they would be under great bondage
and such would be the case for 400
years. That being so, from when
Moses was born there were still 80
years to go before the exodus. When
Moses killed the Egyptians there
were still 40 years to go. |
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. . . . Rowan Jennings |
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