2021.10.06 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 7:8–13

Read Exodus 7:8–13

Questions from the Scripture text: Who is speaking in Exodus 7:8, to whom? What does He say Pharaoh will say (Exodus 7:9)? What is Moses to do? What should he tell Aaron to say? What do Moses and Aaron do (Exodus 7:10)? Just as what? What does Aaron do before whom? And what happens to the rod? But what does Pharaoh do (Exodus 7:11)? And what do the wise men and soothsayers do (verse 11b–Exodus 7:12a)? But what does Aaron’s rod do (verse 12b)? Still, what is the outcome (Exodus 7:13a–b)? Why (verse 13c)? 

Let the swallowing begin! Yahweh is about to humiliate Egypt from the swallowing of the magicians’ rod-serpents in Exodus 7:12 to the swallowing (same Hebrew word) of the Egyptian army in Exodus 15:12. The serpent has been an indicator of evil ever since Satan appeared as one, but since the encounter at the bush it has also been a reminder that God is in control over all evil. We see that reinforced here in the swallowing. 

God has promised to crush the serpent’s head by the seed of the woman, and that crushing is anticipated by the swallowing in Exodus 7:12 and throughout the judgments on Egypt. It’s not just salvation. It’s salvation that comes in the way that Yahweh has said (Exodus 7:13).

But this is not the only divine victory grace that we will see hammered over and over again. There’s a victory of God’s grace in Exodus 7:10: “they did so, just as Yahweh had commanded.” Doubt is really form of pride. Doubt trusts what we see and think instead of what God sees and has said.

But throughout this section of Exodus (and again, later, in the building of the tabernacle), we will repeatedly read that Moses and Aaron did “just as Yahweh had commanded.” God has humbled His servant, and He brings that humility out in beautiful and submissive obedience. 

Have you been humbled by God? You will be, one way or the other. The best way is to be humbled by grace. Humbled into trust that He is your Savior. Humbled into trusting submission and obedience to the One Who is saving you.

What forces of evil do you see in the world, against the church, and against you as a believer? What will most certainly happen to them? How has God’s grace humbled your doubt?

Sample prayer:  O Lord, You have crushed the serpent’s head, and You are about to crush him beneath our feet. Forgive us for the doubt that appears in our anxieties, and grant that Your victorious Word would produce in us faith and obedience. We thank You that everything will be exactly as You have said; grant that we would do exactly as You have said, through Christ, AMEN! 

Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH172 “Speak, O Lord”