There are many events in the Old Testament that mark the supernatural realm intervening in the natural realm, but few as significant as the exodus of Israel from Egypt. Genesis says that on the day God made a covenant with Abraham for the land, he also told him that his offspring would be slaves in a foreign land but after 400 years they would return.
Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
Genesis 15:13–14 (ESV)
Years later Joseph was sold into slavery. Then the whole family had to go to Egypt to survive a famine. Eventually, a new Pharoah came to power who did not know Joseph and the Israelites became slaves. Then there was the weird account of the burning bush that wouldn’t burn up. This account is found in Exodus 3:1–8. God was sending Moses to Pharaoh.
Who Is Yahweh
We may know the story of the exodus, but do we know the question Pharaoh asked Moses?
But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Exodus 5:2–3 (ESV)
Whenever you read “the LORD” in the Old Testament, spelled with capital letters, it stands for the divine name “Yahweh.” The exact pronunciation is debated: Jehovah, Yehovah or Yahweh. I suggest that whenever you read “the Lord” in these verses, you should substitute the name by which God Almighty was revealing himself to Moses, the children of Israel, to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt (Exodus 3:15, 6:3) – “Yahweh”.
Pharaoh was asking, “Who is Yahweh?” Why would he ask this question? Because he had never heard of this God. The second part of the question was, “that I should obey his voice?” There were other gods that were known and people obeyed them. Moses answered his question by identifying Yahweh as the God of the Hebrews. God had already chosen Israel as his inheritance but now they were captive as slaves in Egypt.
Proof
Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ”
Exodus 7:8–9 (ESV)
Pharaoh wanted supernatural proof that Moses and Aaron represented a god. But there was a problem. The magicians do the same thing!
Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.
Exodus 7:11 (ESV)
That You May Know
After the staff turn into a snake, God told Moses to go confront Pharaoh. The water in the Nile river was turned into blood. This was the first plague by which Yahweh God was going to display his power. But the magicians did it again. They also turned water into blood by their secret (or dark) arts.
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 the Lord had said.
Exodus 7:22 (ESV)
The second plague involved Egypt being overrun by frogs.
But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
Exodus 8:7 (ESV)
So we know the magicians had power but it was limited. Yahweh shows that he is in fact the greatest. We see in Exodus 8:18 that the magicians were unable to duplicate the third plague of gnats.
So what was the point of all these plagues? It was so Pharaoh and all of Egypt would know that Yahweh was the Most High God and that there was no other god like him.
But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.
Exodus 8:22 (ESV)
For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.
Exodus 9:14 (ESV)
I Will Judge The Gods Of Egypt
After the ninth plague, Pharaoh was still unwilling to let the children of Israel leave. After God gives Moses instructions for the Passover, then he says this.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.
Exodus 12:12 (ESV)
If you read the entire account of Moses confronting Pharaoh, you will find that not only was Yahweh revealing himself to Pharaoh, he was also revealing himself to the children of Israel. And he was revealing himself as being more powerful than any other god.
The biblical narrative clearly intends to highlight the supernatural power of God. But we tend to read the story of the exodus and somehow discount or disregard the supernatural elements. Perhaps the natural realm and the supernatural realm are more integrated than we think.
The Exodus
Remember what God told Abraham back in Genesis 15?
Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
Genesis 15:13–14 (ESV)
God did bring judgement on Egypt. And after the tenth plague we read this.
The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
Exodus 12:33–36 (ESV)
Questions
- Three times scripture indicates that the magicians of Egypt were able to duplicate miracles (the staff, water in the Nile river turned to blood, and frogs come up out of the waters of Egypt) by their secret arts. What do you think the phrase “secret arts” means?
- After the first sign and the two miracles, the magicians failed to duplicate any other miracle that Moses and Aaron did. What do you think this meant to Pharaoh and the rest of the Egyptians?
- In Exodus 12:12 Yahweh says, “and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments.” What do you think this means and how did God do it?
- What are your observations about this account of Moses and Pharaoh and the exodus from Egypt?
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