The Plagues of Egypt - 1/25/09pm

I Samuel 4:4-9 -The Philistines remember the plagues of Egypt
The Philistines, in fighting against Israel, remembered the plagues and understood what it meant for them, who opposed God. Let us take a few moments to look back at the plagues and see what we learn of God from them. In them we see His power, His authority, His anger, the inevitability of His will, and His mercy.

Exodus 7:14-25 -First Plague: Nile to blood
God’s ability to touch not just the Nile, but the water already gathered from the Nile, but not the water under ground.
Egypt is completely dependant on the Nile. By striking against it, The Lord struck directly at Egypt’s ability to exist, showing His power over the kingdoms of men.

Exodus 8:1-15 -Second plague: frogs
The water which once was good had been made useless, and now gave forth another problem: huge numbers of frogs.
We also see the hand of God in that they all died when He decided, not naturally over time.

Exodus 8:16-19 -Third plague: gnats/lice
We see God delivering a very personal plague: gnats/lice which infest the people of Egypt.

Exodus 8:20-31 -Fourth plague: flies
We continue to see how God can use even the small things on His behalf. It does not take the great things in this world to accomplish His will, but even the small and seemingly insignificant are used to His purpose.

Exodus 9:1-6 -Fifth plague: disease and death of livestock
Notice the distinction between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt. Notice God’s mercy and care for His people!

Exodus 9:8-12 -Sixth plague: boils
Again we see God impacting each individual person. The disease on cattle was not heeded, so the lesson was made more personal.

Exodus 9:22-35 -Seventh plague: hail
God’s destruction of the crops is quite a punishment of Egypt. He shows His power to control even how people eat.

Exodus 10:12-20 -Eighth plague: locusts
What the hail didn’t get, the locusts did, evidently some time later.

Exodus 10:21-29 -Ninth plague: darkness
You can imagine the terror caused by this darkness.
Yet we see that Israel had light in their homes. Again, we see God’s punishment of those who do not follow Him, and His mercy to those who do.

Exodus 12:29-30 -Tenth plague: death of firstborn
We see the final plague on Egypt. This one affecting every family in a permanent way.
And yet we see that Israel, in following the Lord’s commands, is spared.

We too can receive God’s blessings and not His punishments if we follow and obey Him. As Israel was freed from bondage, we too can escape punishment and be freed from the bondage of sin through obedience and faith.