Ready or Not: Moses vs. Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods

Welcome back to Time in the Word. Today we finally arrive in Egypt with Moses, and it’s about time! Moses gave God many reasons why he shouldn’t be the one to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

God certainly displayed his grace and patience with Moses. Ready or not, you’re going to represent me, and I will show all of Egypt who the ONE TRUE GOD IS!

Before we arrive in Egypt, I left out some important details pertaining to Moses’ journey. Last week Moses was told to go back to Egypt. To go and meet with the Israelite elders. Should the elders question Moses about who sent him, he is to say ‘I AM’ has sent him. If they require a sign, he is to show them the Staff sign, the Leprous Arm sign, and then the Nile turning to blood sign.

Catching you up on what we skipped

Here are a few things we skipped:

1. Moses told God he wasn’t good at speaking. God said that he created Moses and that he, GOD, would help him speak and then told Moses to get to Egypt. Moses didn’t like God’s response, so he told God to find somebody else. God got VERY angry with Moses. God told Moses that his brother Aaron could speak well and that Moses should feed Aaron the words, and God would speak through both of them. Take your staff and go!- I can’t help but think Moses missed something by arguing his being “less than” for the job God had for him.-M
2. Moses says goodbye to Jethro and takes his wife and boys back to Egypt. On the way, God meets Moses and is about to kill him. Zipporah, his wife, immediately senses God’s attack on Moses is because he hasn’t circumcised one of his boys. Zipporah circumcises the boy and isn’t too happy about it.- It’d be fun to come back to this later.-M
3. God reveals the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. And tells Moses to warn Pharaoh if he doesn’t let Israel, God’s firstborn, go worship in the wilderness, God will take the life of Pharaoh’s firstborn son.
4. The Lord tells Aaron to meet Moses in the wilderness. Moses shares with Aaron all that God has revealed. As well as what to say and the signs Moses is to perform.

Egypt! Let the games begin

After arriving, Aaron and Moses meet with the elders, and Aaron shares everything that Moses had said. Moses also performed the signs. The elder’s believed what was said and told. Moses and Aaron get an audience with Pharaoh. They ask that the Israelites be allowed to leave for their Festival in the wilderness.

Pharaoh is pretty cocky and unimpressed. He said, “Who is the Lord and why should I obey him…?”. Things are about to get pretty uncomfortable for Moses and Pharaoh has no idea what is coming his way.

Thank you for joining me here, today, in Time in the Word. Come back next week when Moses finds out leadership can be a lonely place.