Thought from today’s Bible reading from Exodus 7-9.
After suffering through several plagues, Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let the Israelites go into the wilderness to worship God. After the sixth plague, God told Moses to deliver a message to Pharaoh, reminding him of his place before the Lord.
“Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth. But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth. Still you exalt yourself against My people by not letting them go’” (Exodus 9:13-17).
These words were meant to remind Pharaoh of some facts he had allowed himself to ignore:
- God has power over life and death. God had already destroyed the livestock of the Egyptians and unmistakably spared the Israelites’ livestock (Exodus 9:3-7), proving that He could destroy Pharaoh and the Egyptians at any time He might choose to do so.
- God was superior to Pharaoh. Pharaoh was helpless before the Lord. He could not prevent or end the plagues. These were all in God’s hands. Though Pharaoh was the ruler of a great nation, he was weak and pitiful before the Lord.
- Pharaoh had no right to prevent the Israelites from worshipping God. Civil leaders have a certain amount of authority (cf. Romans 13:1-4). But they have no authority to deny the natural, God-given rights of human beings to worship and serve the Lord. God is over all. Therefore, His people are only obligated to submit to civil authorities when we can do so without violating or forsaking God’s instructions.
Tomorrow’s reading: Exodus 10-12
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
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