Exodus 9:8-12
I. Introduction
God is sovereign in the application of judgment. The plague narratives are clear on this. Is he sovereign in the application of salvation?
II. God displays his glory by filling the land with boils and hardening Pharaoh.
1. The 6th plague closes out the second series. Like the 3d plague, there is no warning. God merely strikes.
2. The location is ironic as Moses meets Pharaoh near a brick kiln where bricks were fired perhaps for the public works of Egypt and the glory of Pharaoh. He had the children of Israel make bricks (1:14). God will use the process against him.
3. Moses is commanded to throw soot into the sky before Pharaoh. The result is judgment. Read 9:10-11. It is also used of the consequences of disobedience as a plague against Israel. Read Deuteronomy 28:27, 35. It is the reminder that God will treat Israel like Egypt if they act like Egypt. This is a lesson for the Church today because if we act like the world, God will judge us. Illus: Barna, Veith, Ryle!
4. The plague is, I think, an attack on Egyptian theology. Egypt had many gods. They would ascend or descend in popularity based on the royal family. Pharaoh merely sees the God of Moses as just another local deity. In this case, his slaves worship him. Appl: reduce Christianity as one of many religions. But God is teaching Pharaoh who the real master is! The brunt of the invective here is perhaps on Sekhmet the warrior goddess. She was believed to protect Pharaoh in battle and was also seen as the cause of disease as well as the provider of cures. The name became synonymous with physicians and surgeons during the middle kingdom. Now God is the cause of disease and the one who withholds the cure. Sekhmet cannot protect Pharaoh. He is defenseless before God.
5. The text isolates the judgment on the court wizards. We have studied their inability to reverse the judgments of God and the irony of their compounding the judgment. In 8:19, they confess their impotence before Pharaoh to stop God. This is the last we will see of them. In vs. 11, we read they were not able to stand before Moses. The word stand has the idea of opposition. In other words, they are swept away by divine judgment and cease to be a threat to Moses or a protector of Pharaoh. Pharaoh is undeterred and obstinate. But again, it is because God has made him such. God has hardened him (9:12). See 7:3. The final phrase is significant: just as the Lord had spoken. The account begins with the word (9:8 the Lord says) and ends with the word. It is the supremacy of the word over men.
6. John alludes to this account in Revelation sixteen. The context is the first bowl judgment. The time is now (resurrection to 2nd coming). The word sore is the Greek cognate to the word “boil” of Exodus nine. John is using the plagues to convey the presence of divine judgment today. The particular object is idolatry. It is interesting that we have our problems with viral and bacterial infections today! It is just as interesting that most place their entire hope in modern medicine and cleave to their idols. Most, like Pharaoh, are undeterred. See 16:9b, 11b. Like Pharaoh, God is behind their recalcitrant hearts. Thus, God is sovereign in judgment. Nothing can stop him.
7. The counterpart is that God is sovereign in the application of redemption. In this text, Moses and Aaron are unhurt! The word boil is found in the context of leprosy of Leviticus thirteen. It was a terrible disease that resulted in ceremonial uncleanness and banishment outside the assembly. It was an infection in NT times that is significant to our understanding of the sovereign grace of God. It is a picture of fallen man in a universe under divine judgment. On numerous occasions, Jesus encountered lepers. In Matthew 8, a leper comes to him. He bows down and says, Lord if you are willing. He knew who Christ was. Read Matthew 8:3. Christ is willing. He sovereignly applies redemption. In chapter 10, Jesus tells his disciples to proclaim the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Read 10:8 (proof of kingdom now). In chapter 11, John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask him if he the Messiah. Jesus responds by telling them to go back to John and report what they have seen and heard. Read Matthew 11:5. In Luke 4, Jesus is in Nazareth in the synagogue. He reads from Isaiah 61 of the promise of Messianic blessing. He closes the book, sits down, and says today this Scripture has been fulfilled. They begin to discuss among themselves expressing doubt. Jesus repairs to the account of Elijah healing a Gentile leper while there were many lepers in Israel (4:27). God is sovereign in the application of redemption. It enrages them, and they seek to kill him. In Luke 17:14, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. Ten lepers cry out for mercy. He tells them to go show themselves to the priests and on the way they are healed. One of the ten was a Samaritan and comes back to praise him! What does this mean? He is Messiah. The Kingdom has begun. He is sovereign over the disease and the application of healing. This terrible disease cannot prevent him from saving. He is compassionate of the human condition brought on by the fall.
8. We see this in Exodus 4:6-7. God judges. He also saves. He reverses the curse. It is a divine prerogative. Jesus is the (your) way out of wrath.