DEVOTION
EXODUS
BURNING
ANGER
Ex
11
11:1
Now the LORD had said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh
and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he
will drive you out completely. 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are
to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold." 3(The LORD made
the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was
highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.) 4 So Moses
said, "This is what the LORD says: 'About midnight I will go throughout
Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of
Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is
at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be
loud wailing throughout Egypt — worse than there has ever been or ever will be
again. 7 But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.'
Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.
8 All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and
saying, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you!' After that I will
leave." Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh. 9 The LORD had said to
Moses, "Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you — so that my wonders may be
multiplied in Egypt." 10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders
before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the
Israelites go out of his country.
NIV
A
god will never accept God. But a god with the death of his first born might
want to get rid of God forever. Pharaoh thinking himself a god would never
believe in the Almighty God of the Hebrews. However God is the Almighty of all
mankind which would include the Egyptians, even Pharaoh. Yet with this man,
with his hard heart, and then having God continually use that hardness and even
increase it so that he might be able to show just how powerful and mighty he
is, will eventually yield because of the death of his firstborn. How ironic in
a sense, that our salvation should come from the death of God’s firstborn. The
children of Israel will be rescued by the death of Pharaoh’s firstborn and we
have been rescued by God through the death of his firstborn. But in reality
this is not ironic at all, because this has been God’s plan all along to show
how his salvation of his people, all mankind, will take place. Once again, as
we peer into the truth only with linear eyes all we can see is a linear past,
present and glance into a possible future. But when we see as God sees, when we
stare into the truth through our spirit, as we are to worship him, we see in
the timeless, the always present, condition God lives in. Although we can see
truths to live by, lessons to instruct us, correct us and even rebuke us, the
ultimate truth is always about learning the truth about God and his greatness
and his desire to have a true everlasting relationship with his people, his
creation. Yet as in our past, we have seen or read about individuals who have
rejected the truth about God and did not want him as their God, but rather
created gods of their own. This is the choice God gave to all his creation.
They have chosen their own destiny. Pharaoh was one of those who did just that,
and having rejected God, chose his own path. However God used his chosen path
as a means to demonstrate his power and his plan. We can also see he influenced
the hearts and minds of all the rest of the Egyptians to look favorably upon
the Israelites. But we have not yet come to the place of death of the firstborn
and the Passover in our linear view of things. Here we see that Moses is
telling Pharaoh that God is certainly making a distinction between Egypt and
Israel in this plague of the death of the firstborn. Again seeing outside the
constraints of the linear, it will be due to the blood on the doorposts. The Passover
of the death angel, seeing the blood, again shows us his eternal plan. However
let us learn something here in the anger of Moses. We are told that Moses, hot
with anger, left Pharaoh. Who was Moses hot with anger toward? Some would say
he had a righteous indignation, which he was angry because Pharaoh did not see
God as the Almighty God he is. But God already told Moses, he would harden the
heart of Pharaoh against Moses and his request to let the people go. How could
Moses have a righteous anger toward Pharaoh? It would seem Moses might well be
angry with God at this point because he was going to put to death all the
firstborn of the Egyptians. Although Moses did all that God commanded him to
do, in bringing all these plagues upon the Egyptians, he might have thought it
was just too much to kill all the firstborn. Of course this is all supposition,
as we are not told why he left Pharaoh burning with anger. He could have been
burning with anger because people were going to die, without coming to know
God, without the promise. Should we not burn with anger when people die outside
the grace of God, without the promise of eternal life? Do we just write them
off, quoting that verse about not casting pearls to pigs? Or perhaps about shaking the dust off our feet.
Matt
7:7
6
"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw
your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and
then turn and tear you to pieces.
NIV
14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.
NIV
Although
there is great truth in this, that some people are liken to dogs or pigs, those
who would tear us apart, such as those terrorists known as ISIS, or perhaps
some haters of God in this country, are we to simply enjoy their destiny of
death, of perishing? Should we not still burn with anger about their hostility
toward God? Why would God allow them to remain that hostile toward him, knowing
that will bring them to their eternal damnation? Again, we cannot see completely
into the timelessness of God’s existence. Although we are certainly privy to
his plan of salvation, having experienced it, we may not have the insight to
other truths. The one truth we know, and can see throughout the course of our
history is man has had the chose to either serve the LORD or reject him. Although
Pharaoh’s heart was hardened by the LORD, he had already rejected the LORD a
long time before Moses arrived in Egypt. All throughout time and to this day
and most likely until the LORD returns, men will reject him of their own
freewill. But this should not give us joy, but instead we should burn with
anger, with passion for their souls. We should take not enjoyment in seeing
anyone be an object of God’s wrath. Let us live with this burning anger, let us
make every effort to share the message with as many as we can, perhaps some
will be saved.
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