If Pharaoh had only listened to the voice of God through the plagues and let the children of Israel go, God would have spared Pharaoh’s son. Perhaps God has spoken to you through a sickness or the loss of a loved one. Have you listened to His voice and come to Him acknowledging your sin, or are you hardening your heart as Pharaoh did? Remember that the judgment which God said would come to Pharaoh did come at last, and there was no way of escape then. And so it will always be, for though God is longsuffering, He must judge sin.
Moses Warned
While Moses was on the way to Egypt, God met him in the inn and sought to kill him. Moses was on his way to warn Pharaoh of judgment upon his firstborn, but how could his own firstborn escape it? “All have sinned,” (ch. 9:27) whether Pharaoh or Moses, Pharaoh’s son or Moses’s son; and the only way of escape was through a symbol of the death of Christ. Circumcision was the sign of death, and Moses’s son must be circumcised. It was painful but necessary. There is another lesson in it. If we who are saved wish to do anything for the Lord, we must put the old nature with its sinful desires in the place of death. God can never use anything of the flesh in His service.
At last Moses and Aaron met one another, and together they carried God’s message to the children of Israel, showing them the signs as well. Moses in his unbelief had said that the people would not believe that God had really sent him, but God disposed their hearts so that they did. When they heard the good news that God was going to deliver them they bowed their heads and worshiped.
The World’s Refusal
Moses then went to Pharaoh, quite prepared, no doubt, for his refusal to listen. “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:1313Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. (1 John 3:13)), is what God has told us. We cannot expect anything different when we confess Christ, whether at school, or at work. The world has not improved — it is still at enmity with God. Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice? ... neither will I let Israel go” (ch. 5:2). If there is an unsaved person reading these lines, is this something like what you are saying? If so, be careful that God doesn’t harden your heart as he did Pharaoh’s. Turn to Him now, while He pleads in grace.
Pharaoh’s anger was stirred up and he made the children of Israel’s bondage even worse. When a soul begins to be concerned as to his sins then the enemy doubles his efforts. He makes the bondage greater, but God can use even this, as He did here, to make the sinner realize what a slave he really is and that he is under Satan’s power. It is a real thing to have to do with God, and it is most needful that the sinner see the awfulness of his position before a holy God. It is by no means a pleasant discovery, for on the Day of Atonement the children of Israel were to “afflict [their] souls.” They were also told to eat the Passover with bitter herbs. There is a great deal of incomplete work with souls today because people don’t see the enormity of their guilt before God.
Further Meditation
1. Why shouldn’t we be surprised if the world hates us?
2. How does the Apostle Paul make use of the symbol of circumcision?
3. Some of the symbols mentioned in this chapter (and many more) are very easy to look up in The Concise Bible Dictionary by G. Morrish.