MORE PLAGUES

God sent ten plagues.

The first four plagues were annoying, aggravating, frustrating. First, God turned water into blood, and thus it remained for seven days (Exodus 7:24). Next God inflicted Egypt with frogs, a zillion croaking, hopping, filthy frogs (Exodus 8:1-15). And next, God sent gnats (Exodus 8:16-19) followed by great swarms of flies (Exodus 8:20-32).

Because Pharaoh resisted God’s command, the plagues became more costly.

Wealth in agrarian societies was often counted in numbers of livestock, so God’s fifth plague hit the Egyptians in the pocketbook. The Egyptian’s “horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks” (Exodus 9:3) lay dead in their pastures and pens. Interestingly, “the Lord (made) a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt … All the Egyptian livestock died, but none among the Israelite livestock died” (Exodus 9:4, 6).

The sixth plague was physically costly as “festering boils” (Exodus 9:9) inflicted the Egyptian people.

The seventh, eighth, and nineth plagues became destructive and deadly! “Hail, with lightning flashing through it, was so severe that nothing like it had occurred in the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both people and animals. The hail beat down every plant of the field and shattered every tree in the field” (Exodus 9:24–25). Next, devouring clouds of locusts overshadowed the land, leaving only devastation in their wake (Exodus 10:1-20). And the nineth plague blinded Egypt with a “thick darkness” … a darkness that could be “felt” (Exodus 10: 21-29).

In the words of Warren Wiersbe, “The longer sinners resist God’s will and refuse to hear His Word, the ‘louder’ He has to speak to them through His judgments.”

As you know… there was one more plague… the worst!

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).