Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Let's start today by reminding ourselves about the frogs, and where things stand with Yahweh, and Moses, and Aaron, and Pharaoh.
Exodus 8:1 (I didn't realize how different the Hebrew numbering was until I'd finished last week; my bad; English Bibles 8:5):
(8:1) and Yahweh said to Moses,
"Say to Aaron,
'Stretch out your hand with your staff upon the rivers, upon the branches of the Nile, and upon the pools, and bring up the frogs upon the land of Egypt,"
(2) and Aaron stretched out his hand upon the waters of Egypt,
and the frogs came up,
and they covered the land of Egypt,
(3) and the magicians did thus/the same thing with their sorceries,
and they brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt,
(4) and Pharaoh called to Moses and to Aaron,
and he said,
"Plead to Yahweh, that he would take away the frogs from me and from my people,
and I will release the people, that they may sacrifice to Yahweh,"
(5) and Moses said to Pharaoh,
"Kindly tell me when I should plead for you and for your servants and for your people, to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses?
Only in the Nile they will remain,"
(6) and he said,
"Tomorrow,"
and he (Moses) said,
In accordance with your word, in order that you shall know that there is no one like Yahweh our God/Elohim," (7) the frogs will leave from you and from your houses and from your servants and from your people.
Only in the Nile they will remain,"
(8) and Moses went out, with Aaron, from with Pharaoh,
and he cried out to Yahweh concerning the matter of the frogs that he had agreed to with Pharaoh,
(9) and Yahweh acted in accordance with the word of Moses,
and the frogs died from their houses, from the villages, and from the fields,
(10) and they gathered them in heaps upon heaps,
and the land stank,
(11) and Pharaoh saw that there was relief,
and he made his heart/resolve heavy,
and he didn't listen to them,
just as Yahweh had spoken.
During the plague of the frogs, Pharaoh's resolve completely weakened.
He was like a tick that my brother popped, under pressure.
But, in the end, he manages to stuff his guts back inside, and glue himself shut.
And our story leaves off, with Pharaoh's resolve once again heavy.
With this, we come to new stuff.
Verse 12.
And here, Exodus uses gapping again, maybe.
If Moses and Aaron go Pharaoh again, and warn him about what happens, we don't know about it.
Instead, we jump right into another plague.
Verses 12-15:
(12) And Yahweh said to Moses,
"Say to Aaron,
'Stretch out your staff,
and strike the loose dust of the earth, that[1]it becomes gnats in all the land of Egypt,'"
(13) and they did thus,
and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff,
and he struck the loose dust of the land,
and gnats came against[2]the humans and against the cattle.
All the loose dust of the land became gnats in all the land of Egypt,[3]
(14) and the magicians did thus with their sorceries/magic to release/bring out[4]the gnats,
and they weren't able,
and there were gnats against the humans and against the cattle,
(15) and the magicians said to Pharaoh,
"The finger of God/Elohim, this is,"
and the resolve of Pharaoh strengthened,
and he didn't listen to them,
just as Yahweh had spoken,
Here, for the first time, we see the magicians completely fail.
They don't have the ability to release gnats.
And so they, for the first time, "acknowledge" Yahweh.
What Moses is doing, is not simple sorcery or magic.
What he is capable of, is beyond their dark arts.
And so they rightly conclude that this is the finger of God.
Now, you'd think this would persuade Pharaoh.
These are skilled magicians.
They know what they're talking about.
And if they recognize God's finger, wouldn't you believe them?
Wouldn't you weaken?
With healings, and signs, and wonders, this is the moment you're looking for.
When people stop, and realize, there is no other explanation for what just happened.
God did this.
People find themselves caving, and humbling themselves, and coming to God.
But Pharaoh doesn't.
Instead, he deliberately strengthens his resolve.
The frogs have been too much for Pharaoh.
But the gnats, are no match for Pharaoh.
They're not enough.
And so we jump right into another plague.
Verse 16-20:
(16) and Yahweh said to Moses,
"Rise early in the morning,
and station yourself before Pharaoh.
LOOK! [When he is] Going out to the waters, say to him,
"Thus has said Yahweh: "Release my people, that they may serve me,
(17) because if you aren't releasing my people, LOOK!
I shall cause to be released[5] against you and against your servants and against your people and against your houses[6]flies,
and[7]the flies will fill up the houses of the Egyptians,
and, what's more, the land on which they are on,
(18) and I will separate out on that day the land of Goshen
which my people are standing upon it so that there won't be there flies,
in order that you shall know/acknowledge that I [am] Yahweh in the midst of the land,
and I will make a distinction between my people and your people.
Tomorrow this sign shall happen,"[8]
(20) and Yahweh did thus,
and heavy flies came to the house of Pharaoh and the house of his servants,
and in all the land of Egypt, the land was ruined/spoiled[9]from the presence of the flies,
Let's pause here.
For the first time, Exodus tells us that God treats the Egyptian people, and his people, differently.
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