Exodus Chapter 7 Verses 1-7

:1 “And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. 3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. 6 And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they. 7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.”

In the next few chapters as we study the judgments that God brings upon Egypt, we want to focus our attention on several things: 

                        1.  The attributes of God.

                        2.  The growth in faith of Moses.

                        3.  The total unbelief and stubbornness of an unregenerate leader as Pharaoh. 

                        4.  The difference God makes between the children of Israel and the Egyptians. 

“And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.”  Pharaoh did not believe in the LORD nor did he believe the LORD.  To Pharaoh the episodes that follow was a test of will and ability with Moses.  All he knew of God was what he saw in Moses and he did not think that Moses was truly a God.  Furthermore, since God had made Aaron Moses mouthpiece to speak for Moses, then Pharaoh look at Aaron as being Moses prophet. 

“Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.”  The end result that God was going to accomplish is that Pharaoh send the children of Israel out of the land.  Pharaoh was going to be completely resistant to that idea.  Moses was to speak all that God commanded him.  God was speaking directly to Moses.  Moses then spoke everything that God commanded to Aaron and then Aaron spoke to Pharaoh.  This was God’s order that he had established.  God is a God of order and things are to be done according to God’s order.  The message to Pharaoh was a simple and direct message: i.e. send the children of Israel out of Egypt.   

“And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.”  Common questions people ask about this is why and how did God harden Pharaoh’s heart?  Was Pharaoh simply a puppet being moved to do wickedly because God had hardened his heart?  Pharaoh was not a puppet.  He was acting in his own volition.  The stubbornness of his heart and his resistance to the will of God was not caused by God but he acted on his own to sin.  Pharaoh was not born of the Spirit and so only had an unregenerate heart.  He was of the fallen nature of Adam and in that condition could not and would not seek after God.  As the scriptures say, “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.”  All who are unregenerate are as Pharaoh in that they do not believe in God and do not believe God.   

The way God hardened Pharaoh’s heart was through judgment.  Those who are not born of the spirit have a heart of flesh which is like clay.  Those who have been born of the spirit have a heart that is like wax.  When the fire of God’s judgment comes upon the unregenerate his heart like clay is hardened.  However, when the fire of judgment comes upon the regenerate his heart melts in sorrow and repentance like wax melts under the flame of fire.  According as God poured out his judgments upon Pharaoh and Egypt so Pharaoh’s heart was hardened in resistance to God.   

“But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.”  The reason that Pharaoh would not hearken unto Moses and Aaron is because his heart was hardened in resistance to the judgments of God and he believed that he was greater and would prevail in the end.  In the end, however, God would prevail and bring his armies and his people the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 

“And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”  In the end, even the unregenerate would know by the overwhelming evidence of God’s judgment that it was God that had brought the children of Israel from among them.   

“And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they. 7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.”  Both God’s sovereignty and his ability are magnified here.  God in his sovereignty was taken a company of slaves and delivering them from their slave masters who were at the time the greatest nation then upon the face of the earth.  Moreover, God’s ability is being manifest by the fact that God was using two old men who would normally be thought to be in the latter stages of their lives and using them to deliver the company of slaves who would start out as the least of all nations and later come to grow into a mighty nation by the amazing ability of God.  God does not need a great multitude or a people equipped with great power or ability in order to deliver.  This is abundantly manifest in God’s deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt and the destruction of Egypt and their mighty army.