Sabbath: The Plagues
Daily Lesson for Sabbath 19th of July 2025
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study: Exodus 7:8-25; Exodus 8:1-32; Exodus 9:1-35; Exodus 10:1-29; Numbers 33:4; Romans 1:24-32; Psalms 104:27-28; Isaiah 28:2,12-17; Isaiah 44:9-10,12-17.
Memory Text:
“So the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses” (Exodus 9:35, NKJV).
A farmer was trying to get his donkey to move; the beast wouldn’t budge. So, the farmer took a thick branch and walloped it. He again spoke to the donkey, who then started moving.
When someone asked the farmer why that worked, he replied, “Well, first you have to get its attention.”
Putting aside whatever issue one might raise about cruelty to animals, there is a point to be made here, especially in the context of the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. Moses has been given his marching orders and goes to Pharaoh with God’s famous words, shalach et ami, which is, “Let My people go!”
Pharaoh, however, does not want to let God’s people go. The Scriptures never explicitly explain why Pharaoh was so reluctant, despite the military threat that the Egyptians feared the Hebrews could pose (see Exodus 1:10). Most likely, as is often the case with slavery, it was pure economics. They were cheap labor, and so he didn’t want to lose whatever economic advantages these slaves gave him. Thus, he was going to need some persuasion not only to get his attention but also to change his mind.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 26.
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Pharaoh’s refusal and stubbornness to let the Hebrew people have their freedom is totally not surprising. The story of Pharaoh hardening his heart and refusing to obey God’s instructions is not about a stubborn king, but he reflects human condition without the grace of God. Pharaoh is a typical example of many of us in the world today, resistant to divine authority. Pharaoh’s refusal and stubbornness is not unique. That is who we are without the grace of God. From this particular episode (Exodus 9:35), several spiritual warnings and lessons emerge:
1. Our human heart is naturally resistant to God. It is fair to say, without the grace of God, our hearts are spiritually dead ((Ephesians 2:1). Therefore, we should never underestimate the deceitfulness and wickedness of our hearts without Christ (Jeremiah 17:9). Dear Jesus, please save us from our deceitful and wicked hearts, I pray.
2. Delayed obedience increases spiritual harness and stubbornness. As day went by Pharaoh became more hardened and more stubborn. “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…” (Hebrews 3:15 ).
3. Signs and miracles alone never change a human heart. Despite the 7 plagues, Pharaoh remained even more defiant. Conversion is a miracle of the Holy Spirit.
4. We need a new heart and a new spirit to obey divine instructions (Ezekiel 36:26).
5. If we persistently ignore divine instructions, God will
“confirm” our rebellion. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts…” (Romans 1:24).
There is nothing like a calamitous event to get a bit of action. In my youth, I recall that some churches letterboxed a town on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island with Voice of Prophecy cards. They received about 2 responses. Then, a major earthquake struck, knocking down a few chimneys and shifting the mountains, causing landslides and floods. A few weeks after the earthquake, the churches letterboxed the town again. They received some dozens of responses to the cards.
I am sure that Pharaoh, was never going to respond to a straightforward request for the release of his workforce. Just look at what happened more recently when someone messed with the workforce. It took a civil war to accomplish the emancipation of the slaves in more recent times.