July 2025

Further Thought

Read Ellen G. White, “The Plagues of Egypt,” pp. 257–265, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

Look at how badly things started off for Moses and his people after Moses first approached Pharaoh.

Like God to Pharaoh

Read Exodus 6:28–7:7. How does the Lord deal with Moses’ objection?

God presents Himself to Moses as Yahweh, which means that He is the personal and close God, the God of His people, and the God who entered a covenantal relationship with them.

This immanent God again commands Moses to go and speak with Pharaoh. With a lack of self-confidence, Moses again objects: “Why would Pharaoh listen to me?” Here again we can see not just Moses’ humility but, again, his desire to get out of the task, which so far has not gone too well.

Uncircumcised Lips

The Lord had indeed given Moses some powerful promises about what He was going to do. Though that encounter must have encouraged Moses, his encouragement was probably short-lived, given the response that he received from his people.

Read Exodus 6:9–13. What happened next, and what lessons can we take from this story about times of disappointment and struggle in our lives?

The Divine “I”

Poor Moses! He first gets berated by Pharaoh, and now his own people all but curse him.

Thus, Moses brings his complaint to God. In his bitterness and disap­pointment with the worsening of Israel’s conditions, he asks: “ ‘Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all’ ” (Exod. 5:22, 23, NIV). Moses’ discontent with the Lord is obvious and, considering the situation, understandable.

A Rough Start

Though Moses must have known, even from the beginning, that what the Lord had tasked him with was not going to be easy (hence his attempts to get out of it), he probably had no idea of what was coming.

Read Exodus 5:3–23. What were the immediate results of Moses and Aaron’s first recorded encounter with Pharaoh?

Who Is the Lord?

Following God’s orders, Moses goes to Pharaoh to begin the process in which he, Moses, would “bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (Exod. 3:10, NKJV).

What was Pharaoh’s response to God’s demand, “Let my people go” (see Exod. 5:1, 2), and what significance can be found in this response?

“Who is the Lord?” Pharaoh declares, not in any desire to know Him but, instead, as an act of defiance or even denial of this God, whom he admits that he does not know. “ ‘I do not know the Lord’ ” (NKJV), he says, almost as a boast.