Below are some preliminary questions to assist in the study of this passage. For a comprehensive study of the passage, download the Study Guide (PDF download).
1. How does God identify Himself to Moses in Exodus 6:29 (printed below?) See also Exodus 3:14 (printed below)
He said to him, I am Jehovah. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you. (Exodus 6:29)
God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. This is what you are to say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:14)
God identifies Himself to Moses by His name “Jehovah.” “Jehovah” is derived from the Hebrew verb “to be,” or, “I am.” In Exodus 3:14 God elaborates upon His name and His identity, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM.’” The Hebrew has the meaning, “I AM BECAUSE I AM,” meaning that God is self-existent, depending upon no one and nothing. The Hebrew also has the meaning, “I AM WHO I AM,” meaning that God is self-defining, no one tells Him who He is or what He can do.
2. What is Moses to tell Pharaoh and what is he told will happen? See Exodus 7:2-4 (printed below)
You are to speak everything I command you, and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, instructing him to allow the children of Israel to depart from his land. (3) And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. (4) And Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth my hosts—my people, the children of Israel—out of the land of Egypt with mighty acts of judgment. (Exodus 7:2-4)
Moses is to speak to Pharaoh, instructing him to let the children of Israel depart from his land (7:2). But the Lord warns Moses that Pharaoh will not listen (7:4). Then the Lord informs Moses that He will lay His hand upon Egypt and bring His people out by means of great judgments (7:4b).
3. What do you think it means when the Lord says, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” (Exodus 7:3?)
Exodus 7:3-4 is a summary statement foretelling the Lord’s act of hardening Pharaoh’s heart as an act of judgment upon Pharaoh for hardening his own heart against the Lord. Six times Pharaoh stubbornly resisted the commandment of God, each time hardening his heart against the Lord. First, at the initial interview with Moses when Moses turns the rod into a serpent (7:13). Then, following each of the first five plagues (7:22, 8:15, 8:19, 8:32, 9:7). Then, starting with the sixth plague (the plague of boils), we read that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart (9:12). Thus Exodus 7:3-4 is a summary statement, foretelling the Lord’s act of judgment in hardening Pharaoh’s heart in consequence of Pharaoh’s own act of repeatedly hardening his heart against the Lord.
4. Against whom does the Lord execute His judgments? See Exodus 7:4 and Exodus 12:12 (printed below.)
And Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth my hosts—my people, the children of Israel—out of the land of Egypt with mighty acts of judgment. (Exodus 7:4)
I will go through the land of Egypt in that night and strike down every first born—both man and beast—and I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am Jehovah. (Exodus 12:12)
Right from the outset, this was not merely a political war, nor merely a cultural war, but a spiritual battle. As Exodus 12:12 indicates, the Lord executed His judgments not only against the Egyptian nation, but against “all the gods of Egypt.” The spiritual battle waged by the Lord against the gods of the empire is dramatically presented in the first plague: the turning of the Nile River into blood (7:14-25). The Nile was viewed by Egypt as the source of it’s prosperity and life, it was honored as Egypt’s supreme deity (Commentaries on the Old Testament, The Pentateuch, Vol.1, Keil and Delitzsch, p.478). When Pharaoh went out to the Nile early in the morning, he went out to offer sacrifice and worship; it is here that Moses is sent to confront him with the demand of the Lord. The very first plague became a prophecy of what the Lord would do to this pagan nation—and what He will finally do to every pagan nation—as well as to the powers of darkness that possess such nations: “I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am Jehovah” (Exodus 12:12b).
5. What will be the final result of the Lord’s great acts of judgment poured out upon the nation of Egypt? See Exodus 7:5 (printed below)
Then the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I stretch out my hand over Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. (Exodus 7:5)
The Lord informs Moses that the final result of His great acts of judgment will be that “the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah.” In other words, as a result of God’s mighty acts of judgment the Egyptians shall come to understand that the Lord is the true and living God, He is the sovereign God.
