Anything But Monotonous.

I am wriggling in anticipation.
I can hardly wait to get to the exodus.
But first,
the plagues.

Blood for water.
Frogs.
Gnats.
Flies.
Dead Livestock.
Boils.
Ridiculously large hail.
Locusts.
Darkness.
The death of sons.

Do you think Moses and Aaron ever thought to themselves when they awoke in the morning,

“Well, off to the daily grind again.  I wonder what the plague is today? No matter, Pharaoh’s heart will still be hard.”

Okay, so probably not.  But it seems a little bit monotonous.  I feel calloused saying that.  I mean there were piles of stinking, dead frogs all over Egypt, people were so miserably covered in boils they couldn’t stand and a whole people group lost their first born son.

Perhaps monotonous is the wrong word choice.  ?

I just wonder what was going through Moses' and Aaron’s heads amidst all of this.
This little break in the ‘monotony’ in which we hear Moses’ words and perhaps a glimpse into his independent thought, is great.

Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hand to the LORD.  The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s. But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God.” Exodus 9:29-30

 From what I can gather, as God is introducing the ‘hail round’, He didn’t specifically tell Moses:

 a) to say this to Pharaoh [like He usually does] or b) that He would again harden Pharaohs’s heart [like He usually does].

I do love what He does tell Moses to say though.  Basically, He wants Moses to relay the message that, as Creator, He could have crushed Pharaoh long ago and avoided this whole 'dog and pony show'.  But then, Pharaoh wouldn’t be around to be brought to his knees by the all powerful God.

"I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” -God.  Exodus 9:16

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Pharaoh.  Bam.

But let’s revisit this fear thing Moses talked about.  Moses could smell Pharaoh’s fear.  But it was fear of the troublesome hail and wanting to be rid of it.  Not fear of God, which the sad sac tried to convince Moses was what he was really smelling.  Interestingly enough however, this fear is being stirred up in a few in the land.

Then whoever feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses... Exodus 9:20

They were most definitely scared shitless, and understandably so, just recovering form a severe case of body blisters. But I think their fear can be translated into something other than just knocking knees and shaking hands.  They TRUSTED that God was going to do what He said.  They certainly had evidence in their empty fields and mounds of rotting amphibians stacked everywhere.  Their fear, I think, was motivated not so much by weather in the form of hail, but by the fact that they KNEW the hail was coming.

So I guess what I’m saying is that fear is linked to trust.
? Hm.  Interesting.

And I’m also saying that I love this story.
...I have a strange feeling I may have mentioned that before....