Pharaoh sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts

Exodus 9:1-35

If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.

Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.

So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals.

Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 

Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now.

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”

When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.

The disease strikes the cattle, and skin infections break out on humans and beasts, carried by the frogs and insects.

Hail and thunderstorms ruin the flax and barley crops - but not wheat and spelt, which have not yet frown. And those Egyptians who take note of God's warning remain safe.

Why?

Same of most of us, when our trouble passed away we might forget the warning of the Lord and our sins.

God have mercy but we can't refuse to repent for our sins. When the time is up there is no way to repent.

-------------

三個災難：（前面4個災只是讓他們生活不便）一第四是損失財產第五是人及牲畜皮膚受害，第六造成農業損失及人受傷害。

沒有馬無法打仗，驢、駱駝影響運輸，經濟，牛羊影響民生。

唯以色列人的牲畜一隻都沒有死，此更証明這件事是耶和華所施行的。這就是不是自然現象。若是感染怎麼會分別出以色列人住的地方沒有。這是神的作為。

爐灰是燒磚的窯的灰。燒磚是埃及人做工的東西，神使用埃及壓迫以色列人的痕跡來造成災。

一至五災，都是法老的心剛硬，第六次寫出神使法老心剛硬，即任憑法老的心剛硬。以前五次還給法老機會悔改。

如果神要殺他們，早就殺了。手下留情是顯出神的大能，讓法老悔改，神的名傳遍天下。神也沒有為憑殺死牲畜，要他們將牲畜，人都帶入家中。但是留在田裏的就被擊斃。所以神殺的是不聽話的人。

這次法老都嚇到了，終於看到自己的罪，看到神的公義。法老承認自己犯了罪。

法老的心本來就剛硬，神給他五次機會了，第六次就任憑法老，沒有機會了。

---------------

How?

All of the stories in the Bible is remind us to obey the law and command of the Lord is the right way in the world.