... and I (God) appeared...

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The reading from two weeks ago was Exodus 6:2-9:35.


Here is my summary/massage:


Chapter 6:
Yahweh identifies Himself with his distinct name.
Moses talks to the children of Israel, but they do not listen because of their anguish.
Yahweh tells Moses to go to Pharaoh; Moses makes an excuse, but Yahweh gives Moses and Aaron a command for the children of Israel and Pharaoh.
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Genealogy of Leah's first 3 children, with a focus on Moses and Aaron's line, the Levites.
Yahweh tells Moses to speak to Pharaoh;
Moses tells Yahweh he is of uncircumcised lips.


Chapter 7:
Yahweh prophesies what will happen.
Moses and Aaron obey Yahweh.
Moses is 80 years old, Aaron is 83 years old.
Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and show the rod turn into a snake.
Pharaoh's magicians do the same; Aaron's rod swallow the others.
Pharaoh's heart is hardened.
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1st plague:
Yahweh tells Moses to say to Pharaoh the water will be turned to blood because he won't let the people go.
Yahweh tells Moses to say to Aaron to stretch out his hand over the waters with the rod to turn it into blood.
Moses and Aaron obey; the waters turn to blood, and the fish die and the land smelled.
Egyptian magicians do the same, Pharaoh's heart is hardened.
The Egyptians dig for water.
7 days go by.


Chapter 8:
2nd plague:
Yahweh tells Moses to say to Pharaoh let the people go or there will be frogs.
Yahweh tells Moses to say to Aaron to stretch out his hand with the rod to bring frogs.
Aaron obeys, and the frogs arrive.
Egyptian magicians do the same.
Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron to intreat Yahweh to take away the frogs.
Moses ask when, Pharaoh says tomorrow, Moses says ok, and to acknowledge that there is none like Yahweh.
Moses and Aaron go away, and intreats Yahweh.
The frogs go away.
Pharaoh hardens his heart.
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3rd plague:
Yahweh tells Moses to say to Aaron to stretch out his hand with the rod to bring lice.
They obey, and there is lice in the land.
The magicians could not do the same.
The magiicans say it is the finger of God.
Pharaoh hardens his heart.
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4th plague:
Yahweh tells Moses to say to Pharaoh let the people go or there will be flies, except in the land of Goshen, where His people live, and it was so.
Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron to let them sacrifice to God within the land to be rid of the flies.
Moses insists on the three days journey to sacrifice to Yahweh.
Pharaoh says ok.
Moses warns of not being deceitful.
Moses intreats Yahweh.
Yahweh stops the flies.
Pharaoh hardens his heart.


Chapter 9:
5th plague:
Yahweh tells Moses to say to Pharaoh let the people go or the cattle will die, but the cattle of Israel will be spared.
Pharaoh hardens his heart.
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6th plague:
Yahweh tells Moses and Aaron to take ashes and throw it in the air to become boils on the Egyptians.
They do so in front of Pharaoh, the magicians could not stand because of the boils.
Yahweh hardens Pharaoh's heart.
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7th plague:
Yahweh tells Moses to get up early and say to Pharaoh let the people go,
or they will be smitten with pestilence/grievous hail.
Some servants of Pharaoh listen to the words of Yahweh,
and put their cattle indoors, others do not.
Yahweh tells Moses to stretch out his hand for hail.
Moses obeys, and there is hail in Egypt, except the land of Goshen.

Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aaron, confesses his sin, and calls Yahweh righteous.
Moses says he will spread his hand to Yahweh, and it will cease, but they will not fear Yahweh.
Flax and bareley was ruined, but the wheat and spelt was spared.

Moses spread his hands to Yahweh; the hail ceases.
Pharaoh hardens his heart.

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The plagues of Egypt begins:

My particular focus on this reading goes to two verses in Chapter 9:31-32.

31And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. 32But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up.

It's kind of odd that these crops are even mentioned for their destruction or preservation. The last time I read through this passage, I wrote down

"(!?!?!-grace of God?)"

I checked a couple of commentaries, but their foci was on some other area of the passages.


So here are some thoughts after a little meditation on the passage:

*God's grace is reflected in the crops that were spared.

*Egypt is known to be a type of the depraved world in which we live; the context of the passage is God's judgment on Egypt, or the judgment of the world.

*This is plague number 7, which is a number of completeness, although there are 10 plagues in total.


Synthesizing the above (without reading too much into the text) yields:

Even in God's complete judgment of the world, His grace will be reflected in what/who is spared.


Of course, we know this, because we know that

God is just.


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