KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF MIRACLES – Lesson Thirty
TEXT: Psalm 78 (Cont’d.) – V.45a
[We continue to “consider the marvelous works” listed in this psalm, in keeping with I Samuel 12:24 – But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.
Be sure to fear the LORD – Proverbs 19:23 – The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.]
V.45a – He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.
This is the fourth plague in the Exodus account. Since there is nothing trifling about the Word of God, it must be of utmost importance that it is placed here in this psalm.
See Exodus 8:20-32. [V.20 – Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the water and say to him, `This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
As he goes to the water – Here we find Pharaoh continuing to worship the Nile as god, after it had been struck by the plague of blood and had been made to produce frogs. Pharaoh’s persistence is similar to the account of the Philistines and Dagon – 1 Samuel 5:1-5 – 1After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. 3When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.
Note Jeremiah 2:10-11 – 10Cross over to the coasts of Kittim and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: 11Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.
Application: Let us ask the GOD OF MIRACLES to help us to heed James 5:10-11 (MSG) – 10Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. 11What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You’ve heard, of course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.
Exodus 8:22-23 – 22`But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the LORD, am in this land. 23I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This miraculous sign will occur tomorrow.'”
I will make a distinction – Hebrew: I will put a deliverance
Exodus 8:24-28 – 24And the LORD did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials, and throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.
25Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”
26But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? 27We must take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, as he commands us.”
28Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in the desert, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”
“Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land,” (v.25); but you must not go very far (v.28) – Contrast Exodus 7:16 – Then say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened.
Application: Let us thank the GOD OF MIRACLES for the privilege of worshiping Him and ask Him to help us to worship Him acceptably and not according to man’s dictates. Hebrews 12:28-29 – 28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Exodus 8:30-31 – 30Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD, 31and the LORD did what Moses asked: The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained.
Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD, and the LORD did what Moses asked – Note 1 John 5:14-15 – 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him.
This plague was an attack on another god, Khepri – god of creation, movements of the sun, rebirth. It had the head of a fly. Compare 2 Kings 1:1-17. (Note the heading, “The Lord’s Judgment on Ahaziah.”) V.2 – Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”
Baal-Zebub = lord of flies
V.17 – So he died, according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.
According to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken – The word of the Lord is sure: Psalm 111:7 – The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.
Note Ephesians 3:20-21 – 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Application: Let us ask the GOD OF MIRACLES to help us to allow “His power to be at work within us” as with Moses and Elijah.