Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh (Exodus 7:8-13)

8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” [God instructs; the first of repeatable patterns.] 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded [an encounter with Pharaoh]. Aaron cast down his staff [a symbolic action] before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent [supernaturally]. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts [trickery]. [The sign is duplicated by the Egyptians.] 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. [The magicians could not duplicate this. Note that God starts small with this sign.] 13 Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened [thinking his magicians can do this], and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

[What we call the “Ten Plagues” are actually eleven miraculous signs having a common theme of God’s sovereignty over Egypt, the Egyptians, and their Pharaoh. The first sign is a demonstration rather than a plague since the only things harmed are some insignificant staff-snakes.]

[The Progression and Structure of the Ten Plague:

• The Plagues built in intensity:

• Plagues one, two, and three (blood, frogs, biting insects) were relatively brief in duration, did not cause death, and mainly affected people’s patience and convenience. The Egyptian magicians were able to duplicate the first two plagues; they could not the third, evidence of the plagues’ increasing intensity.

• Plagues four, five, and six (swarming insects, animal disease, and skins sores) were more harmful but not enough to move Pharaoh.

• Plagues seven, eight, and nine (hail, locusts, and darkness) were more sever, resulting in the destruction of animals and crops. Darkness was frightening and debilitating and led Pharaoh to consider letting Israel go.

• God brought about the plagues with a structure to their occurrences designed to hammer home to the Egyptians that he was in control, even of the environment they worshipped in their pantheism.]