The Two Hurdles Of God’s WillÀpẹrẹ

Two more supernatural signs

God gave Moses two more supernatural signs of His presence and authority—almost like a plan B and plan C. God knew the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart. He knew one simple sign would not be enough to convince him to let the Israelites go. And He would use the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart to display His power to His own people and to the Egyptians. So he further instructed Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak”, and Moses did. When he took it out, his hand was white with leprosy!

“Now put it back in,” God told him. And when Moses did, and withdrew it again, it was restored.

Leprosy was a dreaded disease that rendered its victim unclean according to Jewish law. Unclean, the Jew could not be in God’s presence to worship Him. God’s demonstration of sickness and healing, of Moses’ hand concealed and revealed, showed His power to bring His people out and make their worship acceptable in His sight. Their life among the Egyptians as slaves had made them unfit for worship—unclean —but God was able to cleanse them and bring them into His presence unspotted and free.

God’s third verifying demonstration for Moses —His plan C, if you will— was no less dramatic than the first two. “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign,” God told Moses, “they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground”.

The Egyptians equated the Nile River with life. It was their water supply, their “divine” source of life and sustenance. They congregated around the Nile. They revered and depended upon the Nile, and the Israelites knew it. But Moses would dip into the Nile River and turn the water he drew out of it into blood, showing that the supernatural, life-giving power of Yahweh surpassed any other source of power. To Israel this little demonstration would say that the Egyptians’ power source was “owned” by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was the equivalent of a seven-foot NBA superstar slam-dunking over a five-foot, middle school point guard! (By the way, when Pharaoh saw this mini-demo, he should have learned his lesson ... but ultimately the entire Nile River would run with blood as he hardened his heart against Israel and her God.)