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Satan’s Hatred of God’s Law
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spreading the knowledge of God and bringing many Egyptians to
give themselves to His service.
The extreme idolatry of the Egyptians and their cruelty during
the later part of the Hebrew stay there should have inspired the
Israelites to pull back from idolatry and run for refuge to the God of
their fathers. But Satan darkened their minds, leading them to copy
the practices of their heathen masters.
When the time came for Israel’s deliverance, Satan determined
to keep that great people, who were more than two million, in
ignorance, superstition, obscurity, and bondage, so that he could
completely erase the remembrance of God from their minds.
When Moses performed the miracles before the king, Satan tried
to counterfeit the work of God and resist His will. This only prepared
the way for greater displays of divine power and glory.
God “brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with
gladness ... that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws”
(
Psalm 105:43-45
).
During the bondage in Egypt, to a great extent many of the
Israelites had lost the knowledge of God’s law and had mixed its
principles with heathen customs and traditions. God brought them
[163]
to Mt. Sinai, and there with His own voice He declared His law.
Even while God was proclaiming His law to His people, Satan
was plotting to tempt them to sin. By leading them into idolatry,
he would destroy the value of all worship, for how can anyone be
elevated by adoring what may be represented by the work of his own
hands? If people could so forget their own relationship to God that
they would bow down to these revolting and senseless objects, then
the evil passions of the heart would be unlimited, and Satan would
have full control.
At the very foot of Sinai, Satan began to plan for overthrowing
the law of God, and so continue the same work he had begun in
heaven. During the forty days Moses was on the mountain with
God, Satan was stirring up doubt, apostasy, and rebellion. When
Moses came from the presence of divine glory with the law they had
pledged to obey, he found God’s covenant people bowing in worship
in front of a golden idol.
Satan had planned to cause their ruin. Since they had proved
themselves so completely degraded, Satan believed that the Lord