Chapter 23—The Ten Plagues of Egypt
This chapter is based on
Exodus 5
to 10.
Aaron, being instructed by angels, went forth to meet his brother
amid the desert solitudes near Horeb. Here Moses told Aaron “all the
words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had
commanded him.”
Exodus 4:28
. Together they journeyed to Egypt
to assemble the elders of Israel. “The people believed: and when
they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that
He had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and
worshiped.”
Exodus 4:31
.
With a message for the king, the two brothers entered the palace
of the Pharaohs as ambassadors from the King of kings: “Thus saith
Jehovah, God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast
unto Me in the wilderness.”
“Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?”
demanded the monarch; “I know no Jehovah, neither will I let Israel
go.”
Their answer was, “The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let
us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice
unto the Lord our God; lest He fall upon us with pestilence, or with
the sword.”
The king’s anger was kindled. “Wherefore do ye, Moses and
Aaron, let [hinder] the people from their works?” he said. “Get you
unto your burdens.” Already the kingdom had suffered loss by the
interference of these strangers. At thought of this he added, “Behold,
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the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their
burdens.”
In their bondage the Israelites had to some extent lost the knowl-
edge of God’s law, and the Sabbath had been generally disregarded.
The exactions of their taskmasters made its observance apparently
impossible. But Moses had shown his people that obedience to God
was the condition of deliverance; and the efforts made to restore the
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