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From Eternity Past
A more terrible stroke followed—murrain upon all the Egyptian
cattle. Both the sacred animals and the beasts of burden—kine and
oxen and sheep, horses and camels and asses—were destroyed. It
had been distinctly stated that the Hebrews were to be exempt; and
Pharaoh, on sending messengers to the home of the Israelites, proved
the truth of this. “Of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.”
Still the king was obstinate.
Moses was next directed to take ashes of the furnace and “sprinkle
it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.” The fine particles spread
over the land of Egypt, and wherever they settled, produced boils
“breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast.” The priests
and magicians had encouraged Pharaoh in his stubbornness, but now
a judgment had reached even them. Smitten with a loathsome and
painful disease, they were no longer able to contend against the God of
Israel. The magicians were not able to protect even their own persons.
Still the heart of Pharaoh grew harder. And now the Lord sent a
message to him, “I will at this time send all My plagues upon thine
heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest
know that there is none like Me in all the earth... . And in very deed
for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee My power.”
God’s providence had overruled events to place him upon the throne
at the very time appointed for Israel’s deliverance.
Though this haughty tyrant had forfeited the mercy of God, his
life had been preserved that through his stubbornness the Lord might
manifest His wonders in Egypt. God’s people were permitted to
experience the grinding cruelty of the Egyptians, that they might not
be deceived concerning the debasing influence of idolatry. In His
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dealing with Pharaoh, the Lord manifested His hatred of idolatry and
His determination to punish cruelty and oppression.
God had declared concerning Pharaoh, “I will harden his heart,
that he shall not let the people go.”
Exodus 4:21
. There was no ex-
ercise of supernatural power to harden the heart of the king, but the
seeds of rebellion that he sowed when he rejected the first miracle
produced their harvest. As he continued to venture from one degree of
stubbornness to another, his heart became more and more hardened,
until he was called to look upon the cold, dead faces of the firstborn.