Just One More Night with Frogs

IV. OVERVIEW: INTRODUCTION TO THE PLAGUES
A. Their Purposes
1. Judgment upon God’s enemies
a. To bring judgment on Pharaoh and the Egyptians (Exodus 3:9-10, 20; Exodus 7:3-4)
b. To bring judgments upon and overpower all the gods of the Egyptians (Exodus 12:12; Numbers 33:4)
2. Deliverance of God’s people (Exodus 3:20; Exodus 4:21-23; Exodus 6:1-8)
3. Revelation of the one and only true God
a. To reveal the true God to the Egyptians (Exodus 7:3-4; Exodus 9:14); even the magicians recognized the judgments as “the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19)
b. To reveal the Israelites as God’s people (Exodus 8:21-23; Exodus 9:4; Exodus 11:7)
c. To show God to be above all gods (Exodus 9:15-16; Jethro’s testimony: Exodus 18:10-11)
4. Faith in God’s word, present and future generations
a. To demonstrate the power of “the word of the LORD” (Exodus 9:20-21)
b. To give future generations of Israelites confidence in their God (Exodus 10:1-2)
B. Their Groupings
1. Introductory thoughts
a. Each of the plagues had an obvious pattern to them.
b. The first nine plagues can be divided into three groups of three each.
1) Each grouping contains three plagues with the first two plagues of each group preceded by a warning (plagues one and two; four and five; seven and eight).
2) The third plague in each group comes without warning (that is plagues three, six, and nine).
c. The tenth plague is a category in itself.
2. First group of plagues: water to blood, the frogs, and the lice
a. The first plague began in the morning (Exodus 7:15).
b. It took the message to all the Egyptians.
c. The second plague started with a warning to Pharaoh.