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One Plague More

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Exodus 11:1

The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. (Exodus 11:1, ESV)

There have been a lot of movies made about the Exodus, and they all like to focus on the 10 plagues brought upon Egypt. As I was reading through here this morning, this verse stuck out.

After everything that happens, I try to read it like I don’t know what is coming next. After each plague I think “Now, surely, Pharaoh will release the Hebrews, right‽” and then Pharaoh double crosses them. For a while you wonder if God is just enabling Pharaoh to continue in his sins, if the mercy is just too much. There is real irony here because God’s mercy brings about more suffering than if He would have just wiped out the Egyptians from the beginning. But that wouldn’t have sent the right message. The Hebrews are going to leave Egypt to follow a god that is merciful, compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love and boy will they see His patience and love as He gives the Egyptians one chance after another after another after another after another after another after another after another!

So after all of that, I think this might be the most terrifying sentence in the whole book.

One plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely.

There is one more plague coming, and it is going to be so severe that Pharaoh won’t let you leave, but he will drive you away completely! This next thing that is going to happen will be so profound, so powerful, so consummate, that Pharaoh will not change his mind like he did 9 times already. You will not be allowed to leave, but driven from this land.

It’s also interesting to note, that after the proclamation of the first nine plagues, Moses tells Pharaoh such and such will happen unless you let my people go. This time it’s done. Here comes the final plague, and we’re not asking anything of you, Pharaoh. The time for entreaty is over. The God of the Hebrews is done negotiating and yielding.

Suffering List

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Here is a list from the net bible of all the occurences of τηλιπσισ (#2347) “suffering”

I found this list in my journal. It seems so distant from the Facebook posts and cries for rights and justice that we see. Are we prepared as a church for difficulty? Do we have room in our theology for discomfort, much less suffering?

Phi 4:14 Nevertheless, you did well to share with me in my trouble.
Rom 5:3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
Rom 12:12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer.
2Th 1:6 For it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
2Co 1:4 who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Rom 2:9 There will be affliction and distress on everyone who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek,
2Co 4:17 For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison
Eph 3:13 For this reason I ask you not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
Phi 1:17 The former proclaim Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, because they think they can cause trouble for me in my imprisonment.
1Th 3:3 so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.
Heb 10:33 At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and afflictions, and at other times you came to share with others who were treated in that way.
Mat 13:21 But he has no root in himself and does not endure; when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.
Mat 24:9 “Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of my name.
Mat 24:21 For then there will be great suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen.
Mar 4:17 But they have no root in themselves and do not endure. Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.
Mar 13:24 “But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light;
Joh 16:33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage – I have conquered the world.”
Act 7:11 Then a famine occurred throughout Egypt and Canaan, causing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.
Act 20:23 except that the Holy Spirit warns me in town after town that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.
2Co 6:4 But as God’s servants, we have commended ourselves in every way, with great endurance, in persecutions, in difficulties, in distresses,
1Th 1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, when you received the message with joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, despite great affliction.
1Th 3:7 So in all our distress and affliction, we were reassured about you, brothers and sisters, through your faith.
Rev 2:22 Look! I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds.
Mar 13:19 For in those days there will be suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, or ever will happen.
Act 11:19 Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message to no one but Jews.