Chapter 6
After Moses had brought his people’s latest complaint to God, God tells him that the pharaoh will not only let the Israelites go, but that he will force them to leave. (6:1)
God then tells Moses that he is God; that his name is Jehovah; that he made promises to his followers and that now he intends to keep them. (6:2-5)
Then God rehashes the story to this point about how he is God and will free his people with the help of Moses and Aaron, and how the pharaoh is being a douche. (6:6-13)
Now that God has brought us up to date on his story a couple of times, we get a rundown on the family line of Moses from Jacob’s son Levi. In this family tree we learn that Moses’ and Aaron’s Dad married his aunt, so Moses’ mom is also his great-aunt (6:14-26) I have included a diagram at right to illustrate the family line from Abraham to Moses.
Then the author rehashes the Exodus story to this point for the second time in one chapter. (6:27-30)
Chapter 7
This chapter begins by rehashing the Exodus story, in case we forgot after being told several times before including the two times in the last chapter. (7:1-7) When the author finally starts on new material, God tells Moses that when the pharaoh asks for a miracle he is to tell Aaron to throw down Moses’ magic wand and it will turn into a snake. (7:8-9) Why God decided to have Aaron do a magic trick when he had stated earlier that Moses would be doing all of them is never explained.
So Aaron does as instructed and sure enough, his wand turns into a snake. The pharaoh has his court magicians turn their wands into snakes, but Aaron’s wand eats their wands. (7:10-12)
So God makes the pharaoh unwilling to cooperate, and then tells Moses that the pharaoh is unwilling to cooperate (7:13-14)
God tells Moses to meet the pharaoh down by the river the next day with Aaron’s magic wand. When the pharaoh arrives Moses is supposed to tell the pharaoh that God has sent him to free his people and to prove it he is going to smack the river which will then turn into a river of blood which will stink and kill all of the fish. Then he is to give Aaron his wand back and have him do what Moses had just said that he was going to do. Which will cause all of the water in Egypt to turn into blood. This last part of the plan involving lying about who was going to smack the river is presumably meant to confuse the pharaoh. (7:15-19) Why God changed who was to talk and who was to do the magic tricks is not explained.
So, Moses and Aaron do things according to the revised plan. The pharaoh’s magicians tried to reverse the spell, but were unable to do so, and as a result, the Egyptians and all their animals went without water in the desert for seven days. How they survived is not explained. The pharaoh still refuses to cooperate. (7:20-25)
Chapter 8
After the water returns to normal. Moses asks the pharaoh to cooperate saying that if the pharaoh doesn’t he will cause a frog plague. The pharaoh refuses again, so Moses has Aaron use his magic wand to cause frogs to come out of the river and swarm all over the place instead of doing it himself as he told the pharaoh he would. The magicians join in on the fun and there are frogs everywhere. (8:1-7)
The pharaoh calls Moses in and says that if he will get rid of the frogs, his people will be free to go. So, Moses tells God about the deal, and the next day God kills all of the frogs, which are then gathered up into big stinky piles of rotting amphibians. Once the frogs are dead, the pharaoh decides to take back his offer, so God has Moses have Aaron turn all the dust in Egypt into lice which afflict the Egyptians. The pharaoh’s magicians try to rid Egypt of the lice but can’t so they try to convince the pharaoh to cooperate, but he won’t. (8:8-19)
The next day God has Moses tell the pharaoh that if he doesn’t cooperate that the following day God will send a plague of flies to bother everyone except for his own people. Which God then does without any help from Aaron’s magic wand. (8:20-24)
The pharaoh tells Moses that his people will be free to go do their sacrifices if they don’t go too far. So, Moses has God get rid of the flies. Once again, the pharaoh goes back on his word. No mention is made of the lice problem. (8:25-32)
Chapter 9
Since the pharaoh is still uncooperative, God has Moses tell him that if he doesn’t cooperate that all of his domestic animals will get a disease, but the Israelites’ animals won’t. Then God plagues all of the Egyptian animals, which kills all of their cattle, but leaves the Israelite cattle alone. (9:1-6)
The pharaoh still refuses to cooperate, so God has Moses sprinkle ashes into the air which turns into magic dust that causes boils on everybody and all of the remaining animals. The pharaoh’s magicians can’t do anything about the magic dust, and God makes the pharaoh refuse to cooperate. (9:7-12)
The next day Moses tells the pharaoh that God has done all of these horrible things as a way to show off so that everybody will know how special he is. Moses then tells the pharaoh that if he doesn’t cooperate that God will send the worst hail storm that they have ever seen, and that the Egyptians should take all of their cattle which were dead from the previous plague, and other animals indoors before the storm, because anything left outside, man or animal, will die in the storm. (9:13-19) Why God wanted the Egyptians to drag their dead cattle indoors is not explained.
The Egyptians who are scared of God drag their dead cattle, and their servants indoors. The Egyptians who aren’t scared, leave their dead cattle and servants outside. (9:20-21)
Moses points his magic wand at the sky, and God causes hail and fire to rain down everywhere in Egypt except for Goshen. This hail/fire storm destroys crops, trees, and anyone/anything outside, including the already dead cattle. (9:22-26)
The pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron in, and he admits that he and his people have been naughty, but that this time, if God will stop the storm, he will let the Israelites go. Moses doesn’t believe the pharaoh but has God stop the storm anyway as a way for God to show off some more. Sure enough, the pharaoh retracts his offer. (9:27-35)
Chapter 10
God admits to Moses that the pharaoh is refusing to cooperate, because he is making him do so as a way to show off so that his followers will be scared of him, then Moses and the pharaoh start their negotiations again. (10:1-3)
Moses brings Locusts with his magic wand, then God sends them away and makes the pharaoh refuse to cooperate (10:4-20) Then God has Moses makes the light go away for three days everywhere except for Israelite houses, then God makes the pharaoh refuse to cooperate again, and tell Moses to go away and not come back. Moses says he won’t come back anymore. (10:21-29)
Next time: we get to see how God kills children, and babies then the Israelites head into the desert.
The Bible for Atheists 