We are called to listen to and be subject to our governing authorities.
However when the demands of the “authorities” are conflicted with Gods laws (thou shalt not murder), we should and must resist what the authorities are forcing us to do.
2026 Bible Study Thread
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However when the demands of the “authorities” are conflicted with Gods laws (thou shalt not murder), we should and must resist what the authorities are forcing us to do.
I would give God the benefit of the doubt.
This is always a smart play.
Exodus 8
After the second plague of the frogs, Pharaoh said he would let the Hebrews go. Moses then asks God to rescind the plague, which God does. Pharaoh then hardens his heart and refuses to let the people go, becoming a liar in the process. Some people will emphasize the fact that Pharaoh actively hardens his heart in order to obscure that God also hardens his heart, but the text is clear that both God and Pharaoh are active in this Judicial Hardening.
After getting hit with the third plague, the gnats, Moses warns Pharaoh of the fourth plague, the flies. This time, God explains that the plague will come only for the Egyptians and leave the Hebrews alone. Blessing for one, cursing for the other. The way the Lord "put a division" between the Hebrews and the Egyptians is just like how He "put enmity" between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
The Pharaoh is losing a lot of face. He keeps saying he will let the Hebrews go only to go back on his word, a poor look for a king. In contrast, everything that God and Moses had said came to pass just as they said. The Pharoah starts to make some concessions but with conditions, he does not want to let the Hebrews go too far out of his sight even though he tacitly agrees to let them go worship God. He is like a man who refuses to accept that a total breakup is inevitable.
Exodus 9
The Egyptians get hit with the fifth, sixth, and seventh plagues, of death of their livestock, boils, and hail. Every time God sent a plague, He could have left it there forever, but He rescinded the plagues. Instead of giving Him thanks, the Pharaoh hardened his heart against Him. Now God has appointed Pharaoh to make an example of him. By the time Joshua reached Jericho, YHWH had already become renowned for what He did to the Egyptians. Even though God appointed Pharaoh for this, Pharaoh is still responsible for the disposition of his heart. This is a paradox, a mystery, when two contradictory truths are true at the same time, God's sovereignty and man's culpability.
This part is amazing. Pharaoh says all the right things, he's the bad guy and God's the good guy, and yet he does not believe that to be true according to Moses. It is one thing to know something or to say it, it is another to believe it and to love it. Pharaoh is like a man who is sorry that he got caught, but not sorry for doing the crime from the start.
Exodus 8
Plagues of frogs and gnats and flies but pharoah hardens his heart. My question here is how much moral responsibility does the pharoah even have over this if God is the one forcing his heart not to change?
A similar question arises when we consider how 'bad' was Judas if it was all predestined to be? How much are we even in control of our own actions? That's a scary thought.
Exodus 9
27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”
29 Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. 30 But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.”
31 (The flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom. 32 The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)
33 Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the Lord; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land. 34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. 35 So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.'
This part is interesting because in this instance the pharaoh's heart is hardened without God's intervention so he is more to blame. The pharaoh finally saw the truth, he let the people go, but then he flipped back. I think we can all relate to this though. We all have moments of 'seeing the light' knowing what's wrong and right but then going back to what's familiar and comfortable. The one thing the Bible makes abundandtly clear is the repetitive nature of sin.
But most of the time the authorities seem to be in a nebulous grey area. For example, around the time of the pandemic the authorities all encouraged us to do certain things that maybe weren't against the 10 commandments and perhaps could even use some of them as justification - 'love thy neighbour' or even 'honour thy father and mother.'
I get your point, but the covid vaccine was voluntary.
It just meant that if you didn’t take it you were denied certain privileges like losing your job/income.
Exodus 10
This is probably the origin of a Hebraism that carries throughout the Bible, the multitude of locusts. Later in Scripture, the enemies of God are described as locusts; in these cases, what's being referred to is their numbers. The eighth plague is described as "death" by Pharaoh.
The ninth plague: utter darkness. One of the chief deities of the Egyptians was their sun god. You can see this as an act of God's judgment against the Egyptian gods. But I see in this something more about YHWH than about Ra. God is communicated through sun analogies throughout Scripture. The Aaronic Blessing: May the Lord shine His face upon you. Jesus is called the Sun of Righteousness in Malachi. The Lord's Day falls on Sunday. For God to cast darkness over the Egyptians is for Him to show them what life is like without communion with Him, no light for the Egyptians.
Pharaoh offers to let the Hebrews go but on the condition that they leave their livestock. Moses does not accept because without the livestock they cannot sacrifice to God. He makes no deal with the devil. On this, Pharaoh and Moses become so estranged that they will not see each other face to face anymore should the Pharaoh have his way. I like the way the movies like The Ten Commandments and The Prince of Egypt portray the estranged-brothers relationship between Moses and Pharaoh. Only problem is that it's not exactly Biblical, but it is still theologically accurate. The Pharaoh is like Cain, he has a works-based and murderous character, as opposed to Moses' faith-based and sacrificial character in the spirit of Abel. The purpose is not liberty unto itself, but liberty to worship God.
In this scene, the Pharaoh scolds Ramses sharply. He is not a loving father but a stern judge to Ramses. In contrast, Moses is willing to take the blame for his brother and the Pharaoh treats Moses like a true son.
In this scene after Moses brings the word of God to Pharaoh, Pharaoh sees in God/Moses the stern judge, not the loving Father. His earthly father set the bad precedent for the heavenly Father.
Exodus 11
God prophecies the final plague: the death of the firstborn. This will be the plague that will cause the Pharaoh to fully surrender. It is interesting that this plague should be so devastating that it would utterly defeat Pharaoh. If you recall Genesis, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his firstborn, and in the Gospel, God did sacrifice His own firstborn for you and me. The power of faith can set you free, to do things for God that otherwise would be impossible.
As a thought, I often think of Pharoah when atheists says words to the effect of "Well, why doesn't God just prove He exists? Then we'd believe!"
Well, He has done many times, and peoples' hearts were hardened towards Him anyway. No judgement will ever be enough for our stiff-necked peoples, until our Lord returns again.
Well, He has done many times, and peoples' hearts were hardened towards Him anyway. No judgement will ever be enough for our stiff-necked peoples, until our Lord returns again.
Exodus 12
Here, God institutes the Passover. The Passover Lamb must be slaughtered and it's blood must cover the houses of the Hebrews so that the destroying angel will spare them. Anyone who does not have the blood of the lamb over their door will come under the curse. Obviously, this is one of the chief types or symbols of redemption in Christ. Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb. When the Hebrews painted the blood over their doors, they would've been painting crosses over their doors if you think about it.
Here is when the concept of memorial/remembrance is introduced. The Passover is followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Hebrews were to immortalize their liberation from Egypt through this symbol. Likewise, Christ called the Lord's Supper a memorial when He instituted it. These Covenant ordinances function in very much the same way.
The final plague compels the Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go. They plundered the Egyptians when they left Egypt. Later, they would use that gold to fashion an idol.
In Christian circles, this is what's called "guarding the table." The Passover is only for those who belong to the Covenant. Likewise, the Lord's Supper is only for those who belong to the New Covenant. It wouldn't make sense for a non-Hebrew to take the ordinance since God had only liberated the Hebrews from Egypt. Likewise, it doesn't make sense for a non-believer to take the Lord's Supper since Christ saves only the Elect. To take the Covenant ordinance when you do not belong to the Covenant is to turn the ordinance into an empty symbol, thus profaning it. This is why taking any of the Covenant ordinances is no light matter.
Exodus 13
The firstborn that is set apart as holy for God is always christological, whether it's man or beast. Up until now, the firstborn theme has shown up numerous times in Genesis and most prominently in the death of the firstborn in Exodus. The sacrificial beast has shown up multiple times in Exodus, first in the Garden of Eden, then again in Abel's acceptable offering, then again in Noah's animal sacrifice.
Paul explains the symbology of the unleavened bread in 1 Corinthians 5. The leaven is a symbol for sin, and so you must be unleavened, and you are if you are in Christ through faith.
This is the origin for the Jewish practice of wearing tefillin. I suspect that in the original context this was not so literal, but people have a tendency to over literalize the symbols in the Bible.
Exodus 14
The Egyptians make one final play to kill all the Hebrews. Immediately, the Hebrews give into fear and start complaining against Moses. Moses tells them that God Himself will fight for them. There is no synergy here, God alone can save us just as He saved them despite themselves.
God's pillar of fire blocks the Egyptians for a time, but it eventually gives way to allow the Egyptians to pursue the Hebrews into the Red Sea. Once they are in the Red Sea, God closes the sea on them. The Hebrews pass through the Red Sea and are saved by God. They are truly and finally out of Egypt. In 1 Corinthians, Paul calls this a baptism, the Hebrews are baptized unto Moses.
Exodus 15
The song of Moses here contains much poetry that will carry through the rest of the Bible. It is filled with salvific language; God Himself is your salvation, God redeemed His people in lovingkindness, God has purchased a people for Himself.
The Hebrews again give a glimpse of their ungrateful character, but God blesses them with sweet water anyway. Here is an image of the Gospel. The waters cross over from being bitter to being sweet when Moses throws the tree into them, the tree being an image of the cross of Christ.
After giving grace, God follows with the Law. The Hebrews are to do all that the Law requires. Not try their best. Not do what they can. They are to keep the Law perfectly or they can expect to come under the same curses as the Egyptians did.
The number twelve usually serves as symbol for God's people. Twelve tribes. Twelve Apostles. The number seventy has various meanings, but one of them is a reference to the nations. I do not think the Garden-like imagery here is an accident. The Hebrews had just been saved from the kingdom of darkness and re-entered paradise, so to speak.
Exodus 16
After leaving the "Garden" the Hebrews come into the desert wilderness on their way to Sinai. From the kingdom of God to the kingdom of Satan. Here they begin to complain against Moses because they became hungry. They do not have faith that God will provide for them. Despite their faithlessness, God was faithful to provide them with bread and meat, both symbols pointing forward to Christ. The manna that God rained from heaven was only for the day's provisions and would rot if the Hebrews tried to hoard it, the lesson being that God's providence is sufficient. You do not need the whole world and all it's riches, you need only God and what He provides. In the ancient world, if you had enough food for tomorrow then you were considered rich. That should put things into perspective.
The people Israel were not a good son to the Father. After clearly being told that God would not rain any manna on the Sabbath, they went out to search for some anyway. These are a people who only follow God's Law out of compulsion. How are they any different from Pharaoh who would do God's will only when God held a gun to his head, so to speak, only to reverse course the second God removed the gun? A good son would honor his father even without a gun to his head. A good son would look like Jesus, always doing the things that please the Father, even without the gun to His head.
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Exodus 17
The Hebrews contend with Moses and demand he gives them water. God instructs Moses to strike the rock with his staff which then floods out water. The Hebrews are very much under the Law, obligating Moses to serve them under pain of the Law's penalty. In contrast, Jesus give the water of life freely to those under grace.
The image is of Moses on the top of a hill or small mountain, holding up the staff, growing weary, being supported, and having to sit down on a rock. The staff and the sword are both symbols of God's Law, which He uses to vanquish His enemies. Unlike God, Moses' arms are not "everlasting." He can only do so much. Moses' stony seat is a perfect image for the dominion of the Law. In contrast, Jesus sat down on the top of the Mount of Olives in the Sermon on the Mount. You see how Jesus and Moses in many ways are the mirror images of each other, just as God's Grace and His Law are mirror images of each other. Not identical, but corresponding.
Exodus 10-
A little repetitive in a way but basically we get the plague of locusts, the plague of darkness, and the pharaoh's heart being hardened to these things.
27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. 28 Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.”
29 “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.”
Are you saying those movies present the pharoah as literally Moses' brother?