There’s a moment in Exodus 7 that absolutely amazes me every time I read it. God is commissioning Moses for the confrontation with Pharaoh, the ultimate showdown between heaven’s authority and earth’s arrogance. And God says something stunning:
“See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh.”
I love that. I love that because Pharaoh is the ruler, he’s the king, the dictator, he is over everything and God is like telling Moses, “I’m making you God to him.”
Think about that. Pharaoh, who considered himself a god, who held absolute power over the most advanced civilization of the ancient world, who enslaved an entire nation, God tells Moses, “To him, you are God. And Aaron is your prophet.”
This was a complete inversion of the power structure. Moses, the stuttering shepherd who tried to decline the mission, is now positioned as deity-level authority over the man who thought he was divine.
And what follows? Great acts of judgment. God wanted something to happen and it wasn’t happening. He wanted to free His people from the bondage of slavery. Therefore, great acts of judgment are what He used.
Seven plagues unfold in this Torah portion alone:
– Water turned to blood
– Frogs covering the land
– Gnats that the magicians couldn’t replicate
– Swarms of flies
– Death of livestock
– And more to come…
Each plague demonstrated something the magicians couldn’t match, something Pharaoh couldn’t control, something that proved beyond doubt: “There is no one like the Lord your God.”
The magicians could mimic the first two plagues with their “secret arts.” But when the gnats came and they couldn’t produce them, they finally admitted: “This is the finger of God.” Yet even then, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.
Here’s what I believe: God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he could have the courage to do what was already in his heart. It’s already in his heart to keep God’s people in bondage. So God is like, okay, I’m gonna harden his heart so that he can have the courage to carry on so that I can show my power, so that I can show Pharaoh that I am God almighty.
God is brilliant.
Listen to the complete Torah portion teaching and discover what it means to be “made like God” in your own impossible situations.
God bless, Shirah Chante, your relationship coach
PS + Listen to Perfect Body Podcast, studying the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
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