As we continue to read through the ten plagues of Egypt, Fr. Mike uses the example of Pharaoh to show us how our hearts can either harden or melt in response to God. Today we read Exodus 9, Leviticus 7, and Psalm 49. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds,
and how we fit into that story today. This is day 32. Let's keep on rolling through this. Day 32, we're going to be reading from Exodus chapter 9, from Leviticus chapter 7, easy for me to say, Leviticus chapter 7, and Psalm 49. As always, I am reading from the Revised Standard Version, the Catholic edition. In fact, I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.
If you want to have your own Bible reading plan, you can download that for free from ascensionpress.com slash ascension. Bible in a Year. So ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. Today, as I said, we're going through Exodus chapter 9. We're going to continue reading more of the plagues. We have not got through all of them yet.
We're kind of right smack dab in the middle of them with Exodus chapter 9.
Exodus chapter 9.
Then the Lord said to Moses, Go into Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your cattle, which are in your field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks.
But the Lord will make a distinction between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, so that nothing shall die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel. And the Lord set a time, saying, Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the cattle of the Egyptians died. But of the cattle of the sons of Israel, not one died.
And Pharaoh sent and behold, not one of the cattle of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people go. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, take handfuls of ashes from the kiln. And it says, And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians.
But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then the Lord said to Moses, rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me.
For this time, I will send all my plagues upon your heart and upon your servants and your people that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose, have I let you live to show you my power.
so that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.
Now therefore, send, get your cattle and all that you have in the field into safe shelter for the hail shall come down upon every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home and they shall die. Then he who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his slaves and his cattle flee into the houses.
But he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his slaves and his cattle in the field. And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch forth your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man and beast in every plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.
Then Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very much hail, such as has never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
The hail struck down everything that was in the field throughout all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail. Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, I have sinned this time.
The Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. Entreat the Lord, for there has been enough of this thunder and hail. I will let you go and you shall stay no longer. Moses said to him, As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, that you may know that the earth is the Lord's.
But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God. The flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in the bud. But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are late in coming up.
So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord and the thunder and the hail ceased and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the sons of Israel go as the Lord had spoken through Moses.
The book of Leviticus chapter 7.
This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy.
In the place where they kill the burnt offering, they shall kill the guilt offering, and its blood shall be thrown on the altar round about, and all its fat shall be offered, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the appendage of the liver, which he shall take away with the kidneys.
The priest shall burn them on the altar as an offering by fire to the Lord. It is a guilt offering. Every male among the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy. The guilt offering is like the sin offering. There is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with it shall have it.
And the priest who offers any man's burnt offering shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering which he has offered. And every cereal offering baked in the oven and all that is prepared on a pan or a griddle shall belong to the priest who offers it. And every cereal offering mixed with oil or dry shall be for all the sons of Aaron, one as well as another.
And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which one may offer to the Lord. For if he offers it for a Thanksgiving, then he shall offer it with the thank offering unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of fine flour well mixed with oil.
With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for Thanksgiving, he shall bring his offering with cakes of leavened bread. And of such, he shall offer one cake from each offering as an offering to the Lord. It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings, and the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering.
He shall not leave any of it until the morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering is a votive offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and the next day what remains of it shall be eaten." But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire.
If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings is eaten on the third day, he who offers it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be credited to him. It shall be an abomination, and he who eats of it shall bear his iniquity. Flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burned with fire.
All who are clean may eat flesh, but the person who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of the Lord's peace offerings, while an uncleanness is on him, that person shall be cut off from his people.
And if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether the uncleanness of man or an unclean beast or an unclean abomination, and then eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of the Lord's peace offerings, that person shall be cut off from his people. The Lord said to Moses, Say to the people of Israel, You shall eat no fat of ox or sheep or goat.
The fat of an animal that dies of itself and the fat of one that is torn to beasts may be put to any other use, but on no account shall you eat it. For every person who eats of the fat of an animal, of which an offering by fire is made to the Lord, shall be cut off from his people. Moreover, you shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwellings.
Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people." The Lord said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, He that offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord. From his sacrifice of his peace offerings, he shall bring with his own hands the offerings by fire to the Lord.
He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the Lord. The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. And the right thigh you shall give to the priest as an offering from the sacrifice of your peace offerings.
He among the sons of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh for a portion. For the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered, I have taken from the sons of Israel out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as a perpetual debt from the sons of Israel.
This is the portion of Aaron and of his sons from the offerings made by fire to the Lord consecrated to them on the day that they were presented to serve as priests of the Lord. The Lord commanded this to be given them by the sons of Israel on the day that they were anointed. It is a perpetual debt throughout their generations.
This is the law of the burnt offering, of the serial offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, of the consecration, and of the peace offerings, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai on the day that he commanded the sons of Israel to bring their offerings to the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai.
Psalm 49 The Folly of Trust in Riches To the Choir Master A Psalm of the Sons of Korah Hear this, all peoples. Give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak wisdom. The meditation of my heart shall be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.
Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me, men who trust in their wealth and boast in the abundance of their riches? Truly, no man can ransom himself or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of his life is costly and can never suffice, that he should continue to live on forever and never see the pit.
Yes, he shall see that even the wise die. The fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they named lands for their own. Man cannot abide in this pomp. He is like the beasts that perish.
This is the fate of those who have foolish confidence, the end of those who are pleased with their portion. Like sheep, they are appointed for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. Straight to the grave they descend, and their form shall waste away. Sheol shall be their home. But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.
Be not afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases, for when he dies, he will carry nothing away. His glory will not go down after him. Though while he lives, he counts himself happy, as though a man gets praised when he does well for himself, he will go to the generations of his father, who will never more see the light. Man cannot abide in his pomp.
He is like the beasts that perish. Father in heaven, we give you praise and we thank you for your word. We thank you for speaking to us today and for sharing your heart with us.
We continue to thank you for your willingness to fight, your willingness to wrestle, not just against us, Lord, and not just with us, but to wrestle for us, to enter into our lives with your grace, with your goodness, and with your power. Lord, we ask that you please conquer us by your love, conquer us by your grace. Help us to surrender and to submit our minds and our hearts, our entire lives to
to your reign. You are the king. You are the God of everything. And we give you praise in Jesus' name, in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. So one of the questions that comes up a lot when we read the book of Exodus and we get to the 10 plagues of Israel, One of the questions is, so why is God hardening Pharaoh's heart?
What does it mean that it says that God hardens Pharaoh's heart? Because there's two different expressions that are used. There's times when scripture says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and there's other times when it says Pharaoh hardened his own heart. So what does that mean? Well, one of the things that it doesn't mean is that God took away Pharaoh's free will.
It does not mean that God overwhelmed Pharaoh, like Pharaoh was going to let the people of Israel go, but God said, nope, I want to teach a lesson or something like this. That's not what's going on here. What's going on is, I've heard it explained this way, that God is always good, right? So God is goodness itself. God is truth itself. God is life itself. God is mercy itself, right?
And the only thing he emits essentially are those things, truth and goodness and mercy and life and love and joy. It's kind of like the sun. So here's the sun. The sun emits light and heat. And so in the presence of the sun, in the presence of the sun's heat, wax emits Wax becomes soft in the presence of the sun, but clay hardens in the presence of the sun.
It's in many ways about the disposition of the heart. If my heart is open to the Lord, if my heart is, even if it's slightly hard, but it is made of wax, like I've said, no, I actually want to do your will, Lord. If my heart is wax, it becomes melted in the presence of the Lord. It becomes softened in the presence of the Lord.
But if my heart is clay, it becomes hardened in the presence of the Lord. And so here is God who's revealing himself, right? He's revealing his power to the people of Israel and to the people of Egypt. He's revealing himself to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh is getting to know that this is a God who is beyond all other gods. We'll talk about that tomorrow. He's a God who conquers other gods.
And yet Pharaoh obstinately and stubbornly refuses to acknowledge him. God is obviously demonstrating his reality. He's obviously demonstrating his power. He's obviously demonstrating the fact that he is on the side of the people of Israel. And Pharaoh, in the sight of that, Pharaoh hardens his heart.
And in the sight of that, in presence of that, Pharaoh allows his heart to become hardened by God's presence and by God's power and by God's goodness fighting for his own people. And that's the question we have to ask. See, it's easy if we say, well, God hardened Pharaoh's heart and we think of it in the terms we probably would think of it on the face.
But when we realize that, no, God never overwhelms someone's free will. He always works with our free will in a mystery of grace. I don't know how that works, but it works. But God always retains our free will and he works with it. Then we have to realize, oh, does this happen in my life where I...
I find my heart becoming hardened in God's presence, that God has revealed himself to me at other times. But right now, when maybe I don't get the blessing that I'm looking for right now, when I'm going through dark times right now, when I'm struggling, maybe that's when I begin to harden my own heart to the Lord.
Maybe in his presence, I harden my heart, or maybe even in his silence, I harden my heart. The challenge is to never let our hearts become hardened to the Lord. The challenge would be that I'd always have a heart that is soft when it comes to the Lord's presence and his power and his will for my life. That's why we need each other. We need prayers with each other.
We need to be able to lift each other up because of the fact that this is difficult. In fact, without God's action of grace, it is impossible. So let's pray for each other as we continue. Now we're fully into the second month of a journey through the Bible, this Bible in a year podcast. My name is Father Mike. So let's keep praying for each other. I am praying for you. Please pray for me.
And I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.