These chapters cover the first nine of ten plagues that the Lord brought upon Egypt and Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron spoke to the Israelites, and they believed that God sent them to rescue them, and now the next step was to approach Pharaoh. They told him that the God of Israel said, "Let my people go!" We see that God is claiming the Israelites as His own people, and He is their God. We also see the God of the Hebrews is different than the God of the Egyptians. Aaron's staff ate the Egyptian magician's staffs. The magicians could duplicate only two of the plagues, but when the 3rd plague of gnats came, they cried out, "This is the finger of God." Third, we recognized that God had a purpose for his plan, and that was so that the people would know that the God of the Israelites was the Lord. He wanted the Israelites as well as the Egyptians to know the truth. Fourth, we see people's response to the Lord. Some believed as the plagues came, and some did not. This passage says sometimes that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and at other times that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. We see both God's sovereignty, meaning He is in charge, and people's response and choice at play. This passage leads to the question, "Will we listen and obey the Lord like Moses and Aaron, or will we harden our heart like Pharaoh?"
