We are moving into chapter eleven of Exodus with our word for today with our focus on the causative intensive tense. שָׁלַח stretch out, send, dispatch, let free, dismiss. It is used 843 in the Old Testament, twice in our chapter. Let’s look at our word in our chapter. Exodus 11:1, 9-10 The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he יְשַׁלַּ֥ח will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely…Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he וְלֹֽא־שִׁלַּ֥ח did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.
The Piel tense in Hebrew shows both intensity and causation. Pharaoh is the one causing the state of the people being let go or not let go. Throughout this whole dialogue between Moses and Pharaoh God has a head of time predicted what was going to happen. We see the phrase just as the Lord said 6 times. Exodus 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19; 9:12, 35 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said… But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said… But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said…But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said…But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses… So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses. So how did God know this was going to happen the way it happened. The best explanation of this is in Acts when God describes how he sent his Son into the world knowing ahead of time what would happen while at the same time allowing people to have their freewill actions. Acts 2:23-24 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. God declares something will happen based on his foreknowledge of that event happening in the future. Just like we can look back and know something happened in the past God can do the same with the future. Because he sees it happening he can declare ahead of time that it will. This doesn’t make God the cause of these evil events but rather the only one who can take these sinful actions of individuals and bring goodness out of them. In the case of Jesus our salvation from our sins. In the case of Pharaoh making his name known throughout the earth from the miraculous acts of judgment against Egypt. This whole concept of God freeing us from slavery to everything that can trap us and keep us from him is seen throughout the Bible. I’ll close with this beautiful picture of God’s desire to free his people from the evil that others oppress them with. Ezekiel 13:20-23 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will וְשִׁלַּחְתִּי֙[Piel] set free the people that you ensnare like birds. I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives, therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
