I Will Redeem You

“Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgment’” (Exodus 6:6).

Moses, fully equipped by the Lord, confronted the most powerful monarch of his day, fearless, unflinching, with utter dependence on the Lord, from whom he sought counsel at all times. He was completely obedient to all that God commanded him. God had told him, “I have made thee a god to Pharaoh,” and indeed Pharaoh was in awe of him, although defiant and obstinate to the end. Such was Moses as God’s appointed redeemer.

Pharaoh’s reply to God’s initial command to let the people go and worship Him was to impose more burdens on the slaves, who then became angry with Moses. The Lord reassured Moses regarding the final outcome. He would deliver them with His stretched out arm, with infinite power and judgements. He would further harden Pharaoh’s already hardened heart, and eventually force Pharaoh to thrust the Israelites from Egypt in terror.

To redeem in the original language, is to deliver, set free, demand back one’s property, avenge, act as kinsman. God was going to do just that, sending ten plagues one by one:

1. water turning into blood;
2. frogs over the land (these two were overall judgements affecting Israelites and Egyptians, whilst the rest affected only Egyptians);
3. gnats everywhere;
4. swarms of flies;
5. livestock killed in the field;
6. boils affecting man and beast;
7. hail and fire;
8. locusts destroying vegetation;
9. thick darkness for three days; and
10. the death of the firstborn.

The plagues in addition to fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham, also served as signs of God’s absolute power over the regions supposedly ruled by Egyptian deities. All these false deities God would prove to be helpless before Him. Hence, His Name would be declared through all the earth and the Israelites would remember and recite His redemptive power throughout all generations.

Pharaoh’s response was, at first, scorn, as his magicians could duplicate the plagues, but when they pointed out that the third plague was “the finger of God,” he vacillated between compromise, defiance and threats, vowing to kill Moses after the ninth plague, if he saw him again.

Adapted and modified excerpts from Day by Day: Bible Promises
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.