Moses

Part III 

The Plagues

Then in Egypt Moses, Aaron called the elders for a meeting,
Telling, showing them God’s words and wonder of the rod
That God had visited His people, had seen their sore affliction,
Then with deep conviction, they worshipped Him
The true and mighty God.

………………………

Pharaoh was wroth when he heard them both,
Aaron, Moses speak the words of God:
“Let My people go to hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness.”
But he replied with boldness:
“Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice, I know Him not,
And to let Israel to go I will not!”
“The God of the Hebrews met with us we pray thee thus,
Let us go three days into the desert to sacrifice unto the LORD our God,
Lest He fall unto us with pestilence and sword.”
“Why are you taking the people from their work?
You make them shirk to do their task.”
And he went to the officers: “Command on my demand,
That the people no more be given straw to make the bricks,
But gather it themselves, for they are idle, but the bricks
In numbers be the same, to their own shame, for they are idle.”
The people got in great despair, by his new order so unfair.
It was impossible to accomplish, giving them enormous anguish,
They got discouraged to the core, trusting God’s and Moses’ words no more.
Moses was perplexed that God allowed them be so vexed
As it was not like before, now being treated with such rigor.
But God’s ways and plans are not as man is thinking,
People’s faith is so quickly sinking,
When promises come not to pass their way, but bear the feature of delay,
Yet God’s wisdom does not make mistakes,
For their sakes whatever it takes,
By God’s mighty hand, Israel will leave this land.
Being slaves for generations, the Hebrews great in number,
Have not been a nation, they need for the Exodus to be instructed,
Taught and organized, their tribes be recognized,
With a leader of their own to make God’s instruction to be known.
Through hard bondage the Sabbath-day could not be kept
By the majority, except by a faithful minority.
Thus the posterity of Jacob became a society of low spirituality.
But God loved them, He wanted them to be His own,
As a holy nation to be known,
To declare God’s name to all the world and to all men.

………………………….

And the LORD spoke to Moses these words:
“Now shall thou see what I will do to Pharaoh,
With a strong hand he shall let Israel go….”
“But Pharaoh shall not hear you, …
I will show signs and wonders in Egypt…
And bring My people, the children of Israel
Out of Egypt with great judgments…
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.…”
And Moses and Aaron went to the king,
They did the very thing, God had commanded
To cast the rod before Pharaoh on the floor,
And it became a serpent. The sorcerers and magicians
In their ambition, did so with their enchantments, but Aaron’s rod
Swallowed up those false serpents.
Yet Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, stubborn and resistant.
God commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh next morning
To the river, where Pharaoh is coming hither,
And take the rod there in his hand to stretch it over the Egyptian’s land
To turn all waters into blood. So did Aaron with Moses’ rod
In the sight of the king and entourage, and this was no mirage,
The river stank from the fish that died,
The people were mystified, they could not drink the river’s water,
But had to dig to gather it till seven days were past,
The time the plague would last.

………………………….

And God spoke to Moses that he go in to Pharaoh,
That he let the people to serve Him go,
And if he will not, this will be his lot:
That frogs shall come forth in abundance,
They shall take up residence, in the houses in the palace, and alas,
In the bed and in the dough, and even though
Be on the body of the king and on the people,
In short – on everything.
Then Aaron was to stretch out his rod over the streams and rivers
To cause the frogs to come up that will give the people shivers
Of disgust and scare. And so he did, and it was as it were
The whole land of Egypt with frogs was covered there,
They were creeping even into kneading doughs.
Then was in the palace great distress, in all the land uneasiness,
And Pharaoh said he would let the people go,
If God remove the frogs from them, he called Moses then
To intreat the LORD for him.
But when the petition was then granted and the frogs died off,
The land stank from the piled-up heaps of myriads of dead frogs.
Pharaoh then seeing the relief would not do as promised,
His heart was hardened, his given word dismissed.

……………………………

Moses was commanded to tell Aaron
To stretch out his rod to smite the dust of the land
And it became lice over all Egyptian land.
Lice on man and beast, on everything and every creature lice did have a feast.
The magicians said to Pharaoh that this is the finger of God,
But his heart was hardened, and listen he would not.
Then came swarms of flies throughout the land,
Very grievous, awful after God’s command,
Everywhere in the houses on the beast and on the face they were.
Then Pharaoh did say he let the people go, but not too far
Into the wilderness. Moses may intreat the LORD
to remove this dreadful insect mess. His petition had been heard,
But he did not keep his word…
Because the king of Egypt would not hear,
More plagues would come and more severe,
The cattle, horses, asses, camels, oxen of the field
From murrain died, it was a frightful sight.
But none of all in Goshen did occur, God kept His people, beasts secure.
Moses was instructed to take ashes to throw it up to heaven,
Right before the king and it became small dust,
That caused boils upon the people and the beast.
Then God commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh,
That he let His people go. For He will send His plagues that he may know,
There is none like Him on earth below,
So that through all the world His power be declared.
Next morning God will send rain with great hail,
So severe Egypt had not ever seen, and tell
The king all cattle, people home to bring
from the hail and rain, for they would be slain.
As Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven,
And the LORD sent thunder, rain and hail mingled with fire,
Very grievous, disastrous, it smote every tree on the field,
All creatures also got killed.
This time Pharaoh confessed that he had sinned,
The LORD is righteous, but he and his people are wicked,
He will now let the people go.
But just as before, when the plague had ceased,
He sinned yet more, as his heart was hardened to the core.

………………..

With all the calamities this monarch would not learn,
Neither was he willing to discern,
That by his stubbornness all Egypt had to suffer,
People, nature, every creature,
He was loath to comprehend,
Fighting against a power he refused to understand,
Resisting ever more – he will be the loser at the end…
Every plague was more severe,
For then multitudes of locusts did appear,
A calamity of such degree, that not one green herb and tree remained,
Their ferocious appetite left nothing eatable behind.
Alarmed with urgency the king did call for Moses,
That he had sinned against the LORD, asking for forgiveness,
Nevertheless, when God had cast the locusts into the Red Sea,
Pharaoh did not set God’s people free…
Then the LORD did send a darkness over all the land,
Thick and dense one could almost feel it with the hand,
Three days one could not see the other one near by,
But in Goshen was blue sky…
And Pharaoh called Moses to go and serve the LORD,
But let not the flocks and herds go forth,
But they need them for the sacrifice. And God will advise
Which they were to offer.
By now the monarch would not suffer Moses
He drove him out in anger, wanted to see his face not any longer…

End of Part III.

To be continued. 

   Edda Tedford,
Canada