Daily Bible Reading
Week of February 23, 2025
Reading Schedule:
Feb. 24 — Ex. 8:20 -32
Feb. 25 — Ex. 9:1-12
Feb. 26 — Ex. 9:13-35
Feb. 27 — Ex. 10
Feb. 28 — Ex. 11
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Reader's Guide:
This week’s readings are all about the plagues that God sent against Egypt. These afflictions demonstrate several important things about God:
- His power is simply unrivaled. Egypt’s magicians couldn’t keep up, and they even admitted that to Pharaoh (Ex. 8:19).
- God’s rulership above all other gods is unquestioned. Many of the plagues are direct attacks on the Egyptians’ beliefs. The Nile, the cattle, and the Pharaoh all had connections to the gods of Egypt; so it’s no wonder that YHWH targeted all these with the plagues. He was proving who the only real God is.
- His favor and kindness are and have always been toward those who are oppressed, poor, and afflicted. He defends the widow, the fatherless, and—especially in this story—the slave (cf. Deut. 10:18).
- God’s actions are always characterized by mercy and grace, even when he is executing justice. The first few plagues are essentially nuisances (albeit frightening ones)—they do little actual harm to life. It’s only as the Egyptian heart gets harder that God’s justice gets harsher. He started out merciful, but was always just.
The plagues are exciting stories and rich theological lessons. They show us God at one of his most active times; when a nation tried to defy him and found out just how right the psalmist was when he said, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? … He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury!” (Psalm 2:1-5)
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