I have been thinking about the plagues of
Egypt…particularly the boils.  I have a new sympathy for the Egyptians.  I have always read the plagues as if they were some story but not a reality.  I mean, I know they were real but to really think about being covered in festering boils…yikes!  In Exodus 9:8-12 it tells the story of Moses tossing soot in the air in the presence of Pharaoh.  It becomes dust over the whole land and the men and animals break out in festering boils.  I don’t know about you, but I think this plague would have changed Pharaoh’s mind…I mean boils hurt…badly.  To be covered in them would be unbearable. 

 I contemplate the part that says the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  He did that after every plague.  That doesn’t make sense to my mind.  Why would God send Moses, bring plagues, and then harden the heart of Pharaoh?  I think that it is a symbol.  After all, this is the precursor to Passover…when the blood of the Lamb protects the children of Israel from the angel of death. It is the ultimate symbol of Christ.   Pharaoh hardens his heart just as people do.  No matter what comes many, do not bow to God.  It is only in the desperate moment when his own son is lost that Pharaoh relents…and then only temporarily.  How many times has God spoken to us through pain and strange circumstances only to have us ignore him?  How many times have we refused the blood of the Lamb and suffered because of it?  The story of the boils hits home.  It causes me to examine my heart and seek his face.  I do not dare to ignore the blood of the Lamb provided for me.  I do not want God to have to use boils, symbolically or otherwise, to get my attention.  I do not want my heart to be hardened because of pride and stubbornness.  I want to be covered by the blood of the Lamb.  What about you?