Points to Ponder in Exodus 7-13

To accompany your Come Follow Me study for March 28-April 3

In addition to reading these chapters, you may want to:

See the video Come Follow Me LDS 2022 (Mar 28-Apr 3) Exodus 7-13 | Let My People Go! at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6NKcMq2yYk

See the video The Plagues of Egypt at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbA-7smfZ74
See the segment “Disasters Strike Egypt” from The Ten Commandments at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qofp7q7l0nI
See the video The Passover at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TMzIOkD-A0

1. These seven chapters are some of the most revelation-rich and miracle filled in all of scripture. How many separate occasions can you identify on which the Lord is recorded of having spoken to Moses alone? On how many did He speak to both Moses and Aaron together? (Admittedly, it is sometimes difficult to tell if such cases as 7:19 were separate from the preceding revelation, or just a continuation of it.)

2. How many miracles can you find which were accompanied by Aaron’s using his rod or hands? How many times was it Moses who used the rod or his hands to produce a miracle?

3. What reasons can you think of for the Lord’s involving Aaron as much as He did in receiving revelation and performing miracles? Why not just let Moses do it, as the head prophet?

4. What did the Lord mean when He told Moses that He had made him a “god” to Pharaoh? Was the Pharaoh supposed to bow down to Moses? Pray to him?

5. Which of the plagues were Pharaoh’s magicians able to duplicate? Which could they counteract?

6. Not counting the imposition of the 10 plagues, what miracles did the Lord perform in this week’s reading?

7. What special symbolism do you see in the Lord’s instructions concerning the first Passover? (Ex. 12.) What other symbolism related to Christ’s life or death can we discover in these chapters?

8. What modern-day commandment carries with it a promise that the obedient will be spared by the same destroying angel which spared the obedient ancient Israelites?

9. In summary, what are the main points or principles you think the Lord (and Moses) would want us to remember from Exodus 7-13?

Possible Answers to Points to Ponder in Exodus 7-13

I find 16 references to the Lord evidently speaking to Moses alone:

7:1
7:14
7:19
8:1
8:5
8:16
8:20
9:1
9:13
9:22
10:1
10:12
10:21
11:1
11:9
13:1

There are four references to the Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron together:

7:8
9:8
12:1
12:43

2. How many miracles can you find which were accompanied by Aaron’s using his rod or hands? How many times was it Moses who used the rod or his hands to produce a miracle?

Aaron:

7:10
7:20
8:6
8:17

Moses:

9:23
9:33
10:13
10:22

3. What reasons can you think of for the Lord’s involving Aaron as much as He did in receiving revelation and performing miracles? Why not just let Moses do it, as the head prophet?

To begin with, Moses was not initially confident in his prophetic calling. Just as it was helpful for him to have Aaron as his spokesman, so did it presumably help Moses to know he was not alone in other responsibilities.

Secondly, Aaron could serve as a second witness of the things of which Moses was declaring, just as Amulek did with Alma in Ammonihah.

Finally, the Lord is building Aaron in the process. As Moses would later teach in Numbers 11:29, “Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!” Aaron would not grow as he needed to do if Moses did everything himself. For similar reasons, we are told in the JST version of John 4:2 that while Jesus baptized, He “baptized not so many as his disciples.” We have seen a similar manifestation of this principle in recent years, where President Russell M. Nelson has not dedicated so many temples as he has assigned his counselors or members of the Quorum of the Twelve to dedicate.

4. What did the Lord mean when He told Moses that He had made him a “god” to Pharaoh? Was the Pharaoh supposed to bow down to Moses? Pray to him?

The passage could be considered true just as it stands. As the Lord told modern Israel in D&C 21:4-5 that they were to receive the Lord’s prophet’s words “as if from mine own mouth,” so was Pharaoh supposed to listen to Moses as though God had spoken to him personally and directly. Unfortunately for the Pharaoh, he refused to do so.

However, it is worth noting that Joseph Smith changed this passage (Exodus 7:1) in the Joseph Smith translation to read, “I have made thee a prophet to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy spokesman.”

5. Which of the plagues were Pharaoh’s magicians able to duplicate? Which could they counteract?

They could duplicate only the first two–water to blood and frogs–and could counteract none of them. They could also turn their rods into serpents—which were devoured by Aaron’s serpent/rod!