71 And the Lord said to Moses, See I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. 2 Say whatever I give you orders to say: and Aaron your brother will give word to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his land. 3 And I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and my signs and wonders will be increased in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh will not give ear to you, and I will put my hand on Egypt, and take my armies, my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, after great punishments. 5 And the Egyptians will see that I am the Lord, when my hand is stretched out over Egypt, and I take the children of Israel out from among them. 6 And Moses and Aaron did so: as the Lord gave them orders, so they did. 7 And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they gave the Lord's word to Pharaoh.
8 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 If Pharaoh says to you, Let me see a wonder: then say to Aaron, Take your rod and put it down on the earth before Pharaoh so that it may become a snake. 10 Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and they did as the Lord had said: and Aaron put his rod down on the earth before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a snake. 11 Then Pharaoh sent for the wise men and the wonder-workers, and they, the wonder-workers of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. 12 For every one of them put down his rod on the earth, and they became snakes: but Aaron's rod made a meal of their rods. 13 But Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.
14 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh's heart is unchanged; he will not let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning; when he goes out to the water, you will be waiting for him by the edge of the Nile, with the rod which was turned into a snake in your hand; 16 And say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, Let my people go so that they may give me worship in the waste land; but up to now you have not given ear to his words. 17 So the Lord says, By this you may be certain that I am the Lord; see, by the touch of this rod in my hand the waters of the Nile will be turned to blood; 18 And the fish in the Nile will come to destruction, and the river will send up a bad smell, and the Egyptians will not be able, for disgust, to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking. 19 And the Lord said, Say to Aaron, Let the rod in your hand be stretched out over the waters of Egypt, and over the rivers and the streams and the pools, and over every stretch of water, so that they may be turned to blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. 20 And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had said; and when his rod had been lifted up and stretched out over the waters of the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, all the water in the Nile was turned to blood; 21 And the fish in the Nile came to destruction, and a bad smell went up from the river, and the Egyptians were not able to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking; and there was blood through all the land of Egypt. 22 And the wonder-workers of Egypt did the same with their secret arts: but Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he would not give ear to them, as the Lord had said. 23 Then Pharaoh went into his house, and did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians made holes round about the Nile to get drinking-water, for they were not able to make use of the Nile water.
25 And seven days went past, after the Lord had put his hand on the Nile.
81 And this is what the Lord said to Moses: Go to Pharaoh and say to him, The Lord says, Let my people go so that they may give me worship. 2 And if you will not let them go, see, I will send frogs into every part of your land: 3 The Nile will be full of frogs, and they will come up into your house and into your bedrooms and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and into your bread-basins. 4 The frogs will come up over you and your people and all your servants. 5 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let the rod in your hand be stretched out over the streams and the waterways and the pools, causing frogs to come up on the land of Egypt. 6 And when Aaron put out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the frogs came up and all the land of Egypt was covered with them. 7 And the wonder-workers did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up over the land of Egypt. 8 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said, Make prayer to the Lord that he will take away these frogs from me and my people; and I will let the people go and make their offering to the Lord. 9 And Moses said, I will let you have the honour of saying when I am to make prayer for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs may be sent away from you and your houses, and be only in the Nile. 10 And he said, By tomorrow. And he said, Let it be as you say: so that you may see that there is no other like the Lord our God. 11 And the frogs will be gone from you and from your houses and from your servants and from your people and will be only in the Nile. 12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses made prayer to the Lord about the frogs which he had sent on Pharaoh. 13 And the Lord did as Moses said; and there was an end of all the frogs in the houses and in the open spaces and in the fields. 14 And they put them together in masses, and a bad smell went up from the land. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was peace for a time, he made his heart hard and did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.
16 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let your rod be stretched out over the dust of the earth so that it may become insects through all the land of Egypt. 17 And they did so; and Aaron, stretching out the rod in his hand, gave a touch to the dust of the earth, and insects came on man and on beast; all the dust of the earth was changed into insects through all the land of Egypt. 18 And the wonder-workers with their secret arts, attempting to make insects, were unable to do so: and there were insects on man and on beast. 19 Then the wonder-workers said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: but Pharaoh's heart was hard, and he did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.
20 And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and take your place before Pharaoh when he comes out to the water; and say to him, This is what the Lord says: Let my people go to give me worship. 21 For if you do not let my people go, see, I will send clouds of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into their houses; and the houses of the Egyptians and the land where they are will be full of flies. 22 And at that time I will make a division between your land and the land of Goshen where my people are, and no flies will be there; so that you may see that I am the Lord over all the earth. 23 And I will put a division between my people and your people; tomorrow this sign will be seen. 24 And the Lord did so; and great clouds of flies came into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses, and all the land of Egypt was made waste because of the flies. 25 And Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said, Go and make your offering to your God here in the land. 26 And Moses said, It is not right to do so; for we make our offerings of that to which the Egyptians give worship; and if we do so before their eyes, certainly we will be stoned. 27 But we will go three days' journey into the waste land and make an offering to the Lord our God as he may give us orders. 28 Then Pharaoh said, I will let you go to make an offering to the Lord your God in the waste land; but do not go very far away, and make prayer for me. 29 And Moses said, When I go out from you I will make prayer to the Lord that the cloud of flies may go away from Pharaoh and from his people and from his servants tomorrow: only let Pharaoh no longer by deceit keep back the people from making their offering to the Lord. 30 Then Moses went out from Pharaoh and made prayer to the Lord. 31 And the Lord did as Moses said, and took away the cloud of flies from Pharaoh and from his servants and from his people; not one was to be seen. 32 But again Pharaoh made his heart hard and did not let the people go.
151 Then there came to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying, 2 Why do your disciples go against the teaching of the fathers? for they take food with unwashed hands. 3 And in answer he said to them, Why do you, yourselves, go against the word of God on account of the teaching which has been handed down to you? 4 For God said, Give honour to your father and mother: and, He who says evil of father or mother will be put to death. 5 But you say, If a man says to his father or his mother, That by which you might have had profit from me is given to God; 6 There is no need for him to give honour to his father. And you have made the word of God without effect because of your teaching. 7 You false ones, well did Isaiah say of you, 8 These people give me honour with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 9 But their worship is to no purpose, while they give as their teaching the rules of men.
10 And he got the people together and said to them, Give ear, and let my words be clear to you: 11 Not that which goes into the mouth makes a man unclean, but that which comes out of the mouth. 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, Did you see that the Pharisees were troubled when these words came to their ears? 13 But he said in answer, Every plant which my Father in heaven has not put in the earth, will be taken up by the roots. 14 Let them be: they are blind guides. And if a blind man is guiding a blind man, the two will go falling into a hole together. 15 Then Peter said to him, Make the story clear to us. 16 And he said, Are you, like them, still without wisdom? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth goes on into the stomach, and is sent out as waste? 18 But the things which come out of the mouth come from the heart; and they make a man unclean. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, the taking of life, broken faith between the married, unclean desires of the flesh, taking of property, false witness, bitter words: 20 These are the things which make a man unclean; but to take food with unwashed hands does not make a man unclean.
(Read Matthew 15:1-9)
Additions to God's laws reflect upon his wisdom, as if he had left out something which was needed, and which man could supply; in one way or other they always lead men to disobey God. How thankful ought we to be for the written word of God! Never let us think that the religion of the Bible can be improved by any human addition, either in doctrine or practice. Our blessed Lord spoke of their traditions as inventions of their own, and pointed out one instance in which this was very clear, that of their transgressing the fifth commandment. When a parent's wants called for assistance, they pleaded, that they had devoted to the temple all they could spare, even though they did not part with it, and therefore their parents must expect nothing from them. This was making the command of God of no effect. The doom of hypocrites is put in a little compass; "In vain do they worship me." It will neither please God, nor profit themselves; they trust in vanity, and vanity will be their recompence.
(Read Matthew 15:10-20)
Christ shows that the defilement they ought to fear, was not from what entered their mouths as food, but from what came out of their mouths, which showed the wickedness of their hearts. Nothing will last in the soul but the regenerating graces of the Holy Spirit; and nothing should be admitted into the church but what is from above; therefore, whoever is offended by a plain, seasonable declaration of the truth, we should not be troubled at it. The disciples ask to be better taught as to this matter. Where a weak head doubts concerning any word of Christ, an upright heart and a willing mind seek for instruction. It is the heart that is desperately wicked, Jeremiah 17:9, for there is no sin in word or deed, which was not first in the heart. They all come out of the man, and are fruits of that wickedness which is in the heart, and is wrought there. When Christ teaches, he will show men the deceitfulness and wickedness of their own hearts; he will teach them to humble themselves, and to seek to be cleansed in the Fountain opened for sin and uncleanness.
