91 Then the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may give me worship. 2 For if you will not let them go, but still keep them in your power, 3 Then the hand of the Lord will put on your cattle in the field, on the horses and the asses and the camels, on the herds and the flocks, a very evil disease. 4 And the Lord will make a division between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; there will be no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. 5 And the time was fixed by the Lord, and he said, Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. 6 And on the day after, the Lord did as he had said, causing the death of all the cattle of Egypt, but there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. 7 And Pharaoh sent and got word that there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. But the heart of Pharaoh was hard and he did not let the people go.
8 And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, Take in your hand a little dust from the fire and let Moses send it in a shower up to heaven before the eyes of Pharaoh. 9 And it will become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and will be a skin-disease bursting out in wounds on man and beast through all the land of Egypt. 10 So they took some dust from the fire, and placing themselves before Pharaoh, Moses sent it out in a shower up to heaven; and it became a skin-disease bursting out on man and on beast. 11 And the wonder-workers were not able to take their places before Moses, because of the disease; for the disease was on the wonder-workers and on all the Egyptians. 12 And the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.
13 And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and take your place before Pharaoh, and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may give me worship. 14 For this time I will send all my punishments on yourself and on your servants and on your people; so that you may see that there is no other like me in all the earth. 15 For if I had put the full weight of my hand on you and your people, you would have been cut off from the earth: 16 But, for this very reason, I have kept you from destruction, to make clear to you my power, and so that my name may be honoured through all the earth. 17 Are you still uplifted in pride against my people so that you will not let them go? 18 Truly, tomorrow about this time I will send down an ice-storm, such as never was in Egypt from its earliest days till now. 19 Then send quickly and get in your cattle and all you have from the fields; for if any man or beast in the field has not been put under cover, the ice-storm will come down on them with destruction. 20 Then everyone among the servants of Pharaoh who had the fear of the Lord, made his servants and his cattle come quickly into the house: 21 And he who gave no attention to the word of the Lord, kept his servants and his cattle in the field.
22 And the Lord said to Moses, Now let your hand be stretched out to heaven so that there may be an ice-storm on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field through all the land of Egypt. 23 And Moses put out his rod to heaven: and the Lord sent thunder, and an ice-storm, and fire running down on the earth; the Lord sent an ice-storm on the land of Egypt. 24 So there was an ice-storm with fire running through it, coming down with great force, such as never was in all the land of Egypt from the time when it became a nation. 25 And through all the land of Egypt the ice-storm came down on everything which was in the fields, on man and on beast; and every green plant was crushed and every tree of the field broken. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no ice-storm. 27 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have done evil this time: the Lord is upright, and I and my people are sinners. 28 Make prayer to the Lord; for there has been enough of these thunderings of God and this ice-storm; and I will let you go and will keep you no longer. 29 And Moses said, When I am gone outside the town, my hands will be stretched out to the Lord; the thunders and the ice-storm will come to an end, so that you may see that the earth is the Lord's. 30 But as for you and your servants, I am certain that even now the fear of the Lord God will not be in your hearts. 31 And the flax and the barley were damaged, for the barley was almost ready to be cut and the flax was in flower. 32 But the rest of the grain-plants were undamaged, for they had not come up. 33 So Moses went out of the town, and stretching out his hands made prayer to God: and the thunders and the ice-storm came to an end; and the fall of rain was stopped. 34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the ice-storm and the thunders were ended, he went on sinning, and made his heart hard, he and his servants. 35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hard, and he did not let the people go, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Moses.
101 And the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh: for I have made his heart and the hearts of his servants hard, so that I may let my signs be seen among them: 2 And so that you may be able to give to your son and to your son's son the story of my wonders in Egypt, and the signs which I have done among them; so that you may see that I am the Lord. 3 Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you be lifted up in your pride before me? let my people go so that they may give me worship. 4 For if you will not let my people go, tomorrow I will send locusts into your land: 5 And the face of the earth will be covered with them, so that you will not be able to see the earth: and they will be the destruction of everything which up to now has not been damaged, everything which was not crushed by the ice-storm, and every tree still living in your fields. 6 And your houses will be full of them, and the houses of your servants and of all the Egyptians; it will be worse than anything your fathers have seen or their fathers, from the day when they were living on the earth till this day. And so he went out from Pharaoh. 7 And Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long is this man to be the cause of evil to us? let the men go so that they may give worship to the Lord their God: are you not awake to Egypt's danger? 8 Then Moses and Aaron came in again before Pharaoh: and he said to them, Go and give worship to the Lord your God: but which of you are going? 9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds; for we are to keep a feast to the Lord. 10 And he said to them, May the Lord be with you, if I will let you and your little ones go! take care, for your purpose clearly is evil. 11 Not so; but let your males go and give worship to the Lord, as your desire is. This he said, driving them out from before him.
12 And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out over the land of Egypt so that the locusts may come up on the land for the destruction of every green plant in the land, even everything untouched by the ice-storm. 13 And Moses' rod was stretched out over the land of Egypt, and the Lord sent an east wind over the land all that day and all the night; and in the morning the locusts came up with the east wind. 14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, resting on every part of the land, in very great numbers; such an army of locusts had never been seen before, and never will be again. 15 For all the face of the earth was covered with them, so that the land was black; and every green plant and all the fruit of the trees which was untouched by the ice-storm they took for food: not one green thing, no plant or tree, was to be seen in all the land of Egypt. 16 Then Pharaoh quickly sent for Moses and Aaron, and said, I have done evil against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Let me now have forgiveness for my sin this time only, and make prayer to the Lord your God that he will take away from me this death only. 18 So he went out from Pharaoh and made prayer to the Lord. 19 And the Lord sent a very strong west wind, which took up the locusts, driving them into the Red Sea; not one locust was to be seen in any part of Egypt. 20 But the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
21 And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out to heaven, and all the land of Egypt will be dark, so that men will be feeling their way about in the dark. 22 And when Moses' hand was stretched out, dark night came over all the land of Egypt for three days; 23 They were not able to see one another, and no one got up from his place for three days: but where the children of Israel were living it was light. 24 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses, and said, Go and give worship to the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept here: your little ones may go with you. 25 But Moses said, You will have to let us take burned offerings to put before the Lord our God. 26 So our cattle will have to go with us, not one may be kept back; for they are needed for the worship of the Lord our God; we have no knowledge what offering we have to give till we come to the place. 27 But the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not let them go. 28 And Pharaoh said to him, Go away from me, take care that you come not again before me; for the day when you see my face again will be your last. 29 And Moses said, You say truly; I will not see your face again.
111 And the Lord said to Moses, I will send one more punishment on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go; and when he does let you go, he will not keep one of you back, but will send you out by force. 2 So go now and give orders to the people that every man and every woman is to get from his or her neighbour ornaments of silver and of gold. 3 And the Lord gave the people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians. For the man Moses was highly honoured in the land of Egypt, by Pharaoh's servants and the people.
4 And Moses said, This is what the Lord says: About the middle of the night I will go out through Egypt: 5 And death will come to every mother's first male child in all the land of Egypt, from the child of Pharaoh on his seat of power, to the child of the servant-girl crushing the grain; and the first births of all the cattle. 6 And there will be a great cry through all the land of Egypt, such as never has been or will be again. 7 But against the children of Israel, man or beast, not so much as the tongue of a dog will be moved: so that you may see how the Lord makes a division between Israel and the Egyptians. 8 And all these your servants will come to me, going down on their faces before me and saying, Go out, and all your people with you: and after that I will go out. And he went away from Pharaoh burning with wrath. 9 And the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not give ear to you, so that my wonders may be increased in the land of Egypt. 10 All these wonders Moses and Aaron did before Pharaoh: but the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.
21 And Jesus went away from there into the country of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And a woman of Canaan came out from those parts, crying and saying, Have pity on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is greatly troubled with an unclean spirit. 23 But he gave her no answer. And his disciples came and said to him, Send her away, for she is crying after us. 24 But he made answer and said, I was sent only to the wandering sheep of the house of Israel. 25 But she came and gave him worship, saying, Help, Lord. 26 And he made answer and said, It is not right to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs. 27 But she said, Yes, Lord: but even the dogs take the bits from under their masters' table. 28 Then Jesus, answering, said to her, O woman, great is your faith: let your desire be done. And her daughter was made well from that hour.
29 And Jesus went from there and came to the sea of Galilee; and he went up into the mountain, and took his seat there. 30 And there came to him great numbers of people having with them those who were broken in body, or blind, or without voice, or wounded, or ill in any way, and a number of others; they put them down at his feet and he made them well: 31 So that the people were full of wonder when they saw that those who had no voice were talking, the feeble were made strong, those whose bodies were broken had the power of walking, and the blind were able to see: and they gave glory to the God of Israel.
32 And Jesus got his disciples together and said, I have pity for the people, because they have now been with me three days and have no food: and I will not send them away without food, or they will have no strength for the journey. 33 And the disciples say to him, How may we get enough bread in a waste place, to give food to such a number of people? 34 And Jesus says to them, How much bread have you? And they said, Seven cakes, and some small fishes. 35 Then he gave an order to the people to be seated on the earth, 36 And he took the seven cakes of bread and the fishes; and having given praise, he gave the broken bread to the disciples, and the disciples gave it to the people. 37 And they all took food, and had enough; and they took up of the broken bits, seven baskets full. 38 And there were four thousand men who took food, together with women and children. 39 And when he had sent the people away, he got into the boat, and came into the country of Magadan.
(Read Matthew 15:21-28)
The dark corners of the country, the most remote, shall share Christ's influences; afterwards the ends of the earth shall see his salvation. The distress and trouble of her family brought a woman to Christ; and though it is need that drives us to Christ, yet we shall not therefore be driven from him. She did not limit Christ to any particular instance of mercy, but mercy, mercy, is what she begged for: she pleads not merit, but depends upon mercy. It is the duty of parents to pray for their children, and to be earnest in prayer for them, especially for their souls. Have you a son, a daughter, grievously vexed with a proud devil, an unclean devil, a malicious devil, led captive by him at his will? this is a case more deplorable than that of bodily possession, and you must bring them by faith and prayer to Christ, who alone is able to heal them. Many methods of Christ's providence, especially of his grace, in dealing with his people, which are dark and perplexing, may be explained by this story, which teaches that there may be love in Christ's heart while there are frowns in his face; and it encourages us, though he seems ready to slay us, yet to trust in him. Those whom Christ intends most to honour, he humbles to feel their own unworthiness. A proud, unhumbled heart would not have borne this; but she turned it into an argument to support her request. The state of this woman is an emblem of the state of a sinner, deeply conscious of the misery of his soul. The least of Christ is precious to a believer, even the very crumbs of the Bread of life. Of all graces, faith honours Christ most; therefore of all graces Christ honours faith most. He cured her daughter. He spake, and it was done. From hence let such as seek help from the Lord, and receive no gracious answer, learn to turn even their unworthiness and discouragements into pleas for mercy.
(Read Matthew 15:29-39)
Whatever our case is, the only way to find ease and relief, is to lay it at Christ's feet, to submit it to him, and refer it to his disposal. Those who would have spiritual healing from Christ, must be ruled as he pleases. See what work sin has made; what various diseases human bodies are subject to. Here were such diseases as fancy could neither guess the cause nor the cure of, yet these were subject to the command of Christ. The spiritual cures that Christ works are wonderful. When blind souls are made to see by faith, the dumb to speak in prayer, the maimed and the lame to walk in holy obedience, it is to be wondered at. His power was also shown to the multitude, in the plentiful provision he made for them: the manner is much the same as before. All did eat, and were filled. Those whom Christ feeds, he fills. With Christ there is bread enough, and to spare; supplies of grace for more than seek it, and for those that seek for more. Christ sent away the people. Though he had fed them twice, they must not look for miracles to find their daily bread. Let them go home to their callings and their own tables. Lord, increase our faith, and pardon our unbelief, teaching us to live upon thy fulness and bounty, for all things pertaining to this life, and that which is to come.
