The big picture
By Exodus 10, even Pharaoh's servants are asking how long the refusal can continue. The next plague is already framed for future retelling, while locusts are announced against the vegetation left by the hail. Pharaoh tries a new limit by permitting only the men to go, but Moses insists that the feast includes young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds. The locusts arrive on an east wind, consume the remaining green growth, and disappear on a strong west wind after another urgent confession and request for intercession. Release still does not follow. Three days of thick darkness then stop ordinary movement in Egypt while Israel has light. Pharaoh makes one final bargain, allowing the families but holding the livestock. Moses answers that not even a hoof will remain. The meeting ends not with agreement but with Pharaoh threatening Moses' life.
Central truth
Through escalating judgments and repeated refusals, the LORD makes his authority known in Egypt and demands Israel’s release to serve him, culminating in the warning concerning the firstborn.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Exodus 10:1: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before…”
Slow down at the turning point
Exodus 10:16: “Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.”
Keep this word trail visible
LORD, Moses, Egypt, land, Pharaoh, serve
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Exodus 7:14-25
In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD
Begin with the purpose stated at the start, "In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD" (7:17). Pharaoh asked "Who is the LORD" in 5:2, and the plagues are the answer. Read the first judgment: the river, Egypt's source of life, turned to blood, fish dying, people digging for water. Then 7:22-23: the magicians copy it and Pharaoh goes into his house, unmoved. Teach this first because it sets the pattern of warning, judgment, imitation or response, and refusal, and because the class needs the question of 5:2 in mind for every plague that follows.
Exodus 8:1-19
Frogs, lice and the finger of God
Read the frogs quickly, noticing how they reach the bedchamber and the kneading troughs, then Pharaoh's first request for prayer and first promise. Point to 8:10, "that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God", and 8:15, where respite produces hardness. Then the lice, which come without warning, and the magicians' confession, "This is the finger of God". Explain that the phrase means God's own direct action. Teach this to show the first crack: Pharaoh's own experts concede, and Pharaoh still refuses.
Exodus 8:20-9:7
A difference between my people and thy people
With the flies a new element appears: "I will sever in that day the land of Goshen" (8:22) and "I will put a division between my people and thy people" (8:23). The same separation is applied to the livestock in 9:4-6. Explain murrain as a deadly cattle disease. Teach this step to show that the judgments are directed and purposeful, not random disasters, and introduce Pharaoh's first bargaining offer in 8:25 and Moses' refusal, which the class will compare with later offers.
Exodus 9:8-35
Boils, hail and a confession that does not hold
The boils come from furnace ashes and reach even the magicians. Then 9:12 is the first time the text says plainly that "the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh". Read 9:14-16, God's stated purpose: that Pharaoh may know "there is none like me in all the earth", and that God's name may be declared. Then the hail, with its warning and the servants who heed it, and Pharaoh's confession. Teach the confession and its reversal together, and set out the ways the text speaks of hardening without settling the question.
Exodus 10:1-20
Tell it to thy son
Read 10:1-2 slowly. God gives a reason that reaches beyond Egypt: "that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son". The plagues are to be remembered and taught. Then the servants' plea in 10:7, "knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed", Pharaoh's offer of men only, and the locusts that leave "not any green thing". Explain coast as border or territory. Teach this step to show that Exodus is written to be retold, and that even Pharaoh's officials see what he will not.
Exodus 10:21-29
Darkness which may be felt
The ninth judgment comes without warning: three days of "thick darkness", in which they "saw not one another". Yet "all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings" (10:23). Explain that the sun was among the powers Egypt honoured, so darkness speaks against more than Pharaoh. Then the last offer, people but not livestock, and Moses' answer that they do not yet know what God will require. Pharaoh threatens death and Moses agrees not to return. Teach this as the end of negotiation.
Exodus 11:1-10
One plague more
Read the announcement in full and soberly. Explain that the firstborn held special honour in a household, and that 4:22-23 had already warned Pharaoh: "Israel is my son, even my firstborn", and "I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." The judgment matches Pharaoh's own refusal to release God's firstborn. Name the "great cry" without dramatising it. Point out the difference God makes in 11:7, and the summary of 11:9-10. Teach this last and leave the event itself for chapter 12, where it belongs.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"The plagues were just natural disasters that happened to come together."
Readers have suggested natural links between some plagues, and teachers may mention that. But Exodus presents each one as announced in advance, timed ("To morrow the LORD shall do this thing", 9:5), directed away from Goshen (8:22, 9:26), and stopped at Moses' prayer (8:13, 8:31). The book's point is that God controls creation for a purpose, "thou mayest know that I am the LORD". Whatever the means, the text insists on the God behind them.
"God made Pharaoh refuse, so it was not Pharaoh's fault."
The text speaks three ways. Pharaoh "hardened his heart" (8:15, 8:32, 9:34); his heart "was hardened" (7:13, 7:22); and "the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh" (9:12, 10:20, 10:27). Pharaoh also confesses, "I have sinned" (9:27), and then "sinned yet more" (9:34). Traditions have explained the relationship in different ways, some stressing God's sovereignty, some Pharaoh's prior choices, some both together. Set out the verses and let the class see that the text holds Pharaoh responsible.
"God was cruel to the ordinary Egyptians, who had done nothing."
Take the question seriously; it is a fair one. Then show that God warned before most judgments, that the hail warning saved those who "feared the word of the LORD" (9:20), and that Pharaoh's servants pleaded with him (10:7). Pharaoh had ordered all his people to drown Israel's sons (1:22). Do not pretend the suffering is small, and do not resolve every question; let the text's concern for warning and its account of Pharaoh's choices stand.
"Pharaoh's offers were fair compromises, and Moses was being stubborn."
Each offer kept something back: worship inside Egypt (8:25), not far away (8:28), men only (10:11), no livestock (10:24). Moses' answers rest on God's command, "Let my people go, that they may serve me" (9:1), and on what worship requires (10:26). Teach learners to see that partial release kept Israel under Pharaoh's control. The demand was never a negotiation between equals but God's claim on his people.
Learning objectives
- Arrange the nine narrated plagues in their passage order.
- Trace the repeated purpose of knowing the LORD.
- Distinguish imitation from the magicians’ eventual inability.
- Identify Pharaoh’s proposed restrictions on Israel’s departure.
- Compare Pharaoh’s hardening with statements of divine hardening.
- Distinguish the firstborn warning from its later execution.
Teacher preparation
- Read all of Exodus 7:14–11:10 beforehand; assign advance reading and prepare a nine-row chart so the session can focus on selected verses.
- Mark the ranges: 7:14–25; 8:1–15, 16–19, 20–32; 9:1–7, 8–12, 13–35; 10:1–20, 21–29; reserve chapter 11 for the final warning.
- Define “murrain” as livestock disease, “blains” as sores, and “respite” as relief; keep the human and agricultural losses visible.
- Prepare hardening and negotiation columns; distinguish what each verse attributes to Pharaoh from what it attributes to the LORD.
- Read 9:3, 6, and 19 together: acknowledge the field qualification and later surviving livestock without inventing an unreported restocking scheme.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Keep Exodus 8:15 and 9:12 together: Pharaoh hardens his heart, and the LORD hardens it; neither statement may be erased.
Scripture-supported
Use Exodus 12:12 to support judgment against Egypt’s gods; read 7:17, 8:22, and 9:16 for the stated purpose of making the LORD known.
Strong inference
Infer from Exodus 8:8–15 and 9:27–35 that requests for relief and admissions of sin do not necessarily amount to sustained submission.
Possible or traditional reading
Label one-to-one assignments of each plague to a particular Egyptian deity as proposed interpretation; Exodus 12:12 supplies no such chart.
Limit
Do not claim every plague explicitly spares Israel: Exodus 8:22, 9:4, 9:26, and 10:23 name distinctions, but not every account specifies one.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. What is the sequence from the bloodied river to three days of darkness?
What a good answer contains
Blood in the river (7:14-25), frogs (8:1-15), lice (8:16-19), swarms of flies (8:20-32), murrain on the livestock (9:1-7), boils (9:8-12), hail (9:13-35), locusts (10:1-20) and three days of "thick darkness" (10:21-29). The rod becoming a serpent comes before, in 7:8-13, and the death of the firstborn after, in chapter 12. A good answer gives nine in order and keeps the tenth outside this passage. A weak answer counts ten here or loses the order.
Show teacher guidance
Expect blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock disease, boils, hail, locusts, darkness. Keep the rod sign before this sequence and the firstborn judgment after it.
2. When do the magicians stop matching the signs?
What a good answer contains
They copy the blood: "the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments" (7:22), and the frogs (8:7). With the lice "they could not", and they tell Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God" (8:19). By the boils they "could not stand before Moses because of the boils" (9:11). A strong answer notices that even their success only adds more blood and more frogs; they never remove anything. A weak answer treats their tricks as a fair contest.
Show teacher guidance
Compare 7:22 and 8:7 with failure at 8:18–19 and inability to stand at 9:11. Imitation does not remove the suffering they reproduce.
3. Who takes the hail warning seriously before it falls?
What a good answer contains
"He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses" (9:20), while "he that regarded not the word of the LORD" left them in the field (9:21). A good answer sees that some Egyptians took God's warning and acted on it, and that the warning was given so that lives could be saved. A weak answer treats all Egypt as a single mind identical with Pharaoh's.
Show teacher guidance
Use 9:19–21: some of Pharaoh’s servants shelter people and animals. Correct an account treating every Egyptian response as identical to Pharaoh’s.
4. How do Pharaoh’s concessions keep parts of Israel’s life under his control?
What a good answer contains
First worship "in the land" (8:25), then in the wilderness "only ye shall not go very far away" (8:28), then "go now ye that are men" (10:11), then everyone but "let your flocks and your herds be stayed" (10:24). Moses answers each: "We will go with our young and with our old" (10:9), and "there shall not an hoof be left behind" (10:26). A strong answer sees that each offer keeps a hold on Israel. A weak answer calls Pharaoh reasonable.
Show teacher guidance
Compare worship in the land and nearby in 8:25–28, men only in 10:11, and retained livestock in 10:24; contrast Moses’ answers.
5. What follows Pharaoh’s confession after the hail, and who hardens hearts?
What a good answer contains
Pharaoh says, "I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked" (9:27). But when the hail stops, "he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants" (9:34). The text says Pharaoh hardened his heart (8:15, 8:32, 9:34), that his heart "was hardened" (7:22, 9:35), and that "the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh" (9:12, 10:1, 10:20). A good answer keeps all three ways of speaking. Traditions weigh them differently; the passage holds them together.
Show teacher guidance
Read 9:27–35 beside 9:12 and 10:1. Retain confession, renewed refusal, Pharaoh’s agency, and divine agency without pretending these verses settle every philosophical question.
6. What makes the firstborn announcement different from another bargaining round?
What a good answer contains
It is not an offer but an announcement. "Yet will I bring one plague more" (11:1), and when it comes Pharaoh will "surely thrust you out hence altogether". Moses names the firstborn of every household, from the throne to the mill (11:5), and "a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt" (11:6). There is no bargaining and no request; Moses leaves "in a great anger" (11:8). A good answer keeps the deaths in the future: chapter 11 warns, and 12:29 reports.
Show teacher guidance
Read 11:1, 4–8: complete expulsion and an unparalleled cry are announced. Correct any answer that places the deaths inside chapter 11.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Have learners compare a request for relief with changed conduct in 9:27–35; assess Pharaoh’s actions rather than demand private confessions.
Relationships and community
Use 9:20 to discuss a fictional authority responding to a credible warning by protecting those under its care.
Recognize conditional surrender
Chart what Pharaoh offers to release and what he retains; explain why each concession falls short of the demand to serve the LORD.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
The question of 5:2
Write "Who is the LORD" on the board and read 7:14-17.
The first judgments
Survey 7:14-8:19 with a chart of the plagues. Ask questions one and two, and take confusion one briefly.
The division and the warning
Read 8:22-23 and 9:18-21. Ask question three, then take confusion three.
The offers
Read 8:25-28, 10:8-11 and 10:24-26. Ask question four and take confusion four.
Hardening and the final warning
Read 9:27-35 and 11:1-8. Ask questions five and six, setting out the verses for confusion two.
Handout
Read the key verse together and give out the sheet.
90 minutes
Who is the LORD
Read 5:2, then 7:14-17. Ask what Pharaoh is about to learn.
Blood, frogs, lice
Read 7:19-25 and 8:5-19. Ask questions one and two and begin the chart of the judgments.
The division
Read 8:20-9:7. Explain murrain and the separation of Goshen, and take confusion one.
Boils, hail and a confession
Read 9:8-35. Ask questions three and five; set out the verses on hardening for confusion two without choosing between readings.
Locusts and the servants
Read 10:1-20. Ask what 10:2 adds to the purpose, and take confusion three.
Darkness and the last offer
Read 10:21-29. Ask question four and take confusion four.
One plague more
Read 4:22-23, then 11:1-10 soberly. Ask question six.
Application
Work through the application on recognising conditional surrender.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Use simple picture cards for the nine signs, from the red river to the dark sky, and let children put them in order. Explain that God was showing a proud king that he is the real God and that his people must go free. Point out that God's people had light when it was dark. For chapter 11, say only that God warned of one last, very sad sign; do not describe deaths of children.
Youth
Ask them to track Pharaoh's promises and how long each lasted, using a timeline on the board. Then look at his offers and ask what each one kept back. Let them argue about the hardened heart, show them all three ways the text speaks, and admit honestly that Christians have explained it differently. Watch for anyone troubled by the suffering and give them room to say so.
Adults
Give time to the theology of the plagues as judgment on the powers Egypt trusted, and to the hardening language, setting out the readings of different traditions without choosing. Read 9:16 with Romans 9:17. Discuss conditional repentance from 9:27-34. Some adults will struggle with the suffering of ordinary Egyptians and with chapter 11; honour that and do not hurry to an answer.
One to one
Read 9:27-35 together and ask whether they have ever said sorry while planning to carry on. Follow that gently. If they are troubled by God's judgments, listen first, then read 9:20 and 11:7 together and talk about God's warnings. Do not try to settle the question of hardening in one conversation.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Exodus 7:14–11:10
The passage in brief
Pharaoh will not let Israel go, so God sends nine judgments on Egypt: blood in the river, frogs, lice, flies, sick livestock, boils, hail, locusts and darkness. Pharaoh's magicians copy the first two but then admit, "This is the finger of God." Several times Pharaoh promises to let the people go and then changes his mind. God keeps his people in Goshen safe. Finally God warns of one last judgment, the death of the firstborn, after which Pharaoh will drive Israel out.
A verse to keep
And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
Exodus 9:16 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Why does God say he is sending these judgments?
What did the servants who "feared the word of the LORD" do before the hail?
What did each of Pharaoh's offers keep back from God?
This week
This week, notice one area where you have offered God part instead of all, and give it to him in prayer.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
