Prayer:
Father, help us not to harden our hearts, but obey you in all things.
These days it's fairly hard to relate to slavery. It's not something we come into contact with or even hear about much. But in the past slavery was very common, in some places to the point that the wealthy classes couldn't survive without it. Even slaves owned slaves in some cities.
Basically, slavery meant the slave was entirely at the control of the master, to the extent that they had no will of their own. If they didn't perform as required they were whipped. They had no rights of their own and could be sold like cattle. It was such a position that the Children of Israel found themselves in. It's not too surprising that they called to God for help.
I might have said this before, but many people don't feel the need to please (or even believe in) a God until something bad happens to them. I know quite a few who fall into that category. They're spent most of their lives pleasing themselves, but when something happens to them they turn to God. In some cases it is through ill health, in others just bad fortune. I seem to remember that the number of church-goers increased quite sharply when some natural disasters happen. When something bad happens, people want some sort of insurance.
The same happened to the Children of Israel. And they turned to God (although it didn't take long to forget him, as soon as they left Egypt in quite a few of the cases).
They might have forgotten fairly quickly, but God's power in bringing them out of Egypt was remembered by other surrounding nations for quite some time. Not only after the 40 year journey through the wilderness, but some much, much later.
If I remember correctly, the Egyptians had ten main gods, starting with the river itself and ending with Pharaoh. Each of the plagues was aimed at discrediting idol worship. This demonstrated that God was all powerful and that the idols that the Egyptians worshipped were nothing.
I don't want to dwell on the last plague too much, but it shows very strongly that a life without God is not worth very much. God controls all life, and as we mentioned when we looked at Noah, it is his to take away.
When we look at human history, man has murdered man for millennia. Often for no reason. Here God was doing it to show the value of life. He cared for the Children of Israel and wanted them to see the difference between life and death. They had the option to follow Moses, do what he commanded and chose life or ignore him and die.
The same option is available to us.
Why did God bring them out in such a spectacular fashion?
Can you think of any nations that could remember how God brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt?
What did the Children of Israel have to do to be saved? (Hint: it involved the door posts and lintels of the houses they were staying in)
Just what does it mean when it takes about 'hardening Pharaoh's heart'? Did Pharaoh have a choice, or was he doomed to destruction?