3:20
The Lord then says that when Pharaoh refuses, He will stretch His hand over the land and work many wonders. We will come across the ten plagues in a short while. We know that Pharaoh continued to be stubborn. One might wonder why did God not just jump straight to the tenth plague! But God was just. No one will be able to say they never had a chance to repent.
3:21
“And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians”. Jesus tells us that the world will hate us because of Him(John 15:18). We need to have a balanced picture on these matters. There are times when we will find favour. Joseph found favour in the eyes of the Pharaoh at the time. Then the Israelites suffered oppression. After the plagues they would find favour again, though this was more a matter of “for goodness sake go”. Then the Egyptians came after them again. Sometimes we will find favour with the world, sometimes the world will hate us. Why will we sometimes find favour? Because all people were made in the image of God, so there is a tendency for people to recognise goodness, to recognise the truth. Why will the world hate us? Because all people are in rebellion against God, and, without Christ, this is the side that will eventually dominate. We need to have a balanced view, and ultimately God decides what is going to happen. How should we react? We must live faithful lives in all circumstances.
3:22
So when the time to leave came about the women would ask their neighbours for goods, and they would get them. “So you shall plunder the Egyptians”. We probably don’t like the sound of this, it being the sort of thing that we don’t think Christians should do. And there is definitely a sense in which we should not do this! But we also need to recognise that at the end of the day every knee will bow and every tongue confess. At the end of the day it is the people of God who will reign.
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