Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children (11 page)

and in his hair, and they were driving him mad,

which he was already anyway. But he was getting

really, really, really mad.

So he called for Moses.

“Ask this Lord of yours to kill all these stinking

frogs, and I will let your people go to have their

celebrations.”

“And on what particular day shall I ask God

to get rid of them?” asked Moses, who was really

enjoying watching the frogs leaping everywhere and

Pharaoh’s servants running around trying to catch

the smelly little hoppers.

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“Tomorrow, tomorrow—just get the frogs out of

here!” yelled Pharaoh, flicking a frog off his knee.

“Very well,” replied Moses. “I shall ask the Lord

to wipe out all the frogs except those in the river, and

then we will go to the desert to worship the Lord as

you have promised.”

“Yes, yes! Get it done, old man!” yelled Pharaoh,

obviously getting impatient as a frog landed in his

cup.So the next day all the frogs died except those

in the Nile, and the Pharaoh’s servants got shovels

and brooms and piled them into hundreds of huge

piles and burned their smelly, little bodies. Now

when Pharaoh saw the river was back to normal and

things were looking a lot cleaner and not so smelly,

he changed his mind. He broke his promise. What a

silly, silly man.

So the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to stretch

out his stick and hit the dust with it.”

So Moses told Aaron, and he hit the dust. All the

dust in Egypt turned into tiny little brown fleas which

jumped onto everyone except the Hebrews down in

Goshen. It’s bad enough when a mosquito bites you

and your skin gets really itchy, but imagine heaps

and heaps of fleas biting you and making itchy sores

all over you. Yuk. . .not good at all.

Now Pharaoh’s magicians tried to do the same,

but they couldn’t make a single flea. Perhaps the

Lord was getting tired of Satan copying Him, so He

stopped the wizards’ power this time. So the wizards

ran to Pharaoh and said, “It must really be God doing

this.” But Pharaoh, who was sitting there scratching

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himself like a crazy guy, wouldn’t listen, and still he

didn’t let the people go.

So the Lord said to Moses: “Early in the morning

go down to see Pharaoh and tell him that if he

doesn’t let My people go then I will cover the land

with insects. And there shall be billions of them in

the Egyptians’ homes and in their clothes, but none

shall go to my people in Goshen.” They told Pharaoh,

and do you think he let the people go? Nope. Old

Pharaoh just shook his stubborn head and refused to

let the people go.

The next day billions and billions of creepy

crawling insects of every kind went into the

Egyptians’ homes, and they were everywhere, and

I mean everywhere, except of course in Goshen

where the Hebrews lived. Imagine big hairy spiders

crawling around in your bed. Oh, yuk! I hate spiders!

Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. It seemed he

hated spiders as well.

“All right. This time I quit. You can go to the

desert for three days and worship the Lord. I promise

you. Just please take away all these insects.”

So Moses asked the Lord to remove the insects,

and the Lord did just that. But did Pharaoh let the

people go? Nope. Again he broke his promise and

wouldn’t let the people go.

So the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Pharaoh

that if he doesn’t let My people go his best horses

and cows and other animals will die. But as for the

animals of the Hebrews none will die.”

But Pharaoh just laughed, and the next day

Pharaoh’s animals died. His best horses and sheep

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and his holy cows he used to worship—all died of

a disease. But in the land of Goshen not one of their

sheep or horses or cows died.

But stil Pharaoh was stubborn and wouldn’t let

the people go. What a stubborn man he was. He was

the most powerful man in the world, and he hated

the idea that the Lord was more powerful than he

was. Does he remind you of anyone? And of course

he had Satan behind him al the way giving his

wizards and magicians power, but their power was

running out. God was doing miracles He knew Satan

couldn’t copy.

But it wasn’t over yet; the worst was still to

come. The Lord had more miracles that would break

the proud heart of Pharaoh so he would finally let the

people go. This Pharaoh had the crazy idea he was

just as powerful as the Lord. In fact, he thought he

was a god himself. But there is only one true God,

and He was proving this to the Hebrew people so

they would tell the world, Just Because He wants all

people everywhere to know Him and love Him.

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Pharaoh must have wondered if God would

eventually run out of ideas to make him give in.

But as you and I have found out the Lord never runs

out of ideas because He is infinite, and that means He

never runs out of anything.

So the Lord said to Moses, “Take in your hand

soot from out of a fireplace and throw it into the air.”

Soot is that black stuff that is left after you have

a fire. The soot became like black dust traveling all

around Egypt, and everyone in Egypt got nasty sore

spots on their bodies, which became very itchy.

The wizards didn’t try to do any black magic this

time because they were so sore and itchy that they

stayed in bed. After three days Moses and Aaron

went to Pharaoh, who was looking very uncomfort-

able. But the stubborn man still shook his head and

said he would not let the people go.

Then Moses went back to the Lord, and the Lord

told him to give Pharaoh a very serious warning.

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So Aaron spoke these words to the king of Egypt:

“Pharaoh, the Lord has said to tell you that if you

do not let His people go then He is going to send

His plagues upon you. These things He has done are

nothing compared to what He can do. He will show

you, Pharaoh, that there is no one like the Lord in all

the earth. He will show you His power has no limits.

You are trying to make yourself a big shot by not

letting His people go, but tomorrow you will start to

see His real power.”

Aaron continued. “Tomorrow the Lord will send

a hail storm that will kill all living creatures out in

the fields. The Lord says that if the people take their

animals inside then they will be all right.” Now that

was very fair. God was even giving the Egyptians the

chance to have faith in Him.

Pharaoh laughed. He really laughed. In fact he

almost fell off his chair. Hail stones in Egypt! Egypt

is hot. I mean, Egypt is really hot. They don’t get

a lot of hail in Egypt. Pharaoh decided to leave his

animals out in the fields. This Pharaoh is not only silly

but very proud as well, and the Lord hates people to

be proud. Now some of Pharaoh’s soldiers and offi-

cial men believed the words of the Lord so they ran

out and got all their animals inside, but the proud and

arrogant ones left their animals outside.

So then the Lord told Moses to stretch out his

hand and point his staff to the sky. Moses did.

Thunder rolled, and lightning flashed, and the

clouds grew thick and dark until it was almost like

nighttime. Then as the thunder flashed across the sky

the hail began to fall. Not small hail like apple pits,

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but the size of tennis balls and bigger. The hail fell

onto the trees and stripped off the leaves and broke

small branches. It fell on Egypt’s wheat and food in

the fields and destroyed it, and it fell onto animals

killing them. It landed on people who were out in the

storm praying to you-know-who, and every piece of

ice was like a tiny bomb falling on Egypt. But down

in Goshen where God’s people lived, the people were

enjoying the sunshine.

So Pharaoh called for his soldiers to fetch Moses

and Aaron.

“This time I have sinned. I should have listened

to you. Tell the Lord that if He will stop the storm

then I will let the people go.”

So Moses asked the Lord, and the Lord stopped

the storm. When Pharaoh saw the sun shining that

dishonest, terrible man broke his promise again. He

wouldn’t let the people go. Now what would you do

if you were the Lord? The Lord had the power to

snap His fingers and make Pharaoh disappear, but He

didn’t. He would show this arrogant man He was the

only true God in all the world.

“Moses,” said the Lord. “Tell Pharaoh that if he

will not let the people go I will bring thousands and

millions of locusts, and they will eat every bit of food

that is growing in Egypt.”

So Moses told Pharaoh this, and Pharaoh’s offi-

cials and magicians were scared. “The crops are

nearly ruined now,” they told him. “Our grape vines

are stripped, our wheat has been flattened, but we can

still gather up some of it. Let the people go, or we

will all starve.” These wizards were beginning to see

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that God always keeps His promises. But what did

Pharaoh reply?

“No! No! No! I am king of Egypt, not this God of

the Israelites. I will not let them go! I am king here,

not Him!” yelled Pharaoh.

“But he will destroy Egypt,” the magicians

complained.

“Our gods are more powerful,” argued Pharaoh.

“They will protect us.”

What can you say about a man who thinks like

that? I wonder why so many people won’t believe

God. I guess it’s just pride, and old Pharaoh sure

had a lot of that. So again Moses stretched out his

staff, and the locusts came. Millions of insects flying

through the air. Millions of hungry little mouths

looking for something to eat. They looked like giant

crickets, and the Bible says there were so many that

the ground was completely covered with them. They

ate every green thing in sight. Of course Pharaoh told

Moses he was sorry again, and again when God had

sent away the locusts he changed his mind.

So the Lord sent darkness over all the land of

Egypt, and for three days it was pitch black, and on

the third day it was light again. That reminds me of

someone who died and three days later He rose again,

but more about Him later.

Moses stood before this man who always broke

his promises. Pharaoh yelled at Moses to get out of

his palace and never return. He told Moses that if he

ever saw his face again he would be killed. Moses

stared back at the cold evil eyes and told the king of

Egypt he would never again come to him.

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Pharaoh thought he had scared Moses, but he was

wrong. God was speaking to Moses’ mind and told

him to give Pharaoh the greatest and most serious

warning so far.

Moses spoke, and as he did he looked straight into

Pharaoh’s eyes without fear and said, “This is what the

Lord says! On the fourteenth day of the month one of

God’s sword-angels wil pass over Egypt, and the oldest

child of every family wil die. Not one of His people

the Israelites wil be harmed, so you wil know God’s

people are separate from you Egyptians. After that day

al these officials and wizards of yours wil come and

bow down to me and beg me to take God’s people out

of Egypt. After that and only then wil I leave.”

Moses was angry. He was angry this arrogant

and powerful man would let thousands of people die

instead of obeying God. Moses stared at the king of

Egypt, but Pharaoh couldn’t meet his eyes. Moses

turned and walked out of that palace, the very same

palace where he had lived as a boy.

Pharaoh watched him leave. Doubts started to

come into his head, and Satan was whispering in his

ear, “Don’t worry, Pharaoh. You’re the most powerful

god yourself. Nobody is going to die.”

Pharaoh liked what he heard, and his heart became

very hard and cold. He refused to obey the Lord, and

so the sword-angel set out from God’s kingdom on

his way to Egypt. He would arrive on the fourteenth

day, and everything would happen as Moses said,

Just Because the Lord was using the stubborn heart

of this evil man to teach you and me about a special

child who was to come.

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Over the next few days Moses told the people of

Israel to do exactly as he said. By this time they

were no longer angry with Moses because they had

seen the amazing things the Lord had done through

Moses and Aaron. The Lord gave them some very

strange instructions on how to save their oldest chil-