1. In Exodus 6:2-3, God says, I am YHWH (personal name) and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai (The God who is sufficient), but by my name YHWH, I did not make myself known to them. Now, on the surface this makes little sense. Even as far back as Genesis 2:4, the narrator uses the divine name. In 4:1, Eve uses the name YHWH. In 4:26, we see that human started calling on the name of YHWH. What could God have meant then, since they DID know His name before Exodus? What does it mean to know God by a title (El Shaddai) vs. by name? What does it mean to know God as the sufficient One vs. knowing Him via His personal name?
2. The burning question- Is God fair if He has hardened Pharaohs heart and caused him to go against his own will?
A. Has God, in fact, caused Pharaoh to work contrary to his own will? Was it God or Pharaoh that hardened his heart in 7:13, 22? What was it that hardened Pharaohs heart if it was not God in these passages?
B. Three words for harden- In 7:3, the word in Hebrew is qasha- to make severe, obstinate, stubborn which implies that the attitude already existed and was merely intensified. In 7:13, the word is chazaq (ch is pronounced like a hard h) which can mean to reinforce, to fortify, sometimes describing setting something in cement. In 7:14, the word is kabod which is sometimes translated as glory, but means to make heavy. In Egyptian theology, at the end of your life, your heart would be weighed against the feather of righteousness (sin being like a heavy plaque that accumulated on your heart). To have a heavy heart in that final trial was to be declared sinful, guilty (Pharaohs were considered guiltless by the Egyptians since they were the sons of Re). How does this change your understanding of this passage and the fairness of God?
C. In light of Romans 1:18-32 and Hebrews 6:4-6, is this (being hardened) a possibility for today? Why or why not? Might God judge our unrepentance by solidifying our directions? What might this look like in our relationships? At what point might God do this? In our attitudes? Towards a spouse, child, friend, colleague, etc? When Pharaohs magicians reproduce Moses work (yet fail to counteract the miracle), it hardens Pharaohs heart. How irrational is this? Does this say something else about a hard heart?
3. Is God beginning to answer Pharaohs question in Ex. 5:2 (Who is YHWH?)? Check out 7:5, 17. How is God answering his Pharaohs question?
4. If a two-headed serpent was the symbol of Pharaohs sovereignty, what is God saying to Pharaoh in this chapter?
5. The last verse in chapter 7 (vs. 25) states, Seven days passed after YHWH had struck the Nile. Why do you think this is an important detail? What is it about spending a whole week in this misery that speaks of Gods intentions? How does God use our consequences as we languish in them to form us spiritually?