EXODUS 7:8-13

Q: If the Hebrews were so despised by the Egyptians, how was Moses tolerated at the

 Egyptian court?

 

In the first place, Moses was no ordinary Jewish shepherd. He had been raised in the Egyptian court as

 Pharaoh's adopted grandson.

Secondly, we should not suppose that Moses was constantly in the Egyptian court bugging Pharaoh.

The plagues were spaced out over a period of time and the first nine occurred in sets of three:

1. blood (7:14-24), flies (8:20-32), hail (9:13-35)

2. frogs (7:25-8:15), plague on the cattle (9:1-7), locust (10:1-20)

3. gnats (8:16-19), boils (9:8-12), darkness (10:21-29)

The literary pattern in each of the three cycles includes the following elements:

Plagues “1”: announced in the morning by the riverside using identical wording

            Plagues “2”: announced in the Pharaoh's palace using identical wording

            Plagues “3”: given without any prior warning, symbolic gesture employed

Thus, Moses was only in Pharaoh's court three times.

Lastly, Genesis only mentions that the Egyptians despised eating with the Jews, and Exodus 1 centers in

 on the Egyptians' fear of the Jews. Nowhere does the text imply that the Egyptians banned the Jews

 from their palace. The situation may be the reverse of the much later attitude of the Jewish people

 toward all gentiles. They labeled gentiles as uncircumcised dogs and refused to eat with them.

 However, even the Jewish priests frequented the pagan courts, and gentiles were even allowed to enter

 the outer part of the Temple complex to worship.