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Speaker 1: Previously on the chosen people.
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Speaker 2: When you return to Egypt, see that you show Pharaoh every thunder. I have yet still your heart, Moses. For Pharaoh's heart I have turned to iron. He will not let my people go.
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Speaker 1: The onlookers gasped as the clear blue green currents.
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Speaker 2: Of the Nile began to darken.
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Speaker 1: The color shifting deepened, turning from blue to a murky red.
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Speaker 3: The lent rameses rum lands.
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Speaker 1: Suddenly the frogs came, hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands.
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Speaker 4: He will not break me.
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Speaker 1: In one fell swoop, he struck the earth. The dust rose in great clouds, twisting and writhing in the air, before transformed into a swarm of gnats.
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Speaker 2: You will crush him beneath the heel of et.
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Speaker 3: Yet he has nothing but a dog and insat, curling at my k.
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Speaker 1: The following day, the flies came ma and sery means the sea. The camels, donkeys, and cattles all fell where they stood, their bodies becoming part of the blighted landscape. A fire and ice cascaded from the sky in an onslaught of destruction. Immense power and unbridled destruction came upon Egypt.
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Speaker 4: Comments to light me down.
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Speaker 3: Here you down.
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Speaker 1: Locusts, millions upon millions of them, descending upon Egypt like a plague from the very pits of Hell.
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Speaker 4: I will strike you down like the pack of animals.
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Speaker 3: You are.
00:01:53
Speaker 1: Three days of darkness fell upon Egypt, thick and suffocating, as if the very light of the world had been extinguished.
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Speaker 5: The Lord isn't just at war with Pharaoh, hearing he's going to battle against the gods of Egypt. What do you mean The Lord is striking down the gods.
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Speaker 3: Of Egypt one by.
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Speaker 4: And what would the Lord do when only one god is left standing? Which god are you talking about?
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Speaker 5: Pharaoh?
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Speaker 6: You will know his name, Pharaoh, for it will be on your lips when your kingdom crumbles to dust. Shalloh, my friends, from here in the holy land of Israel, i'mya l Ekstein with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Welcome to the Chosen People. In this story, we stand on the edge of catastrophe. Egypt lies in ruins, reeling from plagues that have swept through like a tidal wave, devastating the land, the people, and the proud heart of its king. Yet here stands Pharaoh, stubborn to the end, unwilling to bend even as his world crumbles around him. The final confrontation between God and Pharaoh looms. What drives a man to hold on to pride even as his world is collapsing? And what does it mean when God hardens a heart? Are we free in our choices? Or are we being shaped by something much larger than we can understand?
00:03:32
Speaker 1: Moses steps were leaden, each footfall a deliberate echo upon the cracked stone of the palace. The once great halls of Pharaoh's stronghold stood like a mausoleum, haunted by the ghosts of its past glory. He could still remember the splendor of it, the way the wars had shimmered with gold and the air had buzzed with the power of the gods of Egypt. But now that power had turned sour. The once lustrous tapestries torn and soiled, the statues of the gods veiled in shadow. Servants scurried like frightened mice, trying in vain to restore the splendor, their eyes hollow with fear. The Nile, once the river of life and the heart of Egypt, was bleeding out Pharaoh's Palace like the kingdom itself was broken, splintered by the weight of the plagues that had ravaged the land. Yet the greatest devastation still loomed like a storm on the horizon, unseen but inevitable. Moses stopped before the grand entrance, his heart heavy with grief. The lord's words still echoed in his mind, as relentless as the wind whipping across the desert.
00:04:56
Speaker 2: One more plague will come upon Pharaoh, when all of Egypt after my judgment, he will let you go from this place. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely into the wilderness.
00:05:14
Speaker 1: He had known this moment was coming, had felt it in the marrow of his bones. With each plague that passed, each sign ignored, Egypt was crumbling, and with it the will of its king. Yet even now Pharaoh clung to his pride as a drowning man would a stone. Moses sighed and turned to Aaron, who stood behind him, his brother's face pale beneath the weight of what was to come.
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Speaker 5: Wait here, Iaran, I must go in alone, Moses.
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Speaker 4: Wait is that wise? Pharaoh's wrath is fierce, and you know his heart. Let me go with you.
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Speaker 5: No, no, no, brother. I must face him alone.
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Speaker 4: This is the last time.
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Speaker 2: You're doing that thing again with your voice.
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Speaker 4: Please let me come with you.
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Speaker 1: Aaron hesitated, but in the end he nodded. He knew, as Moses did, that the time for reasoning had passed. What was coming could not be bargained with nor avoided. The Lord's judgment would descend upon Egypt like a sword drawn from the heavens. Moses turned, drawing in a deep breath, and entered the throne room. The hall was empty save for Pharaoh himself. The air was thick with silence, and the scent of old incense still lingered, bitter and cold. The grand columns that once stood tall like the gods of Egypt, now see smaller, diminished. Pharaoh sat upon his throne, but the man who occupied it was not the king Moses had once known. Rameses. Pharaoh, the so called living god of Egypt, was now but a shadow of his former self. His face, once proud and unyielding, was gaunt. The dark smudges beneath his eyes betraying sleepless nights and gnawing dread. His golden collar, the symbol of his divine kingship, hung loose upon his shoulders, as if it too had grown weary of bearing his burden. He was slumped, but there was still that flicker of defiance in his eyes, a flame that refused to die, even as the fire around him had consumed his kingdom. Moses approached his steps soft, though the weight of each one seemed to press upon his soul. He felt no triumph, no satisfaction, only sorrow. Sorrow for the man who had once been his brother, and sorrow for the people who would soon cry out in agony.
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Speaker 4: Ramses, it's over.
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Speaker 5: It's time to let go.
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Speaker 4: Your people.
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Speaker 5: Your kingdom cannot endure any more of this. Even your own subjects have given favor to the children of Israel.
00:08:31
Speaker 4: Yes, my people have turned against me, heaventh.
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Speaker 7: They they give gold and jewelry to your slaves, as though you are their savior, as though they believe your God can save them.
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Speaker 4: They will all be punished for their betrayal.
00:08:51
Speaker 1: The Lord had instructed the children of Israel to seek favor from the Egyptians. Many of the citizens had been softened by the plagues, looked favorably upon the Hebrews. They gave them gifts of gold and jewelry as a peace offering. Although the plagues had softened their hearts, they had only hardened Pharaohs.
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Speaker 4: My people have come to revere you. Moses. How satisfying it must be to finally have the approval of Egypt.
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Speaker 5: None of this satisfies me, Rameses.
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Speaker 8: All I want is to leave with my people peacefully, Your people.
00:09:32
Speaker 1: Pharaoh's eyes flared, and he rose from his throne, a sudden burst of fury animating him.
00:09:40
Speaker 4: We used to be your people, His.
00:09:44
Speaker 1: Voice boomed throughout the empty palace halls. Ramses stood before Moses with eyes of fury, his nostrils flared like that of a raging bull, ready to break everything in sight. Moses flinched, but his gaze never left Pharaoh's. He had grown weary of the king's fury, of the endless shouting, the blind pride that had brought so much suffering. Moses was tired of Ramsey's scare, tactics and tantrums. He pointed his finger at Ramsey's like one word to a petulant child.
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Speaker 3: Your pride has swallowed up Egypt in a bit of despair. Can't you see that this is all you're doing? I will not be lectured by a traitor and a murderer. You abandon your people to be the chief of slaves.
00:10:38
Speaker 5: You think it is I who lectures you, Rameses.
00:10:42
Speaker 8: The Lord has spoken through me time and again, and you have turned a deaf ear to his command. You know you cannot win this. The end is already written.
00:10:55
Speaker 4: The end I will have monuments built to my glory, long after your unnamed god has forgotten.
00:11:04
Speaker 3: He has a name.
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Speaker 1: His voice rang out like a sword striking stone, and the words echoed through the hall, carrying with them the weight of divine judgment.
00:11:17
Speaker 5: You will know his name, Rameses, for it will be on your lips when your kingdom crumbles to dust.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: For a moment, the two men stood in silence, the air between them tort as a drawn bowstring. Moses trembled with fury and grief, his heart pounding in his chest. He wanted to strike Rameses down to end the madness here and now. But this was not his battle.
00:11:45
Speaker 4: It was the Lord's run. Then, Moses, run as you always do. You're nothing but a coward.
00:11:58
Speaker 7: Your people will howard and fear before me.
00:12:03
Speaker 4: They will know that.
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Speaker 1: I am Moses stopped in his tracks. His voice, when he spoke again, was low and deadly, like the distant roll of thunder.
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Speaker 5: Thus, says the Lord.
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Speaker 1: Pharaoh froze, the blood draining from his face.
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Speaker 5: At midnight, the Lord will descend upon Egypt. Every first born in the land, every first born from your own son upon this throne, to the lowliest slave in the mill will die. There shall be a cry throughout the land of Egypt, a cry unlike any heard before, nor ever.
00:12:44
Speaker 4: Will be again.
00:12:46
Speaker 1: Pharaoh's eyes were wide, but he said nothing. Moses's voice softened, though his words cut deeper than any blade.
00:12:55
Speaker 5: But not a dog shall growl against the people of Israel. You will know, Rameses, You will know who the Lord's chosen people are.
00:13:07
Speaker 1: With that, Moses turned and strode from the throne room, his steps heavy with the weight of what was to come. Pharaoh's curses followed him, but they were hollow, lost in the echoing halls of his broken kingdom. Outside, Aaron waited. The sky above had darkened, and the air was thick with an unnatural stillness, as if the very heavens held their breath. Moses wiped the tears from his eyes. He had seen the end, and It was more terrible than even he had imagined. And then the voice of the Lord came again, quiet and unyielding.
00:13:51
Speaker 2: Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will prevail over him, and my chosen people shall walk three.
00:14:02
Speaker 1: Moses nodded, his heart heavy. The final blow was coming, and all of Egypt would weep.
00:14:19
Speaker 6: What a haunting, tragic story, the man broken by his own pride. Pharaoh had every opportunity to relent, every chance to set his people free from their suffering. Yet he stood defiant, even as his kingdom crumbled before his eyes. Moses didn't want to be there. You can imagine the sorrow and the exhaustion in his voice. This wasn't a story of revenge or of hatred. It was a story of inevitability, of what happens when the heart grows too hard to feel anything at all. But what struck me most was how Moses, standing before the ruler of Egypt, still seemed to feel a sense of brotherhood with Pharaoh, even after everything. His words are filled with grief, not triumph. Do you hear that? The air was thick with tension. It was the final plague, the worst of all, and it was looming over Egypt like a sword waiting to fall. Let's talk about the final plague, the plague of the death of the first born. This would be the most devastating plague of all, and it caused Pharaoh to immediately agreed to set the Israelite slaves free. There's an interesting discussion in the Talmud concerning when the exact moment of redemption took place. One of the sages said that took place at midnight, at the moment that all the first born of Egypt died. And this makes sense because it caused Pharaoh to finally set the slaves free. But there's another sage who disagrees. He says that the moment of redemption didn't happen at night, even though that's when the first born were sl This sage says that the moment of redemption was actually the next morning, when the Israelites arose and they walked out of Egypt on their own two feet. Now free people. Isn't that a beautiful reading of this tragic story after so many generations of being slaves, that were actually able to wake up and walk right out of there, And of course God redeems and the Jewish people here in Israel see the fulfillment of His promises all the time. I'm speaking to you from the Promised Land, from Israel that God promised to my ancestors thousands of years ago. He is a God who redeems. But the real redemption has actually been our response to God's redemption. Coming to the Holy Land, rebuilding it, creating an army to defend it, and making Israel truly a light into the nations is our way of our God. You see. God may have redeemed us at night, meaning he allowed us to return to Israel after the devastation and darkness of the Holocaust, but the real redemption came in the morning, as we worked to build that state of Israel, which brought light to the world, and which millions of our Christian friends love and support and stand with us in this holy endeavor. This teaching is so important for all of us. God redeems each of us in our own lives, especially at night when things feel unclear and difficult. We have to remember God might redeem us at night when things are dark, he might show us away, but the real redemption comes in the morning. It comes when we decide how we are going to respond to the miracles that God has put in front of us. But I have another question from this story. What does it mean when God hardens a heart? This is a question that the Jewish ages have wrestled with for centuries. After all, Pharaoh's heart was not hardened in a vacuum. It was God himself who intervened. But why why would God harden a heart knowing that destruction would follow?
00:18:18
Speaker 2: Will?
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Speaker 6: The Rabbis tell us something beautiful. The Rabbis say that free will is central to our humanity. Yet here we see something else at work, a divine hand shaping the course of events. You see, Pharaoh had hardened his own heart time and time again before God stepped in, And what they explain is that at a certain point, his resistance became his prison. The great teacher Mymonodes explains that when a person continues in sin over and over again and refuses to repent, it can eventually become nearly impossible for them to turn back. They become so set in their way that it's hard to change them. God's purpose, my Monidi says, was not to strip Pharaoh of his humanity, but to show him that at some point, the consequences of our choices become irreversible. Pharaoh chose this path, and now he was locked in it. He couldn't turn back, not because God is cruel, but because the time for repentance had passed. He had so many opportunities to repent, to free the slaves, and he didn't. It's a reminder to all of us that every choice we make shapes our future. Pharaoh's pride became his undoing, just as our stubbornness can harden our own hearts to the point where we can no longer hear the voice of God. So that's the question, isn't it. Jewish tradition teaches that tshuvah repentance is always possible, but if we ignore God's call for too long, our hearts might grow too hard to hear it. For Pharaoh, that became his undoing. So what does this story mean for us today? Maybe you've never hardened your heart to the level that Pharaoh did, But how many times have we resisted God's voice in our lives? How many times have we ignored his call to change or held on to something that was only causing us harm. Pharaoh refused to let go, and it led to the downfall of his entire kingdom. Sometimes what we hold on to too tightly can actually destroy us. But here's the good news. Unlike Pharaoh, we can soften our hearts. The righteous gentile Dietrich Bonhoeffer has always inspired me. An active and vocal Christian in Nazi Germany who spoke out against Hitler's actions against the Jewish people. Pastor Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis less than a month before the war ended. But I'm reminded of words of his as we close the Bible story. Pastor Bonhaffer beautifully said, quote, being a follower of God is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing his will end quote. As the Chosen People, we are all called to act, to respond to God's voice, and to trust that when we do, we will find freedom, just as the people of Israel did. So what is God calling you two? Today?
00:21:31
Speaker 1: You can listen to the Chosen People with Isle Eckstein add free by downloading and subscribing to the Prey dot Com app today. This Prey dot Com production is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents, Steve Katina, Max Bard Zach Shellabager and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of The Chosen People with Yaile Eckstein, Edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Bree Rosalie and Aaron Salvato. Special thanks to Bishop Paul Lanier, Robin van Ettin, kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People with Yile Eckstein, please rate and leave a review.