The Plagues of Egypt

David Sulcer

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A overview teaching of the first nine plagues in Exodus to deliver God's people from Pharaoh's bondage.

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THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT & THE POWER OF GOD & THE PAYMENT OF REDEMPTION

I. The Transformation of Moses

READ: EXODUS 7:1-7

The book of Exodus is a study of Moses growing into his job. He had to go through a transformation, from the spirit of timidity to a Spirit of power, love and a sound mind.

a. His Timid Personality.

Moses most self-descriptive phrase is I am of uncircumcised lips! He was impulsive (Exodus 2:11-13). He was hesitant (Exodus 3:12-4:13). He was one to get over on his skies (Exodus 5:1). He could be whinny at times and utterly void of self-confidence. See Exodus 4:10, 12; 6:12, 29-30

b. His Godlike Transformation.

However, there came a point where he took upon his shoulders the mantel of his anointing. He became a Spirit-infused man, even Godlike in power and authority. The Biblical writers saw inspired speech as not originating from the mind or knowledge of the speaker but the speaker becoming a mouth piece for God in which his Spirit would speak through them the prophetic word of God.

Exodus 4:12 ESV - I will be with your mouth and teach you what you will speak! Isa. 50:4; Jer. 1:9; Ezek. 33:22; Matt. 10:19, 20; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11, 12; 21:15

Exodus 7:1,6 ESV - And the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. ...[6] Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them.

Luke 12:11-12 ESV - 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Luke 21:14-15 ESV - 14 Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

He became a man of unflappable calm in the face of furry (Exodus 10:29). He began to show total confidence in even the timing of miracles (Exodus 9:5)! An abiding sense of fearlessness before Pharoah kept rising in his soul so that he was not afraid to make his demands and to even put Pharoah in his place.

The crucial transformation: By what inward processes of thought and decision Moses reached his crucial transformation we are not told. He entered the presence of the Lord with complaints about his failure (Ex 5:22–23); he emerged, as subsequent chapters will prove over and over again, as the man who had no words other than those God had taught him, no acts other than those God had commanded, and no position except that of a man sent from God - Motyer, A. (2005). The Message of Exodus: The Days of Our Pilgrimage. (A. Motyer & D. Tidball, Eds.) (p. 108). Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press.

II. A 36,000 Foot Viewpoint of the Plagues

a. Its Vocabulary of Divine Sovereignty & Human Freedom

READ: EXODUS 7:14-16, 22-23

1) Pharaoh’s Character Deficiencies

He Belittles Them - Who is the Lord?

He Provokes Them - Prove it! In the Prelude of the snakes

He Snubs Them - First plague of Blood in Nile - he turned and walked away.

He Dishonored Them - Second plague with Frogs - when he saw there was a respite he changed his mind.

He Snubs Them Again - The Third Plague - Gnats

He Bargains With Them - The Fourth Plague - Flies - yes go sacrifice but stay in the land

He Resists Them - The Fifth Plague, death of livestock, & The Sixth Plague of boils - no response from Pharoah.

He Deceives Them - The Seventh Plague, Hail, while feigning repentance he asked for prayer.

He Drives Them Out - After seeking compromises and feigning repentance again by asking for prayer - The Eigith Plague, Locusts

He Threatens Them - The Ninth Plague, Darkness

2) Pharaoh’s Progressive Hardening Process

Ephesians 4:17-19 ESV - Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. [18] They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. [19] They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

To make unchanging ⇔ harden — HAZAQ to make unchanging in will, opinion, or desire, conceived of as making something hard in substance. POSITIVELY IT DESCRIBES COURAGE like for Joshua on entering the Promise Land.

There is a progression in the storyline of Pharaoh’s hardness of heart in the lead up to his final judgment for hard heartedness. In the first mention of God’s plan of judgment against Pharaoh we hear this in Exodus 3:19 about what God knows about him: But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. In the second mention of God’s plan of judgment against Pharaoh we hear this in Exodus 4:21-23, where the entire plan is forecasted: But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. In the third mention of God’s plan in which the prelude to the plagues is performed in the snake swallowing snake ceremony it says again in verse 3 of Exodus 7:3, But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, [4] Pharoah will not listen to you. THEN I will lay my hand on Egypt...

So, when we come to the unfolding of the actual interchange between Moses and Pharaoh we begin to see the progressive nature of Pharaoh’s hardening. The 10 plagues are as much an opportunity for Pharaoh to become humbled and obedient with each unleashing of judgment and reprieve. There seems to be a choice being allowed to be made, over and over again, with each plague by the refrains that echo through the whole of this story:

he would not listen (Ex 7:4,13,22;8:15,19),

if you will not let my people go, behold I will send...(Ex 8:21) and

he refuses; if you refuse; how long will you refuse? (Ex 7:14; 8:2; 9:2; 10:3-4)

Actually the whole of this context starts out with him saying in Exodus 5:2 who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice. I DO NOT KNOW…I WILL NOT LET. This is decidedly freely chosen statements.

But then later it says Pharaoh turned and went into the house, and he did not take even this to heart! (Ex 7:23). Moving on from there Moses rebukes him for his self-inflicted hubris when he said, you are still exalting yourself (Ex 9:17) and later he would say I know that you do not fear the LORD (Ex 9:30). Again these too are freely chosen responses to the LORD’s judgments.

Toward the end even Pharaoh would begin to admit his own culpability (even if disingenuous) before the LORD! Exodus 9:27 has him admitting, This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. But when the plague is over it says he sinned YET again and hardened his heart (Ex 9:34). When the plague of locust devour the land, Pharaoh again gives a false confession as to his culpability. He said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once (Ex. 10:16-17). Until finally, the deadly door of disobedience slams on his face and there is no more recourse.

Perhaps this is why, in the first several mentions of hardness of heart it says each time either Pharaoh’s heart grew hard/became hard (Ex 7:13); In Exodus 7:14 the NIV says Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. Exodus 7:22-23 reveals this state of Pharaoh’s mind and heart, So Pharaoh’s heart grew hard/became hard…he would not listen…he did not take even this to heart. In Exodus 8:15 it says again, when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen. Do you notice the will of Pharaoh is consciously active here. He is going through a decision making process.

This continues all the way up to the later plagues until a clear shift in language occurs. It moves from what Pharaoh decides after each plague and what God decides after each plague! but the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses (Ex 9:12); and in chapter 10 it says, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants (Ex 10:1); and But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go (Ex 10:20, 27; 11:10).

The Message of Exodus, Motyer. Learning from the plagues: The Lord of the heart. Thus, even the visitations of the wrath of God, however justly due, are held within the brackets of his inexplicable mercy. He did not visit Pharaoh and Egypt immediately with the death their disobedience deserved but instituted a process of observing and testing the character, so at any point they could have stepped off the ladder of discipline into the path of obedience and escaped the final penalty. - Motyer, A. (2005). The Message of Exodus: The Days of Our Pilgrimage. (A. Motyer & D. Tidball, Eds.) (p. 116). Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press.

3) The Moral Dilemma of a Judicial Hardening

If God truly loves everyone, then why did he harden Pharaoh’s heart so he would reject God’s will? How can this be a just action on God’s part?

To answer that we must say something about God’s foreknowledge and then about God’s determination.

First, God knows things in advance before they ever happen. He knows all contingencies and all actualities before they ever come to pass. His foreknowledge does not determine the actions but it does allow him to use that actions in his glorious plan and final will.

Second, regarding God’s determination there is two theological views out there: (Taken from Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics)

The Hard Determinist Viewpoint: The Calvinist view is that, based on Romans 9:18-20. He has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whoever he wills and who are we to say anything different?! This viewpoint holds that without God’s merciful intervention, man left to himself will simply naturally continue on toward deeper forms on rebellion against God. Without divine restraint we will go merrily on our way to Hell. In this case God refuses to stop that process and man chooses the only choice left to him: his own condemnation. In this way he is not truly free to choose an opposite destination.

The Soft Determinist Viewpoint: This view holds that God did not harden Pharaoh’s heart contrary to Pharaoh’s free choice. Instead, Pharaoh made the first choice, freely, and often against common wisdom, to harden his own heart and then God judicially hardened it later. In fact, the different Hebrew words used to describe this hardening reveals this fact of Pharaoh’s free choice. a) The Hebrew word Qashah - stubbornness, describes an overall process; not a particular act but a series of actions. b) The Hebrew word Kabed - heavy, insensitive describes the heaviness of the plagues bearing down on the heart of Pharaoh becoming heavy as well. It is used to describe the action on Pharaoh’s part in choosing to harden his heart. c) However, the Hebrew word Chazaq - to strengthen, to encourage is used to describe the action of God in making Pharaoh’s heart hard. In other words, although Pharaoh is making his own decision to become hard, God is going to judicially encourage or strengthen that decision for his own plans to deliver his people from Pharaoh’s hardness and oppression. There is nothing morally sinister in this regard on God’s part.

The same Sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay. To the one it reveals its basic moisture content to the other it saps the moisture right out of it! It all depends on the nature of the material.

The Best Way To Think About This Is:

God Does Not Harden Hearts… God Hardens Hearts...

* - Initially * - Subsequently

* - Directly * - Indirectly

* - Against free choice * - Through free choice

* - As to their cause * - As to their effect

b. How scholars approach the plagues

There Are Four Major Views

The Natural Disasters View: They Are Naturally Occurring Disasters/Phenomena occuring within a 12 month cycle. This anchors it in its geographical context and its historical weightiness. But a majority of scholars who take this view move it away from any supernatural explanation and place it primarily within a naturalistic explanation.

One of the debates among scholars is, were these really miracles of God?

Something should be noted here: Although more liberal scholars note the natural biorhythms and seasonal cycles of Egypt seen in these plagues, the power of these natural cycles are seen in God’s supernatural use of them! If anything it gives a certain theological and Scriptural plausibility because it connects the natural geography of Egypt with the history of the Exodus story! One scholar by the name of Flinders Petrie wrote in 1911 about the natural biorhythms of Egypt in the plagues:

The river turned to blood, with the fish dying, was the unwholesome stagnant Nile just at the lowest before the inundation, when it is red and swarming with organisms. The Egyptians have to resort to wells and cisterns at this time in the early part of June. The frogs abound after the inundation has come in July. The plagues of insects, murrain, and boils, belong to the hot summer and damp unwholesome autumn. The hail and rain came in January. This is closely fixed by the effect on the crops. The barley must have been up early for the wheat to be yet “hidden” or hardly sprouting. This would show it was planted early in November, in ear by the middle of January, and ripe early in March. The flax has like seasons, and the wheat is a month later. The locusts come in the spring, over the green crops about February. The sand storms bring a thick darkness that may be felt, in March, at the break of the hot winds

But Joseph Free, in his book Archaeology and Bible History, gives the best defense that these Biblical plagues are true miracles:

Efforts have sometimes been made to explain away the plagues as natural phenomena in Egypt. It is quite true that unusual quantities of frogs and lice, unexpected darkness and the other serious heightening of natural phenomena have been known in Egypt. An examination of the plagues shows, however, that they were miraculous in at least five different ways:

(1) Intensification—frogs, insects, plagues on cattle, hail, and darkness were all known in Egypt, but now they are intensified far beyond the ordinary occurrence.

(2) Predictive precision—the time was set for the coming of the flies (“tomorrow,” 8:23), the death of cattle (9:5), the hail (9:18), and the locusts (10:4). The removal time was also set: e.g., frogs (8:10) and thunder (9:29). Modern science cannot accurately predict the cessation of natural phenomena such as hail.

(3) Discrimination between two nations—in Goshen there were no flies (8:22), no death of cattle (9:4), no hail (9:26), and so forth.

(4) Orderliness—the severity of the plagues increased until they ended with the death of Pharaoh’s firstborn.

(5) Moral purpose—the plagues were not just freaks of nature, but carried a moral purpose in these ways: (a) The gods of Egypt were discredited, a purpose indicated in Exodus 12:12; the Nile-god, frog-god, and sun-god were all shown to be powerless before God. (b) Pharaoh was made to know that the Lord is God, and to acknowledge him (9:27; 10:16). (c) God was revealed as Savior, in rescuing Israel from the hands of the Egyptians (14:30).

2. The Literary Creation View: Where the author took a kernel of truth and told a more nuanced story by fabricating aspects of story to make a theological point. There may be a history in it but there is also a non-historical story to bring forward a theological way of thinking about being the people of God.

3. The Polemic View: The gods of Egypt were being overthrown and mocked by God’ awesome judgments against Egypt. Exodus 10:2 where harshly, carries the idea of a brutal mocking.

4. The De-creation View: This view holds that the Exodus story is kind of a reenactment of the creation story.

c. Its 3 x 3 literary structure

READ: EXODUS 8:17-19

Jab (often to measure distance), Cross (often to set up the next punch), Hook/Upper Cut/ Cross (often to deliver the punch out punch)

Hebrew words of “I will strike,” “I will plague,” “I will send”

The Prelude to the Plagues is the snake that swallowed Pharoah’s magicians snakes. All the things that will take place in the rest of the plagues is foreshadowed in this prelude story. The Postscript to the Plagues is the swallowing up of Pharoah’s army in the Red Sea.

The First Nine Plagues are the Proliferation of the Plagues, leading up to the most significant plague of plagues and the Passover Event - The 10th Plague,

The 10th Plague is the the Penultimate Plague (Exodus 4:21-23) of which the Israelites will make their most memorable feast or remembrance of the Lamb that delivered them from the Angel of Death in which the Firstborn would die for the rest of Egypt!

A B C

1. Blood 4. Flies 7. Hail (met Pharaoh at the water in the morning with a warning)

(Ex 7:14–28) (Ex 8:20-32) (Ex 9:13-35)

2. Frogs 5. Livestock 8. Locusts (met Pharaoh at the palace with a warning)

(Ex 8:1–15) (Ex. 9:1-7) (Ex 10:1-20)

3. Lice 6. Boils 9. Darkness (no meeting with no warning)

(Ex 8:16–32) (Ex 9:8-12) (Ex 10:21-29) )

Plagues 1, 4, 7 Pharaoh approaches Moses as he is coming, in the morning, near the water; Plagues 2, 5, 8 Pharoah is approached by Moses in the palace area; Plagues 3, 6, 9 Pharoah is not approached at all

In the first two of each set of three, Moses gives Pharaoh a clear warning if he disobeys. In the last of each set of three there is no warning given at all, it just seems to follow on the heals of the previous plague.

In the first three Plagues the magicians figure largely while in the other six they are not important.

In the Plagues 1,2,3,5, and 7 it says Pharaoh hardens his heart or his heart becomes hard by his actions. In Plagues 6,8,9,10 it says God hardens Pharaoh’s heart.

In the first three Israel seems to be included in the fallout of the plagues but in the final six she is completely protected and distinguished from its effect on Egypt.

In the first three (1,2,3) Aaron’s staff is used to work the miracles (Ex 7:19; 8:5; 8:16). In the second set of three (4,5,6) there is no mention of a staff. In the last three Moses’s staff (or hand) is used to work miracles (Ex 9:23; 10:12,22)

Think of being in the ring with two fighters God and Pharoah, where God is delivering a set of withering punches to the head and body of Pharoah! He measures, strikes, and pounds in unrelenting force and magnitude against the supposed superiority of Egypt who has set himself up against the God of the Hebrew slave society! And this God, Yahweh will not let Pharaoh off the ropes! See Psalm 18:1-2; 18:6-9

d. Its De-Creation / Re-Creation language

“I am the God who kills and makes alive” NOTICE THE ORDER

READ: EXODUS 8:24; 10:7

Deuteronomy 32:39 ESV - “‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

1 Samuel 2:6-8 ESV - The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. [7] The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. [8] He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and on them he has set the world.

2 Kings 5:7 ESV - And when the king of Israel read the letter [for Naaman, from the king of Syria], he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

Peter Enns calls this theme Creation in service of Redemption. Far from being a simple display of God flexing his muscles as in a boxing ring, he is unleashing upon Egypt his creation-making powers of bringing destruction so that he can make a new creation nation out of the conflict. And he is using weapons that no one but He has access to and no one but He can command! And in that regard what defense could any world power have against the One who controls the forces of creation itself??

All throughout Scripture there is a close relationship between Creation and Salvation; when God saves it is a re-creation event that emerges out of a de-creation event! Out of the chaos comes a new world! Out of the flood emerges a new humanity! Out of the Tomb emerges a new world order of Resurrection re-creation!!

The reason the Exodus Event is permeated with Creation Language is because God is forming a New Nation out of the Old crumbling structure of Evil! Creation often goes ballistic when God seeks to punish evil and save his people. Look at what happens in the Plagues. We see Creation Reversals at play and Chaos unleashed:

Water becomes a source of corruption and judgment instead of refreshment and cleansing! God is not gathering/collecting (Gen 1:10) to bless but gathering /collecting them to judge. The word pools (Ex 7:19) in the phrase and all there pools of water, [NIV all their reservoirs] is the Hebrew word miqveh which refers to the collection of water into one place. In fact, the gathered waters in Genesis 1 is an expression of order coming out of the chaos of the waters!

Animals harm rather than serve humanity (Gen 1:28) (frogs, locusts, gnats, flies). Instead of teeming/swarming [Heb. saras] (Gen 1:20-21) with life, as in Creation, they are teeming/swarming with pestilence and death!

Instead of dust, from the earth, being the source of making human beings (Gen 2:7) it becomes a source of human mortality after the Fall (Gen 3:19; Job 17:16; 21:26; Ps 22:29; Is 26:19). Now gnats or mosquitos, made from the dust, are not just nagging discomforts but signs of our human frailties.

Instead of the growth of vegetation on the land and the proliferation of livestock (Gen 1:9-13; 24-25), in the 7th and 8th plagues he destroyed the animals of the field with hail from heaven, and the crops of the field with locusts from the sky (Ex 9:18-10:20)!

Light ceases and darkness comes in like a thick blanket over Egypt (Ex 10:21-29) but in the region where Israel lived there was light (Ex 10:23)! On Day 1 in Creation God separated light from darkness (Gen 1:1-5) and on Day 4 he created the two great lights in the heavens (Gen 1:14-19).

The climax of Creation was the creation of human beings (Gen 1:26-28) while the climax of the Plagues was the destruction of human life (Ex 11:1ff)

The very ecosystem of water, air, and sky are turning against Egypt!

But the plagues do not get to run rampant! They each cease to harm and are corralled again under the mighty hand of God! The God who unleashed chaos is the God who restores order to that chaos as he did in the beginning and as he did after the Flood.

e. Its Increasing Ferocity

READ: EXODUS 9:18, 24; 10:3-7

The plagues became a mounting tide of evidence, pressure, heartache, and severity. A crescendo of destruction and horror was lifting like a high tide from the low tide of discomfort, into a higher dimension of disease and death, and finally into human life being taken even unto the preciousness of Egypt’s firstborn sons!

A passing discomfort of bloody water

A revolting invasion of frogs

The potentially disease-ridden nature of gnats and flies

To the commercially damaging animal sickness

To the personally debilitating boils

To the environmentally disastrous hail and locusts

Then to a terrifying darkness that you could cut with a knife

Finally to the heart-stopping sadness of the death of a cherished firstborn of Egypt

We would be wrong to judge the Judge here for such blistering wrath! This is not done indiscriminately but in keeping with the principles of one getting one’s due before the bar of justice. The nation that killed Israel’s babies in the Nile will therefore see judgment start where it began, at the Nile River, and judgment end where it began in the death of the firstborn children and in the waters of the Red Sea.

f. Its Assault Against False Gods

Exodus 12:12 ESV - ... on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.

Numbers 33:4 ESV … on their gods the LORD executed judgment.

Isaiah 19:1, 3 Behold the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the IDOLS of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. …and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will swallow up their counsel.

1 John 3:8 …The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

The Plagues were a direct assault against the gods and goddesses of Egypt. There were about 80 major deities in the religion of ancient Egypt! They were all clustered around the three great natural forces of Egyptian life: WATER, LAND, & SKY. These three natural forces where imbued with supernatural forces of gods and goddesses. And in an interesting unfolding of power the Egyptian gods of water or the Nile where defeated in the first two plagues, the Egyptians gods of land were defeated in the next four plagues, and the Egyptian gods of the sky were defeated in the last four plagues.

In the first plague Osiris as the god of the Nile, who is often depicted with the Nile running through his bloodstream is assaulted by Yahweh! But there was a few more as well: Nu, the god of life in the river and Khnum the guardian of the Nile. But Hapi, the water god of the yearly flood-tide that nourished the land with fresh topsoil was the most important of all. An old Egyptian hymn to went like this Hail to thee, Oh Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to keep Egypt alive! Interesting enough, by the way, in an very ancient piece of Egyptian literature, written near the time of the actual Exodus in 1300 BC its reflects this: The River is blood. If one drinks of it, one rejects it as human and thirsts for water.

Hail to your countenance, Hapi,

Who goes up from the land, who comes to deliver Egypt …

Who brings food, who is abundant of provisions,

Who creates every sort of good thing …

Who fills Upper and Lower Egypt.…

Everything that has come into being is through his power.

So Egypt experienced a major economic and identity crushing experience when their gods and goddesses couldn’t deliver for them! There is an interesting addition in Exodus 7:19 that says and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. The actual language is literally states; even in the wood and in the stone. Deuteronomy 29:17 talks about their detestable things, idols of wood and stone. Egyptian priests were known for washing their idols early in the morning. They had to wash their idols in blood!

The Second Plague brought the frogs and Heqt the goddess of childbirth was pictured as with the head of a frog. Those who threw the Israelite boys into the Nile to abort them are now suffering an attack against their goddess of fertility from the same Nile! Egypt was known for an abundance of frogs that would show up after the receding flood-tide of the Nile. And because it was considered a sacred amphibian they could not kill them! In this plague they came to actually loath the symbol of their fertility and their depraved worship! When they died their nation reeked with the odor of their false religion! And where Pharaoh had seen the Israelites as a stench (Ex 5:21) his own religion stank to high heaven!!

In the Egyptian pantheon, the frog-goddess Heqt was the spouse of the creator-god Khnum. Khnum would create human bodies on his potter wheel and Heqt would breath into them the breath of life. She also controlled the frog population and assisted women in childbirth. Isn’t this a telling poetic justice against a country that attempted infanticide of the Hebrew population? And in the death of these millions of frogs

In the third and fourth plague Geb, the god of the ground seems to have been discredited in the coming of the gnats and flies. The dust of the earth & In all the land of Egypt (Ex. 8:16, 17, 24) and the ground on which they stand was filled with them (Ex 8:21). But in the land of Goshen where Israel lived there was no flies (Ex 8:22)! Verse 22 also says that God worked this particular miracle so that Egypt would know that I am the Lord IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH/LAND. God was defeated Geb, the god of the ground. But Egypt, at this time could also have been worshipping the famous Beelzebub who is literally the lord of the flies and the prince of demons (Luke 11:15).

And one examples is Herodotus in Book II, Section 37, when Herodotus is commenting on Egypt’s priests (not specifically on the plagues, but Herodotus is going to get into that). He makes an observation about the priests that takes us into this territory of the third and fourth plagues. He writes: [Egypt’s] priests shave the whole body every other day, that no lice or aught else that is foul may infest them in their service of their gods. Now the point here that Herodotus is alluding to is that these priests would shave their bodies to avoid their bodies being home to lice or gnats or anything else that would render them unclean and disqualify them from temple service of their gods. Now obviously, that is impossible during these two plagues. The plagues robbed them of their priestly, order-keeping services to their gods!… If you’re a priest, and your home is infested with gnats and flies or whatever these flying insects were, you’re not going to be able to be completely rid of them, which means you are ceremonially (ritually) unclean, which means you cannot serve your god. You cannot bring offerings. You cannot perform certain rituals on sacred space in Egyptian religion. And that means that the gods are neglected and Ma’at is imperiled.

But he was also defeating the worship of Pharaoh himself among the people for its says in verse 24 (Ex 8:24) says the land was RUINED by the swarms of flies. This word in Hebrew [tisshahet] means to destroy to the point of wasting it away; to ruin something beyond repair. It speaks of a growing level of disorder ...

The Egyptians where known for prizing ORDER as a fundamental religious principle, something they called Ma at is now becoming horribly disordered and chaotic. Ma’at was the universal equilibrium, the cosmic force of harmony, order, stability, and security. To them Pharaoh himself was the be the embodiment of Ma’at! When Pharaoh Amenemhet ascension to the throne of Egypt, an ancient text called The Prophecy of Neferti states: The Order [Ma’at] will come to it place, and Chaos will be driven out.

In the fifth plague on the livestock both the bull and the cow were worshipped. Many of Egypt’s gods and goddesses were depicted as livestock. The bull was viewed as a fertility figure, imbued with the potency and vitality of life. The chief bull was Apis and his patron city was Memphis. When they died they were given a burial like humans! Both Isis, the queen of the gods, and Hathor, the sky goddess were depicted as cows. Hathor was a goddess of love and beauty, motherhood and fertility. It is very interesting when Israel in the wilderness wanted a symbol of their own false god while Moses was away on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, they fashioned a bull to worship.

In the sixth plague of boils on skin the Egyptian famous Amon Re, the creator god was a god of healing. One ancient text described him as he who dissolves evils and dispels ailments; a physician who heals. But also Thoth, the god of healing arts and Imhotep, the god of medicine were in the Egyptian pantheon of healing gods. But probably Sekmet, who priests formed one of the oldest medical fraternities in antiquity was the one being assaulted by this plague of boils. She was a goddess who had the power to bring epidemics and bring them to an end. But these gods and goddesses could not stop this plague by Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews and the Whole Earth! Yahweh exposed the impotence of their idolatry by causing each and every idol to fail in its area of special expertise.

Even their prized priesthood of magical arts and medicine could not stand in the presence of this awesome God called Yahweh! God’s miracle working powers was a withering assault against the false magicians of Egypt!

Who were these magician priests of Egypt? The word for magician is unfortunate because it gets us thinking of slight of hand and hat tricks. But the word in Hebrew is an Egyptian loan-word hartumim. It defines the “lector priests” who knew the secret arts of spells, incantations, sacred rituals, and could foresee coming events. The attack on the lector-priests by extension represents an assault on the heart of Egyptian religion, for without priestly service in the temples, the cults are inoperative, the deities are ineffective, and all of Egypt descends into turmoil.

We must never forget that medicine might make a wonderful tool but it makes a poor deity.

The magicians could replicate but they could not remedy the situation. They could only make things worse not better (Exodus 8:7). ...The downhill path of the magicians is one of the lighter moments of the narrative: first they could replicate but not reverse; then they could neither replicate nor reverse (Exodus 8:18); finally they could not even stand (Exodus 9:11)! - Motyer, A. (2005). The Message of Exodus: The Days of Our Pilgrimage. (A. Motyer & D. Tidball, Eds.). Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press. Indeed, they were not only powerless to prevent the plague, and impotent to imitate most of the plagues, but this time they themselves were afflicted with the plague.

An interesting insight to the priests of Egypt is that they were known for throwing ashes of sacrificial animals into the air as a sign of blessing. But God took that ritual and rubbed it in their faces as a painful curse on all their skin. Could it have been that the curse was tied to the furnaces for brickmaking that made the life of so many Israelites so oppressive?

The Apostle Paul used these Egyptian magicians to teach an important truth: in the last days, Satan will attack God’s truth and God’s people by imitating the works of God. Paul even named two of the court magicians: “Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth” (2 Tim. 3:8, niv). As Jesus taught in the Parable of the Tares (Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43), Satan is a counterfeiter who “plants” imitation Christians in this world. Paul called them “false brethren” (2 Cor. 11:26). Satan has an imitation gospel (Gal. 1:6–9), a counterfeit righteousness (Rom. 10:1–3), and even counterfeit ministers who spread his lies (2 Cor. 11:13–15). Satan will one day produce a false Christ who will deceive the whole world (2 Thes. 2:1–12). - Wiersbe, W. W. (1998). Be delivered (pp. 29–30). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub.

In the seventh plague of hail Pharaoh’s officials could trust in Shu, the god of the atmosphere, who held up the heavens. They could pray to Nut, the sky goddess, who represented the vaulting sky. They could depend on Tefnut, the goddess of moisture, or on Seth, who was present in the wind and storm. Maybe, just maybe there was something that one of their gods could do to save them. But frankly, some of Pharaoh’s officials were starting to have their doubts. They didn’t need ten plagues to convince them of God’s power; six were more than enough! So as soon as they could leave the palace without being rude, they followed the safety instructions and ran for cover: “Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside” (v. 20). They were listening, even if Pharaoh wasn’t, and they decided to take God at his word.

In the eight plague of locusts the patron god of crops, Min. But also Isis, the goddess of life, Nepri, the god of grain, Anubis, the guardian of the fields, and Senehem the divine protector against pests. An inscription on an Egyptian Stele dated from the reign of Taharqa (700 BC) speaks of a fine field, which the gods protected against grasshoppers.

In the ninth plague of darkness Horus, the god of the sunrise, Aten the god of the midday sun, and Atum the god of the sunset. But even bigger was Amon-Re, who said, I am the great god who came into being of himself, He who created his names…he who has no opponent among the gods. To the Egyptians it was a matter of faith that the eternally rising sun could never be destroyed. Of all the gods of Egypt, it was Amon-Re who was the most important. It was also why Pharaoh, a sun worshiper regarded himself as the Son of Re, the personal embodiment of the solar deity. This gave Pharaoh his royal authority and unique sovereignty in the practical exercise of power.

g. Its Revelation of the Character God

READ: EXODUS 9:14-17, 29

This story was not taken for granted by the generations of Israelites living after the Exodus. It was rather intended to be a gripping reminder of who God is. In the final analysis, the story of the plagues is not about what God does to save you, or perhaps even so much a story of how he saved Israel. It is about God, period; for when all is said and done, we all need to be reminded of him now and then. The question, then, to ask of our passage is not, “What does this have to do with me?” We must at least first ask, “What does this tell me about who God is?” Perhaps the application is, in a word, doxological - Enns, P. (2000). Exodus (pp. 236–237). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

There is this unrelenting phrase mentioned in some way over and over again throughout the story of the plagues and the context between Pharaoh and God: THE EGYPTIANS SHALL KNOW THAT I AM YAHWEH! or THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT THERE IS NO ONE LIKE YAHWEH OUR GOD; THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT I AM YAHWEH IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH; SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT THERE IS NONE LIKE ME IN ALL THE EARTH; SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT THE EARTH IS YAHWEH’S; (Ex 7:5,8:10,22; 9:14,29; 10:2; 11:7)

The Lessons Learned From The Plagues:

The Uniqueness of God’s Omnipotence (Ex 9:14) - This actually says, I will send the full force of my plagues against your heart! The Egyptians believed that the foundation of their nation was wrapped up in the heart of Pharaoh the Son of Re! But because Pharaoh set himself against God’s people then he set himself against the All-Powerful God! This Yahweh God who he did not know at first would never be forgotten again. The Godness of God came upon his mind. His theology just got a full rework. This God is a one and only, a no one like me kind of God.

The Universality of God’s Praise (Ex. 9:16-17) - You thought you got to your throne by heredity and thought you were some kind of god from your birth! BUT I RAISED YOU UP TO DECLARE THE PRAISES OF MY NAME! These plagues that you are the direct recipient of are actually orchestrated to echo throughout time and history that the Yahweh God is the God of gods, the LORD of lords, and the King of kings. These 10 plagues have missionary power to proclaim and doxological power to praise.

The Unlimited Reach of God’s Sovereignty (Ex 9:29) - This God who is able to De-create every plant, animal, and person, is also able to Re-create as he did from the dawn of time.

The Uprightness of God’s Judgment (Ex 6:6; 7:4; Psalm 9:16) - Pharaoh and the Egyptians stopped at nothing in oppressing God’s people - slavery, servitude, slaughter. When God afflicted them with rivers of blood, swarms of bugs, storms of hail, and days of darkness he was giving them their due. Talk about the folly of idolatry here as well (Romans 1:21-23). Deal with the judgment on Ignosticism.

The Unbelievable Nature of God’s Mercy (Ex 8:22-23) - Talk about the meaning of thus I will put a division between my people and your people (Ex 8:22-23). Talk about the jealousy of God for his people, the power of his deliverance and redemption, and the meaning of salvation.

Earlier, in the build on to the conflict God told his people in preparation what to expect from this newly named God of Israel:

Exodus 6:2-9

ESV - 2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ” 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

The Understanding Heart (Hebrews 3:12; 1 Samuel 6:6; Romans 10:10)

It is though you have been sent to see some awe-inspiring natural phenomenon or national park vista like the Glacier National Park or the Grand Canyon and God comes up next to you while your jaw is hanging wide open in wonder and says to you, See that right there, that was me!

h. Its Christological Anticipation & Redemptive Foreshadowing

(Jesus Lord of Creation)

i. Its Endtime Foreshadowing

(Revelation)

III. The Centrality of the Story To Hebrew Religion

READ: EXODUS 10:2; 13:8

ESV - “Passover” mentioned 73 times in the Bible in every major section of the OTESV - “Egypt” 660 times ESV -“out of the house of slavery” in Egypt 13 timesESV - “brought you out” 27 timesESV - “Pharoah” over 200 timesESV - “outstretched arm” 17 times.

In fact, there are so many direct references and allusions to the Exodus story that the OT would have no real meaning without it. It is the Central Story that informs the rest of the cultural life of Israel that without it the very identity would be completely overturned.

As entertaining as this story was, it had the serious purpose of helping the Israelites know their God. “I am doing this,” God said, “that you may tell your children … and that you may know that I am the Lord” (v. 2). The exodus was not just any old story; it was the story, the story that shaped the Israelites into the people of God. It was the story of their salvation. It was a true story, a story based on the facts of history. It was a story that explained everything the children of God needed to know. It explained who they were: the people of God, delivered from slavery. It explained who God was: the Lord God of Israel, the God of all power and glory. It explained where they came from: out of Egypt. It told them where they were going: into the land of promise. And it explained what their purpose was: They were saved for God’s glory. By sending his plagues against Pharaoh, God was giving his people a story that answered all the big questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life? Is there a God? If there is, how can I know him, and what does he want me to do?

Ryken, P. G., & Hughes, R. K. (2005). Exodus: saved for God’s glory (p. 294). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

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