Exodus. Putting the Gods Out of Business 7:14-8:19

Transcription

1 Exodus Putting the Gods Out of Business 7:14-8:19 W hen he awoke the following morning, the king of Egypt first sat on his bed-couch and read through his most recent correspondence. Then, attended by numerous servants, he bathed and dressed and put on the insignia of royalty. Still within his palace and under the weight of divine authority, he was joined by the high priest of Amun, before whom he offered a sacrifice to that god and from whom he heard several prayers and exhortations. This was customary, his daily ritual. Somewhat unusual, however, was his decision to descend in the company of priests and magi to the banks of the river. Pharaoh decided to pay homage to Hapi, the Nile god shaped like a man so fat that his breasts hung down and his belly folded over his belt. This trip was a whim of the morning. Pharaoh had not planned it. No one could have known that it was to take place. Nevertheless, as he approached the river s brink he saw that fierce-eyed fellow, Moses, standing directly in front of him, waiting, holding in his right hand a rod as tall as he was. But Pharaoh stops for no man, certainly not for a nomad. Surrounded by his entourage, he strode toward the water, assuming that the Shasu would be swept aside by the king s cold countenance and royalty. But the man stood ground, staring at Pharaoh then all at once he began to roar in that articulate Egyptian tongue, causing the others, if not the king, to hesitate. The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, he shouted, sent me to you saying, Let my people go, that they may service me in the wilderness and behold, you have not obeyed. Now Pharaoh stopped. I have not what? he said. But the wild man did not answer. He issued decrees of his own: Therefore, by this you shall know that my God is the Lord: I will strike the water of the Nile with my rod, and it shall be turned to blood, and the fish shall die, and the river shall become foul, and everyone will be loath to drink it. Immediately, he turned toward the water, raised his long rod, and brought it down with a whistle and a slap on the face of the Nile. Those who had watched the man s behavior with curiosity now stared at the water in astonishment. Where he struck it, the river began to bleed like a living thing. A bright red blood ran in ribbons downstream. It spread wider and wider. It began to creep upstream, too, against the current. Pharaoh was furious. A trick! he thundered. He whirled around to one of the magi and threw his scepter at the man, commanding, Do the same! Do it now! Make the river bleed! The magus obeyed. He scrambled down the bank and stirred Pharaoh s scepter in clean water and that water, too boiled up bloody so Pharaoh closed his mouth, glanced once at the man named Moses, then withdrew and returned to his palace. He would reverence Hapi another day, when the river s wounds had healed and there were fewer pests about. 1 1 Wangerin, Jr., Walter, The Book Of God, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, p

2 VIII Moses and the Works of God C. The Plague of Blood Ch. 7:14-24 D. The Plague of Frogs Ch. 8: 1-15 E. The Plague of Gnats Ch. 8:16-19 Introduction: Last week we started looking at this section. It leads to the release of the Children of Israel from bondage. First we saw Moses appearance before the Pharaoh and the sign of the staff. This staff turned to a serpent. The one major point we should remember from that study, is the real battle here is between God and Satan. As is the case anytime God is involved in keeping His word to Israel, Satan comes along and tries to interfere. This was true then, it is still true today, and it will be true when Christ comes to restore His nation. In this example Satan s presence is seen because the King s magicians were also able to perform supernatural acts. Keep in mind when we look at Satan, remember He has already been defeated through Christ s death and resurrection. And we have access to that victory. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14 ESV). Anyway, just as the Lord had warned Moses and Aaron, in spite of the fact the staff/serpent ate the court magicians serpents, Pharaoh was unwilling to believe/obey the Lord s word. He had no intent of letting the Hebrews go. And with this refusal we find ourselves looking at the first of the Ten Plagues that will eventually result in the release of the people. C. The Plague of Blood: This section opens with God reminding Moses the Pharaoh has an unyielding heart and will not let the people go. Because of this the Lord directs Moses to carry out the first judgment against the king, really against the land of Egypt. The judgment was the turning of the water of the Nile into blood. By the way, this is similar to the third sign that God had given Moses. There are a number of points that can be drawn from God s action here, so let s look at them one of a time: 1. The staff, which had been a sign from the Lord in the previous section has now become the rod of God s judgment. This is reminiscent of what the Psalmist writes You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter s vessel (Psalms 2:9 ESV). 2. The judgment that falls, does so on the Nile: The Nile was the lifeblood of Egypt. Agriculture and ultimately survival were dependent on the periodic flooding that deposited fertile soils along the river s 4,132 miles. 2 2 Walton, John H. and Victor H. Matthews, The IVP Bible Background Commentary, Genesis-Deuteronomy, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1997, p. 92. ) 68 (

3 The river Nile is the source of life for Egypt, and as such was also considered sacred, a place of religious ritual. By attacking the river the Lord attacks the very foundation of the nation and its gods. Because there were a number of gods identified with the Nile, we cannot pin this judgment down to any one specific gods. Possible Egyptian Gods Attacked by 3 this plague include: Hapi (also called Apis), the bull god, god of the Nile; Isis, goddess of the Nile; Khnum, ram god, guardian of the Nile; and others. 4 It is interesting as we look on this plague of blood to remember we are told in Scripture For the life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11 ESV). But in this case with the turning of the water to blood it becomes a place of death instead. An element repeated again in a later plague is the presence of blood. While it means suffering for the Egyptian, is the start of the process that leads to salvation for the Hebrew. This contrasting effect of the blood is carried out with the shed blood of Christ. For those who accept it, it is the basis of Salvation. For those who reject it, it is the basis of condemnation. 3. The Nile is where the Pharaoh had thrown the Hebrew babies to become food for the fish. Now it has become a place of death for the fish, the food to the Egyptians. In addition to a major source of food being destroyed, the major source of drinking water is no longer viable. Notice, not only the river proper has been turned to blood but the tributaries and irrigation channels as well, in fact all sources of water have been made unusable. Now that we have looked at the nature of the plague, lets go back and look at the flow of the action. Moses was to go again requesting Pharaoh let the people go into the wilderness to worship God. When he refused to listen, which he would, then God demonstrating He is God, would turn the Nile s water to blood. By the way I believe the text demands this should be understood literally, not that mud turns the water red or any other natural explanation, but that God truly turns the water to blood. The sign will be one that all the people in the land will be able to observe. So, early in the morning, Moses and Aaron went down to the river to meet the King. He may have been there to carry out some religious ritual or at least he would have regarded the importance of the Nile. But Moses came and by word and deed attacked the very source of the life of the nation. Once again though the King s magicians were able to duplicate Moses acts. They probably had some water that had been obtained by digging, and so they too are able to turn it to blood allowing the King to say big deal and walk away from Moses. There are two last things to note here: First, it appears the plague lasted for seven days and then Moses appeared before the King. Second, while the court magicians could turn water to 3 Hannah, John D., The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Volume 1, Exodus, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL., 1986, p Ibid. ) 69 (

4 blood what they couldn t do, which was more important, was turn the blood back into pure water. Satan only can do as much as the Lord allows him. D. The Plague of Frogs: It is now seven days later. The Nile returned to normal. So, the Lord again spoke to Moses, giving him instructions to appear before the King. Moses words were to be the same as last time, to let the people go into the wilderness to worship their God. He was still not asking for freedom. This time if the Pharaoh failed to listen the land of Egypt will be plagued with a herd of frogs. These frogs were to be found everywhere, in the homes, in the kneading troughs, etc. Back in the day when we were on Kauai, we ate at a little restaurant where you cooked your own food. It had been raining fairly heavily and all the frogs had come out. Now the restaurant was open air and as I sat down to eat I felt this sensation on my foot. Looking down I saw a frog sitting on my foot. Not too appetizing, though I was tempted to pitch it on the grill and have frog legs. Can you imagine what it would be like to see frogs everywhere you turned, in the fridge, in the bed, etc. Well that is what the Egyptians would face if their King wouldn t listen to God s words. The Egyptians, as a people who practiced polytheism, worshiped a god called Heka, a frog headed god. 5 So God, using the frog to plague the people, in effect turns their own god against them. It is safe also to assume if the frog was a symbol of deity, then as is the case with the cow in India, it was unlikely the people would be able to take any action against the creatures. I suspect though, while they probably wouldn t attack the frogs, they might have been tempted to attack the Pharaoh. When the Lord s message was delivered to the King he refused to act and so the plague fell. Once again the court magicians were able to duplicate the miracle, but as before while they can make frogs appear, just what were needed more frogs, they couldn t get rid of them. This time though the response of the King changed. He called for Moses and Aaron and begged them to rid the land of the frogs. If they did so he stated that he was willing to let the people go into the wilderness to worship. Moses wanted to make sure Pharaoh knew what had occurred was of God and relief also came from Him. He had the King name the time the frogs should go. So the plague ended, well except for large piles of dead, stinking frogs. But as the Lord had foretold, and as we might expect, as soon as the frogs had died the Pharaoh hardened his heart and went back on his promise. Please note, when the King saw the problem was resolved he hardened his own heart. Already the magicians seem to be losing their influence, but Satan s was unshaken. The issue here isn t how much evidence one has for God or His works. The issue is, people have no desire to bow their wills to God s. Remember we are told You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder! (James 2:19 ESV). 5 Ibid. ) 70 (

5 I suspect Pharaoh believed the God of Moses and Aaron could act against him. But he did not fear God only what God could do. Too often there are those in the church who believe in the fact of the death and resurrection of Christ, but, the only problem is it has nothing to do with them personally. People are not saved because they believe that the gospel is historical fact. They are saved because they accept Christ s death and resurrection is for the payment of their sin. This is why we constantly emphasize individuals are saved by the work of the Holy Spirit not through any convincing arguments we make. Unfortunately the issue of faith in God based on His acts is not only a problem for the unrighteous, as seen with Pharaoh, but as we will see on the wilderness march, it is often a problem for the righteous as well. Meanwhile lets go on to the next plague. E. The Plague of Gnats: With this next plague there are a couple of differences from the previous two. First we aren t told how long the frogs were around or how much time has passed. In addition a major change with this plague is the King is not given an advance warning, or a chance to let the people go. It appears the plagues are grouped in threes, the first two with the warning given to the King, the third without that announcement. The final plague, the death of the first born stands alone. This time the very dust of the land becomes the source of the plague. The god attacked here was Set, god of the desert. 6 The dust or sand was transformed to gnats. It appears God had once again brought life from nonlife, life from the sand. the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (Genesis 2:7 ESV). By the way, we might better understand this plague as lice instead of gnats as stated in some translations, though it might even be mosquitoes. While these creatures may have been scavengers, riding the land of the dead frogs, they soon would have been a major problem in their own right. While it is not clear exactly what discomfort they caused we can be sure it was unpleasant. Notice another change here, the court magicians were finally out of the running. They are unable to duplicate this miracle. They cannot create life. Satan can only do that which God allows. Not only do they fail, but they are forced to admit that what was occurring must be from the hand of God. After all, if they couldn t do it, it must be supernatural in origin. What is interesting is it appears they didn t realize that their own powers were also supernatural. They did know when they were outclassed. Again as God had foretold this had no effect on the Pharaoh, he still refused to hear God. Conclusion: What we see in these passages is God often uses that which men worship as the instrument of their chastisement. And remember people often don t recognize that goals of their lives are the objects of their worship. 6 Ibid. ) 71 (

6 This can be as true for the believer as the unbeliever. Keep in mind anything we put ahead of the Lord in our lives is that which we truly worship. Money, the god of many, is often that which brings the greatest unhappiness to those who have it. Power more often than not brings its own destruction. Those who spend their life climbing to the top find nothing there when they get there, only those climbing up after them, ready to knock them down. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:4 9 ESV). I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them (Deuteronomy 5:6 9 ESV). The final message to us as believers is to remember we will not have these problems if we put the things of the Lord first. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh (Luke 6:19 21 ESV). ) 72 (