Many of us have read the Exodus (Moses bringing the Israelite slaves our of Egypt) about a billion times. It's one of the most well-known Bible stories. So well-known that as adults we often overlook this passage in the Bible thinking we have this story down. I mean Moses, burning bush, Holy Ground, brother Aaron, "free my people", hard-hearted Pharoah, ten plagues, etc...
But have you stopped to really study it. Study the meaning of each piece. Dive deep into this passage. This story is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. and sheds so much light and reveals so much power! For example, God uses the ten plagues over a six month period to demonstrate His power to the Israelites and to show the Egyptian powerhouse at the time that He is the one true God.
You ask, how so? Well, let me share with you!
Each if the ten plagues represents an Egyptian god. Egyptians created supermen-a mix of half human and half sacred animal to be their gods. They took everyday things and elevated them to the rank of deity. Each major aspect of Egyptian life was tied to a specific god. So when God delivers each of the plagues, it’s demonstrating His superiority over their gods. One by one, God unveils their false authority to ultimately show His superiority as but the True God that reigns over all the earth. (Ex.10:8)
Let me show you below as we play out a series of battles between our God and the god of the Egyptians
Round 1 - Nile River
God vs Hapi
In Exodus 7:14-25 we see God take on Hapi, the god of the Nile River. Egypt existed only because the Nile existed. It is said that there is no other country in the ancient or modern times that has been so dependent on its waterways. Egypt was smack-dab in the middle of the desert. There were deserts for miles surrounding it. The Nile was literally its life-source. They used it for ship port development, agriculture, irrigation, hunting as wild game all lived around the Nile, and fishing. So when God turned the Nile water to blood, he was declaring power over their water bearer god, Hapi. The bacteria from the blood made it undrinkable and would have killed all fish.
Winner - God
Round 2 - Frogs
God vs Heket
In Exodus 8:1-15, we are introduced to frogs and a whole lot of them coming from the Nile. Heket was the frog headed goddess of fertility, water and renewal. In December, the Nile river receded from its flooding stage leaving behind lots of ponds and marshes. The sound of frogs would fill the air as they claimed the waters again. To the farmer, this sound indicated that Hapi who controlled the Nile was active and made the land fertile with soil deposits fertilizing the land guaranteeing harvest was coming. Frogs represented fruitfulness and blessing
But when God brought in these frogs from the Nile he quickly turned what was pleasant and desirable into loathsome and overwhelming! I mean, Frogs where everywhere. In your house, in your food, in your hair, in your bed! (ps... Moses declares the frogs would go into his bedroom and even hop on Pharaoh's bed. Heket also was seen as the god of fertility and assisted in childbirth... I see a little God humor here as Moses was quick to point that out in Exodus 8:3...hehe.) Beyond His humor though, God showed power over Heket as the frog was one of the numerous animals that must not be intentionally killed. It could have been punishable by death! So not only would the plague be seen as the gods against them. But the people were forced to kill the embodiment of Heket because the sheer number that would have been underfoot.
Winner: God
Round 3 - Dust and Gnats
God vs Geb
This plague in Exodus 8:16-19 was directed towards Geb - the great god of the earth. The Egyptians gave offerings to Geb for the bounty of soil... yet it was the soil that this plague originated from. He struck the dust of the earth and it because like gnats on man and beast. I envision the staff literally hitting the ground, creating a dust that blew up and that dust became a never ending sheet of gnats. It was said that this species of gnats were so small it was hardly visible to the human eye but had a sting that would cause the most painful irritation of the skin. They'd even creep into the eyes and nose. yuck.
This plague also struck the heart of Egyptian worship. The Egyptian priests were extremely careful about hygiene and ritual cleansing. The gnats investing their body made them unable to worship before their gods or enter the temples to pray for deliverance. The plague was also upon every animal thus leaving them defiled stopping their sacrificial system before the gods.
Winner: God
Round 4 - Swarm of Flies
God vs Uatchit
Uatchit was the fly god of Egypt. She is seen as the Lady of the marshes where papyrus grows and insects live. She guards all life of the Nile Delta. This plague tormented the Egyptians. The Ichneumon fly was regarded as the manifestation of the god Uatchut, the blood sucking gad fly or dog fly. Which in elementary terms, "sounds disgusting!"
The swarm of flies that were sent by god were more than likely a swarm of various biting insects that would feast upon the Egyptians body. And how do we know they feasted, Psalm 78:45 says it devoured them. This plague had the same affect on the land as the gnats did; it disrupted the worship of the gods amidst their uncleanliness.
Winner: God
Round 5 - Death of Livestock
God vs Hathor
Moses again stood before Pharaoh and declares if he did not let his people go all the animals in the field would die. Horses, donkeys, camels, sheep, goats, and cows. These animals helped in their everyday, were their food, transportation and even their sacrifices before their gods. But there was one animal that stood out for the Egyptians and that was the cow. They saw the cow as sacred and a manifestation of the goddess Hathor. Hathor was a mother goddess in form of a cow who represented love, protection and fertility.
Round 6 - Boils
God vs Imhotep
In Exodus 9 Moses took handfuls of soot from the furnace, tossed it in the air before Pharaoh and it became like fine dust over all the land in Egypt, and festering boils broke out on all the people and animals. The Hebrew word for boil is to burn. The ashes from the furnace became a boil that would swell and become extremely painful. To really gross you out, it was an abscess filled with pus upon the body, especially the hands and feet. This was a direct attack against the god of medicine, Imhotep. The magicians were also unclean and couldn't even stand before Pharaoh or perform rituals.
Winner: God
So God is about to send the 7th plague. Hail. And it is going to be one doozy of a storm. But take note of what He says to Moses to say to Pharaoh. Exodus 9:14-17 "Let my people go... or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For by now I could have struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that i might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go.
This is where I want to just stand up and interrupt the story by saying... "Got that point! I see your power, your sovereignty. No need to see your FULL FORCE. #comeonpharoah!!
Back to the God vs gods...
Round 7 - Hail
God vs Nut
God sails a Hail storm unlike any other. Thunder and lightning were so intense that fire ran alongside the ground. This crazy storm took on the Egyptian god, Nut. Nut was the sky goddess. Up until this God sent storm, Upper Egypt very rarely received rain. In fact, only 2" annually. So this storm was truly unlike any other. It had devastating affects to the crops at that time of season, flax and barley which were staples in their diet, used for clothing and given as an offering poured out to a god. The hail would have also affected their homes and damaged the many monuments they were obsessed with building honoring their gods.
One commentary wrote, this storm fire mingled with hail was perhaps the most frightening plague so far. The Egyptians must have believed the wrath of God was pouring down from the Heavens in all serenity.
Winner: God
Round 8 - Locusts
God vs Set
God takes on the Egyptian god Set who is the protector of crops in Exodus 10 when He sends the 8th plague of Locusts. And not just a few locusts. Locusts that were so numerous that the land darkened and all the crops that were left after the hail were destroyed along with the trees, and fruit of the land. The Egyptian god Set was certainly defeated after the Locusts devoured their food supply. Crops were a source of life for the Egyptians. In Psalm 105:34-35 we read that this plague threatened the food supply of the nation. This second wave of destruction following the hail consumed the crops completely, showing Set as powerless.
Winner: God
Round 9 - Darkness
God vs Ra
Ra was the sun god and the most worshiped god in Egypt other than Pharaoh himself. When God cast darkness over Egypt for the 9th Plague it had immense impact on the Egyptians. In the Egyptian culture Darkness was a representation of death, judgment and hopelessness proving that God had complete control over life and death. And it is said that the darkness was so great that it could be felt physically. Verse 21 said it had a supernatural element. In fact, some commentators wrote that God did not even allow artificial light sources to work like candles or oil lamps. Thus a dramatic showing to God's greatness over Ra.
I imagine this plague to create just a lonely, somber, and depressing mood for the Egyptians. It was as if it was a prelude to the future fate of the empire.
Winner: God
Round 10 - Death of Firstborn
God and all His sovereignty knew that Pharaoh would harden his heart and not let His people go over the last nine plagues. In Exodus 4:21-23, when Moses was traveling back to Egypt after speaking with God as a burning bush heard :
"This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you,"Let my son go, so he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.'"
God knew it would come to this devastating plague. But it was this plague that would certainly prove His ultimate superiority over all other gods. This was the plague that would let His people free. Free from chains, free from darkness, free from hopelessness. It was this plague that points to our deliverance as Christians. The death of God's firstborn son Jesus on the cross, who freed us from our slavery to sin and delivered us from evil bringing us into the light of eternal life. This plague is jam-packed with so much biblical information, so much foretelling of the Gospel account. But for this blog post purpose we'll keep to God taking on the gods.
God vs Pharaoh
Pharaoh is considered to be the greatest god in Egypt and believed to be the son of Ra manifested in the flesh. The tenth plague demonstrated complete power over Pharaoh and all other gods in Egypt as they had the inability to protect their subjects in the face of unparalleled tragedy. This plague also undermined Pharaoh's immortality and his inability to unite and protect his nation.
This plague was the last and more devastating of all other plagues. Killing the first born of each family from the lowest slave who grinds the millstone to Pharaoh's first born. The death of the first born cripples a family's legacy as they took double portion of their father's inheritance and represented special qualities in life.
When you read the account of this tenth plague you read that "not a dog will snarl." - verse 7. One commentator wrote, Despite the calamity to come, God would grant the Egyptians the ability to see the situation as it really was: the fault of their own Pharaoh, not the fault of Moses or the Israelites. We even read back in Exodus 10:7 Pharaoh's official's pleading with Pharaoh to let the people go as they see their fate is dim and Egypt will soon lie in ruins. The people saw God's might. Pharaoh's officials witnessed his sovereignty yet Pharaoh missed it because of his heart.
Where is your heart?
Our God is a powerful God. A God greater than all other gods. So often we think of God as a loving and merciful God which He certainly is. But let us not forget to tremble in fear at the power of His glory. For it is this power that should shake our insides yet give us complete confidence that we serve and worship a God unlike any other. For He is mightier than the waves of the see raising the dead to life. And yet this power that is so absolutely great, lives in you.
Tremble at the feet of His glory. Draw upon His strength and might.
*note: There are about a billion and one gods that the Egyptians worshiped. There are differing opinions in which Egyptian god God demonstrated his power over. We chose one to simplify and make clear. However, we believe there were many gods He took on which just adds to His overall demonstration of might and His sovereignty as the one true God.
sources: She Reads Truth Bible, Blue Letter Bible - David Guzik Commentary, Village Schools of The Bible, Knowing The Bible
