Big G vs. Little g
In this episode, I discuss how God is deliberate in His actions. He sent specific plagues in the Exodus story to usurp the Egyptian god's authority, declaring Himself the one true God.
Transcript
INTRO: Good afternoon and welcome back to the Sunday School Podcast, the pod all about digging deeper into the Bible using social, historical, and scientific context. I’m Sean Parker, and today we’re going to talk about how God showed His superiority over the gods of the Egyptians.
We will see that the 10 plagues God sent against the Egyptians in the Exodus story were deliberately chosen. Each plague demonstrating God’s power over the gods of the Egyptian’s.
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(Transition)
If you’re like me, you probably haven’t given much thought as to why God chose the plagues he did. What was the significance of turning water to blood? Why did he send a plague of frogs?
I started studying this, and discovered something pretty neat. It appeared God was very deliberate in His choices.
The plagues He sent weren’t just a creative punishment meted out with no rhyme or reason. They were specifically chosen to represent God's superiority.
The Egyptians had many gods representing various aspects of the world around them. They had enslaved God’s chosen people, and He intended to show them why that was a bad idea.
Exodus 12:12 says
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.”
This of course is talking about the final plague, but it shows that God’s judgment was over all the gods of Egypt.
So let’s take a look at the plagues one by one and see how they connect.
The first plague is in Exodus 7:17
“Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood. “
Many of the Egyptian gods seemed to have similar realms of influence. There are 3 gods that this plague would have represented, since they all drew their power from the Nile. Khnum was the guardian of the river’s source, Hapi was over the annual flooding of the Nile as well as lord of its fish, and lastly Osiris. Apparently the Nile acted as Osiris’ blood stream.
The plague of turning the Nile to blood handedly diminished all 3 gods. The source of the Nile clearly wasn’t able to bring in fresh water, as the blood remained for 7 days. The fish were killed usurping Hapi, lord of the fish. And God turned Osiris’ blood stream into actual blood.
The second plague God would send was the plague of frogs. Heqt was an Egyptian goddess of fertility. She had the head of a frog.
Exodus 8:1-4 says
“ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs. 3The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. 4The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.”’”
I think it should be noted here that up to this point, the Pharaoh's magicians were able to replicate these miracles. The Bible isn’t clear on what methods they used, but likely through some sort of illusion. But, regardless of how they were able to perform these works, it is in the third plague that they are stymied by God’s power. They even acknowledged God’s power at this point saying in Exodus 8:19
19...“This is the finger of God.”
God calls forth gnats, or lice in some versions, from the dust of the earth. The Egyptian god representing the dust of the earth was Geb.
If familiar with the story of Moses, you know that he was kind of shy. For this reason, the first three plagues were initiated by Moses’ brother Aaron. By the fourth plague Moses is apparently emboldened by God’s power and he takes over.
Upon Moses' word, a plague of flies issues forth. Khepri was the god of creation, and was depicted with the head of a fly or beetle.
The fifth plague as spoken in Exodus 9:3
“3behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks.”
The goddess Hathor was another fertility goddess (I guess a lot of these gods had to pull double duty), and she was depicted with the head of a bull.
Are you seeing a pattern here? I can’t imagine the Pharaoh wouldn’t have made the connection, however he continues to be stubborn and won’t allow the people of Israel to go free.
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The 6th plague God would send was the plague of boils. Isis was the Egyptian god of health, and Imhotep was the god of healing. Neither of these were able to protect the Egyptians from God’s wrath. By contrast, the people of Israel were untouched by this plague. So the Egyptians could blame this on some communicable disease spreading. There was clearly a divine influence.
Nut was the Egyptian goddess of the sky. Her father was Shu, and he was the god of wind and air, and was known as a calming god. So, for the 7th plague, God sent great balls of hail raining down from the sky. Not a very calming thing to witness I’m sure.
Exodus 10:3-5 says
3So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. 4For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, 5and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field,
Pharaoh being the stubborn man that he was, was willing to wait a bit longer. What was left of the Egyptian’s grain after the hailstorm, would now be devoured by a plague of locusts.
Neper and Nepri were the god and goddess of grain. God was sending a plague to literally destroy their realm of authority.
The 9th plague was a plague of darkness. Ra, the god of the sun, was the most revered in the land of Egypt. God blotted out the sun to show His power over even the mightiest of the Egyptian gods.
The final plague was the death of the firstborn. This would be a judgment over all of the Egyptian gods, as mentioned earlier. This was also a retaliation. If you are familiar with the story of Moses’ birth, then you remember the Pharaoh had decreed all Israelite newborns were to be killed.
This was the final straw that caused Pharaoh to free the people of Israel, though he would later take it back and pursue them.
I like to use this story to show my wife that I, in fact, am not the most stubborn man to ever live.
The lesson we can take from this is that God is all powerful. He has authority over every aspect of our lives. What are some of the gods you’ve placed in your life to usurp God’s power? Is God trying to tell us that we should surrender those things to Him, and place Him at the head? Are we too stubborn to see what He is saying to us? So let’s throw off the things we are putting before God, and free ourselves to worship Him fully.
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