Plaugues 3-10
Exodus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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First 2 plagues last week
nile to blood - repeatable (at least to some extent) by the egyptian priests/magicians
(would they have really turned a significant portion of their own river to blood?)
perhaps they just did enough to prove a point, but nowhere near what God did through Moses
frogs from nile - repeatable (at least to some extent) by egyptian priests
DUST INTO LICE
IMPORTANT VERSES:
And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.
Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.
plague began with no warning (3,6,9)
(some say lice some say gnats) - there is some dispute, the more “traditional” reading would be lice
regardless, the point is the effect of the plague
God showing power over geb - egyptian god of the earth, soil, and farming, most likely
God showing that He is the one in control of the earth rather than any other egyptian supposed deity
Notable for being the first plague that the Egyptians were not able to replicate
definitively shows to the eyes of those who did not believe who truly had the power
the egyptian priests would go on to say that this is the “finger of God”, recognizing that this HAD to have been divine
and if you just imagine this scene, you have a bunch of people standing around
then Aaron stretched out his hands while holding the staff and all the dust, which was just everywhere, turned into these bugs
it would have been pretty mind-blowing, to say the least
PLAGUE FOUR: FLIES
Important verses:
And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.
And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.
And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.
And the Lord did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.
God showing power over utachit - god of many things, one of which being protecting life in the nile delta region (where this story takes place)
also known as “lady of the marshes” which was home to many insects
These flies were not only brought into egypt, but God had them doing specific things, such as going in everyone’s houses and generally being a great nuissance to the people
but even further, God kept the flies away from Goshen, where God’s people were
Goshen was in the nile delta region, so this would have been very unnatural for a swarm of flies
notable for being the first plague that the Egyptian priests did not even try to replicate, it just goes completely unmentioned
similar to the previous plague, if we imagine what this would have been like
you just deal with the nile turning to blood, frogs being all over the place, this previous plague of bugs being all over the place, and now it happens again with flies
this is just plague 4, and you can only imagine how it would have started to seem like something out of this world was going on
PLAGUE 5: LIVESTOCK PLAGUE
Important verses:
Exodus 9.3,5-7
And the Lord appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land.
And the Lord did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.
And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
God shows power over highest echelons of egyptian gods - hathor was a god depicted as a woman with cow qualities
hathor was very important to the egyptians and was the mother of the God of the sun (ra) and horus (kingship, healing, the sky)
*SHOW EYE OF HORUS*
God is now starting to strike at the hearts of Egyptians in a variety of ways
he strikes at them in the practical, everyday life level by taking their source of meat
while the nile had been stricken before, people were still able to barely get by
so now God is ramping it up bit by bit, and it will only continue to get worse
but he also strikes at them in their faith
in the egyptian way of believing, sometimes one god would defeat another god and various things like this
some rise to prominence in certain eras while in other eras it’s another god
but there were always going to be the most imoprtant ones, and as stated, with the remaining plagues, those are the ones that get hit
so god is showing them that their whole worldview is wrong, that their gods are not able to save them
surely, it was a freaky place for them to be
thankfully, believers in Christ don’t have to even think about such a possibility
God has stood the test of time
when you look at nearly every other religion that’s existed, they did not stand the test of time
and the ones who have, like hindu gods, are just so different it’s hard to compare and often focus on self-enlightenment
God is the only god who has truly shown His realness, and He’s done it in so many different ways
PLAGUE SIX: BOILS
Important Verses:
And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.
And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.
And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast.
And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.
plague began with no warning to pharoah
If you look into the egyptian gods and religious system, you will undoubtedly end up hearing about isis and thoth
isis - queen of the gods of egypt, healer
thoth - god of medicine and writing/wisdom
the people were not healed by the likes of isis, neither was there medicine for their boils
this plague is notable for the egyptian priests being unable to even stand before moses and aaron
so if we think of how the dynamic has changed, at first, you had the priests replicating, at least to some extent, what Moses and aaron were doing
but now, plague after plague has came, wearing the people down, and now those who once challenged God are PHYSICALLY UNABLE to stand before His representatives
This is just another example of God’s greatness turning the tables. taking a bad situation, such as slavery in egypt, and turning it into those same slaves dominating egypt in a way
one day in the future, every knee will bow
PLAGUE SEVEN: HAIL
Important Verses:
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.
And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.
Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.
And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
Intreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.
And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s.
But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God.
And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.
But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up.
And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the Lord: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.
And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
This plague would destroy the crops, not only of food crops but for other various things such as papyrus and flax as well
This was the worst storm since the foundation of egypt, showing God could bring a once in a milleneum storm about at will
egyptian gods such as horus and set would have been primarily in charge over the weather
both of these gods were extremely influential
back in those times, storms would have been associated with giving life to crops
but instead, God here used a storm to bring death to their crops, reversing things
many nations in the area revered their “storm” gods for this reason, it gave life to their crops in dry land
so surely egypt revered their gods influence over storms greatly as well
God’s people were spared from this plague as well
so while they were left with crops, animals, and so on, the egyptians were left suffering with or recently recovering from boils
God’s people being spared from all this calamity shows the difference between the people of God and those who reject Him
and that God will spare His people from judgement that will be upon the world
PLAGUE EIGHT: HAIL
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.
And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.
For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
worst swarm of locusts egypt had ever seen and ever WILL see
ate up the last bit of greenery that was left after the hail
various egyptian gods such as min (harvest) and neper (grains) had no power either here or during the hailstorm
we essentially never see the egyptian priests again after the boils, which makes one wonder if they’re even still around by this point in the story
Pharoah asked for relief - was given
PLAGUE NINE: DARKNESS
Important verses:
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
plague began without warning to pharoah
sun was the primary object of worship
personified in ra, creator of all other gods, humans, was in charge of the sun and the day
therefore, God strikes a killing blow at the egyptian religious system by showing that their highest god held no power against Him
land of Goshen had light - imagery of the light that God’s people have vs the darkness that the world exists in
imagining this plague, it says that it was so dark that it could be felt, and that nobody could even move around for three days
it would have been impossible to do anything, and would have seemed completely supernatural, like nothing ever seen
the egyptians had seen sandstorms which could block out the sun for days, but this is on an entirely different level
CONCLUSION
God’s people spared in times of judgement
only faith in God and Him alone will suffice
faith in things of this world will fail us, people will fail us, and so on
but God will never fail us, just like He didn’t fail the Hebrews all those thousands of years ago