ON THE VANGUARD

POWER IN THE PLAGUES
“I know that the king of Egypt will not let you leave unless he is forced to do so. But I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do there. After that, he will let you go.”
Exodus 3: 19-20

For the past week or so in my own study I have been reading about the plagues sent on Egypt when Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. Quite honestly, I was always able to tell you what they were, but it never dawned on me to question why they were. Why would God send bloody water or hail and such? I thought it may just be a natural thing, that dead fish would bring the flies around and such. But in studying, and with the help of a friend, my own eyes were opened. As I have chatted with a few other people, I have come to see that some of you may already know all the answers to this. Still, if you like I have never known, then I will do my best to share with you the reason behind these plagues that so clearly shows the wonder God promised Moses would come.
God spoke to Moses and Aaron, leading Moses to a place before Pharaoh. Again Moses and Aaron came on behalf of the Hebrews, wanting their freedom from Pharaoh’s tyrant hand. But as Aaron placed his staff down as ordered by God, the staff became a snake. Pharaoh didn’t seem moved, but rather called his sages, sorcerers and magicians over to him and had them perform the same trick. It seemed to be child’s play. Yet something happened. Aaron’s snake swallowed the snakes of the others before turning back into a staff. This action did not seem to change Pharaoh’s decision to let the people go, and even God knew that Pharaoh was being stubborn.
It was the next morning that the plagues began. In the morning Moses went right back to the palace and demanded that Pharaoh let God’s people go again. Again the stubbornness of Pharaoh was the reply. To this, Moses heard from God that Aaron was to stretch his staff over the Nile. Once he did this, the river began to turn to blood. And it wasn’t just the river, but every container and ounce of fresh water turned to blood. Fish began to die, stink began to be present, and although Pharaoh’s men were able to replicate the water into blood, they were not able to reverse it. But why was the water attacked? It was to show God’s power over the god of the Nile, Hapi. The nourishment that this god portrayed in his stomach and breasts, and the growth that he showed displayed in the papyrus stemming behind his head were both affected in the turning of water to blood. In this, God showed He had dominance over Hapi.
Seven days later, God showed His power once again. It was the custom of the Egyptians to serve the goddess Heket. Heket was shown as a female human body, but having the face of a frog. Is it any wonder then that the next plague would show God’s power over her by releasing a hoard of frogs on Egypt? And although, once again, the men of Pharaoh were able to replicate, they were not able to cease the plague. Finally Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron to request they have the plague stopped in exchange for letting the people go. Moses agreed and even gave him the ability to name the date the plague would stop. I have a hard time understanding why he requested the next day as opposed to the current day, but either way God showed His power by ceasing the next day just as requested.
Yet as we continue to see, Pharaoh was bluffing. He had told Moses that if the frogs were stopped he would let the Hebrews go worship their God, but in seeing the relief his heart hardened once again. To this, God had another response. To show that He was more powerful than the Egyptian god of the dust, God instructed Moshe to speak to Aaron to reach out his staff and strike the dust. With this command, Aaron did and suddenly there were lice throughout the land of Egypt, from people to animals. The magicians worked to produce the same but could not. God once again showed His power over the god Geb, and even the magicians knew this was the finger of God. Still Pharaoh’s heart stayed hardened.
We aren’t sure if it was the next day or days later, but one day following, early in the morning, God again spoke to Moses and ordered him to stand before Pharaoh. Again he was to pronounce that Pharaoh let His people go. The punishment for Pharaoh not obeying this time was the sending of swarms of insects. True to His word, God sent the swarms which invaded the houses and ground. And true to His character, God proved His power over the Egyptian god Khepri, the god of insects with the face of a dung beetle. And still, the hardened heart of Pharaoh did not budged in the slightest.
Continuing where we left off, we read that Pharaoh summoned Moses when the insects got to be too numerous and again he agreed to letting the Hebrews go worship their God. He did this, however, for no other reason than to find relief once more. Once the plague had ceased, Pharaoh’s heart grew hard as it had before. To this action God had another response. To prove His power over the Egyptian god of the livestock, Hathor, whose image is of a female with horns of a steer, God brought a plague of destruction over the horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, and flocks where they suffered a devastating illness. While the animals of Goshen suffered not, the animals under Pharaoh’s ruling were soon found dead. Pharaoh investigated this detail himself and found it true, yet still he did not soften his heart.
God then spoke once more to Moses and Aaron, saying to take handfuls of ash from a kiln and that Moses should throw it in the air before Pharaoh. When he did, the ash went through the air and began to produce infected sores on the people of Egypt. At this the magicians couldn’t even stand near Moses because of the sores that covered them. Defeating the goddess Isis, who was believed to be the goddess of health and medicine for a story of healing she had once done, God again made His power known.
With still no relaxing of Pharaoh’s heart, Moses delivered a powerful speech to his once brother. Starting off with the phrase “Let my people go…” Moses ended with God’s words, “By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with such severe plagues that you would have been wiped off the earth. But it is for this very reason that I have kept you alive – to show you my power, and so that my name may resound throughout the whole earth.” Pharaoh’s hard heart was about to get a wakeup call.
Nothing had been seen like this in the past, nor would it be seen again. Now, however, God was about to bring a hail in which the likes would never be seen again. With Pharaoh’s continued hard heart, and as guided by God, Moses reached out his staff toward the sky and watched as the thunder, hail, and fire ran down to earth. Throughout the entire land, hail struck in the fields as well as the people and animals. Only Goshen again was safe from this disaster. Proving His power, Adonai conquered the Egyptian goddess of the sky, Nut.
Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron once more to request the plague stop in exchange for their freedom, but once again he was only telling lies. Once the plague was ceased, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened again. As such the people of Israel were unable to leave Egypt. But it was God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart just as He had told Moses. Having kids, or better yet having been a kid, I sometimes find myself asking the old question, ‘When will they learn?” Unfortunately I find myself asking the same thing in reference to Pharaoh. When will he learn? Granted I understand that God continued to harden his heart, I still find myself wondering why he kept making vows and then changing his mind. In Exodus 10:8 Pharaoh gave permission for the people to leave, but then questioned who all would be going. The response was everyone. Pharaoh didn’t like this answer and tried to talk Moses down to just the men going. But that was not God’s terms. As such he took back his offer and again had a hard heart.
Following the hard heart came the plague of locusts, which had been forewarned by Moses already. With the locusts eating every plant that the hail had left behind, and so numerous that the ground looked black, God was once again showing His power. The Egyptian god Seth was known as the god of wind and storms. God had caused a wind to blow in over Egypt, and with it brought the massive intrusion of locusts. When Pharaoh surrendered once more, Moses prayed and a wind again blew the locusts, this time forcing them west.
After this surrender, though, the heart of Pharaoh was hard once more. The cycle continued. But God wasn’t done. Commanding Moses to reach out his hand again, this time toward the sky, a darkness covered the land of Egypt. The Torah records the darkness was so thick I could be felt. This was worse than the eerie feeling one gets when watching Scooby Doo. The people could not see each other and for three days no one left. Yet again, proving not only His power but also His love for His people, the Hebrews in the land of Goshen had light. The Egyptian god Ra, the god of the sun, had now also been defeated, its power void. The strength of Egypt was being defeated and defaced with each plague Adonai was sending. Yet one strength still remained to be conquered.
The end of the plagues was about to come. Moses had just been warned of the final plague, the death of all firstborns in Egypt, from Pharaoh himself to the firstborn of the animals. God had already spoken this day would come back in Exodus 4:22 when He said, “’Then you are to tell Pharaoh: “ADONAI says, ‘Israel is my firstborn son. I have told you to let my son go in order to worship me, but you have refused to let him go. Well, then, I will kill your firstborn!”’” The deliverance of God’s people was close at hand, but only if they obeyed God’s commands concerning the blood of the lamb.
God knew that this plague would cause great distress, but in it His people would not only be released from slavery, but be pushed out of Egypt. But first, God had instructions for Moses and Aaron. This would be a red letter, calendar day. In fact, it would be this day when their calendar would ring the first day month of the year for them. On this night those who followed after God were to take a lamb without defect for his family, and use it as a sacrifice. Although selected, it was not to be killed for another few days when all the Hebrews would slaughter together. The blood from the lamb then would be smeared on the two sides and a top the door frame. That night the meat was to be roasted in fire and eaten with matzah. Anything left over was to be burned completely.
The people of Israel were also instructed on how to eat, with their belt fastened, shoes on, staff in hand, and in haste. They were to be ready because once the death angel passed, judgment would be served and deliverance had. The blood smeared around the door was a sign for the follower of God Almighty, and prevented death from coming into the home of that person. For seven days following, matzah alone was allowed, ridding the home of any leaven of flour and yeast. Anyone eating leaven was to be cut off from Israel. God was serious about this, and serious about delivering His people.
The warning had been given to Moses that at midnight the final plague would roam Egypt, and a great cry never before heard would invade the land. True to His word, God unleashed death to the firstborn at midnight. People and animals alike were found dead. But why? As we have seen already, so we see again here. God had proved Himself greater than the gods of Egypt. Still one god, or image of god, remained. The Pharaoh himself was esteemed in their culture as a god. Killing even the son of Pharaoh, God proved His might and authority over the last of the false gods.
With horrendous wailing in the background, Pharaoh awoke to find his own son had passed. He became irate and summoned for Moses and Aaron in the night and said to them, “’Up and leave my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve Adonai as you said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as you said; and get out of here!’” In fear, the Egyptians as a whole also demanded they leave, for the fear of death was now upon them.
Grabbing their unleavened bread, bowls, and the clothes they were already dressed in as instructed by God, the people of Israel went about asking for gold or silver from the Egyptians. This was just as God had said. With the Egyptians so favorably disposed, they gave whatever they had to the Israelites. They then moved from Ra’amses to Sukkot, approximately six hundred thousand men alone, along with their families and livestock. The captivity they had known for a grand total of four hundred thirty years was now done. God alone had brought His people out and proved His power, with all His wonders.