Egypt’s Gods
Did God rescue the Jewish slaves from Egypt in a spectacular way? Yes. But He did more.
For 400+ years, the Lord had been the personal God of one family. Even His name was linked to theirs. So when He introduced himself to Moses, He said. “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6).
But when His fierce judgements fell upon Pharaoh and his people, the great I Am revealed His power to all the surrounding nations. Egypt was the Almighty’s “coming out party.” After that, everyone knew the God of the Hebrews and many feared Him.
Interestingly enough, each of the plagues directly attacked one or more of the deities that the Egyptians had worshipped for centuries.
God’s Opening Move
- The Staff became a snake: In Exodus 7, Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and it transformed into a living snake. In response, the Egyptian ruler summoned his magicians, who duplicated God’s miracle. Their staffs also became snakes. But in this first clash of wills, God wins. Because Aaron’s snake eats all the sorcerer’s snakes. Not a good start. Plus, everyone in the contest except Aaron had to go buy a new staff.
- Humiliated Egyptian Deity
- Apophis (Apep) also known as the great Serpent and enemy of Ra, the sun god. He’s linked to thunder, darkness, storms, earthquakes and death. The Egyptians saw Apep as an evil spirit that couldn’t be reasoned with.
Plague #1
The Nile changed into Blood. Not only the Nile, but all the rivers, ponds and streams became blood as well. So did the water the Egyptians had already carried home. All the fish died, the Nile stank and people dug holes in the sand to get drinking water.- Humiliated Egyptian Deities:
- Apis and Isis, god and goddess of the Nile.
- Khnum, Guardian of the Nile.
- Osiris the murdered and reborn god of Egypt and the husband of Isis. Ancient Egyptians saw the Nile as the bloodstream of Osiris. Every year when the Nile flooded, Osiris would be reborn.
Plague #2:
- Frogs filled the land of Egypt. Only 7 days later, multitudes of frogs came up out of the rivers and streams, filling the homes of the Egyptians.
- Humiliated Egyptian Deity:
- Heqet is the goddess of birth and fertility, so her priestesses may have been trained as midwives. She is depicted as having a frog’s head. To the Egyptians, these amphibians symbolized new life and fruitfulness. Frogs were also considered sacred. According to one of my sources, if you stepped on a frog and killed it, you could be executed by the state.
Adding insult to Injury: This is the first time Pharaoh summoned Moses and asked for relief. He asked “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people” (Exodus 8:8) In answer, God didn’t send all the frogs back into the Nile. Instead, the next day all the frogs died. There were little stinking carcasses all over Egypt. God did indeed ‘take the frogs away’—but he left the bodies. Everyone shoveled the dead frogs into huge piles and once more, the land reeked.
No doubt, all the Egyptian priests, priestesses and worshippers started begging their deities to come to the rescue. But unsurprisingly, no one answered their prayers. To suddenly be at the mercy of this new, all-powerful God of their Hebrew slaves must have been terrifying.
Because the one true God does as He pleases.
Plague #3:
The Dust became lice: When Aaron struck the ground with his staff, the dust became tiny, biting insects. This Hebrew word for “lice” is also sometimes translated as “gnats.” All the people and beasts in Egypt got covered in bug bites.- Humiliated Egyptian Deity: Geb the god of the earth. The Egyptians believed his laughter caused earthquakes and that he made the crops grow. Geb also fathered Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys.
Yep—He’s Real
God choose to introduce Himself to the Egyptians in a very powerful way. They had spent centuries ignorant of their divine Creator. Now suddenly the Eternal One’s reality and strength couldn’t be ignored.
5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” (Exodus 7:5 NIV)
As the end times approach, we will have this situation again. Because the Almighty will make His presence felt. When God’s judgments start raining down on the earth, I believe there won’t be any more atheists. Some people will hate the Lord and furiously rebel against Him even more. Others will repent of their sins and choose to follow.
But no person on earth will doubt that He exists.
Satan’s delusion will stop working.
All these images came from Pixabay.com.
Resources:
My initial source material has been an article, “What was the Meaning and Purpose of the Ten Plagues of Egypt?”
I came across many images of pretty frogs, such as the Poison Dart Frog shown here. But seeing a live frog sitting on a smart phone? It gives us a little taste of the “ick factor.” After all, the Egyptians had to deal with this slimy amphibians’ overwhelming invasion inside their homes. Imagine trying to sleep when the croakers were inside the house. Or trying to cook or eat, with frogs leaping about on the table and into the food.
I’m very happy I wasn’t there.
Personal note: I was an atheist during my teenage years and very proud of it. But I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was 20. The first thing I did was have a tee-shirt made which said, “Jesus made a believer out of me.”
http://www.stat.rice.edu/~dobelman/Dinotech/10_Eqyptian_gods_10_Plagues.pdf
