Chapter 7. 14
Plagues of Egypt
Was
there something else going on besides the Exodus? - The Court Magicians
The
Curse on Ham - The Supernatural - Ten Plagues - Egypt’s Religious System
First Word
To
discuss the plagues of Egypt, we must be able to see the symbolism of
each plague which was far bigger story than the actual event itself. While
the story of the Exodus from Egypt is important, it was also the fulfillment of
prophecy concerning a curse placed on Canaan by Noah.
TIME is of no importance to God; if He says it
will happen; it will happen.
Noah’s sons
Noah had three
Sons; Shem, Ham
and Japheth.[1]
Noah blessed two
of his sons, Shem and Japheth.
Shem would be the
Godly line of decedents that gave us Abraham, the “Father of Israel”
The Races Origin
Many
students of the word believe that Noah’s three sons had taken wives
from other nations before the flood.
Shem is the
progenitor of the “Semitic” peoples of the East. (White)
Ham’s descendants became the Egyptians, Canaanites and Africans. (Black)
Japheth’s descendants
are the inhabitants of Asia Minor and the sea people. (Yellow)
Ham’s four sons
1)
Cush: Ham’s first
son had a son named Nimrod who was the builder of the tower of Babel in Babylon.
The tower was a ziggurat which on top had a zodiac for worship of the
sun, moon and stars. This is
important because this is where the abominations of worship of pagan Gods
began. Nimrod was a “hunter”; a hunter
and oppressor of God’s people.[2]
2)
Egypt is the nation which enslaved the
Israelites, the descendants of Shem.
3)
Put had at least six
sons which is possible modern Libya, but it’s not certain.
4)
Canaan: This tribe had
the demon controlled “Giants” (nephillim)
in their land and caused Israel many problems; but they were frequently
defeated by Israel in their battles.
The Curse
This
takes us back to just after the flood in the days of Noah and his sons;
one of which received a curse on his family.
Let’s take a look; Noah lay drunk and naked in his tent, when Ham came
in and saw him. Something very wrong
took place in that tent either by Ham or his son Cannan as Cannan was singled
out and CURSED BY NOAH to be a “servant of
servants” to his brothers.[3] You can read what happened in the Chapter,
“Noah Gets Drunk. IITB 04.02
Keep that in mind Canaan was to be a
“servant of servants”.
Black Curse
NOTE: There are numerous arguments that the curse
on Ham’s descendants included MAKING THEM
A BLACK PEOPLE. While it is true
that the Ham’s descendants are black; there is no scripture that supports or
even hints of this as being a part of the curse; this must be dismissed as only
someone’s BS,
their Belief
System.
In my
BS, this is a divisive attempt by Satan to
divide men and promote bigotry and hatred. Satan did the same thing with the Jews;
calling them Christ Killers; creating hate and anti-Semitism. It was not the Jews that drove the nails into
the hands and feet of Jesus the Christ, the executioners were the Romans.
Let’s Pause right here
At
this point, Egypt has the many gods of Babylon and Israel has the one God of Abraham. We have the prophecy of servitude upside down
as we have the Godly line of the Israelites being enslaved by the un-godly line
of Egypt.
Egypt would not be a slave to anyone and
would enslave every people that they came across. But God just laughs at them.[4] (It’s not over till
God says it’s over.)
Here’s
where we are;
we’re now in Egypt and God has called Moses to lift the bondage of Ham’s descendants
from the Godly line of Shem and to tell Pharaoh to “Let My people go”.
The Plagues
God
makes the rules under which sin shall be sinned, though He Himself is
not the author of sin. (The Invisible War) The judgment of the plagues is on the many
pagan gods of Egypt.[5]
The Israelites; God’s chosen people, did
not comprehend what was going on, so how much more were the Egyptians baffled.[6]
The plague announcements made “in
advance” gave the Magicians time to come up with their “Secret Arts”
and sleight of hand to replicate it. While
the magicians tried to “duplicate” the judgments they never tried to “REVERSE” them.
The magicians told Pharaoh that “This is the finger
of god”, (NOT Israel’s
Jehovah God.)
All
the plagues must
happen; Pharaoh must resist letting
the people go,[7]
until God has shown All of Egypt that their gods are nothing; helpless
to intervene and helpless to save.
Finally, All of
Egypt will realize that the ONE and ONLY true God is the God of Israel.
The First Plague on the waters – Egypt’s Trinity; Stink, Stank,
Stunk
The
water of the River Nile turned blood RED as well as the water in their
wooden and stone vessels.[8]
This first
judgment of Moses was “death” to their fish; their food source and
their lively hood, putting terror in their heart. Interestingly, the first miracle of Jesus was that of “grace,” providing aid by turning
water into RED
wine and putting gladness to their heart.
With lack of oxygen, the fish died,
floated to the top of the water and smelled putrid for seven days. (This is where we get the phrase; “Something smells fishy to me”) maybe not. While Pharaoh’s
magicians could make water look like blood, they were unable to make the blood
turn back to water.
Osiris, the god of the
Nile couldn’t help them or his companion Isis the mother god and their child Horus:
this “trinity”
of gods could do nothing, but stink.
There were other gods; Nu the
god of life in the Nile; Hapimon in the north and Tauret at Thebes the hippopotamus goddess of the river.
These gods were the most favored gods
of the common people; but were USELESS.
The Second Plague on the waters; frogs
The
Nile was putrid and frogs invaded the land with such multitude that
they were even in their houses and in their beds and even in their kneading
troughs and ovens.[9]
Hekt the goddess of Land, who helped women in
childbirth, was always depicted with a human body and the head of a frog. Since the frogs were seen as gods, the
Egyptians would not even lift their hand to destroy them. For crying out
loud, the frog gods had come out of the sacred Nile; how in the world can you make war on a god? Chuckle, Chuckle. When
the
frogs literally “dropped dead” the whole land stunk, adding to the already dead
stinking fish.[10]
Can’t you just imagine God laughing at
their prayers & offerings to their SILENT pagan gods
The Supernatural
I have read many commentaries
that explain away every detail of the ten plagues with rational that excludes
the “supernatural”
and point to some event in nature that caused it all to happen. Do away with the supernatural and you reduce
the Bible to just another book.
Maybe the Nile River was not blood, but was just blood red. It still sure made the fish die and stink and
it wasn’t long till the frogs came out of the sacred Nile before they croaked.
Maybe it “was” just nature; which makes me EVEN
MORE AMAZED at
how all the judgments happened, one right after another at the wave of “Moses’ Rod.” Nature sure was organized, and it is further
cool that the judgments
ceased at his command and there was a
distinction
made between the Egyptian and the
Israelites, who experienced only some of the plagues.
The Third Plague - on the land; fleas and gnats
Aaron
struck the dusty ground with his rod, reminiscent of the Old Testament
Prophets. This Prague came against the
dust of the ground,[11] the soil which produced bountiful crops of cucumbers, melons,
onions, leeks and garlic.[12] Man
and animals became the recipient of this itching curse.[13]
Different translations say the plague was lice
or gnats, or even mosquitoes, but the Hebrew word “ken”
means to dig, as in dig under the skin. Some translators think it was sand fleas
that swarmed over the land. Think how just
one flea can drive your puppy crazy; think how millions could drive you “buggy”. Did
you get it? “Buggy.”
This small scourge of blood sucking
insects covered the whole body like a cloud of dust, creeping into the eyes,
nose and ears. Today we have the tiny “No-see-um”
mosquitoes.
Geb the great god of the earth was SILENT; the sacrifices of the priest availed
nothing.
The Fourth Plague – on the land; flies
God
sent swarms of insects; the beetle and cockroach; the gad fly, dog fly,
and the stable fly which is a blood sucker; large biting flies that lay hundreds of eggs
in animal dung and transmits the “skin anthrax” plague. The magicians could not duplicate or reverse
this plague; their demonic “secret arts” were useless.
Background: The Egyptians noticed that this scarab beetle rolled golf size balls of dung across the field to store them for food. The Egyptians un-mistakenly thought the beetle
put their larva in them and therefore thought the balls represented life. This beetle gnaws clothes, books, furniture,
plants, man and beast.
The SUN was considered the seed of life; the scarab beetle was considered the god that rolled the sun from
morning to evening. No
upstanding Egyptian would kill a beetle god.
Amon-Ra (Amun-re) was considered
the king of gods. “Amon” means hidden; this “invisible”
king of eternity and guardian of the dead was always pictured with the head of a
beetle.
God made a
distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites; the Israelites did not
experience this specific plague.[14]
The Fifth Plague – disease on livestock
God sent “murrain”; a contagious
epidemic disease among the Egyptians livestock; the donkeys, camels, sheep,
horses and cattle, from the livestock of the simple countryside farmer to the
sacred bulls of the high temple priest.[15] Their temples were defiled by the dead
animals. “All
that were infected” DIED. There
is no evidence that the plague was removed; and that’s NO
BULL; get it, no bull.
A distinction however was made; no harm came to any
of the animals of the Israelites.
Their many gods
were of no help; Apius, the sacred bull god. Hathor the cow-headed goddess of the deserts. Bubastis, the cat goddess and Ra the
livestock calf god. Then there was the bull Bakis of the god Mentu,
none of which could do anything to save them.
And to make matters worse, Anubis
the Jackal headed dog god got his reputation
slammed by the DOG FLY
PLAGUE.
The Sixth Plague – Boils and Leprosy on man
The
handful of soot or dust that Moses cast into the air was representative
of the custom of the Egyptian Priest of castings soot from sacrifices over the
people; they counted the dust or soot as a blessing from the priest. In this case it was a curse; God sent a “burning plague”
against men; that of boils and running sores, which
some translate “leprosy”
which cannot be healed.[16] There is NO
evidence that this plague was recalled; presumably it wore itself out.
Furnaces or brick-kiln’s were an
instrument of oppression to the Israelites; and now the soot from them was a symbol
of chastisement to Egypt. The magicians
got boils in their “private parts” and could not even stand up.[17] The magicians “secret arts” were useless.
The Egyptians had local gods as well as
national gods; to use a big word; they were “polytheistic” they believed in many
gods. If one god is good, then ten gods
is much better. Great healing powers were attributed to the gods Apis, Serapis and
Imhotep,
but they were
useless; they could do nothing.
The Seventh Plague – Rain with hail and fire on the land; beating down
produce, herbs and fruit
It
almost never rained in Upper Egypt, receiving only about one inch of
total rainfall a year; the land was always sunny. God sent a judgment of immense peals of
thunder and the worst hail storm that Egypt had ever seen;[18]
with fire from lightning that zigzagged back and forth on the land as if trying
to catch hold of itself, except in the land of Goshen.[19] (This is where we get the
phrase “Great Balls of Fire”.)
Although there was death; this plague was
not sent against the slaves and livestock, but against the produce of the land;
they were all warned and some believed Moses’ words and took shelter and lived.[20]
The Egyptians worshiped red water
and fire. Shu, the wind god and Nut the sky goddess, and Horus
the elder and the hawk-headed sky god
were all SILENT and could do
nothing.
The Eighth Plague – Locust
on the land; the vegetation
A
Massive Locust “Invasion” had never been felt before in Egypt and would
exceed anything they had ever heard about in the past; it was now in the land
of the Nile and what was left standing after the hail and fire, was being
consumed by the locust.[21] The land turned black with three inch, red
spotted, double winged locust, jumping with legs of springs; a ravenous army of
creeping, gnawing and destroying critters; stripping the land to a barren
desert.
Where were their gods? Nepri the grain god, Ermutet goddess of crops and
childbirth, Anubis,
the jackal-headed guardian of the fields.
Where was their agricultural god Osiris,
the great head of the Hamitic trinity; they were
The Ninth Plague – Darkness; Fear and Terror on Man
Egypt
had sunshine 365 days a year, but suddenly as a lion springs on its prey,
darkness consumed the light. They could
not see one another or their hand in front of their face. God sent darkness on the land of Egypt that
was so dark that
you could feel it.[22] Imagine for three days and nights that the air
is so thick with moisture that you can hardly breathe; so much moisture and so
little oxygen that a candle can’t be lit.
You’re like a fish out of water
gasping for life and added to that, a strong
You must now imagine crossing over from
where the Egyptians lived into the land where the Israelites lived; when you
crossed over, you immediately moved from darkness to light.[23] This is certainly symbolic
of the difference between the unbeliever and the believer.
From time to time, Pharaoh would repent and humbled himself; confess he had sinned and
ask for prayers of protection from the Hebrew God. His feelings of remorse was only temporary;
as before when things got better, he would go right back with his fist in the
air toward the God of Israel. He
recognized that Jehovah was the God of the Hebrew, but certainly not the god of
Egyptian.
Ra the great sun god had disappeared; there was no
help from Aten,
the sun disc and the symbol of Ankh known as the “symbol of life” from the sun, was of no help. No help from Horus the
god of the sunrise or Tem the god of sunset or Shu the god of light or the many
other deities of the moon and planets.
As students of the word, we are urged to
trace the cause of the judgments, which in this case was wrath on a grossly
idolatrous blasphemous Pharaoh and his idolatrous nation.
Pharaoh, Egypt and Israel will know that Jehovah Elohim is the ONLY
ONE true God.
The Tenth Plague – on man; First Born dies
Pharaoh sees himself as a god. The King was believed to be the incarnation of
Horus
the son of “Re”
the sun god; Pharaoh was all powerful, life and death was in his word.
Ten in scripture is
the number for Government; it represents JUDGMENT, the Law;
consider as an example; the law of
the Ten Commandments.
The tenth
judgment and final plague was every
first born child of every Egyptian family would die; from the slave girl to the
Pharaoh; including the first born of all their cattle.[24]
On the 14th of Nisan; a distinction was made between the Egyptians and the
Israelites; the land of Goshen would not experience the death
plague.[25] There would be such tranquility among the
Israelites that not even a dog would have an occasion to bark, but among the
Egyptians, mourning could be heard everywhere.
With death at their doorstep, Pharaoh’s
advisors were telling him, it might be a good idea to “let the people go”, in fact LET’S HELP THEM GO; “Send them out of the land in haste”.[26]
Archaeologists have uncovered
coffins with the inscriptions; “That night of slaying of the firstborn”; other
inscriptions say; “That day of the slaying of the firstborn”.
Judgment has now come on
Egyptian Army Destroyed
On the 15th day of
Nisan, the day after the 10th plague, Pharaoh finally “let the people go”. Moses
had prepared God’s 200+
million men, women and children for a quick departure. It is noteworthy to point out that the
Israelites did not intermarry with the Egyptians, but remained a pure race for
the entire 430 years of bondage.
Pharaoh as before, changed his mind after the Israelites had left; and
pursued after them. All of the pursuing Egyptian army perished
in the Red Sea.[28] Never again would they oppress Israel and
never again would Egypt have the strength and power it once had. God lifted the yoke of oppression from the
necks of the Israelites; the chain was now broken imposed by the descendants of
Ham;
“the
Egyptians”.
NOTE: Abrahams
first born Ishmael, was from his “Egyptian” wife Hagar; this child would never
be “the
child of promise” to Abraham; NEVER, these
descendants would be the Muslims.
Ezekiel
prophesized that Egypt would become a contemptible and degraded base people; a wasteland;[29] get
ready, it’s coming.
Israel’s Plagues - Grumbling
In the Pentateuch,
plagues are described often as “judgments” against Israel. The plagues against Egypt smacked close to
home as the Israelites also needed knowledge “to experience” Godly fear, and to
know the awesomeness of “The God of Israel”.
It’s sad, but we seem to only “remember”
God, when we are down on our luck. God
used plagues to get the attention of Israel THREE
TIMES during
their “wandering”
in the desert.
1)
When they were grumbling while eating quail and
wanted something else.[30]
2)
When the spies grumbled and discouraged the
Israelites and spread a bad report.[31]
3)
When the people grumbled against Moses and Aaron
because of their conditions.[32]
The Take Away
The plagues did not come in
quick succession as the reader might think, but went on for five to six
months; October through the last of March as different crops would become
available for harvest, only to be destroyed; however there was only seven days
between first plague of “something smelling fishy” and the second
plague of frogs that were about to “Croak”.
The plagues demonstrated to Pharaoh and his nation, God’s superiority to
the Egyptian gods and in the finality of things, He would, “bring judgment on their
many pagan gods”. “
If you read the entire account of the judgment of plagues; many times
you will find Pharaoh along with his people, coming to the Nile early in the
morning to worship the god of the Nile,
this is where Moses and Aaron usually confronted him within the hearing
of the people.
NOTE: They were told
six times in advance what was going to happen, giving the ‘magicians’ time to fabricate
something similar. God allowed Pharaoh’s
magicians to be “initially”
successful in some of their “secret arts”; this added to the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart.
Inquiring minds want to know: Jewish tradition says Jannes and Jambres were the names of the court magicians who did “the tricks;” God changed the magicians into CLOWNS. It
is unknown if the magicians were using “trickery” or Satan inspired “Lying Wonders”.[33] It was God’s grace that let them dig and find
water that was not contaminated, or all would have died.[34]
Remember, God warns before He wounds, not wanting any to perish.[35]
Before the plague of hail, God gave the Egyptians an opportunity to distinguish themselves between those who BELIEVED the words of Moses and those who did not.
Many sought cover and saved their
livestock as well as themselves, God gives us that same opportunity today.
The
Israelites experienced the first
three plagues as they also had lessons to be learned. When God made a distinction between the land
of Egypt and the land of Goshen, it reinforced that these judgments were from the “God of Israel”.
The first nine judgments were directed at some phenomenon of nature that
they worshiped as god. Each judgment plague came with an intensifying effect
and severity over the previous plague. The land was all most totally devastated.
These plagues challenged the very core of Egypt’s religious system
The tenth however, was the culminating “judgment” on the Egyptians with a
direct first hand visitation from Almighty God.
(The
tenth plague is a study all into its own self… Passover).
God told Moses to ASK for
articles of jewelry from the Egyptians and they found favor and were loaded up
with silver and gold before they departed; when they left, they left rich.[36] God commanded the Israelites to celebrate
this event with a yearly festival called “The Passover” commemorating when the “death angel” passed over them.[37]
God could have wiped out all of Egypt anytime He wanted to, but He
allowed them to live so “that I might show MY power and that MY name might be PROCLAIMED in all the earth.”[38] While the Exodus of the Israelites is an
awesome story in itself, the story behind the story is still more amazing. God
used the bondage of the Israelites to not only fulfill prophecy concerning the curse on Ham’s descendants “Egypt”;
but declared in a mighty way, to the nation of Israel and to all the other
nations; TO KNOW that “there is a God
in Israel.”[39]
Pharaoh’s
first sneering question; “Who is the Lord” has been TERRIBLY answered.
Shem –
The Godly descendants of Noah
For 2000 years Noah’s first
born Shem, the Godly line of Abraham has served his other brother
Japheth,[40]
but it isn’t over till it’s over; it may be Friday, but Sundays’ coming.[41]
On the first coming of Jesus, He came as our Savior; on His second coming He
will come as our Messiah.
Just a little while longer and the
Godly line will be set free.[42]
[1] Genesis 9:18-19 – Noah’s
sons; Shem, Ham and Japheth
[2] Genesis 10:6 – Sons of
Ham; Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan -- Genesis 10:8 – Cush
was the father of Nimrod builder of Babylon
[3] Genesis 9:24-25 – Canaan
is cursed to be a servant to his brothers
[4] Psalms 2:2-4 – God watches the rulers and kings make plans and He laughs at them.
[5] Exodus 12:12 – God brings
judgment on the gods of Egypt.
[6] Psalms 106:7 – Even the
Israelites did not understand it.
[7] Exodus 9:12 – God
hardened Pharaoh’s heart according to His plan
[8] Exodus 7:19 – The water
in the rivers, streams, pools ponds, and vessels turned
to blood and stunk.
[9] Exodus 8:3 – Hear Frogs,
there Frogs, everywhere, Frogs, Frogs,
[10] Exodus 8:13 – SOMETHING STINKS
[11] Exodus 8:16-17 – Dust
became lice, gnats, flies, fleas, mosquitoes
[12] Numbers 11:5 – Cucumbers,
melons, leeks, onions & Garlic
[13] Exodus 8:17 – Gnats came
out of the dust of the soil upon men and animals
[14] Exodus 8:21-22 - God sends swarming insects; flies on the ground
and in houses, but not in the land of Goshen
[15] Exodus 9:3-4 – Horses,
donkeys, camels, sheep, goats and cattle all die
[16] Exodus 9:8-9 – Festering
boils; Leprosy on men and animals -- Deuteronomy 28:27 – festering sores and
the itch which cannot be healed; Leprosy -- Leviticus 13:18-19 – A boil on the skin;
Leprosy
[17] Exodus 9:11 – The magicians got boils where the sun doesn’t shine.
[18] Exodus 9:18-19 – The
worst hailstorm ever fallen in Egypt --
Exodus 9:24 – Fire and lighting the worst storm in all the land
[19] Exodus 9:26 – Distinction; there was No hail in Goshen
[20] Exodus 9:20-21 – Some
believed Moses and took shelter and was saved; others ignored and died
[21] Exodus 10:12 – Locust ate
what the hail did not destroy -- Exodus 10:14-15 – The
land was covered black with locust devouring all that was left after the hail
[22] Exodus 10:21 – Darkness so thick that it could be FELT.
[23] Exodus 10:22-23 – But the
Israelites had light
[24] Exodus 11:4-6 – Every
Egyptian first born shall die
[25] Exodus 11:7 – A
Distinction in the land; All Israel will be saved.
[26] Exodus 12:33 - Send the
Israelites out of the land with haste
[27] Exodus 12:12 – Judgment
on ALL the many gods of Egypt.
[28] Exodus 14:27-28 – The Sea
swallowed up the Egyptian army.
[29] Ezekiel 29:3-6 – Ezekiel
prophesizes against Egypt becoming a desert --
Ezekiel 29:9 – Egypt will become a wasteland. --
Ezekiel 29:14-16 – Egypt will become a contemptible
menial land
[30] Numbers 11:32-33 – Plague while grumbling about the quail
[31] Numbers 14:36-37 – Plague; spies grumbling and causing a bad report
[32] Numbers 16:41-46 – Plague; people grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
[33] 2 Thessalonians 2:9 –
Satan comes with power, signs, and lying wonders
[34] Exodus 9:16 - I have spared you for a purpose; to show you my
power and to spread my fame throughout the earth
[35] 2 Peter 3:9 – God warns before He wounds, not wanting any to perish
[36] Exodus 11:1 – They will HELP the Israelites leave Egypt -- Exodus 11:2-3 – Israel
spoiled the Egyptians articles of gold & silver.
[37] Exodus 12:12 – I will
strike all the FIRSTBORN
in the land of Egypt,
[38] Exodus 9:16 – I will show My power that My name will be proclaimed in
all the earth
[39] 1 Samuel 17:46 – The
whole world will know that there is a God in Israel
[40] Genesis 9:27 – The
descendants of Shem now serve Japheth.
[41] Habakkuk 2:3 – The
condition of servitude will change in time WAIT FOR IT
[42] Hebrews 10:37 – Just a little while longer He that shall come will come,
and will not tarry
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