Egyptian Sojourn 9: Backing up the Wagon

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I changed the title of this series of posts because Craig recently commented that he sees the "God" aspect of my series, but not so much the "socialism" side. In my mind, there's a definite connection between the two but don't want to be misleading anyone. The focus on God in these posts has been central to my ability to maintain sanity as I watch the leaders of our country boldly attempt to rapidly swing us into an unprecedented era of Big Government Dictating the Individual Lives of the American People. Socialistic (offers to provide a free ride, equalize the 'playing field', soothe concerns over job or health security, etc) agenda has been an effective bait to assure a relatively peaceable takeover of our population. And I can't help but wonder what that will actually mean for those who are not dancing along to the piper's tune.

Regardless of the external circumstances I want to wholeheartedly agree with David:

In You, O Jehovah, I put my trust; let me never be put to shame. Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; bow down Your ear to me, and save me. Be a rock of refuge for me, to which I may always go; You have commanded to save me; for You are my Rock and my Fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For You are my hope, O Lord God, my trust from my youth. Psalm 71:1-5

Getting through the details of the first nine plagues made the last post a bit long and I wanted to do a little "sightseeing" before moving on. There is actually a LOT to try to absorb in this "Children's Bible feature story".

1. My son read the previous post , and checked my links--then proceeded to grill me about leaving out xxxx or yyyy god which also could have been the deity that God was singling out in each judgmental instance. Not being a student of ancient Egyptian religion, my suggestions of which deities were being challenged during the plagues may be incorrect or incomplete. Several of the gods'/goddesses' realms overlapped and others may not have been worshiped at the time of the Exodus. My main point was that the Egyptians had "changed the truth of God into a lie, and they worshiped and served the created thing more than the Creator, who is blessed forever." (Romans 1:25). And God was making it clear that this was not okay with Him.

2. Aaron's serpent-staff was significant in it's symbolism. Consider the snake-headed goddess Wadjet. Like many other Egyptian deities, she was known by multiple names. But I think it is worth mentioning that my source site states that she was known as a defender of the kings and symbolized "justice, time, heaven and hell."

There was also an evil snake-deity known as Apophis, which was Re's arch-enemy. Apophis was feared rather than adoringly worshiped and said to be forever pursuing Re (the sun god) in an attempt to devour him. Those he swallowed were believed to enter a state of non-existence.

Additionally, the mythological account of the serpent-god seems to reflect an image of the Biblical enemy of souls--Satan. Yet, it is not an exact duplicate of the account. I think that is especially interesting in light of Romans 1:25. "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie..." It appears that even those who reject God have retained some measure of His truth. I expect this is why Paul wrote:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse;for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen. Romans 1:19-25

I can see that the spiritual condition of our modern culture has a resemblance to that of ancient Egypt.

In light of the above tidbits, I do wonder what message the king received when he observed Aaron's snake swallowing his magician's serpents.

3. About the time the flies entered the picture, the king begins to think it's a good idea to try to cut a deal with God rather than simply refuse. Not only were these creatures considered "sacred" (supposedly providing protection from disease?! and misfortune), but I'm guessing the swarming insects were not only of the regular housefly variety. They were likely to have included biting, stinging, blood-sucking sorts as well. The annoyance would have certainly gotten the king's attention by then! Yet, as soon as God provided relief, the king slipped right back into stubborn mode.

I noted a similarity to the way I sometimes I have willingly crawled to God for direction when circumstances are extremely rough--only to turn back to my self-centered ways when the crisis has passed. Even though the king admitted twice (Exodus 9:27; 10:16) that he was in sin, it was not a recognition based on a change of heart. James wrote "You believe that there is one God, you do well; even the demons believe and tremble." (2:19). Until a heart is completely broken before the Lord, there will be the tendency to try to pridefully figure out a solution without Him. Momentary frustration, sadness (no matter how intense) and recognition that God is more powerful than me is not the same thing as true repentance from sin. There must also be a desire to accept God's plan as best and a willingness to humbly submit to His authority.

This observation ties back into the increasing socialization of our country in the sense that this past 6 months or so has really brought into focus how NOT in charge of my life I really am. Being something of a control freak, I do need God to allow me to see the encroaching "ugly" in our culture so that I don't get too full of my own potential and wander away from His path. For a Christian, perpetually unpleasant earthly conditions are not necessarily a "bad" thing if they keep me humble and clinging to God for strength and step-by-step instruction. My comfort craving fleshly side struggles to accept that truth but it is much better to bow to God's will (and be spiritually comforted) rather than be crushed by it due to my rebellion.

4. Just before the seventh plague, it appears that God is announcing a move into a more aggressive phase of His extrication and glorification plan. Some of the Egyptians began taking seriously the attack and made preparations to avoid the coming hailstorm. Afterward, even Pharaoh's servants were pressuring him to give in as they already considered Egypt to be destroyed.

5. The kids and I were discussing how long the time of the plagues may have taken. We can see that there is a definite end. There was a week of bloody water before Moses returned to the king's presence and there were 3 days of darkness But there doesn't seem to be any indication of the length of each incident. We were speculating as it is obvious from the account of the 5th plague that ALL of the Egyptian livestock died. So, there must have been enough time for the Egyptians to replenish their herds because the boils, hail and plague #10 all affect the animals.

6. The subjects of "election" and the sovereignty of God vs man's free will have always been a puzzle to me. The account of Pharaoh and God alternately hardening (see note below) the king's heart has always suggested to me that man is responsible for his own choices yet nothing that happens is apart from God's design. And God even steps in to aggressively orchestrate certain situations instead of simply doing damage control when people make foolish choices and "mess up" His plan.

Anyway, I had never before noticed how BOTH the king and Moses were chosen by God for a specific purpose. Neither man sought the Lord, but rather He came to them. Neither man was appreciative of being selected. Pharaoh repeatedly resisted God's will and Moses at first tried to argue his way out of doing the job God had assigned to him.

For He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will pity whomever I will pity." So, then, it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of the One showing mercy, of God. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very thing I raised you up, so that I might display My power in you, and so that My name might be publicized in all the earth." So, then, to whom He desires, He shows mercy. And to whom He desires, He hardens. Romans 9:15-18

Although Moses made God angry with his excuses, God didn't kill him and then choose Aaron to go alone even though it appears Aaron was perfectly willing to cooperate. Here again is that younger brother over the elder theme. Moses was the God-appointed "leader" even though Aaron was the one who actually spoke to the king and carried the staff! I've been trying to determine whether there was a point when Moses stepped to the front or whether Aaron was the permanent mouthpiece. I'll have to re-read the passage.

God was in control the whole time--and yet, Pharaoh was also held accountable for his choices.

Note: I'm no linguistic student but found it interesting that when we read "harden" in English, it actually derives from different words at different points in the narrative. Exodus 4:21; is where God tells Moses that He would harden Pharaoh's heart. The original root word was "chazaq" (which means "to fasten upon", "seize" or "be strong") and is also used in 7:13, 22; 14:4, 17; 9:12, 35; 10:20, 27. Exodus 7:3 uses the root "quashah" (to be dense, tough or severe) Exodus 7:14; 8:15, 32; 9:7, 34; 10:1 uses the word "kabed" (heavy. the figurative negative sense can mean severe, difficult, stupid). As an interested, yet uneducated observer, my own thought is that we are naturally at odds with the Lord and cannot understand His ways without God first choosing to give us understanding (But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14) The Egyptian king (like the rest of us) was already naturally an enemy of God (hard-hearted) and God chose to not enlighten him to the truth. The "hardening" that occurred appears to be a strengthening of the already stubbornly rebellious "hardened" state of his heart.

That seems like a rather harsh perspective, but I have to note Romans 9:21: Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor? I don't always understand why God chooses to do the things He does but I am certainly thankful for the mercy He has shown to me. I would appreciate any scholarly insight anyone might offer here...

7. Although I don't understand much of it, I am fascinated by end-times prophecy. And it is interesting to me how much of the imagery of Revelation resembles the description of the plagues. Perhaps sometime I will get to spend more time comparing the two, but even a cursory reading reveals similar imagery of such things as "bloody water", hail, frogs, locusts, some sort of painful sores, crop failures and famine.

Alright, then. Those are my somewhat random (and perhaps interesting only to me) observations.