February 13, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
I don’t know about you, but ever since I was a little child, the account of Moses, the plagues, and the exodus from Egypt has been one of my most favorite Bible History stories. I can still remember the feeling of excitement that would come over me every year when we studied it in our Bible History lessons. I loved hearing about the amazing miracles that the Lord enabled Moses to do in the presence of Pharaoh. I practically cheered for Moses as he and Aaron stood before Pharaoh demanding that Pharaoh let God’s people go into the wilderness to worship. Though Pharaoh kept trying to change the deal, promising to let them go and not delivering on that promise, I admired Moses and Aaron for how they simply stood their ground on God’s Word and never backed down. But most of all, I remember marveling at the plagues that the Lord sent upon Egypt. I remember being amazed by the mighty displays of God’s power against the Egyptians; mighty displays that revealed God’s judgment against those who didn’t believe in him and that revealed his love for those who did believe in him. Though I didn’t realize it then, I realize now that the reason I so love these chapters so much is simply because they reveal the Lord God as the warrior that he truly is. They reveal the Lord as the God who truly loves his people, who defends his people, and as the God who fights for his people. Though there are many other places in Scripture that the Lord is revealed to us in this way, I truly love how these chapters show the Lord as our Warrior. In fact, these are the very words that Moses, Miriam, and all Israel used to describe the Lord after they had crossed the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s Army had been drown. They stood on the banks and sang, “The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his Name!” (Exodus 15:3)
But before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s take a look at exactly how the Lord is our Warrior! After all, the account of the plagues shows the Lord actively fighting to deliver his people from their slavery. Yet, not only do the plagues show the Lord actively fighting to free his people from their slavery to sin, they also foreshadow the Lord our Warrior actively fighting to free his people from their slavery to sin and death. For in the same way same way that a Knight of old would throw down his gauntlet as a challenge or even as a precursor for battle, so also the Lord threw down the gauntlet of a shepherd’s staff to begin his battle with Pharaoh. In fact, it is at the beginning of Exodus 7:1-13 where Moses and Aaron stand before Pharaoh and command him, in the Name of the Lord, to let the Lord’s people go into the desert to worship the Lord their God. But, as we know, Pharaoh did not feel compelled to listen to this Jehovah, who was the God of the slaves. After all Pharaoh had a plethora of gods and goddesses that he served, roughly 80 different gods and goddesses in fact. Not only did Pharaoh have a plethora of his own gods to serve, as Pharaoh, he was believed to be a god in the flesh himself! So why in all the world should he listen to the god of the Hebrews, the very people who had been enslaved to him for so many years.
So, it began! Pharaoh refused to listen to the Lord and demanded a sign. Aaron threw down his staff and it became a snake. Now this would have gotten Pharaoh’s attention straight away as the cobra was a symbol of Pharaoh’s ruling power. But, not to be out done, Pharaoh summoned his magicians and by their secret arts, which means by their satanic means, they too were able to produce snakes by throwing down their staffs. Yet, it was Aaron’s staff that swallowed up all the other snakes. The snake of God had overcome Pharaoh’s snake and his ruling power. But Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the Israelites go. Thus begins the 10 round battle between Pharaoh and God. The battle where the Lord brought judgment on all the gods of Egypt (Exodus 12:12 and Numbers 33:4) The battle where the Lord used the things of nature, the very things the Egyptians worshiped, to plague the people, to cause them to wonder why their god so and so was unable to protect them and stand up to the Warrior God of the Hebrews, and to destroy the power of Egypt—a blow from which they have never recovered.
Round 1: The Plague of Blood (Exodus 7:14-24). As Pharaoh was on his way to the Nile to worship, Moses and Aaron met him. They gave Pharaoh the Lord’s ultimatum to let his people go but Pharaoh refused. So Aaron struck the Nile with his staff and its waters turned to blood. Blood was everywhere in the land of Egypt. The fish died! Not only the sacred fish that they worshiped, but also the fish that the Egyptians ate and traded, and the river smelled so bad they could not drink the water. In one powerful swoop the Lord God took down some of the most important and most powerful gods of Egypt. He took down Osiris, one of the chief gods of Egypt who was also first of all the gods of the Nile. He took down Hapi, tauret and Nu, gods of life and fertility in the Nile. Though this was a powerful blow against Pharaoh and all of Egypt as the Nile to them was the source of their life, Pharaoh hardened his heart when his own magicians sought help from satan and were able to reproduce the same results, only on a much smaller scale.
Round 2: The Plague of Frogs (Exodus 7:25-8:15). Seven days later the Lord sent Moses back to Pharaoh with the same ultimatum, “Let my people go so that they may worship me.” To which he added, “If you do not let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.” Though Egyptians were used to a great number of frogs filling their lands after the annual flood of the Nile, these frogs were naturally controlled by other predators. This time, however, the Lord brought the frogs up out of the rivers and streams of Egypt when Aaron stretched his staff over them. There were so many frogs that the people could barely move without stepping on one of them. They came up into the houses, the ovens, the kilns, the bedrooms, yes even the beds of the Egyptians. Though frogs pose no real threat to us, frogs were the symbol of the goddess Heket who presided over conception and birth. She was also said to be present at the birth of every Pharaoh of Egypt. Imagine the feeling of the Egyptians as they wondered what had happened to make their god malfunction and bring a curse upon the land. Imagine the favor that this goddess lost as the frogs sat in piles reeking and rotting after the Warrior God of the Hebrews destroyed them. Though the Lord showed Pharaoh that his gods could not control their own frogs, because the magicians were able to use satan’s power to bring up a small number of frogs, Pharaoh hardened his heart.
Round 3: The Plague of Gnats (Exodus 8:16-19). Again the Lord struck at the heart of the false gods of Egypt. This time, however, he went after Geb, the god of the land, the very god the Egyptians believed had created the earth and the great and fertile land of Egypt. Without warning the Lord told Aaron to strike the ground with his staff and throughout Egypt the dust became gnats or as another translation say, lice or perhaps fleas; the people of Egypt who so valued cleanliness were covered with vermin. The priests who served in the temples of the gods of Egypt were not able to do their duties because no one was permitted to enter a temple of a god with parasites upon them. Though Pharaoh may have been confident that his gods would eventually win the day, this time things were different. This time the Lord did not allow satan to intervene. This time the Lord knocked satan out of the battle completely as the priests themselves declared that this was from the finger of God when they could not reproduce the plague. Yet Pharaoh still hardened his heart!
Round 4. The Plague of Flies (Exodus 8:20-32). Now, in the Hebrew, the word flies is not there. Instead the Hebrew tells us that this is the plague of swarms. It may have been swarms of flies or even beetles. In our days we’ve seen both. Not too many years ago we saw swarms of Asian beetles that turned the air orange where they were swarming, and we’ve seen swarms of flies that turned the air black where they were. But regardless of what was swarming these swarms showed that the god Khepera, the god of creation, fertility, and resurrection, as well as all the other gods associated with those tasks were simply not cutting the mustard. They could not fight against the Lord our Warrior. But here’s the even greater thing. From this miracle on, the Lord separated his people. They were not affected by the rest of the plagues. They were spared while Egypt was ravaged. Yet even as Pharaoh saw this, he hardened his heart. He would not bow to the will of the Lord the God of the slaves, even though the God of the slaves was waging war against Pharaoh and all of Egypt’s gods and winning.
Round 5. The Plague of the Livestock (Exodus 9:1-7). This time it was Hathor, the cow goddess who was the great mother supposed to have conceived and brought forth all life, she was not able to stand up against the Lord. The cattle died, the sacred animals who were worshiped at Hathor’s temple. Even the bulls died, bulls where were symbols of Pharaoh himself. This plague affected all the livestock in Egypt and many died because of it. Yet not one of the Israelites animals died or even got sick. This time God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh who had resisted the Lord had resisted to the point that he was no longer able to repent or turn to the Lord. His time of grace was at an end and the Lord hardened him in his unbelief, because Pharaoh had resisted the Lord—the Holy Spirit.
Round 6. The Plague of Boils (Exodus 9:8-12). Isis, the goddess of healing and medicine could not compete or even stand against the Lord God Almighty. One by one the Lord was showing all of Egypt’s gods to be false, useless, and nonexistent. Boils broke out on people and animals throughout Egypt, but not in the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived. In fact, because of this plague the magicians could not stand before Moses. Again Pharaoh did not listen. The Lord hardened his heart
Round 7. The Plague of Hail (Exodus 9:13-33). Now it was Nut’s turn. She was the goddess of the sky and she could not stop the rain, the hail, and the fire that the Lord rained down upon Egypt. With this plague there were some in Egypt who began to fear the Lord. They made sure that their animals and their families were inside when the plague came and they were saved. Those in the field, along with the barely and the flax were destroyed. Thus the Lord crippled the clothing industry, as Flax was what the Egyptians used to make linen. He also destroyed the beer industry as barely was one of the primary ingredients of beer and bread. Yet Pharaoh hardened his heart.
Round 8. The Plague of Locust (Exodus 10:1-20). Though there were times when the Egyptians saw plagues of locust, they had never seen a plague like this, nor would there ever be a plague like this again. When the Locusts came they covered the face of the land and they ate everything that was left after the hail. Though Pharaoh refused to listen to the Lord, some of his officials began to openly question his rule and urge him to listen because Egypt had been ruined by this war that Pharaoh kept fighting against the Lord our Warrior.
Round 9. The Plague of Darkness (Exodus 9:21-29). For three days the eye of Ra, the sun was blotted out. For three days the Lord visited the Egyptians with the same darkness that was seen in Genesis 1:2, for the Hebrew word for darkness is the very same word that the Lord used in Genesis 1 to describe what it was like at the beginning of creation when there was nothing but darkness upon the face of the deep! How it must have terrified the Egyptians to know that one of their greatest and most important gods had been taken away from them. There was no light in the land of Egypt anywhere, but there was plenty of light in the land of Goshen where the Israelites were.
Round 10. The Death of the Firstborn (Exodus 12:29-32) (Exodus 11:1-12:32). We know this plague well. At midnight, the Lord sent the Angel of Death through the land of Egypt to kill all the firstborn from the first born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, even all the first born of the livestock. The only acceptation was for those who followed the Lord’s decree of the Passover. They sacrificed a one year old lamb, painted its blood on the doorposts and the door frames of their homes, and ate the roasted lamb in the house. That night the Lord took down the god Pharaoh and Pharaoh drove the people out of the land. That night the Lord our warrior delivered the people from the land of slavery and foreshadowed the deliverance he would bring through the Lamb of God when the time had fully come. That night the Lord won the victory for his pople.
Epilogue. (Exodus 12:33-15:21) Though Pharaoh had driven the people out, he didn’t like to lose. He sent his army after them and trapped them, or so he thought, at the Red Sea. Yet the Lord fought for his people again. He separated the two camps with a Pillar of Fire. He divided the Red Sea so the people could cross over on dry ground. Then, when Pharaoh’s army tried to follow he drown them in the Red Sea as the walls of water came crashing back down upon them. Thus the Lord delivered his people, demonstrated that the gods of the Egyptians, and all other gods for that matter are nothing but idols and demons, and he showed himself to be the Lord, the Warrior who fights for his people and wins.
Now, why did I spend the last 20 minutes telling you a story you already know? Because, even we need to be reminded that the Lord our God is the Warrior who fights for us! He is the one who delivered the Israelites out of the Land of Slavery when Egypt was the world’s super power. He is the one who fought the battle against satan and triumphed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior! He is the Lord who has our backs! No matter what we might face in this life, the Lord is by our side. He will provide for us. He will lead us through trouble and hardship. Even if we should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is with us and we don’t need to fear any trouble, because he will work it out four our good. Though satan, our enemy, is constantly trying to separate us from the Lord, the Lord is our all powerful warrior who cares for us and delivers us. He has promised us that no one can pluck us out of his hand. He is the one who loves us and cares for us because he is God our Savior and our hope is in him all day long.
No matter what satan might throw at us; no matter what hardships might come our way; no matter how hopeless the situations of our lives might seem, from these 8 chapters of Exodus, we are assured that the Lord is our Warrior. The Lord is the one who fights for us. The Lord is the one who loves us and has redeemed us with his own might arm and outstretched hand. So, when you feel down or depressed, remind yourselves of what the Lord did for the Israels, and be assured that the Lord is your Warrior. Just as he fought for his people Israel, he will fight for you, because you too, through faith, are descendants of Abraham, belonging to the house of Israel.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
