A superficial reading of the account of events preceding the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt might give the impression that God brought the plagues on the Egyptians to make them so uncomfortable that they would be glad to let the children of Israel go. There is no doubt that they were uncomfortable and that they were so anxious to be rid of the cause of their troubles that they literally thrust them out. “And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.” Exodus 12:33.
Horrible as they were, however, the plagues were not just a series of terrors indiscriminately inflicted by an avenging God. There were two definite goals to be accomplished. 1 The Israelites must acknowledge the absolute supremacy of God. “Unto thee is was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord, He is God. There is none else beside Him.” Deuteronomy 4: 35. 2. The gods of the Egyptians must be discredited. ” . . . upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments.” Numbers 33: 4.
Egypt seldom gets rain and the land is watered by the overflowing waters of the Nile River. The fields are also fertilized by the deposits left on them by this yearly inundation. The whole life of Egypt depends on the Nile, which was given the name of Hapi, and shrines were erected along its banks. Hapi was the Lord of Fish, Creator of Barley, etc. A copy of a hymn to this deity is at present in the British Museum, having been unearthed by archaeologists. What consternation must have been felt throughout the Land of Egypt when the water was turned into blood!
The Sun was also one of the Egyptian gods, and the plague of darkness would demonstrate the inability of this god to dispel the blackness imposed by the God of Israel. To accentuate the difference, the Israelites had light in their dwellings, while the rest of the land groped in “thick darkness” for three days.
The “swarms of flies”, or as the margin reads “a mixture of noisome beasts”, would undoubtedly include the scarab beetle, long held sacred by the Egyptians. This was the symbol of the god, Kephera, the god of creation, of coming into being, and of the resurrection. What respect could a people retain for a god which could be turned into a pestilence by another God ? God further demonstrated His power by keeping His own people free from this plague, as recorded in Exodus 8: 22, “And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there: to the end that thou mightest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.”
One by one the people of Egypt were seeing their gods proved powerless and ineffectual. But more was to come. The “murrain of cattle” was an infectious and often fatal disease like anthrax, affecting domestic animals. It was also on horses, asses, camels, oxen and sheep. This would strike at the animal worship which was prevalent in the country, for instance Apis the bull, Mnevis the cow, the Ram god-Ra, and the goddess Hathor.
There was a plague of frogs. A frog was regarded as typical of the life of the resurrection and some believed a frog goddess had created man.
It was one of the fictions of Egypt that every Pharaoh was a god. It certainly must have undermined the prestige of this god when his son, along with the first-born of all Egypt, was killed, and he could do nothing to prevent it; yet the first-born of the Israelites, a subservient people, were saved alive.
The plague of lice was very trying to the Egyptian priests, who avoided wool and wore only linen so as to avoid vermin. When the plague came, they, like everyone else, were covered with lice.
It would be natural to suppose that after this unparalleled display of divine power, the Egyptians would have forsaken their useless gods and sought after the God of Israel. There is no record that this was the case, and they, no doubt, reverted to their old customs as soon as the plagues were removed. Human nature does not change, and these people were in the same class as those referred to in Luke 16 31— . . . “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead ‘
Today we find many people in the same frame of mind as the Egyptians Their “gods” have different names—wealth, indolence, apathy, ambition, pleasure and many others, but the result is the same Even though God has performed a greater miracle than the plagues of Egypt in raising His Son from the dead, they will not believe Some blindly accept the belief that they will go to Heaven after death, and others declare they are not interested in a future life What they have now is sufficient. When danger threatens, they depend on armed forces to protect them, heedless of the example of Pharaoh’s army which followed the Israelites and perished in the Red Sea.
The time is drawing near when God will again show His might and power. Jesus will return from Heaven and reign on the earth and all nations will be under His rule All the props on which men lean today will be as useless as the gods of the Egyptians.
The wise will avail himself of the opportunity to ‘believe and be baptized” into the only name “under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4.12.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One