Perhaps it is because everyday life can have enough problems or because they do not want to confront their fears, but people would rather not think about negative things. It has always been of great interest to me the number of people who seem to live life at a trivial level, and I think we British are particularly adept at this.
If we immerse ourselves in petty, joking conversations, in the trivia of fashion and celebrity, in salacious gossip, and if we spend our free time at parties and getting drunk, never slowing down, then these things can act as an anaesthetic against the deeper things of life. In short, many people live frivolous lives, mistaking them for happy, fulfilled lives.
What a shock it will be therefore, when they stand before the judgement seat of Christ and are confronted with the truth of what they have avoided.
Moral accountability and judgement are exactly the kinds of issues that the frivolous people do not want to face. Even if they do believe in one creator God they would find it pretty hard to stomach judgement where God deliberately acts as a hostile force. Perhaps even some Christians find it difficult.
When we think about God, we like to think about the God of salvation, the God who loves, who is compassionate and forgiving. But think through the logic for a moment. All these descriptions of God indicate that there is a negative alternative - condemnation, rejection, severe and blaming. Understand that God is, and has every right to be angry with us and tells us in Hebrews 10:31 that, “it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Paul in Romans 1:18 talks about the Wrath of God being revealed.
Judgement is the flipside of salvation. Salvation is only necessary and only makes sense if there is judgment. In the Bible, salvation only ever operates within the context of judgment, Noah’s Flood being the prime example.
Let’s turn to the plagues of Egypt that deal with God’s anger. Please note that this study will only cover the first nine plagues and the comments do not apply to the final plague.
The Purpose of the Plagues – Judgement
As with the trumpet judgements in Revelation, the function of these plagues in Exodus is twofold. They act as,
· Warnings to repent , and
· Judgments (Exodus 6:6)
Under the trumpet judgements, the awful events are aimed at only non believers and in 9:20 when this cycle of plagues (for that is what they are called) is assessed, we are told that people still would not repent. Therefore, we know repentance to be their purpose. Throughout the Egyptian plague God wants the Egyptians to know that he is God alone and that their idols are false. He wants them to turn to him and acknowledge him. Thus these plagues serve the same purpose of inducing repentance.
In 8: 19 Pharaoh's magician's tell him, "this is the finger of God" when they cannot duplicate a plague sent from God. There are other situations in the Bible where the finger of God is mentioned and where the issue is assessment and judgement.
· Daniel 5 and the writing on the wall
· John and the imminent stoning of Mary
· The Tablets of the Law Sinai – (the Law can only condemn us because we are unable to keep it as Paul tells us in Romans.)
So the Purpose of the plagues is first repentance and then judgement. Jim Spence in his overview of Exodus delivered to St Helens Bishopsgate puts it well. "God's judgements are intended to be remedial before they are meant to be punitive. That is, the judgements or plagues of God are intended to lead to a change of heart.
The Purpose of the Plagues – Salvation
In 5:2 we looked at the fundamental reason that makes a person a primary target for the plagues of God. That is, those who are not in a personal relationship with God, or simply, those who are not saved.
In the introduction we’ve already seen that the plagues are not wholly negative. Whilst they are warnings and judgment for the Egyptians, for God's people they are active salvation. To be God’s person we must be n relationship with him. God makes a distinction between the two groups. This distinction has nothing to do with earned merit by the Hebrews but everything to do with God’s gracious election.
God verses False gods.
In the last study we saw that in challenging Pharaoh, God is actually challenging the worship of false gods. Many of the creatures featured in the plagues are symbols of Egyptian gods: the Nile, beetle (scarab), cattle, frogs etc
How are we supposed to distinguish between God and his false rivals? What is a good test to know what is a false god?
Firstly, to know the true God is to be in a relationship with him that will be quite different to that with an idol. For Christians, we have the Holy Spirit who helps us discern what is of God and what is not. He convicts us of our sin and we can quickly see the emergence of idols in our lives.
For the non believer it is rather different. Their faculties for differentiating are limited by not having the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the answer lies in power. Whereas God is the sovereign creator with all divine power in his one pair of hands, the false gods are actually powerless. No wonder they seem capricious and fickle to their followers. God is never like that. The Egyptians saw acts of God’s power in huge visual ‘miracles’ that were unmissable and that their gods could not answer.
Gradation
You will notice there is an increasing severity in the plagues, and many people think the is a natural causality between them, linking them in a scientifically observable and logical fashion. For example, if the Nile turned like blood then all the frogs would come onto land and then there would be swarms of flies and gnats, so on and so forth. I don’t want to get bogged down in these details, however fascinating they are. Let's simply remind ourselves that the Bible is recounting a spiritual history and does not therefore answer all questions on the mechanics.
The plagues split into three groups of three and there is an observable distinction between each group. The first plagues (1-3) produce discomfort; the next 3 bring about greater damage or destruction (4-6); the last 3 (7-9) produce the added dimension of downright dread.
Along with the increasing severity of the plagues we should not too that the requests of Moses to Pharaoh also become bolder. With each event, the stakes are raised all-round. Everything is leading up to the final cataclysmic of the death of the first born. The history of the earth has this steady but sure awfulness about it. Revelation shows the sweep of the Church Age as things deteriorate for the world up until Jesus returns to destroy it and make way for the new earth and heavens. The lesson is that we should expect things to get worse and not better.
Structure
As we’ve just mentioned, leaving the 10th plague aside because it is singularly very different from the others, the remaining nine plagues split up into three groups of three plagues each. Alan Cole mentions that the Egyptians described "their enemies in general as the nine blows, i.e. nine hostile nations." It is worth mentioning at this time that the word used for plagues throughout Exodus literally means ‘blow’ or ‘strike’. God was writing his message bold and clear for his enemies. David Jackman points out that each time the cycle of 3 plagues ends theses is fresh recognition of who Yahweh is, that he is in control, but also we note that it fell short of a saving recognition.
History
Click here to see a sheet of parallel quotations from Exodus and the Ipuwer Papyrus that will open in a separate browser window. This is a purported eyewitness account of the plagues by an Egyptian. The papyrus was found in the early 19th Century in Egypt and dates from the end of the Middle Kingdom. Written by an Egyptian named Ipuwer, it appears to be an eyewitness account of the effects of the Exodus plagues from the viewpoint of an Egyptian.
This is not myth but history.
There are two major aspects concerning the sending of the plagues on the Egyptians that we will look at here. Firstly, at the general level, God is making himself known, and secondly at the individual level, God’s dealings with Pharaoh. Hopefully, that should answer this question.
A: God made known
Holiness
David Malick says, “The seriousness with which God deals with sin is also the measure of His holiness. Often times we find ourselves horrified at the severity with which God deals with the sinner. When we think of God as harsh in such instances we only reveal our failure to grasp the holiness of God and the gravity of sin.”
| 7:5 & 17 | 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them." 17 Thus says the LORD, "By this you shall know that I am the LORD… |
| 8:10 & 22 | 10 Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. 22 But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. |
| 9:16 | ...to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. |
| 10:2 | ...that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD." |
Reading through these quotations from Exodus the overriding purpose of the plagues is making God known to people who are not yet his. He makes himself known in the following ways:
§ His sovereignty, not just over Israel but over Egypt and the whole world.
§ What it is to be Yahweh, and to have total power and authority as Judge and Saviour.
§ Yahweh is no idol but is singularly different to the gods of men.
§ Yahweh discriminates in his dealings between his people and those who are not.
§ To the Israelites, what it means to have Yahweh as your personal God and to be in covenant relationship with him.
The Deceit of the World (Exodus 7:8-13)
We should turn our attention here to the signs that Moses is given and the first two plagues. Moses uses the sign of the snake before Pharaoh to assert God’s authority, and this along with the first two plagues the Egyptian magicians are able to emulate, although why they want to make matters worse is open to debate! We might be troubled that God is not quite as in control as he would seem.
However, in the end God's Snake swallows up the magicians’ snakes. God is supreme and will demonstrate his superior authority in every occurrence. After those first two plagues the magicians are left flat-footed and admit defeat.
In thinking about what the magicians did achieve however, I have two suggestions. Firstly, the magicians were operating through sleight of hand whilst God is doing these things for real. On the one hand we have appearance and on the other at reality. The reality is always more impressive. The plagues were undoubtedly on a scale quite unimagined. Secondly, we should not trifle and dismiss the powers of Satan. He is capable of much, although we should be comforted that his powers are woefully smaller than those of God. He can only operate within the limits set by God.
Christians are warned in Mark 13:22 by Jesus, “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect - if that were possible.” In the last days there will be many counterfeit miracles to deceive people concerning the truth. We must be careful that our discernment is good and biblical and that we witness to non believers what is counterfeit and what is real.
B: God's dealings with Pharaoh / the individual Exodus (9:33-10:2)
33So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the LORD, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. 34But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.
1Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, 2and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD."
Some people feel a touch of sympathy with Pharaoh God hardens his heart and he appears to ‘use’ him. God is showing how he deals with all individuals, and in the passage at the end of chapter 9 we can see a pattern.
At first God is lenient and forgiving. Jim Spence reminds us that God delights not in judgment but in salvation and mercy. Later, if the opportunity for forgiveness and repentance is spurned then God hands people over to their own sinfulness and subsequently to judgment. David Jackman describes the process like this:
· Stage 1: Pharaoh is given a choice by God. (Pharaoh is actually told the eventual cost of disobedience right at the outset in chapter 4 verses 21-23. So to the human race is told the cost, that to ignore God and to live your life your own way means death and separation from God in judgment.)
· Stage 2: Pharaoh hardens his own heart. (Pharaoh does understand the truth of hie position before God in part: (8:19, 9:11, 9:20, 10:7) but repeatedly he says I do not want to.)
· Stage 3: Pharaoh’s heart was hard.
· Stage 4: God hardens his heart.
It seems from my own experience and that of others that this pattern is replicated time and again in the lives of people. The lesson is clear. Eventually there comes a moment in a person's life where 'will not' becomes 'cannot' come to God.
If we refuse to submit to God then there will come a time when we no longer have any volition in the matter. God grants our request which becomes its own judgment. We choose our own prison and death. In the same way that God's grace overflows to those who say yes I do want to, so God's judgment appears equally harsh to those who say no to his offer of grace.
Another idea that I have found very helpful in thinking about Pharaoh's opposition is this; his defiance demonstrates how there is no fence-sitting with regards to God's word. the Oct-Dec 03 edition of the daily Bible notes 'Explore' says this, "God's word does not have a neutral effect." The notes refer the reader to Psalm 95: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."
Whilst this is not an easy thing for us to accept, God is not just in the business of softening hearts but also of hardening them. AS we make our choice to accept or rejct God's word, so the Lord confirms us in faith or rebellion, preparing us for conversion or for judegement.
Let's remind ourselves that there is a most striking similarity between these plagues and the plagues in Revelation. We are meant to see the Egyptian plagues therefore, describing the principles of the final judgment and salvation of all humanity at the end of time.
If you are horrified by the scale of disaster and human misery caused then this should be an incentive, albeit a negative one, to seek a remedy. On the other hand, the positive incentive is that in the past and in the future God is a God of salvation and he guarantees the safety and eternal future of all who come into relationship with him and who name Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour.