01/29/10

Exodus 9-11

The plagues which came upon Egypt in chapters seven and eight continue in chapters nine through twelve. The plague of flies is followed by a plague on livestock - "all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died." Pharoah investigated and found that all of the Israelite animals were all right, but still did not relent. Next, Moses tossed soot from a furnace into the air in the presence of Pharoah, "and festering boils broke out on men and animals." When this did not work, the next plague was hail. Lightning and thunder filled the sky, and rain and hail pelted down, destroying all of the crops in the fields, and killing men and animals who weren't under cover. Only in Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was spared in all of Egypt. At this point, Pharoah relented and told Moses that the people of God could go. But after Moses raised his arms and the hail stopped, Pharoah "hardened [his] heart" and refused, again, to let them go.

In chapter 10, a plague of locusts descends on the land after Pharoah refuses to take the advice of his officials to let the Israelites go. Pharoah agreed to let the men go and pray and sacrifice in the desert, but not the women and children. So "Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt" and the Lord brought swarms of locusts, that "covered all the ground until it was black," and "devoured all that was left after the hail." Pharoah called Moses and Aaron and agreed to let them go, and the Lord ended the plague, but "the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go." Then Moses stretch out his hand toward the sky and darkness descended on the land, "yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived." So again, Pharoah agrees to let them go, and again "the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart." Pharoah tells Moses to leave his presence, and that if he sees him again, Moses will die.

Chapter 11 is very short, and God tells Moses that he will bring one last plague on Egypt, after which Pharoah "will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely." He tells Moses to tell the people to ask their neighbors for gold and silver. The text then informs us that the Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and that Moses was highly regarded by the Egyptians, including Pharoah's officials. Moses tells Pharoah that the firstborn sons in Egypt will die, "from the firstborn son of Pharaoh...to the firstborn son of the slave girl...and all the firstborn of the cattle as well." He tells Pharoah that his officials will come to Moses, bowing and down and telling him to go, with all of his people. "Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh." "But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Modern day people living in Israel - Israelis. Ancient descendants of Israel living in Egypt - Israelites. I'm not sure why, but every time I'm tempted to write "Israelis," I recognize that it isn't right.
• The plagues sent on Egypt:
  
  1. The Nile turned to blood (Ex 7:19-24)
  2. The plague of frogs (Ex 8:5-15)
  3. The plague of lice [KJV]/gnats [NIV] (Ex 8:16-19)
  4. The plague of flies (Ex 8:19-29)
  5. The plague of livestock (Ex 9:1-7)
  6. The plague of boils (Ex 9:8-12)
  7. The plague of hail (Ex 9:13-33)
  8. The plague of locusts (Ex 10:3-20)
  9. The plague of darkness (Ex 10:21-29)
  10. The plague on the firstborn (Ex 11:1-12:30)
  
  
• From the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, John Martin's "The Seventh Plague of Egypt
  

  




• Ex 9:6 says that "all of the livestock of the Egyptians died," but the plagues of boils affect "men and animals" and the hail "will fall on every man and animal that has not been brought in." One could interpret that as meaning that not all of the Egyptian livestock was killed.



• Several of the plagues end the same way. Pharoah agrees to let the Israelites go, the plague is removed/relieved, "but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go..." This, then, is the "why" question I refered to yesterday: why does God keep "harden[ing] Pharoah's heart?" I know that he gave a reason.
  
  

  "I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." (Ex 9:16)
  
  "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the LORD." (Ex 10:1-2)

  
  So it's the "shock and awe" method of message delivery. But why? Aren't there miracles which would "show [God's] power" and tell the people of Israel that "[HE is] the LORD" without the destruction and despair inflicted on the Egyptians?
  
  God is the creator of the universe, and created man in his own image, so the Egyptians are also men in the image of God. God created the Israelites, but he also created the Egyptians. To choose a people to use as an example for others seems more acceptable than choosing a people to reward above others. The plagues in Egypt don't feel fair.
  
  If Pharoah won't listen to the word of God, as we all fail to listen, that's one thing. But in the events portrayed here, Pharoah does listen, and then God "hardens his heart" just to continue making an example of him. It seems sadistic. It seems unfair, unjust and cruel, none of the things that we want to think of as being characteristics of God.

Proverbs 17:1-14

I'm going to refrain from making a political comment here.

A lesson that most of us need, and don't take very well, from verses 13-14.

If a man pays back evil for good, evil will never leave his house.

Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

Obviously, there are some things that need to be dealt with. But quarreling about unimportant things, quarreling just because you're irritated, that's not a productive behavior.

01/28/10

Exodus 5-8

Chapter five begins with Moses and Aaron addressing Pharoah. They tell him that the God of Israel says to "let my people go," so that they can hold a festival in the desert. When Pharaoah claims ignorance of the God of the Israelites, they tell him that the people want to take a three-day journey into the desert to make sacrifices and offerings, otherwise he will bring plagues upon them. But Pharoah just berates them for taking the people away from their labor. After Moses and Aaron have left, he tells the slavemasters not to give any more straw to the Hebrews making bricks, to make them find it themselves, but not to reduce the quota. When this happens, they cannot meet the quota, and are punished. The people complain to Moses and Aaron that they have brought this increased punishment upon them. And Moses "returned to the LORD," echoing the complaint.

Chapter six reveals, for the first time, the name of GOD, as he once more reminds Moses that he is listening and will deliver the Israelites. He tells Moses that he will make his power known and that "because of my mighty hand he [Pharoah] will drive them out of his country." He instructs Moses to tell the Israelites that he (GOD) will bring them out of bondage in Egypt. Moses delivers this message, but the Israelites didn't listen because they were discouraged. The Lord then told Moses to go back to Pharoah but Moses, again, resisted. "If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?" The rest of chapter six is taken up with the genealogy of the house of Levi down to Moses and Aaron and Aaron's sons, and then, again, Moses question for God about "faltering lips."

In chapter seven, God tells Moses that he has been made "like God to Pharaoh," and that Aaron is like his prophet. Moses is to say everything that God tells him, and Aaron will tell Pharoah to let the Israelites go. They tell Pharoah, and when he demands a miracle, Aaron throws his staff to the ground where it became a snake. Pharoah's priests threw their staffs to the ground where they also became snakes, but Aaron's snake swallowed the others. Pharoah still would not listen. Next, God tells Moses and Aaron to meet Pharoah at the banks of the Nile in the morning. They do so, and when Aaron holds out his staff and strikes the water with it, the Nile turns to blood. But Pharoah still would not listen.

Chapter eight continues the now-established pattern. Moses and Aaron demand that Pharoah let God's people go, Pharoah refuses, and a plague ensues. First is a plague of frogs, followed by gnats and then flies. After the plague of flies, Pharoah allows them to go to the desert to pray, and implores Moses to pray for him. But when they left his presence, and God removed the flies in response to Moses' prayer, "Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• One of the things that is difficult, conceptually, in dealing with passages like Ex 5:2 is understanding exactly what the phrase "God of Israel" would mean to an Egyptian at the time. He was certainly a pagan, polytheist of sorts, but, while I've read and heard many things about Egyptian religious belief and the trappings thereof, that's different from actually thinking that way. Would Pharoah think of the "God of Israel" as a real being with real power? As an icon or symbol? As a mistaken belief? Certainly, he doesn't, by any of his responses, indicate that he has any fear of this entity.
• In chapter six, we see, for the first time, the name of God. Prior to that, in dealings with Abraham and Isaac, the terms have been "adonai" or "elohim," but now the tetragrammaton יְהֹוִה ("Yahweh" or "Jehovah") makes its first appearance, as God tells Moses who he is, and tells him that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob did not know him by this name.
• The geneaology of Moses and Aaron (Ex 6:13-26): Israel->Levi->Kohath->Amram (father of Moses), Israel->Levi->Jochebed (mother of Moses.) So Levi was the paternal great-grandfather, and maternal grandfather, of Moses and Aaron.
• The Hebrew word which the NIV translates as "faltering," עָרֵל means, literally, "uncircumcised." The KJV uses that.
• I have to confess that there are parts of this story that I don't believe. I can believe that God turned Aaron's staff into a snake, but not that Pharoah's priests could do the same thing with theirs. I can believe that God turned the Nile to blood, but not that "the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts."
• There's a big question, of course, about all of the trials and plagues in Egypt. I'm going to save it for later (but is starts with "why").

Proverbs 16:17-33

A couple of verses from this section is echoed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:

Pv 16:25 "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."

Mt 7:13 "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."

Pv 16:17 "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

Mt 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."