the gods of Egypt

Israel has grown from one man Abraham to 70 people when they entered Egypt, and now they are a nation.

God sent the famine to drive Israel to Egypt so that they would remain a “people”. In Canaan, they were just like all of their neighbors, but in Egypt they were the filthy, shepherd outcasts that no one wanted for friends. The Egyptian gods were not the gods of Canaan. Before long, Israel was enslaved, which ensured that they remained a distinct people group for all their time there/

Now they have become a great nation of several million people.

Ezekiel 16: 1-9
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices 3 and say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. 5 No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.
6 " 'Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!" [a] 7 I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels. [b] Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, you who were naked and bare.

8 " 'Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.


Israel knew that the God of their fathers is a monotheistic, and holy God. They knew that to see his face means to die. But they knew very little else. They were ready to learn about their future husband. They were ready for marriage, but they did not know their arranged husband. (God and Abe worked out the deal a few years previously).

It was easy to believe when Moses returned with those signs and all that hope, so Moses approached Pharaoh without the use of signs. Confidence came easy, but left just as quickly. Moses seemed to walk away from Pharaoh without another word, without an answer.

Once Moses started the process, there was no turning back. A tough situation became impossible.

Commitment was made.
Hopes were destroyed.
Rejection, insults and punishment for daring to believe.
Just who is this Lord that our fathers worshipped?

The people were discouraged and refused to believe, and even Moses failed in faith, but God challenged Moses and Aaron to move ahead anyway.

Pharaoh said “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go” (Ex. 5:2)

God replied: That’s true – let me introduce myself. When Pharaoh came to know the Lord, he let the people go. This time of instruction was not for Pharaoh tho, because he learned little and ended up dying. Rather, this was God’s way of introducing himself to His young wife.

Now it is time to get serious. “It was impossible, but doable”



First of all, God demonstrates that he is much greater than each and every one of the Egyptian gods. If He is to be their God, can he compete? They don’t know.

Just watch God roll up his sleeves and get to work: Ex. 6:1 Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh!

This time when Moses came before Pharaoh, he came with more authority and with the signs that God had given him. Gone was the self-confidence and here was the God-confidence.



Pharaoh did snakes well. His hat had the image of Renenutet - the Cobra guardian of the Pharaohs. So when Aaron threw down the rod and it devoured Pharaoh’s snakes, he was a bit surprised.



First Plague: Water Changed To Blood (Ex. 7:14-25)

other waters became red as well, even the water that was drawn for use in houses in stone or wooden jars.

the first of the plagues should be directed against the Nile River itself,

The Nile was the heartbeat of Egypt all trade, commerce, and crops depended upon the Nile,

The Nile was the very lifeline of Egypt and the center of many of its religious ideas and sacred to the Egyptians. Many of their gods were associated either directly or indirectly with this river and its productivity.

anything that came from a divine body and touched the ground was productive."

1. The great Khnum was the guardian of the Nile

2. Hapi (or Hapy) was the "spirit of the Nile" and its "dynamic essence. He was a partner with the great original gods who had created the world, and came to be regarded as the maker and moulder of everything within the universe.

Hapi came to Egypt each year with the flood waters.
He was The "lord of the fishes and birds and marshes

People greeted him with sacrifices, offerings and amulets at sacred places all along the Nile.
No temples were actually dedicated specifically to Hapi, but he was universally revered – at least equal to the sun god Ra

not only did the fish in the river die but the 'river stank,' and the Egyptians were not able to use the water of that river
... imagine the horror and frustration of the people of Egypt
finding dead fish lining the shores and an ugly red characterizing what had before provided life and attraction.

Hapi the crocodile god of the Nile was forced to leave the Nile

the Nile was the very life of the gods - their medium for producing life, but now it brought death.
It would take generations before people would be happy with Hapi again.


Second Plague: Frogs (Ex, 8:1-15)

The frog was considered the theophany of the goddess Heqt (or Hekt, or Heket), the wife of the creator of the world and the goddess of birth. Heqt was always shown with the head and body of a frog.

As frogs would “spontaneously” appear out of the earth, so also Hekt would bring to life.
As such, she was not only a goddess of birth, but of rebirth, because of her life-giving powers.
Amulets with her image and scarabs were worn by women to protect them during childbirth

Even the involuntary slaughter of a frog was often punished with death.

Heqt ironically invaded pharaoh's bedroom and even jumped on his bed (Ex. 8:31.)

So, Pharaoh begged Moses to intercede with YHWH to take away the frogs - take away Heqt, the goddess of fertility from his own chamber.

The frogs died where they were. The Egyptians then had to gather the dead and rotting bodies, putting them in large stinking piles. The people of the land had to gather the decaying bodies of the frogs, and put them into heaps.

Would you want dead frogs around at the birth of your children? The memory would plague all future worship of Heqt.

Third Plague: Lice (Ex. 8:16-19)

The word "lice" is translated as "sand flies" or "fleas" in some translations. The Hebrew word kinnim comes from a root word meaning "to dig"; it is probable that the insect in question would dig under the skin.

This would have been an embarrassment to Geb, the great god of the earth.
Egyptians gave offerings to Geb for the bounty of the soil, yet out of him kept flowing these irritating biting insects.

This plague would have been especially dreadful to the priests of Egypt, they were required to shave all their hair off every day, and wear a single tunic, no lice would be permitted on their bodies. The daily ritual of the priest was not possible because of physical impurity.

Geb, the god of the earth, - established the cosmos - the source of vegetation but now out of him comes lice.

Lots of lice, dirty, biting irritating gnats.
It was as if every grain of sand became a no-see-um.
And people would shudder every time they look at the ground.

IV, Fourth Plague: Swarms (Ex. 8:20-32)

Moses used the word "swarms". The word "flies" was added by the translators. Some scholars believe this was the blood-sucking gadfly which was responsible for a lot of blindness in the land. Possibly the dog-fly, an insect described in detail by Philo.
Dog-flies are more annoying than gnats, and fasten themselves to the human body.
Josephus - pestilent creatures

A more probable understanding would be the dung beetle. Deification of the scarab beetle is still seen in Egypt today. It is often given as a gift to tourists.

Khefere - the self-produced, re-birthed morning sun had the head of a scarab.
Ra, the Sole Creator was visible as the disc of the sun, as the scarab beetle pushes a round ball of dung in front of it, Khefera and Ra (as a scarab) push the sun across the sky."

The plague of swarms of scarabs, with mandibles that could saw through wood, was destructive and worse than termites! They covered the ground, filled the houses, and even climbed on people. One could not walk, or even sit without squashing them
- the image of Khefera under foot and crunchy

This is the first plague in which God made a distinction Israel and the Egyptians (8:22-23).

V, Fifth Plague: Livestock Diseased (Ex. 9:1-7)

This plague was against domestic animals in the land ot Egypt.

The god Apis was represented as a bull, the living image of the god Ptah. (Ptah was the creator of the universe and master of destiny). Apis represented fertility and was a protector of the deceased. The Apis bull supposedly had the power of prophecy.

When the Apis bull died the land of Egypt mourned for him as they would for the loss of the monarch himself. When the Apis bull died, priests would travel through every pasture in Egypt looking for his perfect replacement

Hathor was the cow-headed goddess of the desert.

"All Egyptians use bulls and bull-calves for sacrifice but they are forbidden to sacrifice heifers, because they are sacred to Isis. The cow was the living symbol of Isis

Hathor is one of the most ancient Egyptian goddesses.
She is shown with a head-dress resembling a pair of horns with the moon- disk between them."
She was the symbolic mother of Pharaoh,
She was originally a personification of the Milky Way,
the milk that flowed from the udders of a heavenly cow.
known as "Lady of Stars" and "Sovereign of Stars"
known as "the mistress of life" and was seen as the embodiment of joy, love, romance, perfume, dance, music and alcohol.

The strength of the pharaoh and the mistress of a wonderful life were being destroyed by a plague. They were simply falling down and dying in the fields.

this made it more personal - the loss of joy, love, dance, alcohol.


The herds of cattle belonging to the Israelites were not affected (Ex . 9:4). Their pleasure was not diminished.

VI Sixth Plague: Boils (Ex. 9:8-12)

Pharaoh's "magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians" (Ex. 9:11).

An affront to Imhotep, the god of medicine
– Imhotep, physician, architect and chief adviser of King Zoser (ca. 3150 B.C.).
High priest of Ra
He did so much for Egyptian medicine that later generations worshiped him as a god of knowledge.
The Egyptians prided themselves on their medical knowledge, but their knowledge could not save them from the agony.

Also an affront to Thoth, the ibis- headed god of intelligence and medical learning.


VII Seventh Plague: Hail (Ex. 9:13-35)

The plague originated from the sky, the realm of Nut, the sky goddess. She was usually depicted as a woman resting on hands and feet, her body forming an arch, thus representing the sky.

The flax and barley crops were destroyed (Ex. 9:31).
Although this plague caused widespread devastation, a few trees remained for the locusts of the next plague to devour.





VIII. Eighth Plague: Locusts (Ex. 10:1-20)

A. In ancient times locusts could destroy an entire villages food supply in a matter of minutes.
Locusts were described as an army by Joel (Joel 1:6).

B. Again, the gods of Egypt were silent.
1. Where was Nepri (or Neper), the god of grain?
2. Where was Ermutet, the goddess ot childbirth and crops?
3. Seth, the god of crops, was also silent.

C. Destroyed trees and crops left famine and unrest in the land.

IX. Ninth Plague: Darkness (Ex. 10:21-29)

A. "But when Moses said that what he [Pharaoh] desired was unjust, since they were obliged to offer sacrifices to God of those cattle, and the time being prolonged on this account, a thick darkness, without the least light, spread itself over the Egyptians, whereby their sight being obstructed, and the breathing hindered by the thickness of the air, they were under terror lest they be swallowed up by the thick cloud. This darkness, after three days and as many nights was dissipated." (Josephus, Book II, XIV, 5).

The sun god Amon-Ra was considered one of the greatest blessings in all of the land of Egypt. the bright father who fertilized Mother Earth with rays of penetrating heat and light;

Always Ra, or the sun, was the Creator: at his first rising, seeing the earth desert and bare, he had flooded it with his energizing rays, and all living things vegetable, animal and human had sprung pell-mell from his eyes, and been scattered over the world."

Never before had this happened. It was different than an eclipse, total darkness that could be felt for 3 days. The God of Israel stopped Ra from shining.

yet not for Israel. They still had light.

Tenth Plague: Death Of The Firstborn (Ex. 11:1-12:30)

The firstborn was not only an heir of a double portion of his father's inheritance, but represented special qualities of life (cf. Gen. 49:3). Death of the firstborn son would cripple a family legally and emotionally.

This tenth plague was potentially more devastating that all of the other plagues put together.
This plague was also very selective it destroyed only the Egyptians firstborn males, whether human or animal.

This plague was directed against "all of the gods of Egypt"

Where was the god Pharaoh?
Where was Renenutet, the cobra-goddess and guardian of Pharaoh?
Could not Pharaoh the god not protect his own son?
How could he be a god if the God of the slave Hebrews could kill his family?

But no death for the Israelites. The Israelites and the entire male population of the nation were to be exempt from this plague.

This plague was too selective to merely be a childhood epidemic. It had to be the direct hand of God.

Conclusion

In these 10 plagues, we see God decimating every one of the Egyptian gods. Not just beating them in a contest, but in many ways making them a stench in the eyes of their worshippers.

Can YHWH do the same for our gods today? Materialism, the pursuit of self, fame?

Who is YHWH that I should obey Him? How well do I know Him?
Is my trust like that of Moses before the exodus - only sufficient for quick and easy answers?

Do I speak His name boldly, or do I try once and then walk away? When I speak, do I assume that people will not listen?

Just how great is our God?