God shows power over the god’s of Egypt
Exodus Ch 4 –10
What was the point of the miracles that God performed through Moses whilst in Egypt?
Moses was sent by God to tell Pharaoh to set the children of Israel free from captivity.
Moses said to God, “what if they do not listen to me”?
Exo 4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
God’s answer was to do two miracles to attest that He would be with Moses.
Exo 4:2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
Exo 4:3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
Exo 4:4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:
Exo 4:5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.
Exo 4:6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
Exo 4:7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.
Exo 4:8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
Exo 4:9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
Miracles are to attest that the words that are spoken are indeed of God.
This is what happened in the case of Jesus.
Acts 2:22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know
Also God’s Word was preached and confirmed through the Apostles.
Hebrews 2: 3,4 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
4 and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various gifts and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.
In Egypt, God was confirming Moses, through signs and wonders, as His spokesman.
Moses went to Egypt with his brother Aaron and told Pharaoh that God had commanded him to “let My people go”.
Exo 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
Of course Pharaoh refused.
We then have a series of plagues that was brought upon Egypt, to show God’s power over all the false god’s of Egypt.
Exo 7:3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
Exo 7:4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
Exo 7:5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
It is not surprising then that there were over 2,000 deities in the Egypt. Some of these deities' names are well known: However there were ten main gods,
Hapi was the god of the annual flooding of the Nile in ancient Egyptian religion.
Heqet (Heqat, Heket) was a goddess of childbirth and fertility in Ancient Egypt. She was depicted as a frog, or a woman with the head of a frog.
Geb was the Egyptian god of the Earth
Khepri was a god of creation, the movement of the sun, and rebirth.
Hathor is an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of love, beauty, music, dance, motherhood and joy.
Isis was also known for her magical power, goddess of medicine which enabled her to revive Osiris and to protect and heal Horus.
Nut goddess of the sky, stars, cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the universe.
Seth god of chaos, fire, deserts, trickery, storms, envy, disorder, violence,
Ra or Re is the ancient Egyptian deity of the sun.
Pharaoh to be the mediator between the gods and the world of men. Believed to be able to pass his divine power onto his son.
God was to show His power and majesty over all these main gods.
The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood. Power over Hapi the god of the Nile.
Exo 7:17 Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
The Second Plague: Frogs. Power over Heket the god with the head of a frog.
Exo 8:2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:
Exo 8:3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs:
Exo 8:4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.
The Third Plague: Gnats/Lice. Power over Geb, the god of the earth.
Exo 8:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
Exo 8:17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
The Fourth Plague: Flies. Power over Khepri the god of creation.
Exo 8:21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.
The Fifth Plague: Egyptian Livestock Die. Power over Hathor the god of motherhood.
Exo 9:3 Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.
Exo 9:4 And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel.
The Sixth Plague: Boils and Blains. Power over Isis known for her magical power, goddess of medicine.
Exo 9:8 And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.
Exo 9:9 And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.
The Seventh Plague: Hail. Power over Nut goddess of the sky, stars, cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the universe.
Exo 9:18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
Exo 9:19 Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.
The Eighth Plague: Locusts. Power over Seth the god of chaos, fire, deserts, trickery, storms, envy, disorder, violence,
Exo 10:4 Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:
The Ninth Plague: Darkness. Power over Ra or Re is the ancient Egyptian deity of the sun.
Exo 10:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt,
even darkness which may be felt.
Exo 10:22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
The Tenth Plague: Death of the firstborn. Power over Pharaoh, god of Egypt with the ability to pass deity on to a son.
Exo 11:5 And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.
Exo 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
God placed the plagues in their order, which had a knock on effect.
First plague - bloody rivers: however God caused the water to be blood, it killed the fish.
Exo 7:18 And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.
Second plague - frogs: The death of the fish would have allowed for the unhindered breeding of tadpoles. But once they were driven out of the water and forced to live on land. They could not survive out of the water for long and died.
Exo 8:13 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields.
Third plague – gnats/Lice, the dead frogs would certainly produced these.
Exo 8:14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.
Fourth plague - flies: Without any frogs or toads to eat them, the population of gnats and flies flourished amongst their dead bodies.
Fifth plague - grievous murrain, disease. The Lice and flies would cause disease.
Notice that these diseases did not affect the children of Israel.
Exo 9:4 And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel.
Sixth Plague - boils: "May have been outbreaks of anthrax in cattle and humans, respectively, caused by the ashes from the furnaces where the cattle were burned.
Exo 9:8 And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.
Exo 9:9 And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.
Seventh plague - hail: Hail damaged all the crops.
Note: God sent the hail.
Exo 9:18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
Eighth plague - locusts: Arrived in time to eat up the crops destroyed by the hail storm.
Note: It was God that sent the locusts.
Exo 10:4 Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:
Ninth plague - three days of darkness. This a precurser to the tenth plague. God is light and in Him is no darkness, this was a judgement on Egypt. This was not a normal darkness which would have affected everyone.
Exo 10:23 They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
The plagues caused Death, pestilence, disease, damaged crops.Tenth plague - death of the firstborn:
Note: Death did not come to those that were covered by the blood over the lintels.
There have been many attempts by unbelievers to play down these plagues as natural disasters.
However what they can’t explain is the timing of the plagues.
Each plague had a consequence, a knock on effect but it was God that initiated them all.
In the same way that people have tried to discredit the miracles in the scriptures, like the parting of the Red Sea as being a natural event.
However even if it was a natural event, it only happened when Moses put his staff into the water. God was in control of this.
Elijah was taken in a whirlwind, a whirlwind is a natural event, however, it happened just at the right time.
Each of these miracles were brought about by the power of God.
God had showed His power over all the gods of Egypt and made the way for the Exodus.
