The Finger of God (Exodus 7:14–10:29) Introduction There Are Some Tragedies in Life Which Are Simply That—Tragedies
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Exodus Study Deffinbaugh Notes Oct 13, 2014 The Finger of God (Exodus 7:14–10:29) Introduction There are some tragedies in life which are simply that—tragedies. The crash of Delta flight 191 this past Friday evening is certainly one of those tragedies. No one would dare, at this point in time, to call this tragedy an act of divine judgment. It is simply one of those tragedies which is a part of the sufferings and sadness of life. There are also tragedies which have a very positive and beneficial purpose. The tragedies of Job’s life, for example, were beneficial to his walk of faith. The “tragedy” of the cross of Christ was beneficial, for it is through His death that we can be saved. The sufferings of the nation Israel during the 400 years of their slavery in Egypt also will, in the drama of Israel’s history in the Book of Exodus (and in the course of our study), prove to be beneficial. There are also those tragedies which are the outworking of the wrath of God. The plagues which God brings upon the Egyptians are a part of God’s judgment of Pharaoh and his people for their oppression of His people, the Israelites (cf. Gen. 15:13-14; Deut. 11:1-4; Ps. 78:44-52). This is a side of God’s dealings with men which we would like to ignore, but we dare not. The judgment of the Egyptians is given a significant amount of space in the Book of Exodus. If we are sensitive to God’s “editorial policy” then we must acknowledge that this judgment is important for us, as well as for the Old Testament saints. Not only does Moses go into a great deal of detail in describing the plagues of the Exodus, but this incident is frequently referred to throughout the Old Testament and the New. Thus we must come to the plagues as a rather unpleasant subject, but one that is vitally important to each of us. At the conclusion of this message we shall seek to explain why. In response to the suffering of the Israelites (chap. 1), God has called Moses, whom He has divinely protected and prepared for the task of delivering His people from Egypt (chaps. 2-4). After considerable resistance, Moses has returned to Egypt, where he has been received by the elders and the people of Israel, rebuffed by Pharaoh, to the consternation of the Israelites. In chapter 7 we come to the beginning of the plagues which God will bring upon Egypt through Moses and Aaron. Because of the significance of the final (10th) plague, we shall make it the subject of our next lesson. This lesson will focus on the first nine plagues, which seem to have a distinct pattern of their own, as will be pointed out shortly. The resistance (hardened heart) of Pharaoh and the resulting plagues come as no surprise, either to Moses or to the reader. God had foretold the necessity of the plagues which were to be brought upon Egypt: “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go” (Exod. 3:19-20). Pharaoh may have found the petition to release the Israelites for three days so that they could worship their God in the wilderness especially irksome, for two principle reasons. First, he would not be inclined to acknowledge the existence of some other God, especially since he, himself, was regarded as a god. Second, religious observances necessitated a “day off,” and there seem to have been a sufficient number of those already: But Pharaoh contemptuously dismissed this God as one more obscure Semitic godling—there were already enough religious holidays and festivals on which no work was done, and this was just an excuse to be idle (Ex. v. 8, 17). … As for absence from work, Egyptian ostraca … include journals of work that give a day-to-day record of absenteeism, names of absentees, and reasons. One ostracon shows that the workmen of the royal tomb were idle at one period for thirty days out of forty-eight. One journal of absences takes note of several workmen, ‘offering to his god’ … and the laconic entry wsf, ‘idle,’ is not infrequent in such journals.1 One wonders if the “days off” which religious worship necessitated might not have been a factor in Israel’s worship of the gods of Egypt (cf. Josh. 24:14). After all, by simply going along with the worship of the various Egyptian deities, a brief rest from their hard labor was the reward for the Israelites. For many reasons, Pharaoh was unwilling to release the Israelites so that they could worship their God. This necessitated the demonstration of the mighty hand of God through the plagues, which would compel Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. The Nature of the Plagues Before we look briefly at each of the plagues individually, it will be helpful to consider all of the plagues as a unit. When we seek to discern the nature of the plagues, explanations generally fall into one of these categories:2 1 K. A. Kitchen, “Moses,” The New Bible Dictionary, J. D. Douglas, ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962), p. 846. 2 Davis gives three categories. John J. Davis, Moses and the Gods of Egypt (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1971), pp. 84-85. 1 Exodus Study Deffinbaugh Notes Oct 13, 2014 (1) The plagues were mere myth. There are those who hold that none of the plagues which are described in this portion of Exodus as though they were miracles even occurred. This account, some believe, is merely a fabrication, myths which are fabricated to dramatically or creatively communicate certain religious beliefs. This view cannot be taken seriously, for it fails to take the Bible seriously, certainly not as the inspired Word of God. (2) The plagues did occur, but were not miraculous. Such scholars take the events to be natural disasters which were common in Egypt, and which were interpreted as an act of divine judgment. This is an improvement over the first view in that it takes the text more seriously. It, however, fails because it does not want to find anything miraculous here, either. The event is true, but the miraculous element is false, being added by the author(s) for ideological or theological reasons. (3) The plagues did occur as natural disasters, which were moderately miraculous. There are some writers who would be included in the camp of evangelicals who still lean a bit too far (in my opinion) toward the second view. These “miracles” would appear to be either Class C or Class B miracles, but not really first class (Class A) miracles. The miraculous element is to be found, we are told, in the timing and intensity of the natural disaster. K. A. Kitchen3 and Alan Cole4 both seem to fall into this category. The Nile turned to blood is viewed either as having reached flood stage, laden with red colored silt, or with some kind of micro-organism, which gave the river a red color. All of the other eight plagues are a kind of aftermath, a natural outworking, of the first plague.5 While nature is certainly employed (frogs, storms, locusts, etc.), there is something here which is more miraculous than just a greater-than-average natural disaster. These miracles were signs, and thus significantly out of the ordinary. (4) The plagues involved nature and natural forces, but in a way that was designed to be decidedly and convincingly miraculous.6 As the magicians put it, “This is the finger of God.” There is a tension which we must be willing to acknowledge. On the one hand, the text tells us that the Nile was turned to blood. On the other, we know that elsewhere, “blood” is used in a non-literal way. We are told in Joel 2:31 and Revelation 6:12 that the “moon will be “turned to blood.” In the final analysis, we must take the text as literally and seriously as possible. Our motivation must be to understand the passage as it was written, and not in accordance with the explanation which is most believable. Joseph P. Free lists five unique aspects of the plagues which set them apart as miraculous events. These are as follows: (1) Intensification. While frogs, insects, murrain and darkness were known in Egypt, these were intensified far beyond any ordinary occurrence. (2) Prediction. The fact that Moses predicted the moment of the arrival and departure sets them apart from purely natural occurrences (cf. 8:10, 23; 9:5, 18, 29; 10:4). (3) Discrimination. Certain of the plagues did not occur in the land of Goshen where Israel was living (8:22, no flies; 9:4, no murrain; 9:26, no hail). (4) Orderliness. There is a gradual severity in the nature of the plagues concluding with the death of the firstborn. (5) Moral Purpose. “These were not freaks of nature but were designed to teach moral precepts and lessons.”7 The “Miracles” of the Magicians 3 “The element of miracle in these plagues is usually bound up with their intensity, timing, and duration. By far the most painstaking study of the plague phenomena is that by G. Hort in ZAW LXIX, 1957, pp. 84-1-3, and ZAW LXX, 1958, pp.