April 6, 2024
Echoes of the Divine Showdown: The Ten Plagues of Egypt and Their Assault on the Ancient Gods
Prepare to traverse back in time, to the sands of ancient Egypt, where the saga of Exodus unfolds like never before. Witness the clash of divine and mortal as we dissect the meaning behind the ten plagues and their direct challenge to the Egyptian gods. From rivers turned to blood to a darkness that defied the sun god Re, every plague is a stroke in the portrait of liberation and the unfathomable might of Yahweh. With every narrative twist, the unyielding heart of Pharaoh is laid bare, creating a tension that is both historical and profoundly spiritual.
As the story of Moses and the Israelites' journey towards freedom is recounted, we engage with the cultural implications of these events. The plagues are not just about divine wrath but also about the symbols they represent in the struggle between an enslaved people and their oppressors. The podcast peels back the layers of this ancient liberation tale, revealing the intricate connection between the plagues and the gods they confronted, leading to a society turned inside out. Our odyssey through these historic moments paints a vivid picture of the shared spiritual heritage that continues to shape the narrative of nations.
With profound insights into the lives of two potential Pharaohs of the Exodus—Thutmose III or Ramses II—our expert guests offer a unique perspective on the complexities of Moses's challenges. The plagues come to life as targeted strikes against the very foundation of Egyptian belief, each one a meticulously crafted divine intervention. As we explore the escalating conflict and its culmination in the ultimate devastation of the firstborn, we gain a deepened understanding of the cultural shockwaves that reverberated through Egypt and beyond. Join us for a compelling retelling of an ancient story that continues to resonate through time.
Chapters
00:09 - Ancient Future Story
03:40 - Plagues on Egypt
14:47 - Ancient Plagues and Egyptian Gods
22:36 - Plagues and Egyptian Deities
Transcript
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Welcome to our Ancient Future Story, navigating Scripture Through the Eyes of Family, where I share with you biblical stories like a family member would share a story around the dinner table.
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As children of God, we are a part of God's family and his family story has a lot of history.
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Each week, we will take one story and talk about it the cultural, historical, geographical and sociological impacts.
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We will be looking at these stories from the perspective of our ancestors, through the lens of ancient times, in hopes of learning more about our family.
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This is our Ancient Future Story.
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Welcome back to our Ancient Future Story.
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I'm Vic and I am so excited to share this part of Moses' story with you.
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The plagues of Egypt is truly one of the most fascinating things I have ever studied and I hope that through this episode you will see the grandeur that is Yahweh and how he approached, battled and won against the Egyptian gods.
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When we left off last time, moses and the Israelites were completely defeated because Pharaoh had increased their hard labor and the spirit of the people was completely broken, and Moses felt like God had let him down.
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But Yahweh was just getting started.
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So grab your cup of coffee or something to drink and let's get ready to dive into the story of Moses.
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Our story opens with the Lord coming to Moses and telling him to take Aaron and go before Pharaoh and ask him for the second time to let the people of Israel go and worship in the wilderness.
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But God told Moses he would harden Pharaoh's heart and he would not let the people of Israel go and worship in the wilderness.
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But God told Moses he would harden Pharaoh's heart and he would not let the people go, because God wanted the Egyptians to know that Yahweh is God and they will acknowledge him as such when they see him pull Israel out from among them with his mighty right hand.
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So Moses did as the Lord commanded and he took Aaron and they went before Pharaoh.
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And when Pharaoh asked them to prove themselves, god told Moses to tell Aaron to throw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and it became a serpent.
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When Pharaoh saw this, he called for his magicians and sorcerers and they turned their staffs into serpents as well.
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But Aaron's staff ate the other serpents, but still Pharaoh's heart was hardened.
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Then the Lord said to Moses Go down to the Nile in the morning.
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When Pharaoh is coming down to the water, stand on the bank of the Nile.
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And when you see Pharaoh throw down your staff and it will become a serpent, then say the Lord, god of the Hebrews says Let my people go that they may worship me in the wilderness, but so far you have not let them go.
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So now I will show you who I am.
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My servant Moses will strike the Nile with his staff and all the water in Egypt will become blood and the fish in the Nile will die and the Nile will stink.
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So, in the sight of Pharaoh and all of his servants, moses told Aaron to stretch his hand over the Nile and all the canals, ponds and pools.
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And when Aaron struck the Nile, all the water in Egypt became blood.
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But the magicians and the sorcerers did the same.
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So Pharaoh turned and headed back inside the palace, for he did not take this sign to heart.
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But just as Yahweh had promised, all the fish in the Nile died and the Nile stunk.
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Seven days passed.
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Then the Lord told Moses to go to Pharaoh and say let my people go that they may serve me, but since you refused, I will send a plague on your country with frogs.
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The frogs will come up out of the nile and will fill your homes, beds, ovens and bowls.
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Then the lord said to moses tell aaron, stretch your hands with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds and make frogs come up from the land of Egypt.
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So Aaron did as he was commanded and frogs came up and covered Egypt.
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But the magicians and the sorcerers did the same, but this time Pharaoh asked Moses and Aaron to plead with their God to take away the frogs from Egypt and he would let the Hebrews go.
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Moses said Tomorrow frogs will be cut off from Egypt and only be in the Nile, so that you, pharaoh, will see that there is no one like Yahweh.
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So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh and Moses pleaded to the Lord and Yahweh honored his request and the next day all the frogs in Pharaoh's homes, courtyards, fields, all died, where they were so many that the people of Egypt created heaps of frog carcasses and the land stunk.
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But when Pharaoh saw relief from the frogs, he hardened his heart and did not let the people go.
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Then the Lord said to Moses tell Aaron to stretch out his hands and strike the dust of the earth.
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And when he did, all the dust of Egypt became gnats.
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Okay, pause, hold on, I'm sorry.
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Gnats.
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Okay, pause, hold on, I'm sorry.
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All the dust of Egypt.
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Yeah, all the dust of Egypt.
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And when the magicians tried to replicate this, they could not.
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In fact, they told Pharaoh this has to be the fingers of God.
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But Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not listen to them.
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Then the Lord said to Moses rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh as he is going down to the water.
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Say to him Thus says the Lord Let my people go that they may serve me, for if you refuse, I will send a swarm of flies on you, your servants and your people.
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But I will separate the house of Egypt from the house of Israel so that the swarm of flies will not be among the Hebrews.
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I will do this that you may know that I am Yahweh in the midst of the earth.
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Then the Lord did this and the great swarm of flies entered the homes of Pharaoh and Egyptian people and the land was ruined by the swarms of flies.
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Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron again and said Go, sacrifice your God within the land.
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But Moses said we cannot do that, for it is an abomination to the Egyptians.
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We must go three days into the wilderness to worship our God.
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But Pharaoh said I will let you go worship, just don't go too far.
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Only plead for me.
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Moses said okay, I will plead for you, but don't cheat us again.
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So Moses pleaded with Yahweh and the next day the flies were removed from Pharaoh, his servants and all the Egyptians.
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Not one fly remained.
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But Pharaoh again hardened his heart and did not let the Israelites go.
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Then the Lord said to Moses Go to Pharaoh and say Thus says Yahweh, god of the Hebrews Let my people go, that they may worship me.
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But if you refuse, the hand of Yahweh will fall on you and a plague will come upon your livestock in the fields.
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But I will make a distinction between the livestock of Egypt and the hand of Yahweh will fall on you and a plague will come upon your livestock in the fields.
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But I will make a distinction between the livestock of Egypt and the livestock of Israel so that the plague will not harm the Israelite livestock.
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And the next day all the livestock of Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of Israel was harmed.
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But still the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people go.
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Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron Take handfuls of soot from the cline and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh, and it will become a fine dust over the land of Egypt and boils will break out on man and beast.
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So Moses did as the Lord commanded and the magicians could not stand before Moses because of their boils, for their boils came on the Egyptians, but still, pharaoh's heart was hardened and he did not let the people go.
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Then the Lord said to Moses rise up early in the morning, present yourself to Pharaoh and say to him.
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Thus says Yahweh, let my people go that they may serve me, but this time, if you do not, I will bring the plague on you, your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.
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For by now I could have destroyed you all, but I have instead raised you up so that my power and name will be known throughout the world.
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So because you have continued to exalt yourself, tomorrow I will bring hail on Egypt, a hailstorm so terrible that has never happened in Egypt until now.
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So that this is your warning Bring in all your livestock and men into safe shelter, because anyone outside will die.
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Then all who feared the Lord among Pharaoh's servants hurried to get their slaves and livestock inside.
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But whoever did not pay attention to Yahweh's words left his slaves and livestock in the fields and they perished.
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The land, plants, trees, crops, all were destroyed in the hailstorm.
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Only in Goshen there was no hail, for God had separated the Hebrews from the Egyptians.
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But then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said I have sinned against Yahweh.
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I am in the wrong.
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He is right.
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Plead with him, for we have had enough of his hail and thunder.
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I will let you go.
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Moses said to him.
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I will go outside the city and stretch my hands to heaven and the hailstorm will cease, so that you will know that earth belongs to Yahweh.
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So Moses stretched out his hands and the hailstorm ceased.
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But when Pharaoh saw the storm, he stopped.
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He sinned again and hardened his heart and he did not let the people of Israel go.
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Then the Lord said to Moses Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart so that you, moses, can tell your sons and grandsons how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, so that you may know that I am Yahweh.
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Okay, pause.
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I love that Yahweh reminds Moses why he's doing these things.
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This is the eighth plague, and Moses has got to feel really defeated because God has not released them from Egypt yet.
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They're still in slavery.
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But Yahweh reminds him.
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It's not about him, it's about Yahweh displaying his power against these Egyptian gods.
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So then Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh and said thus says Yahweh, let the people of Israel go, but if you do not, tomorrow, I will send locusts on your country, so many that they will cover the land of Egypt and they will eat whatever is left after the hail, so that all the land of Egypt will be in ruin.
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This will be a plague like nothing your fathers or your grandfathers have seen from the day they came to the earth until now.
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Historical fun fact Egyptians believe they had been around for hundreds of thousands of years.
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So no plague like this, from basically the start of humanity, which is a crazy statement, but Yahweh makes it so.
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Then Moses and Aaron left the presence of Pharaoh.
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Then Pharaoh's servants turned to him and said how long shall this man torment us?
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Just let them go.
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Don't you understand?
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Egypt is in ruin.
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So Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron back and said okay, who do you need to go with you to worship?
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And Moses said um, everyone, our young and our old, our daughters and our sons, all our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast.
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Okay, pause, pharaoh is swearing by Yahweh.
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Now what is happening?
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But anyway, pharaoh again refuses to let the people go because he fears they have an evil intent and he drives Moses and Aaron out of his sight.
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So the Lord tells Moses to stretch his hands over all of Egypt, and a great wind from the east came in and brought locusts on all the land, a great swarm of locusts over the whole land like there had never been before and will never be again.
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The swarm was so great that the whole land was darkened and the locusts ate everything left in Egypt, and the land of Egypt was in complete ruin.
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Pharaoh then hastily called Moses and Aaron and said I have sinned against Yahweh and against you.
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Now forgive me for my sin and please plead with Yahweh for me, only to remove this death from me.
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So Moses went out and pleaded with Yahweh, and the Lord returned the wind into a very strong west wind and drove all the locusts into.
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The Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind and drove all the locusts into the Red Sea.
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Not a single locust remained in Egypt, but still Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he did not let Israel go.
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Then the Lord said to Moses Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.
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So Moses stretched his hand toward heaven and a pitch darkness fell on the land.
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For three days the Egyptians could not see one another, but all the people of Israel had light wherever they went.
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Then Pharaoh called Moses and said Go, serve Yahweh, take your little ones with you, only leave your livestock behind.
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But Moses said you must let us have sacrifices for burnt offerings that we may sacrifice to our God.
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Our livestock must go with us.
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We cannot leave anything behind.
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But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let them go.
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Then Pharaoh said to them Get away from me, take care never to see my face again, for on this day you will see my face.
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You will die.
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And Moses said as you wish.
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And he left out of his sight.
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Then the Lord came to Moses and said one more plague I will bring on Egypt and after this one he will let you go.
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Speak now to all the Israelites that they asked their Egyptian neighbors for gold, silver jewelry, and the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians and Moses's fame grew throughout Egypt.
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Then Moses said thus says Yahweh, at midnight the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from Pharaoh who sits on the throne to the slave girl behind the hand mill and all the firstborn cattle.
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There will be a great cry across Egypt such that there has never been before and will never be again.
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The Pharaoh will drive us out.
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Moses and Aaron did all the wonders before Pharaoh, but he did not let them go.
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Then, at midnight, just as Yahweh had promised, the angel of death passed over Egypt and all the firstborn sons in Egypt, from the throne of Pharaoh to the servant girl.
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All of the firstborns perished.
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And Pharaoh rose in the middle of the night, he and his servants and all the people of Egypt.
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And there was a great cry in Egypt because there was not a household without someone dead.
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The Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them Get out from among my people, both you and your people, and your livestock and your flocks Go and be gone.
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So Moses and Aaron and all the people of Israel fled Egypt.
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And that is where our story ends, for today, yahweh successfully proving his power over the Egyptian gods in the first step of rescuing his people out of Egypt.
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If you grew up in church, you have probably heard this story many, many times.
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It is basically the staple of VBS story, but I think there are a few things that are important for us to know that will help shape the context of the story.
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So first is location.
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We know our story takes place in Egypt, roughly around 1446 BC if you take the early date, or 1275 BC if you take the late date.
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Moses is now back in Egypt and is either facing Thutmose III, if we go by the early date, or Ramses II, if we go by the later date.
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As I said last time, it is interesting that these are the two pharaohs that could have been most the third if we go by the early date, or ramses the second, if we go by the later date.
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As I said last time, it is interesting that these are the two pharaohs that could have been the ones that moses confronted, because they were both not people to mess with.
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They were ruthless and built a reputation throughout the known world as military leaders.
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Remember, tutmus the third was a warrior as soon as he came of age and led most of the expansion campaigns out of Egypt.
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And Ramses II was no picnic either.
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Also a warrior, but an unpredictable one.
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His famous battle was the Battle of Kadesh against a Hittite army, where he is said to have struck down an entire army by himself in a surprise attack.
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Needless to say, these men were not to be crossed without severe punishment.
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As for Moses's relationship with them, we said last time that Thutmose III very likely grew up with Moses in the palace, whereas Ramses II and Moses did not know each other at all.
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And it's interesting reading these interactions with these relationships in mind.
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Facing your half-brother is a lot more difficult than facing a complete stranger.
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The next main point I want to cover are the ten plagues.
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We will take them one at a time and go through all ten, because they are each unique, specific and intentional, and we will ask the question why would God do that?
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And hopefully, after going through all the plagues, we will understand a little bit more about the ancients in this epic battle between Yahweh and the Egyptian gods.
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So the first plague was the Nile being turned into blood.
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Now, the first thing I want to note about this plague is that this is the third sign God had told Moses to perform at the burning bush.
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He told him to throw his staff down and it would become a snake, and then to put his hand inside his cloak and it become leprous.
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But the third sign, god said, if they do not believe you with the two signs, to go down to the water of the Nile and get some water and pour it out on dry ground and it will become blood, and then they will believe you.
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So it is interesting that the first plague that God sent on Egypt was Nile into blood.
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But it is also important to note that in the Nile there is an algae that is known to have turned the Nile blood red, and this algae is known to be pretty toxic.
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However, when the Nile did turn red from exposure to this algae, the Egyptians would kneel by the side of the river and dig on the river bank so that the sand would filter the algae out of the water and it would be purified for them to drink.
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But in this plague, when Moses tells Aaron to raise his staff and stretch his arms over the bodies of water and striking the Nile, all the waters of Egypt became blood.
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It's interesting that all the water in Egypt was turned to blood.
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Exodus 7, 26 tells us that seven days passed after Aaron struck the Nile.
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Now, I found this interesting, because we know that humans can only survive for three days without water, which brings up several questions, but the main one being did the Egyptians have to drink contaminated water or did they find water in the Mediterranean Sea?
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We don't know, and actually we don't know if or when the Nile was restored.
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Our Bible does not give us an end date.
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It only says seven days passed before Moses and Aaron warned about the next plague.
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The Egyptian god that was targeted here, though, was not just one, but several, because the Egyptians had many gods connected to the Nile, but I'm going to talk about two in particular.
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First is Happy, the god of the Nile.
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He is the one credited for annual floods from the Nile that produced good soil for crops.
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He is also considered the god of the Nile.
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He is the one credited for annual floods from the Nile that produce good soil for crops.
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He is also considered the god over Upper and Lower Egypt.
00:18:12,738 --> 00:18:24,776
He was typically depicted as a mirrored image of himself, a human male in form and body, but incorporated pieces of both Upper and Lower Egypt, and the other was Sobek, the protector, god of the Nile.
00:18:24,776 --> 00:18:42,423
He was depicted in hieroglyphs and ancient writings as having the head of a crocodile and the body of a human, or later, as he began to get tied to Pharaoh, he took on the name Sobek-Re, which tied him to the sun, god Re, and was depicted as a crocodile body with a falcon head.
00:18:42,825 --> 00:18:47,826
It is interesting that God chose these gods first to confront, because the Nile was the source of all life.
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Everything they knew about agriculture and economy came from what these gods provided in the Nile.
00:18:53,791 --> 00:19:00,521
Side note, exodus 7 21 tells us that all the fish died in the Nile when the water was turned to blood.
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But what about the other wildlife?
00:19:02,805 --> 00:19:03,827
Where did they go?
00:19:03,827 --> 00:19:09,884
Now some scholars have suggested that it's because the water turned to blood that the frogs came out of the Nile.
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And though that is a good theory, exodus 7.25 says that it was seven full days that the Nile was bloody.
00:19:16,948 --> 00:19:18,551
Where did all the wildlife go?
00:19:18,551 --> 00:19:21,463
But let's hold that question for a little bit.
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The second plague was frogs.
00:19:23,930 --> 00:19:30,281
Exodus 8 starts with God telling Moses to tell Aaron to stretch his hands over all the waters of Egypt.
00:19:30,281 --> 00:19:40,326
And the frogs came up out of the waters and were everywhere Inside people's homes, in the palace, in pools, in bowls, everywhere.
00:19:40,326 --> 00:19:43,773
But the magicians were able to produce frogs as well.
00:19:43,773 --> 00:19:53,750
But Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron to get rid of the frogs, and all the frogs died where they were in homes, courtyards, fields, wherever they were.
00:19:53,750 --> 00:20:06,484
They just died and they gathered their carcasses in heaps like let's picture that for a minute the amount of frogs that covered all of egypt.
00:20:06,484 --> 00:20:11,362
They just died on the spot and then now they have heaps of carcasses.
00:20:11,362 --> 00:20:14,227
No wonder the land stunk.
00:20:14,728 --> 00:20:17,092
So which Egyptian god was frogs?
00:20:17,092 --> 00:20:23,088
Hecate is the goddess of fertility and birth and the symbol of future generations.
00:20:23,088 --> 00:20:27,102
She's depicted with a frog head and a body of a human woman.
00:20:27,102 --> 00:20:32,067
Also, frog gods were some of the oldest gods in ancient Egyptian world.
00:20:32,067 --> 00:20:35,750
They are thought to have been instrumental in the creation of the world.
00:20:35,750 --> 00:20:40,537
In fact, she is credited for literally breathing life into the first human.
00:20:43,839 --> 00:20:44,982
So which brings us to the third plague gnats.
00:20:44,982 --> 00:20:47,390
Exodus 8 says that at Moses' word, aaron struck the sand and all the dust of Egypt became gnats.
00:20:47,390 --> 00:20:54,586
Exodus 8 says that at Moses' word, aaron struck the sand and all the dust of Egypt became gnats All the dust of Egypt.
00:20:54,586 --> 00:20:55,969
That's insane.
00:20:55,969 --> 00:20:57,250
In case you forgot.
00:20:57,250 --> 00:21:02,448
Egypt is a sandy desert that is in no short supply of dust.
00:21:02,448 --> 00:21:10,742
We have to imagine it like the Dust Bowl in the 1930s in the Midwest here in the US, where huge dust storms swept across the land.
00:21:10,742 --> 00:21:13,630
It was so much that people could not get away from it.
00:21:13,630 --> 00:21:15,520
It was in their homes, in their lungs.
00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:19,568
So picture that, but instead of dust, it being gnats.
00:21:19,568 --> 00:21:30,920
The ancient god, jeb, was the god of the earth and also very instrumental in the Egyptian creation story, as he is literally depicted as laying down under the gods of air and sky.
00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:35,872
Jeb was associated with good soil and agriculture and therefore life itself.
00:21:35,872 --> 00:21:40,672
I think it's interesting to note that the magicians could not replicate this plague.
00:21:40,672 --> 00:21:44,830
In fact, they even tell Pharaoh this is the finger of God.
00:21:45,721 --> 00:21:51,201
The next plague is a little tricky because it has been debated over and over again.
00:21:51,201 --> 00:22:08,838
And it's debated because of this little Hebrew word, a rove, which can be translated, as our Bibles do, as flies, but could also be translated as stinging insects like mosquitoes or hornets, or it could be translated as wild beasts like lions.
00:22:08,838 --> 00:22:14,732
There have been some debate over this, so I'm going to give you both sides and let you decide.
00:22:14,732 --> 00:22:27,784
Now, these different sides does make this plague interesting because, on one hand, after the gnats, flies would be super annoying, but also hornets, bees and other stinging insects would be terrible.
00:22:27,784 --> 00:22:33,990
But if it is the wild beast, it might explain what happened to the wildlife that left the Nile.
00:22:33,990 --> 00:22:35,395
So let's get into it.
00:22:36,157 --> 00:22:42,681
Some scholars have suggested that it wasn't the wildlife in the Nile, but rather wildlife that was domesticated for worship.
00:22:42,681 --> 00:22:53,790
Remember, the Egyptians had images of their, and many of them were portrayed as partial or fully animal-like, and they would capture these animals and worship them as the gods incarnate.
00:22:53,790 --> 00:22:58,172
They fully believed the spirit of the deities lived in these animals.
00:22:58,172 --> 00:23:01,088
So what does that mean for this plague in particular?
00:23:01,088 --> 00:23:13,116
Well, some Jewish scholars have suggested that these wild animals who had been domesticated for worship have suggested that these wild animals who had been domesticated for worship suddenly went back to their animalistic roots and turned on their trainers and had a killing streak throughout Egypt.
00:23:13,116 --> 00:23:21,384
But in any case, the Egyptian god that was most believed to be attacked in this plague is Capri, the god of the morning sun.
00:23:21,384 --> 00:23:24,674
He is depicted as human with a beetle forehead.
00:23:24,674 --> 00:23:27,965
His job was to roll the sun across the sky.
00:23:28,227 --> 00:23:33,393
This plague was the first plague that God brought the plagues on Egypt and not on Israel.
00:23:33,393 --> 00:23:40,069
It was also the first that brought destruction on Egypt and not just some discomfort and inconvenience.
00:23:40,069 --> 00:23:43,525
It's in this plague that we see Pharaoh start to negotiate with Yahweh.
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He tells Moses they can worship Yahweh, just stay inside the land.
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But Yahweh refuses, for the people must leave Egypt and go to the wilderness to worship.
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