Exodus - Lesson 10

Dr. Carmen Imes 
Exodus 
OT605-10 
Serpent and the First Cycle of Plagues
Lesson Transcript

Alright, so in a previous session we looked at the signs and wonders, the 12 signs and wonders from a big macro perspective. We looked at patterns between the different signs, we talked about how they unfold, we talked about the purpose, why does Yahweh do these things to Egypt, why does he bring these signs into Egypt. We noted that Pharaoh had actually asked for a wonder and this was God's response.

Pharaoh has claimed not to know Yahweh and so the signs and wonders are showing who Yahweh is incrementally. We also talked about how they gradually increase in intensity. So in this session we're going to slow down or zoom in and take a look at each of these signs one at a time so that I can show you some of the things that come out when you study them more closely.

There are various historical background or cultural background elements that might be helpful. There are things about literary design that I want to point out and so we'll just work through them one by one. I would recommend as you're watching that you pause the video and actually read each of the accounts of the signs as I'm talking about them or in between so that you can fully grasp what we're talking about.

So Pharaoh began this whole showdown by demanding a wonder. So in the NIV this is translated miracle perform a miracle but it is the word wonder in the phrase signs and wonders. It doesn't come through very well in English if we say perform a wonder but that's that's what's going on here and we already looked at what God had the sign that God had given Moses at Mount Sinai or Horeb where he's supposed to throw down his staff and it would become a snake.

It was going to become a Nahash which is the standard word for snake the one that appears in the Garden of Eden and elsewhere. But when it comes down to it when Moses is in the presence of Pharaoh and he throws down the staff it actually becomes a Tanin which is the word for sea serpent. It's the same word that appears in Genesis 121 in the creation narratives when God is filling the sea with creatures including the Tanin.

And I think here why why we have a Tanin rather than a just a plain old snake is that it's foreshadowing the climax of these signs and wonders where the sea swallows the army of Pharaoh. So here the the sea serpent of Moses is going to swallow the serpent of Pharaoh and so that that helps us make the connection between these two signs. In this sign we have the appearance of Pharaoh's magicians or lector priests a magician in Egypt was actually a had a had a position in the royal court and was considered a practitioner of divine.

There wasn't a strict line between religion and magic in ancient Egypt and so there was a combination of power wielding religious practitioners and that's what these men are. They would have been the high most highly trained members of Pharaoh's court and here they're able to replicate the sign their staffs also turn into snakes and sometimes as Christian readers we wonder what's going on here how is it that they're able to do what God is able to do and the Bible does not present this as some kind of trick. It seems like they have some power they have limited powers because of their work with the divine realm their their worship of false gods demons they do have access to some power but what we'll see as the signs and wonders unfold is the magicians will quickly reach the end of their power and Yahweh will greatly supersede what they're able to do.

So here although they're able to replicate the staff into snake Yahweh still demonstrates his superiority because Moses snake swallows theirs and I mentioned also in a previous session but I just want to reiterate here that both staff and snake are symbols of royal authority in Egypt. So this is a clear communication of of an undermining of Pharaoh's authority. This is not just a here let me show you a trick but a particular sign that demonstrates Yahweh is greater than Pharaoh and it's it's kind of showing us where this is all going in the ultimate defeat of Pharaoh.

The reason why I include this as part of the of the what we traditionally call the 10 plagues I've called the 12 signs and wonders and that includes this and the sea the drowning of Pharaoh's army in the sea. The reason I include these is because it begins and ends just like the other signs and wonders. It begins with a divine announcement Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron and it ends with a statement that Pharaoh's heart became hard and all of the other signs are introduced by divine speech and end with an assessment of Pharaoh's heart.

And so it seems to me that we're meant to see this as one of the others one in a line of signs and wonders. But now we'll go with the traditional 10 plagues I've kept the numbering of the traditional 10 plagues so that you can track more easily with this. The first of the traditional signs is the plague of blood and this is a fascinating one for several reasons and so we can we can consider what is God trying to say as he does this.

First thing to note is that the sign is symbolic but it isn't actually dangerous. It's inconvenient that the Egyptians aren't able to drink the water of the Nile as they usually are that the water is gross and it stinks. So they have to go dig holes in the bank and there when they dig holes they can get fresh water.

So nobody's dying here. No no humans are dying fish die. But it's it's more symbolic of what Yahweh is capable of.

And so there's a couple of different ways we could think about this symbolism. First of all this is the this river is the site of Pharaoh's infanticide in Chapter 1. He's told his people to throw the Hebrew boys into the Nile. And although that story is not told it doesn't mention any babies actually being thrown into the Nile and we don't see any blood.

There is the idea of death in the Nile that could be being echoed here. And notice that was the previous pharaoh who did this. But because the pharaohs of Exodus are unnamed they sort of blend together in the narrative.

Another possible echo here or or angle to think about is that the Nile is the major source of livelihood for the nation of Egypt. The flooding the annual flooding and receding of the Nile is what brought fertile soil that they could plant and grow things. It was it was essential if the Nile didn't flood like it was supposed to then there went their food supply.

And so by by attacking or messing with their major source of livelihood and fertility God is sending a major warning sign. Don't mess with me because I have the power to bring death to Egypt. The Nile was also considered the bloodstream of Osiris one of the chief Egyptian gods and so they thought of it as his bloodstream.

So this could be a way of saying so you think this is the bloodstream of your God. I'll make it actually like blood. It could be a mockery of Egyptian religion.

And also the other resonance is that it could be foreshadowing the death of Pharaoh's army in the sea. They're going to drown in the sea. And although we don't see blood or hear about blood there we see death.

And so there are there's ways that this sign is looking back to the death of Hebrew boys as well as looking forward to the death of Pharaoh's army. Lots of different possibilities going on here. There's a few key words that appear in this section that I want to bring to your attention.

So first of all Moses is told to strike the Nile with his staff. And this is that same word strike that we came across in chapter two when Moses saw the Egyptians striking the Hebrew and then he struck the Egyptian. And God announced in chapter five that he would strike Egypt.

So this is the this is a symbolic action that that is more than it is right. It turns the Nile to blood but it's also a greater sign of God striking the whole nation and bringing judgment. Another interesting word that we see here is in verse 21 it says the fish in the Nile died and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water.

So the the stinking of the Nile is significant because back in chapter five you may remember that when the Israelites asked Pharaoh for permission to leave it made them obnoxious or stinky to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians. They were they were told you they tell Moses you've made us stink to Pharaoh. And so this could be another kind of punishment fits the crime where God is cleverly saying to Pharaoh you think my people stink.

I'll show you what stinks. And so he brings this odor. Somebody needs to write a book or a paper or something on odor in the book of Exodus because it actually comes up in a number of places it's so fascinating.

And and then I just want to close by mentioning the magicians again. So here again the magicians are able to replicate the sign. It says the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts and Pharaoh's heart became hard.

What I find the most fascinating about the magician's ability to turn water to blood is that they lack the power to reverse the sign. It would be far more useful if they could wave their magic wands and the river would go back to being drinkable. But they're unable to reverse what Yahweh has done.

They can only keep up more judgment on Egypt. So they have power but their power is under the sovereignty of Yahweh. And we'll see this multiple times where if they're able to replicate the sign it only makes things worse for Egypt which reminds me of the story of Balaam in at the end of Numbers Numbers 24 to 26 where Balaam is hired to put curses on the people of God and he's unable to do that because Yahweh has determined to bless.

And this is the reverse of that Yahweh has determined to bring judgment. And so that's all the magicians are able to do is bring more judgment. So onto the second traditional plague the plague of frogs.

This one is honestly a lot of fun because if you think about it frogs are not dangerous they're kind of cute. If they're in your bed it's not very fun. I actually found a frog in my bed one time the sort of skeleton shriveled up skeleton of a frog on my pillow.

It was a nice gift from my little brother who thought that would be really funny. Finding a frog in your bed is no fun but it's not dangerous. Nobody's dying.

And so this is another way of God getting their attention without actually causing harm. And people often think about the signs and wonders as the wrath of God against Egypt and God is so mean to the Egyptians but he gives them so many chances to repent and listen to him when the stakes are really low. So here the frogs come up from the Nile so another Nile based sign.

They come up from the Nile and they come into the homes of the Egyptians. We're told that the frogs are even in their beds and that should that to us probably signals oh everybody has frogs in their houses but only the elite of the Egyptians would have actually had beds. So this is giving us a hint that Pharaoh and the other elites are being especially affected by this.

But the frogs also come into their kneading bowls and their ovens which is super gross especially because bread was the staple of the Egyptian diet and they had these shallow bowls in which they kneaded the dough. And the way they leavened their dough was by after they kneaded the bread dough and let it rise they would bake most of it but they would leave a little bit of dough inside their kneading bowl to leaven tomorrow's bread. And so for the frogs to get up in there would actually be contaminating their food supply for the next day not making it dangerous but again kind of gross.

So also ironic is the fact that the Egyptians considered frogs to be sacred and therefore they could not kill them. So this invasion of frogs is not only kind of comical or gross but like the Egyptians are rendered powerless against them and they're not able to kill them. The Israelites later in the book of Leviticus consider frogs to be ritually unclean.

So there's actually legislation in Leviticus about carcasses of frogs and other things making kneading bowls and ovens unclean and needing to be cleansed. So this is also the ritual anti-purification of Egypt. It's making the whole nation ritually unclean.

But that resonance would have especially mattered to later Israelites. They would have noticed this. In verse 8 Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron and says pray to Yahweh to take the frogs away from me and my people and I will let your people go or I will send your people away to offer sacrifices to Yahweh.

It seems like this is already Pharaoh is capitulating to Yahweh's demands. And Moses responds to him by letting Pharaoh be the one to set the timing for relief from this sign. It's a very unique interaction here.

He says I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials that you may be rid of the frogs. And Pharaoh says tomorrow. So Pharaoh gets to be the one to say it here.

So by tomorrow the frogs are going to be gone. What's fascinating about the word tomorrow is that it's going to come up many more times in the signs and wonders. But in the future Pharaoh doesn't get to set the time anymore.

God is only the one who sets the time and tomorrow will always be a time of judgment rather than relief. So here God's giving Pharaoh the opportunity to choose the time of relief. But because he goes back on his word and doesn't let the people go from now on tomorrow is a time when judgment comes.

Again we're told that after God lists this sign all of the frogs in their homes die and the people pile them up. They sweep them up into piles and the piles of frogs stink. So again we have a stinky sign and it would have created a public health crisis because where are you going to put all these dead frogs? What are you going to do with them? The frogs in the Nile don't die only the frogs in their homes showing that God is still caring for creation and all is not lost in terms of the overall ecology of Egypt.

But there's all of these extra frogs that have died and they're stinking. The next sign is the sign in my NIV Bible the heading says the plague of gnats. I've decided to translate this lice.

It's the precise insect that's at issue here is unclear. Some have suggested gnats others fleas or mosquitoes. But the text never says that these insects are flying.

It just says that the dust becomes this thing caneme and once the dust becomes caneme the caneme comes on people and animals. So it's the dust becoming these insects. It doesn't say they fly.

They might have been but it doesn't say so. And since the next sign is a flying swarm of insects I suspect that this one is crawling insects so I translate it as lice. It's fascinating that this plague comes out of the dust of the ground which is where this is the substance from which humans were made right.

God made Adam from the dust and here God turns the dust from which humans were made into a source of opposition. So we have an essential similarity with the earth but now it's being made into a source of conflict. Here we come already to the end of the magician's power.

They are unable to make more lice. I'm sure everyone's so disappointed not to have more lice but they also testify to Pharaoh this is the finger of God. Now the word God here is Elohim which is generic.

They're not professing faith in Yahweh per se. They're not being that specific but they are saying we've come up against some divine action and we can't replicate it. And by saying this is by the finger of God it implies that God's only getting started.

If this is what God can do with his finger then what happens when his whole hand or his whole arm is involved and that's precisely what we'll see as these signs and wonders unfold. So this is the last in that first cycle of signs the first three traditional plagues plus the prologue that we've already talked about the shared elements between these and the pattern that's established. And then we start in on the second cycle beginning with the swarm.

The NIV calls these flies. But again as with the last one the precise type of insect is not is not named. There's a very bizarre interpretation of this in the history of Jewish interpretation where rabbis thought perhaps that it was a horde of wild animals that came into Egypt rather than flies or some other kind of insect.

I don't see any textual basis for that but they were using their imagination since the text didn't say. This seems to be a flying swarm because it enters their homes. We're told that the word swarm appears seven times in this scene which indicates its fullness that the Egyptian society is completely overtaken by this swarm.

And here Pharaoh attempts a modified permission. He says OK fine fine sacrifice to your God in the land. If that's what you really want to do you want to sacrifice to your God do it here.

Notice that he won't say Yahweh's name. He says your God. And he has claimed not to know Yahweh so we're waiting for the moment when Pharaoh acknowledges who Yahweh is.

Moses responds that it would not be safe to do this that they can't sacrifice in the land. And for a variety of reasons probably the land is defiled. It's been the place of the worship of other gods and so it's not the appropriate place.

The land hasn't been purified for worship to Yahweh but it's also unsafe because the Egyptians felt that the Hebrew sacrifices were detestable and so they're worried about persecution from their neighbors if they actually obey God's commands in the land. But but the primary reason this doesn't work is it doesn't represent full obedience. Pharaoh is still trying to maintain some control here.

He doesn't want to let them leave to go sacrifice Yahweh and go a three day journey into the wilderness with all their women and children and flocks and herds. He's he's not going to give God everything he asked for. He's trying to just say OK you can have a little bit.

But that's not how things work with Yahweh. You don't get to call the shots. You don't get to decide.

It's not it's not on your own will what should be done. God demands our full obedience. And so Pharaoh says he's going to let the people go but then he reneges on that.

God removes the flies or the swarm from Egypt. But even though Pharaoh has said OK you can go he breaks his own word. So not only is Pharaoh refusing to obey Yahweh and do what he says he doesn't even do what he what he announces that he's going to do.

He's not even obedient to himself. He's not managing himself well and he's he's not providing a good example for his nation. Verse 24 says that the land was ruined by the flies or by the swarm.

This is an ominous way to describe what has happened. How do how do insects ruin the land. Probably this is symbolic again of what's happening on a larger scale.

It points to the future judgment that will exclude Goshen and just the the only the land of Egypt is going to be ruined by hail by locusts etc. This is pointing forward. It's echoing the word ruin that comes up in Genesis 6 verses 11 through 13 the ruin of the land.

The land is ruined by human violence in Genesis 6 prompting the flood and the land is ruined. The land of Sodom and Gomorrah is ruined by human violence in chapter 18 and 19 of Genesis. So by by saying that the land was ruined by the flies it implies that the that there is human violence that's responsible for this.

And in fact that is what we have seen throughout the book of Exodus so far. We'll do one last sign for this session and then we'll do the rest of the signs in the next session. The last one we'll talk about is the sign of the death of the livestock and this one is actually called a plague.

So we can call it the plague on livestock. It's the first and only plague on Egypt. The Hebrew word for plague is Debar and it affects all of the animals of the Egyptians but not the animals of the Israelites.

Just like the swarm didn't come into the land of Goshen so that the Israelite animals do not die. But we're told a whole list of Egyptian animals that die and these are animals that are essential for transport and for food. So their horses die and horses are primarily used in military context to pull chariots and to carry horsemen although they're sometimes used for entertainment and racing as well.

Donkeys die. These would have been their major beasts of burden and would have participated in caravans for trade, international trade. The cows died which would have provided food for the elite.

Only rich people ate beef in Egypt. The average Egyptian did not have much meat at all in their diet. They didn't eat lamb, they didn't eat goat, they didn't eat beef.

If they had any animal protein it would have been fish or wild fowl and so this is particularly taking aim at the rich in Egypt. The sheep die and not only do the rich eat their meat but they use the wool, they use their wool to make clothing and they used sheep for planting. So they would scatter seeds across the field and then release sheep into the field and as the sheep are trampling around it would turn the ground under and get the seeds underground.

So this actually disrupts their agricultural cycle, begins to disrupt that. And then camels are mentioned as well and this has gotten some pushback by some scholars because there's not a lot of evidence for camels. So although it's true that there's no evidence of dromedaries, of single humped camels in Egypt at this time, there is some evidence of the Bactrian camel, the two humped camel, as early as 2500 BC, the time of Abraham.

So camels were rare, it would have been a status symbol, but the fact that we don't have lots of them doesn't mean that it doesn't need to be mentioned, especially if this plague is especially taking aim at the elite of Egyptian society. So one question that we can end with is this kind of conundrum that we have. If all the animals really died in this plague, then how is it that the Egyptians have animals later that they're supposed to take indoors during the hail or even the death of the firstborn? We're told the firstborn animals also die.

How is it that there are still animals if they're all dying here? One possible way to make sense of that is that it says the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field. So perhaps it's only the animals that were outdoors that were affected. I would be more inclined to think of this as an adjective field animals, which includes all the animals.

And I would imagine that the Egyptians would very quickly have started trading for and purchasing replacement animals so that they can continue to do their work. And they could have bought some of these from the Israelites who still had their animals. And so they probably tried to quickly acquire more beasts.

It's also possible that this is hyperbole, that all the animals dying is an overstatement. There still were a few left that are going to be affected, making the future signs and wonders even more devastating because it would be decimating the little that they have left. So those are all possibilities.

When we come back in the next session, we'll start in on the plague or sign of boils.