I
learned so much from studying the story of Moses and Pharaoh this week!
Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to share it other than in a
chart. But I still feel I need to give a little background to ensure
that it makes sense. So here it goes...
In Exodus Chapter 3, Moses asks Jehovah what to tell the people when they ask who sent him. Jehovah responds: "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM
hath sent me." A very odd name, you might ask? I think a little Spanish
lesson comes in to play here. The Spanish verb 'estar' translated into
English means 'to be.' In the every day usage of the Spanish language,
the verb endings change to reflect whether or not the verb is referring
to the past, present, or future, but the root word "est-" always stays
the same. Now back to Moses. If God was speaking Spanish, I think he
would have said something like this: "Tell them that 'estar' sent you." I
think He would have used the non-conjugated verb, demonstrating the
word's capacity for past, present, and future tenses. The English
translation? "Tell them that 'I was, I am, and I will be' sent you." I
think He's preparing the people to understand His eternal nature, as
well as the role that He has played in their past (the Creator), His
relationship to them in the present (their Savior), and the significance
of His existence to their future (their Salvation)!
Keeping
this is mind, I then did a study on the meaning of the 10 plagues. I
mean, God could have chosen anything, so why lice and boils? To sum up
my study (and the chart below), I discovered that Jehovah both defied
Egypt's powerless Gods AND testified of Himself as the true omnipotent
Creator and Savior through the use of those specific plagues.
God is amazing! But that shouldn't surprise anybody.
I recognize there are holes and stretches below, so any insight and thoughts would be helpful!
**A cleaner copy of this chart can be downloaded from Dropbox:
Plagues
|
Egyptian Gods Defied
|
Symbolism of the Savior
|
The Creation “Undone”
|
Further Witnesses of the Savior for the Hebrews
|
Nile turned to blood
|
Apis- God
of the Nile
|
Living
Water
Blood of
Atonement
|
Day 2-
Separation of water
from land
|
Moses
gets water for the thirsty Hebrews from a Rock
|
Frogs
|
Heqet-
Frog-headed God of birth/fruitfulness
|
JESUS AS
CREATOR =>
|
Day 5-
Creatures of the sea
|
|
Lice/Gnats
|
Geb- God
of Earth
|
JESUS AS
CREATOR =>
|
Day
5&6- Every living thing
|
|
Flies
|
Re/Uatchit-
depicted as flies
Khepri-
God of rebirth & Creation
|
“You must
be born again”
Jesus
created the earth
(See the
section to the right for more thoughts)
|
Day
5&6- Every living thing
(Note
that man is given dominion over animals after the creation, but that man
obviously has no control over the animals during these plagues)
|
|
Death of Livestock
|
Hathor/Apis-
depicted as cattle
|
LIVESTOCK-
Food=Bread
of Life
Beasts of
burden=”Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden…”
|
Day 6-
Land animals
|
The
Hebrews are fed “bread of life” thru manna while in the wilderness
|
Boils
|
Sekhment,
Sunu, Isis- Gods of Health and Disease
|
Jesus
heals all manner of disease (Matt. 4:23-24)
|
Day 6-
Man
|
Those who
look on the raised up brass serpent are healed
(Note
that the Lord commanded Moses to turn his rod into a serpent before the 1st
plague)
|
Hail/Thunder/Fire
|
Nut- Sky
Goddess
Set-
Storm God
|
JESUS AS
CREATOR =>
|
Day 3-
Dry land and plants
|
Led by
God in a pillar of cloud by day
|
Locusts
|
Osiris-
God of crop fertility
Serapia-
Protector from locusts
|
JESUS AS
CREATOR =>
|
Day 3-
Plants
|
|
3 days of darkness
|
Re- The
Sun God
(also a
symbol of Pharoah)
|
Light of
the World;
3 hours
of darkness associated with crucifixion
|
Day
1&4- Light from darkness; sun, moon, stars
|
Led by
God in a pillar of fire by night (I also
love how it says they had light in their houses during these 3 days of
darkness)
|
Death of 1st Born
|
Isis-
Protector of children
|
Heavenly
Father sacrificed His first born son to save the rest of His children
|
Day 6-
Man
|
Unblemished
lamb’s blood saved the Hebrews
|
