The Ten Plagues on Egypt - Why and on Whom

Almost every Sunday School curriculum - at one time or another - has covered the 10 plagues on Egypt, as it covered the narrative of God's rescue of His people from Egyptian bondage and slavery. Let's refresh our memories on what they were, and then we will attempt to answer the "why and whom": turn in your Bible to Exodus chapter 7, beginning at verse 1 for context and read of the plagues through chapter 12. As you read the account, try to immerse yourself into the story, either as an eyewitness or better yet, in the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived so that you would have experienced what they experienced.

As a serious Bible student will know, the deliverance from Egypt is only one part of the full story. And the full story is only one part of God's overarching plan of salvation (see John 3:16-21). So we start in the Garden of Eden, we witness the betrayal by Adam and Eve and the devil's deception as he poses/speaks through a snake (sidebar: satan the devil has now had several thousand years to "perfect" his evil intention of turning all of mankind against God - and he is really good at it). Being ousted from the perfect Garden, Adam and Eve are in the wilderness suffering from the sin condition that has come upon them physically, mentally, and spiritually. This condition settles into their "DNA", i.e., it is a permanent characteristic of humanity, so that it is passed on from generation to generation. Yet, it was not only impacting humans, but every living thing over which God had initially given them dominion (Genesis 1:26-28; compare Romans 8:19-22) 

In only a handful of generations following the fall in the Garden, the wickedness of human mindsets, morals, and a seeking after other gods had spread throughout the entire inhabited earth; God was grieved over what sin had accomplished in humans so quickly, and how the earth had fared under the 'supervision' of mankind and, justifiably, because of the ravage that sin had caused, God sought to remove that wickedness from the earth. (see Genesis 6:5-8) He would call a faithful man, Noah, to be a witness and to forth-tell as he built the ark of salvation according to God's specific criteria that God's wrath had declared a destruction of sin and those who rejected Him in due time. For 100 or so years, the opportunity was there; however, only Noah and his family - 8 human souls, along with the God-directed collection of land and winged animals would survive the punishment (Genesis 6:8-8:22).

In time, God calls Abram from Ur of the Chaldeans to serve Him. He was to go to Canaan and settle there to fulfill another step in God's salvific plan - the raising up of a people with whom He would come into covenant relationship with. God promised Abram, whose name would be changed by God to Abraham, that he would have offspring more numerous than the stars of heaven. The LORD promised the land of Canaan to Abraham as the place where his descendants would dwell (Genesis 12-17). God would, at the appointed time, open Sarah's womb so that she would bear a son, Isaac, who would be Abraham's promised heir. God also prophesied through Abraham what He would do at an appointed time - offer up His own Son (Genesis 22). Isaac would eventually marry, and would become father to Jacob who, through Divine intervention, would come to be known as Israel. Jacob would become the promised heir, would have 12 sons. One of his sons, Joseph, would be sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and eventually come to be in Egypt. Through a series of Divinely-willed events, Joseph would become the vice regent of Pharaoh, with the authority of a ruler over Egypt. A famine was foretold that would overtake the region from Canaan to Egypt and surrounding areas. Jacob (Israel) would take his entire household - family, servants, slaves - and relocate in Egypt to join his son Joseph. Years later, Joseph would die; however, the Israelites would be fruitful and multiply in the land of Goshen in southern Egypt. Because Joseph had garnered through the grace of God favor of the Pharaohs, the Israelite people lived well and flourished for about 400 years. However, a new Pharaoh would arise who developed a hatred for the Israelite people, eventually enslaving them and relegating them to captivity in the land. 

And so we now come to the appointed time for God's deliverance of His people. God raised up for Himself an unlikely prophet named Moses, whose life God had preserved despite Pharaoh's mandate for all male Israelite infants to be killed. Moses would come to live in Pharaoah's household until he was 40 years old; Moses would kill an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite, news of which spread like wildfire. Moses escaped to the land of Midian, where he would remain in hiding for 40 years as a shepherd. God was ready to use Moses, even though Moses was reluctant to be the leader and God's agent to deliver His people. God would call Moses' brother, Aaron, to join him for this amazing calling. They were to go to Pharaoh and deliver the message from The LORD, the I AM: "Let My people go." God told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh's heart, i.e., would leave Pharaoh to his own arrogance and rejection of Israel's God, never to relent of his choice to go against the will of The LORD (Genesis 3:19; Exodus 4:21). 

The Israelites were at first very skeptical of Moses' authority and mission, and blamed him for the added labor punishment that Pharaoh had chastised them with. Even Moses became discouraged when Pharaoh immediately rejected God's demand and the people railed against him! God would respond to Moses complaint by using Moses to reveal more fully to the people who the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is, and what He was about to do. God would tell Moses that He was making Moses like God to Pharaoh, and that Aaron would be the prophet / spokesperson. God confirmed again that Pharaoh's heart would grow harder with each successive sign, until God forces His hand and causes Pharaoh to surrender. 

THE PLAGUES

God had ordained 10 plagues to befall Egypt, chiefly to glorify Himself before the human leader Pharaoh and confirm His Sovereignty, His claim to the people of Israel  The people of Egypt would suffer greatly because of the rejection by their god, Pharaoh, of the I AM's demand to release all of the Israelites. These plagues would be unlike anything Egypt had encountered before, impacting both man and beast and the very land itself - defying the Egyptian gods of land, water and creation -- Geb and Khnum, Aker, Amun, and leaving even the war god Anhur, weak and impotent. They would befall the people in succession - one after another, even though the intervals between each varied. They would come to fear the Almighty God of the Israelite people and eventually do all they could to placate their God and turn his wrath away.

What is as interesting to a Bible student is the fact that not only did the Egyptians need to witness the revelation of the God of Israel, but also God's people, the Israelites, needed to know who the I AM, the LORD was. They had not had a personal relationship with this God about whom they spoke about from generation to generation. They did not know him aside from being the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," their forefathers. They did not know Moses aside from the couple of times they interacted with him; the older Israelites who were still alive would remember Moses as a prince of Egypt until he fell out of favor, which would have cut off any authority he may have had until that time. They have only heard the words that Moses told them were from the I AM; they did not have intimate knowledge of who this "God" was. They lived as a people in a land of multiple gods for every experience in life in the culture of Egypt. The descendants of Israel enslaved in Egypt needed to believe in a God who was great, who was powerful, and who would come to their rescue. They needed to know Him as Sovereign over all creation - not just a favored deity of their forefathers. God would show them who He was, and what His power and authority were: He would allow the Israelites a taste of that power and authority by permitting them to know and even be exposed to the first three plagues that God would pronounce against Egypt!

There is a point upon which not all Bible scholars agree, based on how they interpret Exodus 7:19-21, 8:2-6, 16-18 and the reference to the "whole country of Egypt." But, as we approach the account of the fourth plague - the flies, notice this new statement in verses 21-22, which is not found in the first three plague pronouncements: "21Otherwise, if you won’t let my people go, I will send swarms of insects [flies] on you, your servants and your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of insects, and likewise the ground they stand on. 22But I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live — no swarms of insects will be there — so that you can realize that I am Adonai, right here in the land."  A similar statement would be repeated for the next five plagues. The final plague, the tenth plague, God would spare the lives of the firstborn only within the homes where there was sacrificial blood on the lintel. Placing the blood on the lintel was a matter of obedience and faith; by the tenth plague the Israelites should have developed a saving faith and thus obeyed the command. The command was given to the Israelite people so that they would not experience this final plague; if they chose not to follow the commandment, their firstborn would die just as surely as the Egyptians who were not included in this 'salvific' act of faith.

I encourage us to read and re-read these accounts. The reason for doing so: if you have lived in Christ for any amount of time, you will have experienced suffering - not because God does not care for you or has abandoned you, nor necessarily because you/we have done something wrong (John 10:27-28). We may -- not everyone of God's people, but there may be some among those who will, for example, be impacted by extreme weather events and lose materials things as their neighbors around them have, or who may be the victim of an automobile accident like others have suffered who may not be children of God, or other set backs - even unexpected death (Romans 14:7-9; Philippians 2:25-30). Why would God allow these things to befall those whom He has called to be His children? No doubt, the Israelites may have asked the same question, or began to doubt on the deliverance that had been promised. 

We may never know the exact, primary reason. But we will experience, by God's grace, a newer intimacy with God, a new revelation of who He is even in the throes of something negative. God does not promise us that He will make us live forever in these damaged bodies and souls (Romans 7:23-24); He promised to never leave us. He uses the hard things and turns them into something good for a reason that has to do with our eternal souls and eternal relationship with Him (Romans 8:28). While the Israelites would have been pained for a short period of time, their experience nevertheless gave them a new understanding of who the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was. That He was not some mythical person, nor far away unsympathetic god type, or the god of cultural lore. He is real, He is Almighty, Creator, Sovereign, and Deliverer (Exodus 15:1-18). The Great I AM wants us to know Him as such also; in the new covenant that we are blessed to be under, our future is one that would have been hard for the Israelites of Moses' day to understand. Because our future is founded in the blood of Jesus and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Yet, in both cases, RELATIONSHIP is at the heart of the matter. 

Is our relationship with God beyond stories, Christmas and Easter, good times and material blessings? Do we seek to obey Him by knowing His word and keeping it? Do we long to live a life of sacrifice to Him, or do we long for the days before we knew God when we felt free to live our lives to please ourselves? Have we engaged in relationship with God to know all that He has revealed about Himself, or do we 'engage' with God long enough to get the rewards? These are tough questions; these are tough times. As God shows us in His Word: Today is the day of salvation; do not harden your hearts in rebellion and suffer a death that one can never rise from.

Our Jealous God

"Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."
(Exodus 34:14)

As humans, we often experience a jealousy that is tainted with an unreasonable and suffocating expression of emotion by another over our self/person. Or, we may be the one who obsesses to a level of madness that grips us like a spell that cannot be broken. We have read about so-called 'love' relationships where a partner says he or she loves the other but it is a selfish, obsessive driving emotion that seeks to control and dominate in such a way that it edges onto or crosses the border of sanity. While we would like to think that this is 'love' at its most passionate expression, it is not. The One who created love says this about what true love is: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

Too often, this jealous madness that is obsessed with controlling and dominating the other person results in harm to the other and/or to those perceived to be encroaching on the jealous one's turf - a harm that potentially becomes deadly. The song of the jealous is, "if I can't have you no one will." 

I have been in such a relationship. 

My then husband more than once threatened my life at gunpoint and took our children hundreds of miles away as leverage. When a person is victimized to such an extent, you experience your own type of madness; your reasoning becomes warped. You walk in fear and shame - especially when the outbursts and threats become public and/or on your job. I was asked to leave my employment because of the risk to other employees. I felt like less than nothing at that point. While he claimed to be religious, and put on a religious face when attending services or around members of the church, his obsessive jealousy and need for control over me was exhibited behind closed doors. He had no fear of God in his heart. His kidnapping of the children, and unrelenting search to find me after I escaped his terror shattered every aspect of my life, estranged me from my family as I did not want to put them in jeopardy. Yet, ironically, they would distance themselves from me because of the shame I had brought on them, as I became known in all our circles as the one being chased from place to place by a crazed husband.  One day he found a way to contact me because he had won the lottery but, due to state law, had to share it with me as we were still legally married. I bargained with him for the children, telling him to keep the money and let me have the children. He signed them over to me for money. We fled immediately hundreds of miles in the other direction. Jealousy clothed with the label of  "Love" was spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically damaging so much so that only a merciful God could repair what was broken, distorted, and restore my scarred my relationship with Him. He had to teach me to forgive. He had to teach me perfect love.

Jealousy that leads to strong desire to control and manipulate others is a product of our sinful nature that we inherited from Adam. God created humankind in His image; our sin mars that image, damages our personhoods, minds, souls, bodies. Sin destroys relationship with God. Our inherited sin - aided and abetted by the evil one and the moral and spiritual darkness of his evil world system - impairs our ability to perfectly express anger or jealousy. We have no pure starting point within our natural selves to provide the perfect expression of such powerful emotion. Our human anger and jealousy has no righteousness attached to it because it emanates from a place of damage and brokeness. Within our human power, we cannot even love as we ought. Within our natural selves, this lack is a critical and chronic disability that is also self-deceiving - it permeates all we do. Because our natural selves suffer in that way, when we come across a scripture like the Exodus passage quoted above, or Deuteronomy 4:24, or 1 Corinthians 10:22, we are challenged in our sin-shaped hearts and minds to understand this jealousy of God - which is a perfect expression and sovereign right.

To be honest, from a spiritual standpoint, I know for a certainty that God's jealousy is beyond my comprehension. There was a time when that lack of 'sight' was a struggle because I lived by logic. Logic can sometimes get in the way of faith, as I had to learn. Awareness of God those aspects and attributes of God's character that I cannot fully comprehend is a reason to rejoice because why would I want a God I can control and manipulate? No, instead of dampening my faith, I more and more desire for it to be stronger so that even though I cannot comprehend every iota of knowledge about our Almighty God, my growing faith becomes growing trust in Him, gratitude for His perfect jealousy over what belongs to Him. That includes me.

How must we look at this part of God's character from a Biblical viewpoint - how He has revealed Himself in scripture?

• God's perfect jealousy is based in His holiness. He is Adonai ha'Elohim Hakkadosh - the Lord the Holy One. As sinful humans, we are unable to fully grasp the Holiness of God. It is like asking a person blind from birth to describe the sunrise or sunset, or the colors of the rainbow. -Joshua 24:19; 1 Samuel 2:2
• God's perfect jealousy is based in His justice - no jurist in the flesh can render up decisions in their repertoire of law and principle that can compare to the depths of God's justice. He is Yahweh Tsidkenu - LORD our Righteousness and Elohei Misphat (God of Just/Righteous Law). His law is perfect, His judgments are always right. -Deuteronomy 10:17-19; Isaiah 5:16
• God's perfect jealousy is based in His being El Olam - the Everlasting God. the Ever-Present God Who Dwells in the Eternal Present. He owns time. As owner and Creator of time, God has the sole right to use it as He sees fit. -Psalm 90; Colossians 1:15-17
• God's perfect jealousy is based in His being a Creator God, Elohim, The Hashem - the Great I AM WHO I AM. God owns all that He created, He has invested in us beyond our comprehension. He is our El Shaddai - our All-Sufficient Sustainer God. He has always been the Potter to our being the clay - what say do we have in what He does? -Exodus 3:14; Romans 9:20-22; Psalm 104
• God's perfect jealousy is based in His Almighty Power and Wisdom. There is no God of Power like our God. His Wisdom exceeds all the brightest 'geniuses' ever born all together. In His perfect expression of jealousy for His people, God will execute His wrath against those who desire to harm them.  -Daniel 2:20; Jeremiah 10:6; Revelation 1:7-8; Jeremiah 51:15
• God's perfect jealousy is based in His perfect love - a covenant love (Hesed) that is also sacrificial (Ahavah, Agape).  -Psalm 103:17; John 3:16-17; 1 John 4:9-10  This is not a love that we can grasp because that was destroyed by Adam's sin in us: we cannot grasp it nor express it in our human capacity. We must let the Holy Spirit create within us the love reflective of God.
• Finally (at least on this list instant), God's perfect jealousy is based in His Sovereignty. He owns all things. He controls the heavens and the earth, yet He has given His created beings the freedom to choose between His Sovereignty or theirs. (And we so deceive ourselves into thinking our choice of self-lordship is going to have a different result than it had for a perfect man and woman.) He is the author of all things, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. We cannot live for a moment if God removed all oxygen from us, and yet we presume to know better than He. As Sovereign, God has the right to act, choose, give or take away, create or destroy. This perfect rightness can often ring unfair in a nonbeliever's ear, for he or she has never known a righteous, perfect Creator and Owner; his or her experience and knowledge, or lack thereof, cannot bring him or her to comprehend that kind of Sovereignty that emanates from the love described above. He has the right to set destinies, to save whom He chooses, and allow the hearts of others to harden against Him. This question of Sovereignty has been raised against God for eons, and this challenge is eloquently described in Isaiah 40-44 and elsewhere in God's testimony as recorded in Isaiah. The book opens with a declaration of Sovereignty in chapter 1 of Isaiah where the LORD God describes the wickedness and rebellion of the people against His Lordship, in verses 23-24 He says: "Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow’s cause does not come before them. Therefore says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes!" God our Sovereign reserves the exclusive, absolute right to be worshiped - on this point there is no gray area. -Psalm 8:1, 9; Daniel 4:2-3; 1 Timothy 6:15; Psalm 24:1-2; Isaiah 66:1; Deuteronomy 5:9; Deuteronomy 10:20; Romans 1:18-25  

The foregoing is but a glimpse into the perfect holiness and righteousness of the Only True God, a perfection that is expressed through a jealousy that we cannot understand, but which acts in agape love - a sacrificial love - for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. He desires the best for His people, and places a guardrail and hedge of jealousy around them. He has vowed to never leave nor forsake them, to not let them be snatched from His hand by the enemy. God's people are His possession because He created them to become His people through the poured-out sacrificial blood of Jesus. (Ephesians 1:6-7; Ephesians 2:12-14)

Our God of love, of Might, our Wise and All Knowing God wants our complete devotion - He deserves it! He is jealous for it! When our God Incarnate - the Son of God - walked on this earth, He constantly spoke to and taught such allegiance to God. "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." That we can serve only One master; that our God supplies all our needs when we put Him first in our lives. His beloved Sermon on the Mount overflows with admonition of relationship with God and how He would have us live. (Matthew 5-7) The parable of the prodigal recorded in Luke 15:11-32 illustrates God's love for us - that He does not force us into relationship with Him, that He is forgiving beyond our capacity to understand, that He desires our heart worship - our whole lives to be lived in Him and with Him; that to do so brings an inner joy unimaginable. His final earthly hours were filled with prayer and pleadings for all who would believe and obey, whose hearts were to be tied to His and to the Father, who would be one with Him and with the Father. (John 14 to 17) In Matthew 10, we hear Christ's strong implication of God's sovereign right of worship and devotion - His jealousy over His human creation - without using the word jealous. He spoke to the desire of the Father for our worship to be exclusive - not divided among other interests or gods. Christ's very presence as God in human form was to begin the gathering of those whom the Father, in His sovereign will, would set aside for salvation: His coming would set a sword, a plumb line, a line in the sand to separate those who would receive Christ and thus receive the Father and those who would choose to be their own lord or to worship the devil (as noted in scripture above - there are only 2 masters: God and the devil). He would anoint and appoint those that the Father would choose to serve Him and to carry out the work He began. In His last week on earth He foretold that there would come a time when He would, in God's righteous jealousy, His perfect love demonstrated, return for those whom He had chosen, who love Him with all their whole heart, mind, and soul, whose lives are committed to Him and are awaiting His return. That He would make known to all in an astounding set of events and acts His fierce love for those who love Him. (Matthew 24-25) O what a God! Isn't He wonderful! -Isaiah 25:19; Psalm 9:1.

Hallelujah! Praise our Jealous God who loves us with a fierce love of protection, of blessing, of provision of all things good and enduring. Who loves us forever and will never abandon those He loves. Who walks with us and lives in us. May we all cling to Him in this life and rejoice in His glorious and righteous jealousy in the life to come. Amen.