And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be. And the Lord did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.( Exodus 8:20-24)
When God sent the plague of lice, not only did he personally afflict all of Egypt, but the swarms of lice were a direct hit on the idolatrous worship of Egypt. The reason Egyptian Priests are depicted as bald, is that they were required to shave their entire body every three days to make sure that no such noisome pest ever defile the Egyptian altars by their presence.
Up until the plague of flies, the Hebrews and Egyptians together suffered under the wrath of God that had fallen upon Egypt. But because of the covenant, God now made a separation. The Hebrews were relegated to a section of Egypt called Goshen, and they would be exempt from the last seven plagues.
All of the plagues are direct assaults on the “gods” of the Egyptian.
The Plague of flies is an attack on Uatchit, the fly God of Egypt. Uatchit was annually supplicated in the summer dog days of Egypt to remove the swarms of flies that would congregate along the river.The Moabites would worship an idol similar to Uatchit named Beelzebub, “The Lord of the flies”. The Most High was demonstrating the filthiness of idolatry, by covering Egypt with clouds of flies, and all that flies bring with them.
Egyptians had special regard for cows and bulls. The calf was an idol to the Egyptians and no less than four Egyptian gods are depicted as Cattle or with features of cattle.
The Plague of boils was a humiliation of Sekhmet the Egyptian goddess of Epidemics(Skin care). Two other Egyptian gods were proven impotent in the face of this painful and humiliating plague, Serapis and Imhotep were gods of healing. The Egyptians prided themselves on cleanliness and the care of skin, so the plague of boils must have been shattering.
The magicians of Pharaoh were so afflicted they couldn’t even show up in court.
And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.(Exodus 9:8-11)
Egyptians worshipped Nut and Shu, deities which governed the sky and the atmosphere,but when destructive Hail fell upon Egypt(but not Goshen), these gods were exposed. The hail was accompanied by lightening which ran along the ground and burned the crops as well as the destruction wreaked by the heavy hailstones.
This plague was so devastating, Pharaoh was compelled to admit that he had sinned. He would eventually harden into an even more intractable position, but by this time He knew he was dealing with the real God.
And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Intreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God.(Exodus 9:27-30)
The next two plagues were the most terrifying and destructive of them all.
Locusts descended on the land, devouring every thing green which had managed to escape the previous plagues. The god Serapia was supposedly the protector of Egypt from locusts, but proved impotent to save them.
There are at least four different Sun gods, Re, Amon Re,Horus, and Aten. The Egyptians also worshipped a moon god,Thoth. But when the Most High God, creator of the Sun and Moon, sent darkness to Egypt, a blackness that could be felt, for three days and nights, it became a nightmare to the idolaters. Only in Goshen was there light, in the homes of the Hebrew slaves.
These Plagues brought Egypt, the most sophisticated and powerful Empire on earth, to her knees. The people must have been devastated psychologically; their economy was shattered, cattle killed, most food was gone, the people had been sickened and even defiled by the lice/frogs/flies, all confidence in false gods, priests, pharaohs and the whole Egyptian worldview lay in ruins, and this was universal with the exception of Goshen, where the despised Hebrew slaves dwelt.
The Jewish people, being a prophetic witness of the reality of the only true God, serve to bear witness to the future as well as the past. What God did to Egypt to bring his people out in the Exodus, will soon be replayed on a world stage.
The AntiChrist will be the Pharaoh, the atheistic, godless new world brought about by the “Kings of the earth” will be the new Egypt and God’s people, the two witnesses will correspond to Moses and Aaron, the Jews and Christians currently under persecution and oppressed, will be he objects of God’s saving intentions.
And all of the Plagues will be visited again on the world,
Water will again be turned into blood (Rev. 8:8; 16:4,5).
Satanic frogs will appear (Rev. 16:53).
A plague of locusts shall be sent (Rev. 9:2-Il).
God will send boils and blains (Rev. 16:2).
Terrible hail-stones shall descend from heaven (Rev. 8:7).
There shall be awful darkness (Isa. 60:2; Revelation 16:10).
Just as Pharaoh hardened his heart so will the wicked in the day to come (Rev. 9:20,21).
Israel will be delivered (Zech. 14:3, 4; Romans 11:26).
Pastor Bill Randles Blog 