God’s choice of plagues may seem random to us, but they spoke volumes to the Egyptians. For example, turning the water of the Nile to blood didn’t just make the river disgusting and obtaining water difficult, it was a huge blow to these people who worshiped the Nile as a god, and to Pharaoh’s leadership. The river was life to the Egyptians; without it, the desert would encroach and they would have no water or fertile soil for growing crops. The main reason for Pharaoh’s role was to regulate all of Egypt’s efforts to control the river’s annual flooding and irrigation for the welfare of the land and its people. That role eventually evolved into worship of Pharaoh as a representative of the gods, the son of a god, and virtually a god himself, whose main responsibility was to control the Nile for the benefit of the nation. You can see what an assault the first plague was on their reverence for the Nile, its god, and for Pharaoh. Each plague was as significant to the people of ancient Egypt.
The dark arts are not something I contemplate; I prefer to avoid anything that Satan might be able to turn into a trap for me or for someone else. I do not understand how the Egyptian magicians were able to do the same things God had done. But even in that, God was able to demonstrate His supremacy. Isn’t it funny to think of Pharaoh’s magicians actually adding to the misery by producing blood and frogs? Notice that their magic could not overcome God’s work by reversing it – an action that would’ve made a lot more sense than adding to God’s plague and the people’s discomfort.
The plagues didn’t just display God’s supremacy over the gods the Egyptians worshipped; they judged Egypt and Pharaoh with destruction. In a time before grocery stores, refrigeration and mass transportation, the people were dependent on every year’s crops for survival in the coming year. Crop failure meant starvation. The plagues ruined every crop on which the Egyptians depended. It was a catastrophe for them. It seems to me that Pharaoh must have been crazy to allow it to happen, but there were apparently other nonbelievers. What an object lesson to us of the hearts hardened today by rejecting God. They fail to perceive the truth because they have rejected it, and then they accuse those who believe the truth of being crazy. Just like in ancient Egypt, belief in the truth to the point that we will act on it, is our only hope of salvation from sin and its deadly effects.
Notice that God’s primary intent was not to destroy Egypt, but to lead them to knowledge of Him. Often God’s works are seen as negative when they involve destruction and human suffering, but if we won’t know Him in the status quo, how merciful He is to try another way. Since “this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God,” God is actually caring and merciful to use difficult circumstances to lead us to that knowledge. May we be quick to turn to Him; may we be doing the work we are called to do to witness and make disciples. May we cooperate with Him in turning suffering people’s attention toward merciful God when He allows such circumstances. For knowing Him is much more important in truth than our ease and comfort.
Today completes a month of reading! Well done, for those of you who have stuck with it! I hope it feels like a good accomplishment. You are one-twelfth of the way through the Bible! If you did it for the month of January, you can do it for another month!
If you have not read faithfully, please keep trying! Continuing to try is so much better than giving up! And you can still improve. Try to make a week at a time your goal.This is a worthy endeavor, worthy of continuing effort!