JUDGMENT ON EGYPT!

 The Plagues of the Exodus: The Judgment of the Gods of Egypt

 of Israel's exodus from slavery in Egypt, God sent devastating plagues on the Egyptians. And there's a lot more to these pests than you probably realize!

Most of us are probably familiar with the basics of the story of Israel's exodus from slavery in Egypt. To summarize briefly, the Israelites migrated to Egypt in the time of Joseph, seventeen years before the death of the patriarch Jacob, whom God had renamed Israel. At first they enjoyed the favor of the Egyptians because of all that Joseph did as Pharaoh's vizier [high official] or prime minister. But over the years, that relationship has changed. The Egyptians began to see the Israelites as a threat.

In time, a new pharaoh came to power and enslaved the Israelites. The situation got so bad that the Egyptians started killing Hebrew male babies to stop the Israelites from outnumbering the Egyptians.

During this time, God raised up a deliverer named Moses. He was saved at birth and grew up as a member of the Egyptian royal family. But after killing an Egyptian, he fled from Egypt to the land of Midian, where, forty years later, God spoke to him at the burning bush and sent him back to Egypt to free the Israelites from slavery.

In Exodus 7:1-5 God told Moses that he would do three things:

1. He would bring the Israelites out of Egypt,

2. He would do this "with great manifestations of judgment" and

3. It would show the Egyptians that He is LORD—the true God.

In Exodus 12:12, God adds that he was doing another very important thing: "I will execute judgments upon all the gods of Egypt." Thus, the judgments of God, to a certain degree, would be against the Egyptian gods. In doing so, He would teach a lesson to both the Egyptians and the Israelites, who had been in Egypt for generations and had drifted away from the religion of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They had fully immersed themselves in corrupt Egyptian culture and religion.

Egyptian culture was very idolatrous and had a multitude of gods and goddesses. Many of these took the form of animals, so the Egyptians considered bulls, cows, sheep, cats, crocodiles, snakes, frogs and various insects and birds sacred. Note some of these creatures in the depictions of Egyptian deities that accompany this article.

Each of the plagues that God sent was a direct challenge to one or more of the gods and goddesses of Egypt. Although the Egyptians had seen these things before, like locusts and bloodsucking insects, what made these plagues unique is that God miraculously intensified them and brought them to the Egyptians when he wanted. Hence, the plagues were much worse than they normally would have been, and they came just when God, through Moses, said they would happen to show that God was causing this.

So let's analyze each plague and then see which gods or goddesses the true God was judging against. We will see what the true God did to teach the Egyptians and Israelites a lesson.

The First Plague: The Waters Turn to Blood

The first plague was directed against the Nile River, the life and heart of Egypt. Egypt was a desert country and its economy and livelihood depended on the Nile. Their crops were irrigated by the Nile and the fields depended on fertile soil irrigated by the river. The Nile was also the main “road” for the country—much of Egypt's trade depended on it.

So what happened to this lifeblood of the nation? Let’s read about it in Exodus 7:19-20: “And the LORD said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over its streams, over its rivers, over its ponds and over every pool of their waters, that they may become blood; and let there be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and of stone.

“And Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; and he lifted up his rod and smote the waters that were in the river, before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants; and all the waters of the river turned to blood” (emphasis added).

Although this plague was primarily directed against the Nile River, it went much further. All other sources of water were affected, including streams and irrigation streams and even water stored in jars and buckets in people's homes.

This was a terrible disaster for the Egyptians. The entire life force of the country was poisoned and unserviceable. And if that were not enough, “the fish that were in the river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt” (verse 21).

This was a total catastrophe. The Egyptians' water supply for drinking, bathing and washing was now cut off because of contamination. Fish, one of their main sources of food, had been decimated. This was a devastating blow to the country.

So how does this set up a judgment against the Egyptian gods? Because the Nile was so important to the Egyptians, they worshiped various gods who were responsible for protecting it. The great god Khnum, usually represented as a ram-headed man, was seen as the giver and guardian of the Nile River.

Another god, Hapi, the spirit of the Nile, personifies the waters of the river during the annual flood, and was considered the god of fertility, as after the flood the land was excellent for planting. He was also worshiped as the god of fish, birds, and swamps, which is why he was often portrayed with swamp plants on his head. The gods Sodpet and Satet were also linked to the waters of the River Nile.

Osiris, the god of the underworld, was one of the greatest gods of this divine trinity of gods of Egypt. The Egyptians saw the Nile River as their own bloodstream—and now it had literally turned to blood! You can imagine the horror and feeling of abandonment the Egyptians felt when they looked at that river, which was once mighty and life-sustaining, which was now a gigantic fetid cesspool with tons of dead and rotting fish on its banks. This also hit Hatmehit, guardian goddess of fish and fishermen.

These great gods of Egypt proved powerless to prevent this great plague on the Nile. This showed their shameful inability before the God of Israel!

A God of Judgment

Why did God start with a plague on the Nile? And why did He choose a blood plague? Because He is a God of judgment and justice.

The Egyptians took thousands of helpless Israelite babies and threw them into the Nile to drown them or to feed the crocodiles and fish (Exodus 1:22). The Egyptians had shed the blood of the Hebrews and, essentially, God answered them, "If you want blood, I will give you blood to drink."

So God chose the Nile and decided to turn it into blood—because He is a God of judgment and justice. We have an important lesson here. God may even delay his judgment, but when it comes, it doesn't take long to execute. And when he decides it's time to demand justice, He executes His vengeance.

As the Egyptians showed no mercy by brutally enslaving and oppressing the Israelites, trying to carry out genocide against them, God also severely judged Egypt and its false gods.

The Second Plague: Frogs

The next plague was that of the frogs, described in the first part of chapter eight of Exodus. Large numbers of frogs would not have been unusual, because the Nile had many swamps that were a natural terrain for these animals. But this plague was different.

 “Then the LORD said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says the LORD: Let My people go, that they may serve Me. And if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will smite all your borders with frogs. And the river shall bring forth frogs, which shall come up and come into your house, and into your dormitory, and upon your bed, and into the houses of your servants, and upon your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls" (Exodus 8:1-3).

Frogs were considered a manifestation of the goddess Heqet, goddess of birth and wife of the creator of the world. Heqet was represented with the head of a frog and the body of a woman. Furthermore, the court of Hapi, mentioned above, included crocodile gods and frog goddesses. And the chief gods, Nun, Kek, and Heh, were represented as a frog-headed man.

Frogs were considered sacred in Egypt because they lived in two worlds — in water and on land. They were considered so sacred that if anyone accidentally stepped on them they could be punished by death.

Note two major ironies here. Heqet was supposed to be the goddess who controls birth, but in this plague literally millions and millions of frogs were flooding the land—obviously, the frog birth rate was out of control! And if someone accidentally stepped on one they could be punished by death, so how could that be avoided when the ground was covered in croaking frogs? Well, there were frogs in the streets, in the houses, in the beds, in the ovens and in the household items.

Literally, the Egyptians could not walk without stepping on and crushing frogs. But in doing so, they would be breaking their own laws and putting themselves to death for offending the goddess Heqet and other frog-shaped deities! Finally, the people had to go out and gather great piles of dead and fetid frogs—your beloved sacred animal! God showed here that He was far more powerful than all these false gods!

The Third Plague: Lice

The third plague, lice, is mentioned in Exodus 8:16-17: “And the LORD said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your rod and smite the dust of the ground, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And so they did; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the ground, and there were many lice on men and on cattle; all the dust of the earth became lice throughout the land of Egypt.”

Which god of Egypt was being judged now? Probably this plague was directed at Geb, the god of the earth. The Egyptians gave offerings to Geb for the bounty of the land—but in this case, instead of the land producing crops, fruits, and vegetables, it was causing itching and causing terrible lice. And that showed them the powerlessness of their god Geb!

This infestation can also be seen as a blow to all the Egyptian gods as they were unable to stop it. The Egyptians invoked the Har-pa-khered (Horus in child form) to ward off dangerous creatures and Imhotep, god of medicine, as well as other gods of healing, but they got no relief. As we will see later, Pharaoh was also considered a god, but even he was afflicted with lice.

It is also interesting to note how this affected the priests of the Egyptian gods. The Greek historian Herodotus, who traveled to ancient Egypt, tells us that Egyptian priests had to perform many cleansing rituals in order to serve as priests. Some of them were specifically to avoid being infected by lice, which would prevent them from fulfilling their religious obligations in the service of their gods.

But now the presence of these lice meant that the Egyptian priests could no longer serve their gods. They could not even go to temples to direct the worship of the Egyptian gods because they were now considered unclean to perform their rituals! So this was a blow not only against Geb and the other Egyptian gods, but also against all the pagan priests of Egypt. Once again, God was showing them exactly who is really in charge!

Once again, we see an irony in this plague. The land was infested with lice, bringing suffering to people and animals, moreover, the priests of Egypt could not even enter their temples to pray to their gods, because now they could not serve because of lice!

The fourth plague: Swarms

At first, the following plague looks a lot like the lice plague. But probably she was a little different, as we shall see.

Exodus 8:20-23 states, “And the LORD said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; behold, he will go out to the waters, and say to him, Thus says the LORD: Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For 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 filled with these swarms, and also the land in which they are.

“And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that there be no swarms of flies in it, that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of this land. And I will put a separation between My people and your people; tomorrow will be this sign.”

Here the word "flies" was added by translators as it is not in the original Hebrew, which simply uses the word "swarms" in reference to flying insects.

A more likely scenario, based on the way we've seen God work so far in this story, is that the "swarms" in this passage referred to another flying, crawling insect that the Egyptians held sacred—the beetle. These were actually dung beetles or dung beetles—dung-eating insects! Scarabs can also be very destructive, as they have extremely strong jaws to easily chew through wood.

If this is the case, then was this plague particularly directed at a god in Egypt? Exactly. The Egyptian god Kheper was described as a man with the head of a dung beetle. Kheper was seen as the god who pushed the sun across the sky. It was associated with the dung beetle, because it rolled manure in spherical balls on the ground, similar to what the Egyptians thought about Kheper, that is, it pushed the sun across the sky.

The Egyptians also considered scarabs to be divine, as they emerged from dead animals or dung; therefore, they were seen as something being created from dead matter. Because of this, they associated it with rebirth and resurrection.

Apparently, the Egyptians didn't understand that beetles simply laid their eggs on dead animals or manure so that they could later hatch. Surely, this had nothing to do with being divine!

So when this swarm of creatures invaded the land and invaded everything, like the earlier plagues of lice and frogs, it was a direct affront to the god Kheper. And this god proved incapable of controlling the destructive insects that were now gnawing at Egyptian houses and buildings. We can also note the inability of the supreme wind god, Amon, who was supposed to be able to drive out swarms. Here the true God showed the complete uselessness of the other Egyptian gods.

Note also that this is the first plague in which God made a distinction between his people and the Egyptians. The Israelites suffered the previous plagues alongside the Egyptians. But now God kept this and the remaining plagues away from Goshen, where his people lived.

The Fifth Plague: The Plague of Animals

The fifth plague, beginning in Exodus 9:1, was against domestic animals: “Then the LORD said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, Let My people go, so that you may serve Me.

“For if you refuse to let them go, and yet hold them by force, behold, the hand of the LORD will be on your cattle that are in the field, on the horses, on the asses, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep, with a very serious pestilence. And the LORD will separate the livestock of the Israelites from the livestock of the Egyptians, so that none of the children of Israel perish” (verses 1-4).

This plague caused a huge economic disaster for the Egyptians. It affected their food, transportation, military capability, agricultural capability, and economic goods produced by these animals. But still Pharaoh's heart remained hardened.

Cattle in Egypt were not only highly prized, they were also considered sacred. The Egyptians worshiped many animals and, among them, bulls and heifers. Ptah, the god of creation, represented by the living bull Apis as the renewal of life through Ptah. The Apis bull was very sacred, and when it died, the Egyptians wept as if they had lost a pharaoh. After his death, the Apis bull was embalmed and placed in a tomb like a pharaoh.

Atum and Ra, creator gods of the sun, mixed as the same deity, were represented by the black bull Mer-wer or Nem-wer (called by the Greeks Mnevis). The goddesses of heaven and creation, Nut and Neith, were depicted as a celestial cow giving rise to the universe and other gods.

Hathor was one of Egypt's greatest mother goddesses, represented as a cow-headed goddess or a cow-featured female. Hathor was usually depicted with horns and a sun disk on her head. She was seen as the symbolic mother of the pharaoh.

Faced with this plague, the countless gods of Egypt could do nothing to protect the cattle and herds of the Egyptians. Keep in mind that as each plague was sent, the Egyptians probably prayed desperately to their gods to stop the plagues. But in all cases, their gods proved powerless and silent.

The Sixth Plague: Ulcers

Then we come to the plague of ulcers: “Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 'Take your fists full of the ash from the oven, and Moses scatter it to heaven before Pharaoh's eyes; and it will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and it will become scabies, breaking out in ulcers on men and on livestock throughout all the land of Egypt.

 “And they took the ashes from the oven and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered it to heaven; and it became scabies, which broke out in ulcers on men and cattle; so that the magi could not stand before Moses, because of the scabies; for there was scabies on the magi and on all the Egyptians” (Exodus 9:8-11).

The Egyptians worshiped various healing deities, and even sacrificed human beings to them. The victims were burned on an altar and their ashes thrown into the air, where the wind would scatter the ashes over the people. This was seen as a blessing for them. Moses took ashes from this oven and threw them into the air. The ashes were scattered by the wind and fell on all the priests, people and the rest of the animals. But instead of a blessing, it turned into painful ulcers—big wounds on people.

This plague would be an affront to the Egyptian gods of healing. One of them, mentioned earlier, was Imhotep, god of medicine. Another was Thoth, represented by an ibis-headed man, the god of intelligence and medical science. Another was Nefertem, god of healing. And there was Isis, another figure of the Egyptian triad and wife of Osiris. Supposedly, she was able to bring Osiris back to life, but she proved powerless to protect or help the Egyptians from the painful ulcers that spread far and wide.

Verse 11 emphatically mentions that the magi suffered from ulcerations. Priests with magical powers, especially those of the cult of Sekhmet, yet another goddess of healing, in addition to her primary role as a goddess of war, were the physicians of ancient Egypt. However, the wizards were suffering terribly from those wounds, and could barely stand up, let alone use the power of their supposed gods to heal others.

The Seventh Plague: Hailstorm

Then came the plague of hailstorms. This would have been very unusual, as the region where this occurred receives only about two inches of rain a year.

 “Then the LORD said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be hail throughout all the land of Egypt, on men, and on cattle, and on every herb of the field in the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail...And the hail smote all that was in the field throughout all the land of Egypt” (Exodus 9:22-25).

Which Egyptian gods and goddesses were demoralized by this plague? As this plague originated in the sky, the most prominent deity discredited by this plague was Nut, the goddess of the sky, mentioned earlier. Often, she is depicted in Egyptian art in the form of an arched woman with her entire body starry forming the celestial sky.

But Nut was not the only Egyptian goddess discredited by this plague. Where was Shu, the god of air and bringer of the sky? Why didn't he stop this devastating storm? Where was Horus, represented with the head of a falcon, third member of the Egyptian triad, and solar god of the skies of Upper Egypt? And what about Seth, god of storms and protector of crops? Or Neper, god of grain crops? Or again Osiris, who was ruler of life and vegetation?

This plague was another devastating attack on the country. The Egyptians had already lost fish from their diet when the Nile turned to blood. The plague of animals killed much of the herd of cattle, and the animals that were still in the field at the time of the hailstorm were killed by the hail, so that the Egyptians lost many of their sources of meat and milk. Furthermore, the various cow deities mentioned earlier could not do anything.

The linen mentioned here was the Egyptians' main source of fiber for clothing. So they lost not only much of their ability to feed themselves, but also their main material for clothing!

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

The hailstorm plague was followed by the locust plague. The hail plague destroyed the crops and most of the plants, but now what little had survived would be devoured by locusts.

“Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, that the locusts may come... and eat all the grass of the land, all that the hail has left. Then Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt...And the locusts came over all the land of Egypt and...they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate all the grass of the earth, and all the fruit of the trees, which the hail had left; and there was no greenery left on the trees, nor the grass of the field, throughout all the land of Egypt” (Exodus 10:12-15).

History has documented that locust swarms destroyed village food supplies in a matter of minutes. They simply devoured everything green—every leaf and grass.

Again, as in the preceding plagues, the gods of Egypt were silent. You should be wondering what his worshipers thought when they saw that devastation. Where was Anubis, the jackal-headed guardian of the fields? And, again, what about Osiris, the chief god of agriculture? Again, he, Isis, Seth, and Neper were all challenged—as were Shu, god of air, and Amun, god of wind.

The devastated fields, battered by hail and scorched by fire, and now devoured by locusts, testified to the powerlessness of the Egyptian gods.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

In Exodus 10:21-23, we read of the terrible plague of darkness: “Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and darkness shall come upon the land of Egypt, even darkness to be felt. And Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness over all the land of Egypt for three days. He did not see each other, and no one rose from his seat for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”

Imagine the world you know suddenly going completely dark to the point where you can't see anything at all. You couldn't see the other members of your family. You couldn't see anything in your house—the table, the chairs, your bed, your food, the doors, the windows, your fields, nothing. The whole world was in darkness. And that darkness was palpable—and somehow you could feel it pressing in on you from all sides. This would go on for a day and a night. And another day and night. Plus a third day and night. For people used to seeing the sun shining 365 days a year, this must have been terrifying!

This plague of darkness was a judgment on the religion of Egypt and its entire culture. None of the gods of Egypt was more worshiped than the sun god. The sun god, known by different names like Re, Ra, Atum or Aten (and sometimes Horus), had identified himself with the supreme god Amun, Amun or Amen. Therefore, Amun-Ra was considered the greatest of the gods of Egypt. He was seen as the creator, the giver of life, the one who flooded the Earth with his energizing rays. Many pharaohs incorporated this god's name into their own names—names such as RAmesses ("extracted from Ra"), AMENhotep ("Amen, Amon, or Amun is satisfied") and TutancAMON ("living image of Amun").

But during that darkness, Amun-Ra was silent. Literally, he was out of sight. Nothing was visible in the suffocating darkness that covered the land. Not only were all the other gods and goddesses of Egypt powerless, but their greatest and most important god, Amun-Ra, was utterly unable to help them. Once again, the gods of the Egyptians let them down.

The Tenth Plague: The Death of the Firstborn

The tenth plague was very selective. She annihilated the firstborn of the Egyptians, both human and animal. “Moses said, Thus the LORD has said: At midnight I will go out through the midst of Egypt; and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits with him on his throne, to the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the millstone, and every firstborn of the beasts. And there will be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as never was and never will be” (Exodus 11:4-6).

Why the firstborn? God considered Israel His firstborn among the nations and warned Egypt of this punishment (Exodus 4:22-23). Also, in that time and culture, the firstborn received most of the inheritance from a father. Generally, the firstborn became the country's ruling elite—generals and military officers, top administrators, and even pharaohs. However, this particular pharaoh appears not to have been a firstborn, as he did not die in this plague. Perhaps his older brother had died young and he was next in line. But his son was in that line of succession to be the next pharaoh, and he died in that plague.

Once again, the gods of Egypt were silent. Serket, the goddess of protection, proved powerless. Meskhenet, the goddess of childbirth, who attended the birth of children, was unable to save the firstborn. Sobek, god of protection and fertility who epitomized the power of the pharaohs, failed to protect anyone. The goddess Renenutet, represented as a vulture wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, the pharaoh's special protector, could not protect the pharaoh's son, who would be the next pharaoh. And, again, where was Osiris, the giver and ruler of life?

With this plague, the Egyptian Pharaoh finally gave in and let the Israelites go. This act of forcing Pharaoh to act against his will would demonstrate submission to the sovereignty of the true God and not to the Egyptian gods Hu, the god who personifies royal authority; Wadjet, the goddess of royal authority; Maat, goddess of cosmic order under whose aegis the rulers of Egypt reigned, and Sekhmet, goddess of war, who supposedly breathed fire against Pharaoh's enemies.

All these false gods were judged, demonstrating that they had no power or value.

Pharaoh's Judgment

The death of the firstborn was the last plague, but it was not the final judgment of the gods of Egypt. One more important god needed to be tried to prove he wasn't a god.

Continuing the story, after the Israelites finally left Egypt, Pharaoh once again changed his mind. He set out with the best six hundred chariots, plus every other chariot in Egypt—possibly thousands—to bring the Israelites back into slavery. The Egyptians cornered the Israelites at sea, but God delayed them by a pillar of fire and a cloud while the Israelites crossed on dry land to the other side.

After the Israelites had passed, God lifted up the pillar of fire and the cloud, and then He judged the last of the chief gods of Egypt. This god was none other than Pharaoh himself.

The pharaohs were literally considered sons of Ra or the divine incarnation of Horus, which meant they were also considered gods here on earth. In a way, they believed that they embodied all the gods of Egypt and were their representatives to the Egyptian people. And that's how they wielded so much power over people—the power of life, death, and slavery. And so they built these great monuments for themselves and these fabulous tombs full of riches and treasures. Because this was to honor the gods, which they thought they were, and not mere mortals.

A pharaoh's greatest responsibility was to maintain order—a manifestation of Maat, mentioned earlier—to ensure that the dozens of Egyptian gods and goddesses carried out their responsibilities well, so that the kingdom of Egypt remained prosperous and strong. But this pharaoh failed miserably. He could not overcome those plagues that ravaged and plunged his kingdom into chaos. He could not prevent the death of his own son. And he couldn't stop his army from drowning at sea either. He and his mighty kingdom were utterly crushed and humiliated. The last of the great gods of Egypt was weighed in the balance, judged and found wanting!

When considering all this, we see that the plagues of Egypt were not random. God is a God of logic and order. He sent each of the plagues to specifically show the Egyptians and Israelites that He was greater than all the gods of Egypt.

Taken together, the ten plagues dealt a crushing defeat to Pharaoh and the entire pantheon of Egyptian gods, just as God had promised. Without a doubt, this was an epic war between the one true God and the demonic forces of darkness. The true God won and the gods of Egypt succumbed. But why? In fact, these false gods do not exist and the false gods that deceive people into believing they exist are no match for the God of the Bible!

The important lessons for us

So what lessons should we learn from these events and how can we apply them to our lives today?

1. We need to understand that God takes sin very seriously. The severity of the plagues in Egypt shows how seriously God took their sins. However, it is not just the sin of the Egyptians that God abhors. He hates any sin. We must never underestimate the sin in our lives. Any sin is serious, and if we do not repent, it will lead to eternal death.

2. God is patient and has given us time to repent, but His patience has limits. And He used to always warn, as He repeatedly did with the Egyptians. But his patience will eventually wear thin. And what comes next is the fearful judgment of God. We must go back to his way and repent before that happens!

3. Many people “turn to God” in times of adversity, but when things improve, they almost immediately turn away again. Their hearts are hardened again. We may wonder how Pharaoh could have been so blind and stupid as to harden his heart so many times. But the pharaoh's case was not that uncommon. When there was too much pressure, he gave in, saying he would let the Israelites go. But as soon as the pressure eased again, his heart hardened.

4. God is trying to get our attention, but are we listening? Remember that the Israelites were victims of the first three plagues along with the Egyptians. God had to shake them up and get their attention so they could start separating themselves from the world to become his chosen nation. The news we see around us now should serve to wake us up. The major trends and events that this magazine and past editions have been predicting for years, as revealed in Bible prophecy, are beginning to unfold before our eyes.

5. God requires obedience and not just belief. How were the Israelites spared from the slaughter of the firstborn? Through active faith. They had to act. They had to do something. They had to put the blood of the paschal lamb on the doorposts. They had to act and obey in faith, or they would have lost the firstborn like the Egyptians. In the same way, today, we must act faithfully, obediently, and away from Egypt, which is represented by this world, in order to be saved.

6. What are your gods? The Egyptians had dozens of gods that they worshiped and devoted their lives to. Is that you? What do you dedicate your life to? A false god is anything that comes between you and the only true God. What are the idols that exist between you and God? What consumes your time and energy? Your job or career? Any hobbies? Some sport? entertainments? Only you can answer that. Just remember that at some point all these things will disappear and be nothing, like the Egyptians, so there you will be responsible for dedicating your life to your Creator.

7. Our Almighty God has absolute control over everything. We saw this throughout the events of the plagues. God controlled every aspect to accomplish His purpose to free His people from slavery and sin and to make them a new nation. We can take a lot of comfort and hope in that. Nothing is out of God's control. He has begun an excellent work in us and will continue that work as long as we are receptive and open to Him and allow Him to continue that work (see Philippians 1:6). Don't let anything get in the way of the relationship between you and the true God so that He can carry out His will in your life!

SOURCE: portugues.ucg.org/revista-boa-nova/as-pragas-do-exodo-the-judgment-of-the-gods-of-egypt

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