Cattle, Horses, and Sheep...Oh My!

Exodus 9:1-7

God wasn't fooling around when He sent Moses unto Pharaoh. God had decided it was time to get His people Israel out of bondage in Egypt, and He was serious. In our culture, and in our day and age, living in a (relatively) free country, I know I can have a hard time grasping the severity of the situation. The Israelites were slaves, and they were heavily oppressed. But God wanted them to come out of Egypt, and to go into Canaan, and be His people.

As I study this, I am becoming more convinced that these ten plagues were not only directed at Egypt. You see, all ten plagues were not random. Each one was aimed at a specific thing that the Egyptians worshiped as idols. Yes, God was punishing the Egyptians, so to speak, but He was also proving to the Israelites that He was much greater than any idol any of them could come up with. God did not want His people to leave bondage in Egypt and enter the promised land, only to turn their backs on Him by following the false gods of their neighbors. That's why the fifth plague was aimed squarely at “Apis,” the sacred bull. The Egyptians had several animals that they had decided to worship, but Apis was the most sacred of them all. The bull was considered a symbol of strength and fertility. It was also considered to be a manifestation of Pharaoh himself. So much so, that when the Pharaoh died, the bulls were killed and buried with him.

I found it fascinating, that in the first two plagues, the Bible mentions how the magicians had been able to reproduce the miracle, but the third, they were unable to reproduce. However, the Bible never mentions whether the magicians had tried to stop the plague from happening. The devil was an angel, and he can copy some things God can do, but he is powerless to oppose God. God showed, in one day, to the Egyptians, Israelites, and us, that He is more powerful than all the animals that the Egyptians thought had power. You see, people, both in their day and ours, have worshiped many things, but it's actually always the same thing—man worshiping the creation in order to have eternal life. That is the very definition of “religiosity.” God, however, proved to Israel, and to us today, that He is in control of all nature, and He wants us to only worship Him. Now you might be thinking to yourself, “OK, that is all fine, but what has He done for me?” Well, let me tell you! The Scriptures say that all men have sinned, and that the punishment for sin is death. So, in His infinite mercy, He sent His Son to pay our price for sin. If we will repent and believe that He is God and Creator of all nature, including us, then we will have eternal life also. God does everything for a reason, including giving His Son for our ransom. Let us now humbly respond...giving Him what He paid for—our hearts.

~ Jason Alan Frantz