July 7th, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

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For hundreds of years in Egypt, God’s people flourished – and then they were brutally enslaved. God never forgot them. He had not forsaken them. He was waiting – waiting while the family of Jacob, later named Israel, grew to a number great enough to become the nation of people He promised. He waited until the hearts of the Egyptians were bitter and hard against Him and His people. He waited until His glory could be fully revealed as He redeemed His people.

Notice Pharaoh’s response when Moses first takes him God’s command to let His people go.

“Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.” (5:2, NIV)

Pharaoh asked who He was – who is this God who claims He has the authority to take the Israelites out of their enslavement? What kind of God would send a humble, trembling man with a speech impediment in to the most powerful ruler on earth and boldly demand such a thing?

The plagues that follow seem to be God’s glorious and fearsome introduction of Himself to the Egyptians – and even His own people who had lived in Egyptian culture for so long – as the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the one true God who is supreme over all the gods of Egypt. Over and over again God states that the purpose of the plagues is that they will know that He is the LORD.

When God turns the mighty Nile river to blood, it seems to be a direct statement against the Egyptian god Hapi, spirit of the Nile in flood and “giver of life to all men.”

This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.

Exodus 7:17-18

Not only did the Egyptians worship a god of the Nile, one of their gods was the frog-headed goddess, Hekt. Hekt was worshipped as a fertility goddess and credited with a role in the origin of the earth. Interesting that God uses frogs with uncontrollable fertility to plague the Egyptians with the very thing they worshipped.

Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.”

“Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.

Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the LORD our God. The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”

Exodus 8:9-11

Another member of Egypt’s large pantheon of gods and goddesses was the sky goddess Nut, mother of the sun-god Ra. She was she was supposed to protect the land from destruction which came down from heaven. Notice what God says to Pharaoh (through Moses) before violently pummeling the land of Egypt with hail:

…this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

Exodus 9:14

The last plague, the death of the firstborn, was obviously the most painful for the Egyptians. It was not only against the supreme god of Egypt, Pharaoh himself, but also against the future pharaoh, his son, the very next god (Horus) of Egypt.

God is the only true God, the only One worthy of honor and worship, the only true creator of heaven and earth, the only one. These opening chapters of Exodus scream to us – “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” (Isaiah 42:8)

The gods of Egypt were obvious and tangible – the idols in our own lives are much more subtle. He will not give His glory to another.

We must examine our hearts and ask God to show us anything in our lives that is stealing glory and honor due to Him alone – if we do not surrender it willingly, it may ultimately destroy us. He is the only One.

*Information about Egyptian gods was taken from The Plagues and the Exodus by Dr. David Livingston.

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