Rev. David Holwick V Exodus series, #4
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 12, 2009
Exodus 9:1-7
THE TEN PLAGUES
I. The plagues of Egypt.
A. The original horror movie.
1) Movie "Bruce Almighty" - bees fly out of Jim Carey's mouth.
2) "Ten Commandments" - mist of death flows through the streets
and into the homes.
B. The ten plagues of Exodus cover a wide range of disasters.
1) Water to blood, frogs and gnats.
2) Boils and hail, locusts and darkness.
3) The finale - death of the firstborn.
C. What do they signify?
1) People debate what really happened in the Exodus.
2) Whichever the case, the message of the plagues would be a
harsh one.
3) In a world of global warming and rogue nations with atom
bombs, we can certainly see parallels with our own time.
4) But there is an eternal quality we may be missing - an
Almighty God who rules over all nations, all nature,
and will one day call us to account.
II. History or myth?
A. The plagues of Exodus don't fit everyday experiences.
1) Every Sunday School faces this.
A father asked his son what he had learned in Sunday School.
The boy replied, "We learned about how Moses went behind
enemy lines to rescue the Jews from the Egyptians.
Moses ordered the engineers to build a pontoon bridge.
After the people had crossed, he sent bombers back to blow
up the bridge and the Egyptian tanks that were following
them.
And then..."
The father interrupted, "Did your teacher really tell it
like that?"
The son hung his head and softly answered, "No, Dad, but if
I told you what he said, you would never believe it!"
#1464
2) For over a century, scholars have tended to regard the
story of the Exodus as a myth.
a) Nonbelievers think it was probably inspired by memories
of past disasters which were unrelated.
b) Too many of the elements are supernatural and it cannot
be easily fit into Egyptian history.
c) Some scholars, called the Minimalists, doubt that we
can know anything about Israel until the Exile.
1> Abraham and Moses are myths.
2> So are David and Solomon.
B. The Bible presents itself as genuine history.
1) It gives a supernatural perspective, but the events happened.
a) It is not a bunch of made-up stories to teach children
moral lessons.
b) Jesus and the New Testament writers all treated these
events as real.
C. The challenge of the archaeological evidence.
1) It is true that archaeologists have not found inscriptions
or physical evidence of Jews in Egypt in this period.
a) A professor at Penn State said:
"The actual evidence concerning the Exodus ...
resembles the evidence for the unicorn."
#5376
2) Possible reasons the archaeological evidence is slim.
a) Jews lived in Egypt's delta, where everything was made
of mud brick, which eventually dissolved.
b) Egyptians did not highlight defeats, and even erased
evidence of Pharaohs who later fell out of favor.
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud is the head of excavations
along ancient military roads in the Sinai.
"A pharaoh drowned and a whole army was killed," he
said, recalling the destruction of the Egyptians in
the Red Sea.
"This is a crisis for Egypt, and Egyptians do not
document their crises."
#34323
3) There is plenty of circumstantial evidence for the Exodus.
a) Charles Colson has given this some thought:
While there may be no specific mention of the Hebrews in
ancient Egyptian records, there is plenty of indirect
and circumstantial evidence.
One surviving document refers to a people called the
"apiru," who were workers in an unidentified building
project.
This document dates from the reign of Rameses II, who
many believe was the pharaoh of the Exodus.
Scholars have noted the similarity between "apiru" and
"Hebrew" -- there is no "h" in Semitic languages.
Many consider the document a reference to not only the
Hebrews in Egypt, but also to their forced labor.
Even those who don't go that far say that this document
gives evidence of the presence of a large Semitic
population in Egypt at the time of the Exodus.
What were they doing there? Forced labor.
In fact, James Hoffmeier, a professor at Wheaton College
says, "the practice of using forced labor for building
projects is only documented for the period of 1450
to 1200 [B.C.].
This is the very time most biblical historians place
the Israelites in Egypt."
#5376
b) The Exodus also fits in well with the Hyksos period,
when Semitic people overran Egypt. (c. 1600-1400 BC)
1> The Egyptians found this very humiliating.
2> The earlier date also fits better with the evidence
in the Bible.
III. Naturalism or supernaturalism?
A. Traditionally, Christians take the magic wand approach.
1) Each plague was sent directly by God.
2) Sort of like the lightning bolt that hit that church I
mentioned last week. Flat-out miracles.
B. Some suggest naturalistic causes for most of the plagues.
1) Water to blood - a red algae bloom, or pollution caused by
eruption of the volcano Santorini.
2) Frogs - bad water would cause them to come on land.
3) Insects - lack of frogs would lead to their increase.
4) Diseases - insects could have transmitted these.
5) Hail - could have been caused by volcanic activity.
6) Locusts - destruction of lots of vegetation could cause them
to attack the crops that remained.
7) Darkness - could be due to an eclipse, a sandstorm or
volcanic activity.
C. Most likely it is both natural and supernatural.
1) Many miracles in the Bible can be attributed to natural
events that happened at just the right time.
a) God did it - he just didn't have to re-invent the wheel
each time, but used what was already available.
b) After all, he created everything in the natural world.
2) The timing and steady increase in severity all reveal
God's hand.
a) Even the parting of the waters of the Red Sea have been
attributed to a steady wind - mentioned in Exodus -
that piled up the water leaving a dry gap.
b) Perhaps this is how it happened, but it is interesting
that the crossing was dry for the Jews and suddenly
very wet for the Egyptians.
3) God created the natural world and he can and does use
it for his own purposes.
a) Perhaps recent events in your life are a message from
God to you.
b) Could he be trying to get your attention?
IV. The plagues reveal God's power - and his judgment.
A. They have a deliberate structure. [EBC]
1) There are three groups of three, plus a final one.
a) The first in each group begins with a warning to
Pharaoh in the morning as he goes to the Nile.
b) The second in each group has a warning given to
Pharaoh in his palace.
c) The last plague in each group occurs with no warning.
2) There is also an increase in intensity.
a) The first three involve irritations.
b) The second three involve destructions.
c) The final three involve death.
B. They may have been a judgment on the Egyptian religion.
1) This part of Exodus is not just a confrontation between
Moses and Pharaoh, or even God and Pharaoh, but the
true God against all false gods.
2) Every aspect of the Egyptian's natural world had a deity
associated with it.
3) Most of the plagues correspond with an Egyptian god/goddess.
a) For example, the ninth plague is darkness, which is
an attack on the Egyptian god Ra.
#7237
C. There is judgment for us as well.
1) Many don't like to think God will do mean things.
a) God is supposed to be a God of love and peace.
1> Plagues seem rather harsh.
2> Then again, reality is harsh, isn't it?
3> The harshness of Exodus always serves a purpose.
b) Note that these things were to cause them to obey God.
1> Usually God warned them ahead of time.
2> The Egyptians could have stopped it if they wished
by simply repenting and obeying God.
They did not.
2) God is still a judging God.
a) Jesus and the rest of the Bible are clear - all of us
will be called to account by God.
b) The only escape is to join God's side and receive his
forgiveness.
V. The plagues aren't over.
A. The book of Revelation speaks of future plagues on the earth.
1) They are associated with the Second Coming of Jesus.
2) The trumpet and bowl judgments parallel Exodus plagues.
3) They won't be limited to Egypt but will involve the entire
world.
4) And just like the plagues of Exodus, they will be real.
B. The plagues are not universal, but selective.
1) In Exodus, several times it is noted that the Jewish area
was not affected by the plagues.
2) The book of Revelation has a similar theme - God watches
out for his own.
3) If you have a saving relationship with God, you will have
nothing to fear.
C. Do you know the true God?
1) New Turkish TV show - multiple religious leaders (Christian
priest, Moslem imam, Buddhist monk, Jewish rabbi) will
compete to convert ten atheists. [1]
a) The show's manager says it will have the greatest prize
of any TV show - eternal life. (plus a free pilgrimage)
b) And the religion that wins the most converts gets a lot
of excellent publicity.
2) Of course, salvation is more than a game show punchline.
a) It is a matter of life and death.
b) Have you experienced it?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] Turkish TV show -- http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097646.html
# 1464 "You Would Never Believe It," author unknown, submitted by
Succasunna Presbyterian Newsletter, April 1991, p. 1.
# 5376 "Unicorns & the Exodus: Science Confirms the Biblical History,"
by Charles Colson, BreakPoint Commentary, March 17, 2000.
# 7237 "What Did the Egyptians Learn About God From the 10 Plagues?,"
by Ted D. Burleson, Daily Bread, July 12, 1999.
Roddy Chestnut Collection.
#34323 "Egyptians Do Not Document Their Crises," by Michael Slackman,
http://www.nytimes.com, April 3, 2007.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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