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Fresh Look at the Old Testament. Class 4 2/8/09. Class 4 2/8/09. Joseph Moses 10 Plagues. The Story of Joseph. What we learned in Sunday School as kids… Coat of many colors 37:3 Has a dreams 37:5-9 Brothers sell him to traders headed to Egypt 37:18-28
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Fresh Look at the Old Testament Class 4 2/8/09
Class 4 2/8/09 • Joseph • Moses • 10 Plagues
The Story of Joseph What we learned in Sunday School as kids… • Coat of many colors 37:3 • Has a dreams 37:5-9 • Brothers sell him to traders headed to Egypt 37:18-28 • CEO of Potiphar Inc. 39:1-6 • Lies of Potiphar’s wife 39:7-18 • Imprisonment/Dreams of Butler & Baker Ch 40 • Interprets Pharoah’s Dream Ch 41 • Joseph is reunited with his family in Egypt Ch 42 - 45
Antitype of Jesus Joseph Jesus • Sent by his Father • Took families to Egypt • Sinned Against/Despised • Stripped of his cloak • Sold for a Price • Was Mourned for • Has compassion for the penitent • Is found alive • Gen 37:13-14 John 3:16 • 38:36 Mt 2:13-14 • 37:18-28 Mt 27:1 Jn 1:11 Mk 15:31-32 • 37:23 Mt27:28, 35 • 37:28 Mt 26:15 • 37:35 Mk 16:10 • 42:24 45:15 Lk 23:34 Jn 11:33-36 • 45:24-28 Mk 16 Lk 24
Moses • What do we know about Moses • Born in Egypt in perilous times • Hundreds of years after time of Joseph • Grew up in Pharoah’s House • Spoke with God at Burning Bush • Led Isrealites out of Egypt • Saw God • Received from God -10 Commandments
Moses & Christ • Acts 3:22-23 (22) Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me. To him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. (23) And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. • Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These are my words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me.
10 Plagues • Water Changed To Blood • Frogs • Lice • Swarms • Livestock Diseased • Boils • Hail • Locusts • Darkness • Death Of The Firstborn
Why the Plagues? • Ex 3:19-20 • Ex 7:4-5 • Ex 12:12
Why the Plagues? • Ex 3:19-20 • And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a mighty hand. (20) And I will put forth my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. • Ex 7:4-5 • Ex 12:12
Why the Plagues? • Ex 3:19-20 • And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a mighty hand. (20) And I will put forth my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. • Ex 7:4-5 • But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. (5) And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. • Ex 12:12 • For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Jehovah.
Egyptian Society • Polytheistic • At least 80 gods • Pharoah • was considered a god - the son of Amon-Ra • his ruling was a divine right and even his birth was thought to be divine
Water Changed To Blood Ex 7:14-25 • The Nile was the heart of Egypt used for Commerce/trade/farming • All water was changed not just the Nile • The Nile river considered the lifeline of Egypt and the center of many of its religious ideas. The Egyptians considered the Nile sacred. Many of their gods were associated either directly or indirectly with this river and its productivity.
Water Changed To Blood Ex 7:14-25 • An affront to many of the greatest gods of Egypt. • Khnum: guardian of the Nile River • Usually represented as a human being with a ram's head • Hapi: the "spirit of the Nile" • Regarded as the maker and molder of everything • Father of Ra • Osiris: the god of the underworld • the Egyptians believed the Nile was his bloodstream. • Tauret: the hippopotamus goddess of the river. • Nu: the god of life in the Nile?
Frogs Ex 8:1-15 • The frog was considered the manifestation of the goddess Heqt • the wife of the creator of the world and the goddess of birth • believed to assist women in childbirth • irony that the frogs invaded pharaoh's bedroom and jumped on his bed • Frogs were so sacred in Egypt that even the involuntary slaughter of one was often punished with death • Pharaoh acknowledges that Jehovah as the author of this plague
Lice Ex8:16-19 • An Affront to Geb, the great god of the earth. • Egyptians gave offerings to Geb for the bounty of the soil yet it was from "the dust of the soil" that this plague originated • Egyptian Preist • Had to be pure to perform religious rituals • Normally would shave their head every day and wear only one tunic to be sure to be free of Lice • The land was so infected with "lice," the priest of Egypt could not even enter their temples to beseech their gods to help them due to their own impurity!
Swarms Ex 8:20-32 • "of flies" is not original it was added by translators • Many think multiple types of insects • Scarab Bettles (a dung beetle ) • The scarab beetle pushes a round ball of dung in front of it. • One of the ways Egyptians pictured Amon-Ra, king of the gods, as a scarab pushing the sun across the sky • The dog-fly • an insect more annoying than gnats, that fasten themselves to the body. Especially Dogs • Dogs were worshiped by Egyptians • Anubis: god associated with afterlife was manifested as a dog.
Livestock Diseased Ex 9:1-7 • Horses and cattle were sacred • The god Apis was represented as a bull • Apis Bull • The Apis bull was the living image of the god Ptah. He was also associated with Ra, from whom he borrowed the disk he wore between his horns. • When the Apis bull died, priests would travel through every pasture in Egypt looking for his replacement • The Apis bull supposedly had the power of prophecy. When the Apis bull died the land of Egypt mourned for him as they would for the loss of the monarch himself. After death, his body would be embalmed, and after the funeral rites were performed, the body would be placed in a granite sarcophagus.
Boils Ex 9:8-12 • This plague was probably skin anthrax, a black abscess that develops into a pustule. This plague affected the knees, legs, and soles of the feet (cf. Deut. 28:35). • This explains why Pharaoh's "magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians" (Exo. 9:11). • This medical malady was also an affront to: • Imhotep: the god of medicine -- this alone must have led to great despair in the land. • Serapis: the deity in charge of healing • Thoth: the ibis-headed god of intelligence and medical learning.
Hail Ex 9:13-35 • The seventh plague was so the Egyptians would "know that there is none like Me in all the earth" Ex 9:14) • Jehovah was going to cause "very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now" Ex 9:16 • This would have been a very unusual occurrence, for the region around Cairo normally receives only two inches of rain per year. • This would have been an affront to: • Nut, the sky goddess • Shu, the wind god? • Horus, the hawk-headed sky god of Upper Egypt? • Isis and Seth protectors of the crops
Locusts Ex 10:1-20 • the Lord would bring locusts to Egypt the following day, "and they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field" Ex 10:5 • Hyperbole • Locusts can destroy an entire villages/town’s food supply in a matter of minutes, and history can supply us with numerous examples of such. • Locusts were described as an army by Joel. • Again the gods of Egypt were silent. • Where was Nepri, the god of grain? • Where was Ermutet, the goddess of childbirth and crops? • Isis is silent once again. • Thermuthis: the goddess of fertility and the harvest was speechless. • Seth: another god of crops, was also mute.
Darkness Ex 10:21-29 • This plague of darkness was a huge insult to Egypt's religion and entire culture. • Amon-Ra the greatest of gods was the sun god • Ptah, the creator of the moon, the sun and the earth? • Atum, a sun god • Tem, the god of the sunset? • Shu, the god of sunlight and air?
Death Of The Firstborn Ex 11:1-12:30 • This plague was directed against "all of the gods of Egypt “Ex 12:12 and would show the total inability of the gods of Egypt to protect their subjects. In the face of unparalleled tragedy, "all of the gods of Egypt" were silent. • Where was Selket, the guardian of life? • Where was Renenutet, the cobra-goddess and guardian of Pharaoh? • Ex12:30 …there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. • The Dream Stela of Thutmosis IV
The Dream Stela of Thutmosis IV Story of 2nd born son of Pharaoh rising to the throne
Suggested Timeline of Plagues • "June: the Nile becomes stagnant and red with microscopic organisms. July: Frogs abound after the inundation of the Nile. Hot summer and damp autumn months: Lice, flies, murrain and boils. January: Hail and rain. (This date fixed by the effect on the crops mentioned). February: Appearance of locusts in early spring, over the green crops. March: Darkness from great sandstorms. April: Death of the firstborn, dated by the Passover celebration" (Davis, p. 93).
The majority of the data about the plagues in this presentation was found on the website: http://www.padfield.com/2002/egypt_3.html