SERIES C --- EXODUS FROM BONDAGE --- LESSON 07

KILLING PLAGUES

THE STORM THAT CHANGED THE LAND

From Exodus 9

[Go back to Pharaoh with another message,] Adonai told Moses. [Tell him that I demand that he let My people go so they may serve Me. If he doesn’t, I will punish him by sending a terrible plague upon his cattle, horses, donkeys, camels, herds and flocks. But the plague will not harm the flocks and herds of Israel, only those of the Egyptians. Tell Pharaoh that I will send this plague tomorrow.] The following day the Egyptian cattle began to die, but the cattle of Israel did not. Pharaoh sent messengers to Goshen and found that Adonai had not sent the plague upon the cattle of Israel. But he stubbornly refused to let the people of Israel go. [Take ashes from the kiln,] Adonai told Moses. [While Pharaoh watches, toss them toward the sky. The ashes will spread over all the land as fine dust, causing boils on people and animals throughout Egypt.] While Pharaoh watched, Moses took ashes from the kiln and tossed them toward the sky. Before long boils appeared on people and animals throughout the land. Even the magicians of Pharaoh had boils, so they could not stay there to try this miracle with their magic. But Adonai permitted Pharaoh to become hardhearted, as before, so he refused to believe in the miracle, as Adonai said he would. [Go back to Pharaoh early tomorrow morning,] Adonai told Moses. [Tell him I demand that My people go to worship Me. If he does not let them, I will send plagues that will speak to his heart, to his servants and people. Then he will know that there is no one like Me on earth. Tell Pharaoh that I could have destroyed him and his people with My hand, but I have spared them to show them My power and to honour My Name throughout the earth. Tell Pharaoh that he is not the great man that he thinks he is. I will send a hailstorm tomorrow over Egypt, the greatest the land has known since it was founded. All people and animals left in the field will be killed. But those brought in to safety will live.] So those Egyptians who believed Adonai brought their servants and cattle inside, but those who did not believe left them out. Again, Adonai spoke to Moses. [Lift your hand toward heaven so the hail will fall throughout Egypt, upon men and animals and the plants of the land.] When Moses lifted his hand, Adonai sent thunder and lightning, and the hail rained down upon the earth. The lightning flashed almost constantly as the hail fell. There had never been a more terrifying storm in all of the history of Egypt. The hail destroyed everything that was left out in the open, including the people and animals. The plants were ruined and all the trees were cut down to the ground. But the land of Goshen was safe, for there was no hail where the people of Israel lived. Pharaoh immediately called for Moses and Aaron. [I have sinned,] he confessed. [YHVH is right and I and my people are wrong. Plead with YHVH to stop this terrible thunder and hail and I will let you and your people go immediately.] [When I am out of the city, I will lift up my hands to Adonai,] said Moses. [The thunder and hail will stop and you will recognize that Adonai controls the earth. But I know that you and your servants will still not obey Adonai.] This great storm had come when the barley was ripe and the flax was in bloom. So, these crops were completely ruined. But the wheat and spelt were not destroyed, for they had not come up yet. When Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city, he raised his hands to Adonai. The thunder and hail stopped and the rain ceased to fall. But when Pharaoh was assured that the storm had ceased, he and his servants hardened their hearts and refused to let the people of Israel go; just as Adonai had said through Moses.

COMMENTARY

CATTLE AND COWBOYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

YHVH brought increasingly severe disasters on Egypt. Stunning hail destroyed crops and animals. Egypt was nearly ruined. Pharaoh was forced to admit his sin and beg for relief. Yet again and again he changed his mind and refused to release the Israelite slaves. Israel once had feared the power of their Egyptian masters. Now the masters were beginning to fear the power of Israel’s YHVH. Here is a surprise for those who think that cowboys originated in the Wild West. Cowboys are as old as cattle-raising, which is as old as ancient Egypt itself. Cattle-raising and cowboys were a vital part of the land of the pharaohs long before Moses led the people of Israel from Egypt. The cattlemen of Egypt were not actually called cowboys, but that’s the kind of work they did. Since Egypt had cattle, used primarily for milking and for meat, it needed men to capture, tame, herd, feed and milk these animals. In those days, thousands of years before the motorized tractor and plough, cattle did the heavy work on the farm. They pulled loaded carts and dragged ploughs, prodded by a sharp ox goad. The Egyptians slaughtered some cattle, but usually for special sacrifices and meals. They did not normally eat much meat and still do not today. The cattle to be slaughtered lived in high style. They did no work. For one thing, that would have toughened them. For another, they were fattened by adding grain; wheat or barley; to their usual diet of fodder {coarsely ground stalks}. The [cowboys] were called in when it was time to slaughter the animals. After roping a wildly thrashing beast, they jumped on its back and twisted its horns, while someone else twisted its tail. Finally, it fell on its side, and its legs were tied together. The entire action must have looked something like an ancient Egyptian rodeo. The animal’s throat was slit while it was on the ground. Then the butcher took over. Either out in the open or in a slaughterhouse, he cut the animal into large chunks of meat. The Egyptians didn’t know about special cuts like rib roast or sirloin. The chunks of meat were hung on pegs or lines to dry. People came to look and buy. Birds by the dozens, thousands of flies and other insects came as well, to get their share of the meat hanging in the hot sun. Because meat was considered a special delicacy, cattle were sometimes used as sacrifices to the gods. There was even a bull-god named Apis (AY-pis). Only certain specially marked animals were used for the sacrifice. They were killed by drowning, not with a knife. After the ceremony of sacrifice, the animal was cooked and eaten. Its skin and some of its bones were kept, and the animal was made into a mummy before it was buried. The burial service was as complicated and colourful as the one used for people. The skins of other slaughtered or dead animals were used for many different purposes. The ancient Egyptians knew how to produce good leather, both sturdy and fine. It was used to make sandals, belts, harnesses, quivers to hold arrows, parts for chariots, seats and tires, and storage bags. They even sometimes made driving gloves for the charioteers. Since cattle were so important to Egyptian life, the plagues that afflicted them during the time of the Exodus were particularly distressing. They couldn’t drink from the polluted Nile. They were physically weakened by lice and flies, sickened by cattle pestilence, hurt by boils and hail. During the time of darkness, they could not be fed for three days. Finally, the oldest offspring of every cow, sheep and she-goat was killed in the death of all the firstborn in the land. Pharaoh had to learn a hard lesson before he would admit that it was time to let the Israelite people go.