Transcription of the Video: Finger of God the Plagues

Here in the entrance of the Ramesses III funerary chapel at Medinet Habu is a small shrine called the Shrine of the Hearing Ear. Apparently, the common people came in - this was probably about as far as they could get - and they presented their petitions to the gods in the shrine beyond. And maybe somehow, this goddess enthroned here was responsible to bring their petitions to the god. I don't know, and there's no record of the response, of course. 

The God of the Bible heard the cry of the Hebrews. That's how the Exodus story really begins. His reaction to hearing their cry, he found a partner. I think you'll be intrigued to see the partner he picked and what God chose to do in response to hearing the cry of his people. Come. Let's go see.

This is called the Ramesseum. It is the funerary temple of Ramesses II. Now, we left the Hebrews living in Goshen, working for Pharaoh probably part of the year - at least some of them - and doing pretty well. And God brought pain or allowed pain in the form of oppression and slavery, and they cried out. God heard their cry, and now, God has decided that he's going to act. So he chose his servant, his partner, if you will, Moses. He's trained him 40 years in the desert, and now, Moses has come back here to bring the message and to be the message to Pharaoh. Now, let's go as if we were with Moses, in a sense, and let's go on into the temple. Come.

This would be called the second court of the Ramesseum. Maybe I should mention, a moment, the funerary temple remember was not a temple to the gods or a god only. But the funerary temple is the temple of the ruling pharaoh initially. And it had two jobs. One was to prepare Pharaoh's body, when he died, to be buried. So the Valley of the Kings is just over that hill, and Ramesses was buried there. His body must have been mummified and prepared here. 

The second function of a temple like this is to perpetuate the cult of the worship of that pharaoh during his life, in Ramesses case, and after his life in the case of many of the pharaohs. So it had an ongoing responsibility, shall we say, in their theology.

Now, in this court you begin again to get an idea of how the pharaohs thought of themselves. Just look around you a moment. Look at the size of the few columns that remain, the statues that stand here in stunning strength and power, just enormous. When you stand at the foot of one of these statues, you feel small, and that looks really big. And it's really clear that Pharaoh is a big deal. 

Or here, for example. This is the largest freestanding statue ever found anywhere. I don't know if you can make it out from the angle you are. but it's the head and shoulders and part of the arm and body of the pharaoh-- he's fallen because of an earthquake a millennium ago-- lying on his back. You can see his head dress here, his ear; on his arm, his cartouche. That statue, made of red granite from Aswan, stood originally 70 feet high. But again, when you stand here, it's pretty clear that Pharaoh wants you to think, "I represent enormous power, and I am tremendously powerful." There's no doubt. It hits you right here. 

Let me show you another one. If we turn this way, notice the entrance rams. Those two have been reconstructed. This one, though it's badly worn, is original. Notice the size of the gate that Pharaoh built. Look at this. I stand in here, and I feel absolutely puny. But Pharaoh, or the god, Amun-Re or Horus or Osiris, whoever he's trying to represent himself as, clearly is trying to say, "Do you want to know how big I am? Look at the gate I need to get in." 

I find it fascinating that as the Hebrews then engaged this world and eventually left here and got their own land, how do you compete with this? How do you teach your kids how big your God is? It's not going to be so simple when you're looking at this. 

Notice the lintel across the top. In English, that's called the gate head, the head of the gate. So when it came time for the Hebrew people to build their temple, which compared to this, was tiny. You could put eight of them in this space right here. Instead, they wrote it this way (Psalm 24). "Lift up your heads, oh gates. Be lifted up you everlasting doors and the King of Glory will come in."

Who is the King of Glory? The Lord Almighty. He is the King of Glory. And almost with a smile on your face, you can say, "Okay. This is big. But the God of the universe, he can't even get in. You've got to lift the gate heads. That's how big he is." That's how we think of him. And that gets us back to our story. 

If you look at these statues, you'll notice Pharaoh's always got a stick. Sometimes, it's one - not on a statue so much, but on those carvings - sometimes, it's two. And one of those sticks is the shepherd's crook. Now, the shepherd's crook was an important symbol to the Egyptians. In fact, in hieroglyphics, one of the symbols you need to write the word ruler, king is the shepherd's crook. So by carrying that crook, he was saying, "I have the authority - total authority, " I suppose like a shepherd would over his sheep. You die, you die. I feed you, I feed you. You are totally under my domination. So that shepherd's crook in Egypt was a very strong symbol that what the shepherd had over a sheep, Pharaoh had over the Egyptians he ruled. 

Now, let's go back to the God who's heard the cry, because of the pain he's allowed to come into their lives. And he finds his servant, the one who will be the message and bring the message, this very humble man who grew up in Egypt, Moses. When we first meet him, Moses seems pretty timid. He stops to look at a burning bush and God speaks, and he can hardly talk and he doesn't necessarily want to do what God wants him to do. After some conversation, God says, "Moses, what do you have in your hand?"

"What do you mean? I've got what every shepherd in the world always has. It's my stick. Why?"

"Well, throw it down." 

"The stick?"

"Yes."

And it turned into a snake. Moses ran. Some of the snakes out there are poisonous. And God said, "Pick it up."

"The snake?"

"Yes."

So Moses reached down by the tail and picked it up, and it became a stick, a pretty ordinary stick. I wonder if God was saying, "Moses, don't ever get carried away with that stick. It's got nothing to do with the stick. That's the same stick you've been using to lead the sheep for about 40 years, and there's nothing special about that stick. But for you, that stick is going to become a symbol of my power, like Pharaoh's stick is a symbol of his power." 

Now, I wonder if when Moses showed up with a stick, in front of Pharaoh, here and walk across this courtyard, maybe Pharaoh seated on his throne - a sound Pharaoh was going to come to know pretty well - I wonder if when Pharaoh looked at Moses, he laughed. "What's that?" 

"It's a stick."

"I know. I've got one too."

"Really?"

"It's a symbol of my power and the great power of the gods of Egypt."

"Our God has great power too, Pharaoh." Do you know that snake? Look at it. You can see the outline of a cobra there on the head of the statue. The snake is gone, but you can see where it used to be. That's the protector of Pharaoh, that snake that shows up everywhere.

Moses said, "Watch the power of my God." 

So Aaron, this time, took the stick and he threw it down. It became a snake. Pharaoh watched it - maybe impressed, maybe not - and said, "No big deal." And he called his magicians. They threw down their sticks, and they became snakes. And then, Aaron's snake ate up their snakes.

That's not right, to my surprise, honestly. It says (Exodus 7), "Aaron's staff ate up their staffs. I'm not suggesting literally that that snake suddenly turned back into a staff, but I think the writer wants you to see it's not a contest about snakes. But it's a contest about whose symbol of authority represents real authority and power. And that may represent Pharaoh's power. But this ordinary shepherd's stick - either Moses' or Aaron's - becomes a symbol of the power of the God of the universe. 

Then, under the symbol of the power of the God of the universe, he turns to confront the oppressive power of evil. The text says (Exodus 6), "I'm going to do this that the Hebrews will know that I am God." And he chooses the word for know in Hebrew that means experiential knowing - not just knowing it but knowing it. God wants his people to experience him. 

So it's the Egyptians your angry with? Well, he certainly wasn't happy with their oppression of the Hebrews, but, "No," God says (Exodus 7). "I'm going to do this, that the Egyptians may know me experientially." 

Can you imagine what kind of a God this God is, who so much wants to rid the chaos and bring shalom, but he even cares about the chaos of the Egyptians? 

"So it's Pharaoh?" No, he's not pleased with Pharaoh's oppression clearly. He says (Exodus 7), "I want Pharaoh to know experientially that I am God." 

"So, who are you angry with?" 

He says (Exodus 12), "I will execute judgment on the gods of Egypt."

And now, the question becomes, "Pharaoh, are you listening? Can you hear me?"

So Moses showed up to say, "Thus says Adonai," maybe praying that those words from Adonai would chisel away until Pharaoh could hear.

Pharaoh's answer is interesting. He sends it with his servants back to Moses. Do you know what he says? "Thus sayeth Pharaoh."

"You didn't hear me, Pharaoh. You didn't hear me." So God begins to chisel. But what he does is amazing. God begins to chisel, and what he does is frightening. Come with me.

Do you remember that workers' camp we were in a while back? This temple is the temple that belonged to that workers' camp. It's called the Temple of Hathor and we're standing in the outer court. Come.

So what is it that makes God really angry? When someone, something causes chaos in the lives of others. He hates idolatry. It says that in the Bible. Idolatry creates chaos. So when God comes into a situation where there's someone crying out because someone or something has caused chaos, he becomes very angry. 

The Bible says in Exodus (12) and in Numbers (33) that God executed judgment on the Egyptian gods. Now, in some sense, none of these carvings all over - Hathor up there (the cow) - none of these are gods. They're stones - sticks, Jeremiah will say. But in another sense, the Bible is clear that behind the gods of the nations are demons. In the book of Deuteronomy (32), "The sacrifices you have offered are offered to demons," Moses says. 

Paul will quote that or, at least, refer to it in I Corinthians (10) to the people in Corinth. So there is a real struggle going on here. And when it came time for God to say, "I'm going to act," his action was directed, not first of all against Pharaoh-- that will come-- not first of all against the Egyptians, certainly not against the Israelites, but against the gods of all these temples. Those plagues, we call them, were more than just natural phenomenon that he caused to show how powerful he was. They do that big time. But they are clearly addressed against the powers that had caused the chaos. But I think he has more than one purpose in those plagues. 

Do you remember over at the Ramesseum, we asked, "Pharaoh, are you listening? Egypt, are you listening?" What would they have heard as the plagues happened? Come. Let me show you something.

We're in the sanctuary of this little Hathor temple and like you might expect, there's a whole collection of the gods of Egypt who, for God's people, have created suffering and oppression and chaos. Carved on the walls are many of the gods and goddesses. And now, his Hebrew people are suffering because of these gods. At least, he says through Moses, "I will execute judgment on the gods of Egypt."

So God came and in some sense addressed the gods very specifically. "Which of you will stand before the God of the Bible? How about you Osiris? The Nile is your bloodstream, they say. Will you stand before him? How about tomorrow? The Nile is blood. Stretch out your stick, Moses. Osiris is not God. How about you, Heqet, frog-headed goddess of childbirth? Will you stand? How about tomorrow a plague of frogs comes? And you Geb, god of the earth? How about tomorrow, out of the dust, come lice until you can't stand it anymore? Anyone else?"

"What about you Hathor - cow goddess who nurses the pharaohs. How about you? Tomorrow, the cattle of the Egyptians will die. How about you Seth, god of storm? Will you stand? Tomorrow the hail will destroy the barley. And Min of fertility, will you challenge the Creator of the world? The locusts will come and eat what's left and the wheat besides. How about you Amun-Re, god of the sun? Will you stand before me? How about it's dark for three days because the Creator of the universe said so?" 

"Are you listening? Are you hearing me? How about you Nekhbet, protector of Pharaoh and especially the crown prince? Must I challenge you too? Will you stand before the God of the universe? Are you listening?"

But this time, no one heard the cries. And clearly, to an Egyptian, the gods they had seen and understood to be the creators and controllers of the universe, could not stand the presence of the God of Moses. 

But there's another side to the plagues. There's another audience. Because the Hebrews are watching too. And we learn that they, too, had been drawn to those gods. So what were they hearing? Come. Let me show you.

So the question was, "Israel, are you listening? Are you hearing me? Not only are you hearing that my power is beyond all these gods here in this sanctuary. But are you hearing what I want to go out there to do, what I want you to go out there to be?" I think, at least at some point, they listened. But Pharaoh didn't. 

Then God said, "Moses, you're going to have to go back to Pharaoh once more, because he's not listening yet." Let's go with him. Come.

So one more time, Moses came back to Pharaoh. I don't know if the god Nekhbet entered the discussion at all - the protector of Pharaoh and the crown prince. But God said, "Once more, I'm going to chisel. And this time, it's intense, because it will be your first born." 

I don't know what Pharaoh's reaction was in the sense of what happened in his heart. I know it didn't convince him. His heart was very hard, very heavy. But it's as if, at that moment, now God turned to the Hebrews and said, "Now, it's time to see if you've been listening." 

Come with me to an avenue in Karnak, lined with ram-headed gods - hundreds of them of miles in their day. It's not a sacred animal, but it's an animal that's a symbol of Amun-Re. Do you remember when God said to Moses, "Go tell Pharaoh you want to sacrifice to me." 

And Moses said, "They'll stone us."

That may be part of the reason. The animals they would choose represented a god or two or three or ten. Egyptians didn't practice animal sacrifice much. Now, God said, "I want you to take one of those year-old sheep or goats, tie it to your house for a while on the 10th day. On the 14th day," out there, I suppose where everyone could see it, "I want you to kill that animal. And I want you to catch the blood and take a hyssop plant, and I want you to paint it all over the door posts and the head above your door so everybody in the world can see it."

Now, at that point God had issued two challenges to the Hebrews. One, for those Hebrews who had bought into the Egyptian gods, they had to make a decision. Which story is it? Which stick is it? Which God is it? But at that moment, also, they had to be willing to put their life on the line, because every Egyptian in the world was going to know that they were taking a stand for the God of the Hebrews. This was before the first born. I find it interesting how often, when God chooses a partner, he asks for a commitment before he's completed his part. 

And I think he asks the same of us. I think there's a line in the sand. Those two stories are still competing. God is still looking for someone to be and to bring the message. He's looking for a body, as Paul would describe it in Corinthians. And he asks for a total commitment.

The magicians come to Pharaoh and say (Exodus 8), "This is the finger of the Hebrew God. We can't do anything about it." From the point of view of the Jewish perspective, that's where God's Kingdom originates. It originates when God's finger enters a situation dramatically to defeat chaos and to bring shalom. 

Now, there's more, but I want to remind you of a teaching of our rabbi (Luke 11). "If I drive out demons with the finger of God, then the Kingdom of heaven is among you." The Kingdom starts with God's action.

If you want to be part of something really, really big, then I'd suggest two things. Defeat evil in his name. Just once, say no. Just once, resist. Just once, stand strong. Just once, stand against chaos. Just once. And then, bring a little shalom, a little order into someone else's chaos. And you become part of the Kingdom of God, restoring alienated people to him and reclaiming his world and defeating chaos in the process. The finger of God, the Kingdom is among you.