The Insect Swarms – Cattle Plague – Boils
Each of the three series of plagues was introduced by Jehovah commanding Moses to meet Pharaoh “in the morning,” at the beginning of a day. The second plague of each series was introduced by Moses and Aaron visiting Pharaoh, while the third came without warning. An orderly design governs each series. Aaron, to whom was entrusted the lifting up of the rod in the first group, did not use it again, the magician-priests being set at naught.
The king was again visiting the river, and in the cool of the morning Moses stood a second time before him. Would this inscrutable man’ listen to the message of Jehovah? “Let My people go, that they may serve Me; else if thou wilt not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms upon thee” (Ex. 8:20-2120And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 21Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. (Exodus 8:20‑21)).
Had the miracles already sent done more than convince him, that the God of the Hebrews had a finger mightier than his gods?
(* It cannot at present be stated with certainty who was the Pharaoh of the Oppression and who was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. No doubt in time a papyrus, or some monument, will be discovered which will enable the learned to arrive at a common judgment on the matter. Major Conder, with others, utterly refuses the idea of Rameses II. and Meneptah being these kings, and dismisses such opinions as “incredible fables.” (See The Tell Amarna Tablets, preface, 11.) For the purpose of the present volume, however interesting it would be to have the very names of the Pharaohs before us, the knowledge of the surroundings of the king, and the workings of his mind, are the important considerations. The Bible narrative individualizes the man; science has supplied us with the materials by which we can build up his palace and people it with his courtiers; we wait to be absolutely certain as to what name he bore – we can see and hear the man, but, at present, cannot say definitely who he is.)
No, he would not listen sufficiently to let Israel go, and in answer to his obduracy a new terror was to fall on his land, and a new sign was to be added, so that both Israel and he might know who Jehovah was. An invisible line was to be drawn by an unseen hand around Israel’s dwelling-place, and over that line not one of the army composing the plague should cross. Jehovah was supreme over nature; He was not the god of a district, He ruled “in the midst of the earth” (Ex. 8:2222And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. (Exodus 8:22)).
The word “arob,” translated “swarms,” “occurs nowhere else “in Scripture,” moreover, it bears a very near resemblance to an old Egyptian word, retained in the Coptic, which designates a species of beetle.” Some take it that the dog-fly is the creature spoken of. One special torment attached to the plague was that the ground should be covered by it, and this tends to the idea, that the arob was a beetle. Even now, on occasions, beetles visit Egypt in armies, and bite through all light materials.
The beetle was a favorite object of religious veneration. The little creature is a marvel of untiring energy and muscular power. It lays its eggs by the edge of the Nile, surrounds them with a tiny ball of clay, and then rolls up the precious burden away from the water to a place of safety on the edge of the desert. These characteristics led to its being taken as an emblem of creative and pre serving serving power, and also as an emblem of the soul’s immortality, and of resurrection. The scarab was sculptured over temple-portals, painted on the walls of tombs, and was used as a charm for the dead. From the XVIIIth to the XXIst dynasties a scarab cut out of green stone was placed over tile breast of the mummy. Ptah was on occasions represented as scarab-headed. Allowing that “arob” signifies beetle, Egypt was once more to be tormented by one of its own deities.
The torment of the plague was such that Pharaoh could not endure it, and lie sent for Moses, and proposed a compromise; “Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land!” (Ex. 8:2525And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. (Exodus 8:25)). This implied that Israel’s God was on a par with Egyptian deities. The conception and the compromise so affected Moses, that fearing neither great Pharaoh nor his priests and princes, he straightway styled as “abomination,” deified bulls and sacred heifers, and such four-footed beasts. Moreover, it was of cattle that Israel would sacrifice to God! Would the religious feeling of the Egyptians tolerate such an outrage done under their very eyes by their slaves, even though done at Pharaoh’s bidding? It was certain death to the foreigner who should kill a cat, or a sacred animal, and when a cat in a house died, the whole of the males expressed their grief by acts of mourning! What then would be the case if the Israelitish bondsmen were to sacrifice bulls and calves held by Egypt to be sacred – nay, more than sacred, as incarnations of gods!*** No, Israel should go out into the wilderness.
Pharaoh modified his suggestion, and promised to yield, but his yielding lasted no longer than the inconvenience occasioned by the plague.
Then the messenger of Jehovah delivered this word to Israel’s master, “Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let My people go, that they may serve Me” (Ex. 9:11Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. (Exodus 9:1)), adding the warning that a grievous murrain should fall upon all the cattle of the land.
The plague came and the cattle died. Once more a guardian wall was built around Israel, this time protecting the flocks and the herds. And so it was, that even in a field where cattle belonging to Egyptians and Hebrews pastured together, all those of the Egyptians died, and the Hebrews lost not one.
The land itself was destroyed, or corrupted, by the former plague, and now by that of the murrain, the four-footed creatures of Egypt which live by the produce of the land perished, even as the fish had died when the water of the Nile was corrupted. Horses, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep fell.
The blow in one moment deprived Egypt of its cavalry, and of the service of its famous war chariots, took away the beasts of burden from the trader, removed the rough material from a large class of manufacturers, and above all destroyed a very important element in its religious worship. The ram was an emblem of a deity, as were bulls, cows, and goats!
The border cities of Egypt possessed asses and camels in abundance, which were used in trading caravans; sheep were held in sacred honor and were carefully tended, while cattle were the pride of the rich; and all this destruction of animals fell upon a people to whom animals were sacred, and who believed that after death the soul in many cases took up its abode in an animal, and thereby became eventually fitted for the presence of the gods! The worship of animals formed a large part of Egyptian idolatry. Most famous amongst their sacred quadrupeds were the bull and the heifer. Memphis in its stateliness had a magnificent temple to its sacred bull, and most extraordinary was the pomp and glory, and the popularity of the services in his honor. An array of priests attended upon the “god,” which could be visited and seed in his majestic dwelling. Honors were lavishly bestowed oil him. The festival ill honor of his birth lasted seven days, children heading the procession singing hymns, and to catch his breath as he passed along the street in procession was considered to confer a life-long advantage on a child.
In the temple of Rameses III. at Medinet Aboo, the magnificence of the religious services, in which the bull played so prominent a part, is abundantly portrayed. The monarch is seers decorated with all the marks of sovereign power, seated on an elegant throne, which golden figures of justice and truth overshadow with their wings; the sphinx – emblem of wisdom united with strength – and the lion-symbol of courage – are present near the throne, which they seem to protect. Royal personages, high priests, chiefs in the army, singers, musicians, and others partake in the ceremony. The king arrives at the temple of Horus, approaches the altar, pours out libations and burns incense; the statue of the god is borne by twenty-two priests upon a rich palanquin, in the midst of flabella, fans, and flowering branches. Then the king on foot precedes the god, and closely following him is the white bull – the living emblem of Ammon-Horus, or Ammon-Ra. The god is invoked, a prayer is read in a loud voice, birds are let loose, and other ceremonies are performed, and then the images of the king’s ancestors, and the king, together with the white bull (the god incarnate), all stand together side by side.” Bull and king occupy the same position!
We cannot be so dull as to suppose that a nation as civilized as our own – a nation which produced works of the highest order of excellence – was so foolish as to pay divine honor to an animal without some deep meaning. Persons in our own day do not make pilgrimages to objects of nature without an intention. There was a mystery about the bull – one of the most debasing description – and the setting of highest religious grandeur, wherein the mystery was shrined, in no way relieves it of its degradation. Apis, the bull, was regarded as the image of the soul of the god – an incarnation of the deity!
The bull was regarded as a god. Worship was rendered to him, and prayers were poured into his ears in his stable, and favors were expected from him. The worship of Apis was not that of a mere bull, but the worship of the production of the deity, and, through Apis the deity was supposed to manifest himself to men. The truth of God was thus turned into a lie, and the wise Egyptians looked not to the woman’s Seed, to Him who was to be born of a woman, but to an incarnation of a demon in a bull, for deliverance. The old serpent’s own seal is stamped upon the head of the deities, as we have already seen, and also upon the head of the bull-calf, whose image has the serpent upon it. Our illustrations represent Apis, with the solar disc and serpent between his horns, and Mnevis, with the uraeus upon his head.
This belief in the sacredness of the bull-calf was maintained by the priests, who, upon the death of one creature, found a correct successor. They recognized him amongst other calves by the evidence of certain marks over the shoulders, which are rendered in the accompanying picture, and also by a mark under his tongue resembling the form of a beetle.
In due time, and after various ceremonies, the new calf was installed into his place. This was always a great occasion, magnificence and joy attending the introduction of the new calf into his temple, and there were processions, dances and festivities in abundance.
If we smile, and inquire how could the priests so impose upon an intellectual people as to make them believe in the existence of these sacred marks – for it was the priests who discovered the calf that had the marks upon him – the reply is, What will people not believe at the teaching of their priests? Surely in our own day, whether in Christendom or in the lands of Buddhism, things as marvelous as these marks are believed, and are believed by people who are too wise to believe God’s Word.
The cow was sacred to the goddesses Hathor and Isis, and obtained worship also. Their representations are given on page 63.
The plague of murrain was sent not only to humble Egypt, but also to rebuke the profanity of the belief in the sacredness of its bull and cow gods. If the plague of “swarms” was composed of the sacred beetle, the image of which was said to be seen by the priests under the tongue of Apis, there would be a link between these two of a striking nature, as there was a link between the first and second of the first group.
III.
Evidently “the ashes of the furnace” was a symbol familiar to Pharaoh. Possibly a religious ceremony, well known to those who first read the Book of Exodus, is referred to. Some think it relates to the sacrificing of human victims to the gods, and that the ashes were cast up to heaven as a memorial of the crime. Evidently the burning had a connection with a religious rite, as the result of the ashes falling upon the priests rendered them unfit to serve before their deities. Boils and blains broke out over them, and, thus afflicted, the magicians could not stand before Moses. Their gods had died, the sacred bull at Memphis, and that of Heliopolis, in the vicinity of which Pharaoh was, had perished of a cattle plague! Covered with their disease, these priests were not capable of even attending to their gods’ mummies! The sacred enclosure for the bull was empty, and his magnificent temple destitute of his presence, and the priests that prayed before him, or bewailed his carcass, could neither offer incense nor sing their hymns, till their own bodies were once more sound.
Thrice had Jehovah struck them. He had deprived them of their rods of authority, He had deprived them of their enchantment power, and now He deprived them of their ability to proceed with their religious rites. We hear no more after this of the magicians; they “could not stand before Moses” (vs. 11).