NOW it seems to me that this little descriptive narrative story would be rather incomplete without some little account of the huge idol system which has such a place in Egypt.
What is an idol? An idol is anything that is worshipped and put in the place of God, and that glory given to it which is due to Him only.
In the Bible we find mention of idols and of gods; it was part of Satan's temptation to Eve. He said, "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." What do you think the Egyptians worshipped? The sun; and their king Pharaoh’s name was taken partly from Phra, the sun; they also worshipped the Nile, as we have already noticed, and many living creatures, among them the bull, called sacred, the crocodile, cats, and many birds; also the beetle, and even plants. The Bible tells us that they, "changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." (Rom. 1:2323And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. (Romans 1:23).)
Amongst the animals just mentioned, the bull, called Apis, was the most thought of, and when he died his body was embalmed and placed in a huge sarcophagus made of beautifully polished marble. Is it not dreadful to think of people bowing down to worship these creatures when they were living and thinking so much of them afterward?
When the bull died a great search began to find another, for it must be a jet black color without a single white spot, except one on the forehead and sometimes another one or two, not, more. He must also have double hairs in his tail. Then his tongue ought to have a mark similar to a beetle. In order to know whether a good omen could be obtained, the bull was offered a peculiar cake; if he accepted it from the palm of the offerer and ate it, this was favorable and success should attend any undertaking.
You will remember the golden calf. What put the thought into the minds of the Israelites? It might have been that they were familiar with the worship of the bull in Egypt. The New Testament tells us that the children of Israel said to Aaron, "Make us gods to go before us.... And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol and rejoiced in the works of their own hands." (Acts 7:40-4140Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 41And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. (Acts 7:40‑41).)
In the first Book of Kings we read of a wicked king called Jeroboam, who made two calves and put one in Bethel and one in Dan, and he told the people that these were the gods which had brought them up out of Egypt. And the people went to Dan to worship, and it became a sin.
But how God laments over His people. After the judgments pronounced in Hos. 13:55I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. (Hosea 13:5), their heart was exalted (Hos. 13:66According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. (Hosea 13:6)), and in Hos. 13:99O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. (Hosea 13:9) He says, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help." Psa. 16:44Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. (Psalm 16:4) tells us, "Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god"; we cannot escape the consequences if we do.
Think of the beautiful river Nile in God's judgment of Egypt. First the idols were to be removed; the waters would fail from the sea, the brooks were to be emptied and dried up, the reeds and flags were to wither. Everything that was sown was to wither and be no more. The fishers, as previously mentioned in the picture given of the lake near Cairo, were to mourn, and the anglers in the brooks to lament, and those who spread nets were to languish, the sluices and ponds for fish were to be empty. The workers in fine flax and the weavers in networks were to be confounded.
Where, then, are Pharaoh's counselors? The magicians, where are they? The princes of Zoan are become brutish, they are became fools, the princes of Noph are deceived. What a picture! Everything overturned of course this is not the present state of Egypt, thought its prosperity has declined. But after all this Egypt will revive again, and Isaiah tells us that "the Lord of, hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people."(Isa. 19:2525Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. (Isaiah 19:25).)
But the word, new in its spiritual meaning is, "Go not down into Egypt,” that means," Love not the world," and "Little children, keep, yourselves from idols.”
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