EGYPT is one of the most ancient and memorable of all countries. It is about 480 miles long and 250 miles at its widest, and has ever been regarded as a great corn producing country; the cultivated area is about 16,000 square miles, and its population probably does not exceed 5,000,000. It has been the scene of some of the grandest facts wrought by Divine power, and is once again rapidly coming into prominence in the political and prophetic arena. Egypt's connection with Judea and the future generally, especially with Syria as in the past, is a point of growing interest to the student of the prophetic word. The power of Jehovah has been awfully witnessed in the land of Egypt, while the grace of Jehovah has been exhibited in the land of Palestine. The eloquent Dr. A. Thomson justly remarks: "All through the centuries of the Jewish church, and the period of the prophetic revelation, Egypt appears either as the tempter or as the persecutor of Israel, dividing the guilt in this respect with the Babylonian and Assyrian monarchies to the east of the sacred land."
Moses, Israel's deliverer and legislator, was eighty years old when first commissioned to effect the deliverance of Jehovah's people from Egyptian captivity (Acts 7:23, compare with verse 30). A second commission was given him in the land of Egypt, the first being in Midian. Exodus 3 and 4 records the history of the first charge, while Exodus 6 details the history of the second. The first demand upon Pharaoh was limited to a three days' departure from the land, that the people might sacrifice and worship (Ex. 5:3). This the king proudly and peremptorily refused, and, is an answer to Jehovah's intervention in behalf of His people, greatly increased their burdens, and urged the taskmasters to increased severity. But the haughty rejection of Jehovah and of His righteous claims only prepared the way for a commission to Moses, not now limited to a three days' departure for rest and worship in the wilderness, but one demanding the full and final deliverance of all the people. Jehovah's "I will," seven times repeated within the compass of three verses (Ex. 6:6-8), announced the calm, settled, and sovereign purpose of God respecting His people. Pharaoh—type of Satan's power and rigorous rule—disputes the rights of God, rejects His authority, and at once it ceased to be a question between the oppressor and the oppressed, between the Egyptians and the Hebrews. The ground is shifted, and it becomes an exceedingly solemn matter—one between the gods of Egypt and the only living and true God.
The signs of Ex. 4 were for the accrediting of the Divine mission of Moses. Paul, the most eminent servant and brightest witness of grace in New Testament times, when questioned as to his apostleship, appealed to the "signs" he wrought (2 Cor. 12:12), but ministerial service generally is best proved by the godly, practical life of the servant (2 Cor. 6:4-10). The first sign given to assure the heart of Moses and establish his soul in the confidence of his mission was the "rod"—emblem of authority—turned into a "serpent"—power of Satan—again becoming a "rod" in his hand (Ex. 4:2-4). This would intimate the God-given power of Moses over all the power of the enemy, even though led on by Satan. The second reassuring sign to Moses and Israel was the hand of the deliverer put into his bosom, then withdrawn, and becoming "leprous as snow;" again the hand was put into his bosom, and, when withdrawn, "it was turned again as his other flesh" (Ex. 4:6, 7). Leprosy is the well-known type of sin in its defiling character, and the leprous hand in the bosom would aptly express that sin has its root in the heart of man; God's power over sin in man is the thought in this deeply-significant sign. The third proof or sign was one, if possible, more solemn than either of the two foregoing—water poured upon the dry land turned into blood (Ex. 4:9). The natural resources at man's disposal are turned into death. These signs set forth God's power over Satanic authority exercised in the world, sin in the flesh, and the varied resources of man; thus God would sanction the holy mission of Moses in effecting the deliverance of His people.
The ten plagues were sternly-executed judgments upon Pharaoh, his people, land, and gods. Their prime object was to signalize the power of Jehovah, and to assert His rights in presence of the full power of Satan and man. Do the Hebrew people belong to God or Satan? Such, we believe, to have been the solemn issue raised in the execution of these Divine judgments (Ex. 7-12.). Before, however, the struggle really commenced, the vaunted wisdom of Egypt was put to the test, and utterly baffled in the immediate presence of the world's mighty monarch, who was thus left without excuse on the one hand, and the mission of Moses and Aaron amply vindicated on the other. "And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent" (Ex. 4:7:10). The celebrated magicians of Egypt called in by the king did so by their "enchantments." How they performed this wonderful feat, we are not informed, nor are we curious to inquire, but the result proved that, "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel What hath God wrought!" (Num. 23:23). We read "Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods;" in this there could be no imitation, nor was it attempted. The miracle was complete, for the serpent became a rod again in the hands of Aaron. All this was contrary to nature. Who ever heard of serpents swallowing each other. They eat slowly at the best, and for one to swallow many, and then as before to become a staff was truly a miraculous sign and before which the wisdom of Egypt might well quail. This remarkable sign or rather miracle, however, only induced hardness of heart on the part of the monarch. It is true God hardened Pharaoh's heart but it was after his rejection of Divine testimony, miraculously and divinely attested. It is not said that God fitted the vessels of wrath to destruction, but it is said that He prepared afore the vessels of mercy unto glory (Rom. 9:22, 23). God never prepares a soul for destruction, but He does fit it for glory.
Now the conflict begins, and plague after plague is sent, reaching to the very heart of the power, wisdom, and religion of the king and people.
FIRST PLAGUE.
THE WATERS OF THE NILE TURNED TO BLOOD.
The celebrated river of Egypt, the Nile, with its canals, streams, and various tributaries, was turned to blood and stank; the fish, too, with which the river abounded, died. This must have been exceedingly humbling to the pride of Egypt, as the Nile, its only river, and the only source of vegetation to the country by its annual overflow (as little or no rain falls), was regarded as a special deity and worshipped accordingly, and its waters for agricultural, domestic, and other purposes were, of course, indispensable. Formerly Osiris, the Egyptian sun-god, was believed to have been the source from whence the Nile descended and was worshipped accordingly, but in course of time that homage was transferred to the river. The sentence of death was thus written on the nation's pride and boast. "Blood," the distinct and solemn witness of death, overspread the whole land of Egypt (Ex. 7:21). The magicians, we are told, did so by their enchantments, but as "all the waters" had been turned to blood, the surpassing greatness of the Divine judgment must have been apparent even to the infatuated monarch himself (Ex. 7:14-25).
SECOND PLAGUE.
FROGS UPON THE LAND AND PEOPLE.
The continued hardening of Pharaoh's heart caused a second visitation of judgment worse, in some respects, than the previous one. By hard labor the people might procure sufficient water for drinking (Ex. 7:24), but there was no such relief granted from the plague of " frogs" produced from the waters, and which covered the land, filling the houses, and coming up upon king and people alike. In the waters being turned to blood, we are not informed that the king personally suffered, but under this Divine infliction he suffers as the rest of his people (Ex. 8:4-8). This judgment must have been a terrible blow to the religious faith and feelings of the country, for the "frog" was worshipped and held in high honor. To such an extent was this carried that "frogs" have been found carefully preserved and embalmed in the tombs at Thebes. The magicians by their arts only increased the general misery by adding to the number, and they did so after the land was swarming with them. What a poor and miserable imitation of a truly miraculous act! In the first plague the waters stank (Ex. 7:21); in the second the land stank (Ex. 8:14); surely, too, we can discern the haughty spirit of the monarch slightly broken, as in this judgment he personally appeals to Moses and Aaron for the removal of the "frogs" (Ex. 8:8), whereas in the previous judgment he retired, evidently sullen and hardened, into his house (Ex. 7:23).
Details of the frog-judgment will be found in Ex. 8:1-15.
THIRD PLAGUE.
DUST OF THE LAND BECOMING LICE.
On the stretching forth of Aaron's rod, the dust of the land became energetic with life, and man and beast were covered with the loathsome and disgusting insects. This must have been a grievous and terrible infliction in a warm and sunny country like Egypt, where the clouds of dust almost darken the air, and for want of rain, cannot by any possibility be laid. The sufferings of the people must have been intense and almost intolerable, besides which personal cleanliness formed an integral part of Egyptian religious life. In the previous judgment we have life multiplied, the "frogs" swarmed out of the waters, their natural element; in this one, however, we have life created out of the dust of the ground. In this the powerlessness of man is evident. All the resources of the magicians were put in requisition and utter failure was the result (Ex. 8:18); they retired from the contest vanquished and humbled, but not until they addressed the monarch in a brief and pregnant sentence: "This is the finger of God." After this acknowledgment of God we hear no more of the wise men and magicians. The creation of life is beyond the power and wisdom of man or Satan. No person was allowed under any consideration to enter any temple with vermin upon them, and their priests, we are told, on the authority of Herodotus, were shaved every three days, and both they and the people accustomed to continual ablutions in their persons and garments. What a terrible blow therefore to their religious life (Ex. 8:16-19).
FOURTH PLAGUE.
SWARMS OF FLIES.
It will be observed that the words "of flies" are italicized, and occur seven times in the account given of the fourth plague; they are not found in the original. Whatever kind of insect is referred to, little matter, as the point is the effect produced and the result. The ground, houses, people and king were covered with the destroying creatures. In the first plague "the river stank," in the second "the land stank." Under this terrible visitation "the land was corrupted" or "destroyed." In a country like Egypt, where idolatry of the most debasing character was universally practiced, where certain kinds of insects as the beetle were adored and worshipped, this judgment must have produced dismay and terror amongst the Egyptians. God had already triumphed over the wise men and magicians, and that by their own confession (Ex 8:19), and now Jehovah is evidently dealing with their numerous deities, and evincing their utter worthlessness, and that in view of king, servants, priests and people. The dagons of Egypt, one after the other, fall before the Lord of Hosts. For the first time in these judgments Jehovah severs the land of Goshen, in which His people dwelt, and distinguishes between them and the Egyptians (Ex. 8:22, 23). Pharaoh, awed by the severity of this dire calamity, "called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land;" but no, the demands of Jehovah, the God of Israel, must be answered to the full; the wilderness had been ordained in the first instance, as the place of sacrifice (Ex. 3:18), and so the unworthy compromise is firmly rejected, and Moses insists upon the first demand—a three day's journey into the wilderness, there to sacrifice, and faithfully warns the monarch against further trifling with the unanswered claims of Jehovah (Ex. 8:20-32).
FIFTH PLAGUE.
DEATH UPON THE CATTLE.
The severity of the judgments increase, and the calls of Jehovah for the final release of His people more peremptory. "A very grievous murrain," or death, as the word signifies, specially and directly inflicted by "the hand of the LORD," fell upon all the Egyptian cattle. Horses, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep—source of the domestic and commercial business life of the country—being destroyed, must have seriously crippled their resources for trade and commerce; while the death of their sacred animals, the goat, cow, and especially the great god Apis, the "Bull"—who was so venerated, that on a certain occasion the whole nation went into mourning on his death—must have been a sad and terrible blow to the religious faith and feelings of the people. "All the cattle of Egypt died; but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one" (Ex. 9:6). This second preservation of Israel from judgment seems to have been a matter of surprise and inquiry to Pharaoh (Ex. 9:7); but, alas, without the least softening of heart or slightest exercise of conscience (Ex. 9:1-7).
SIXTH PLAGUE.
BOILS AND BI.AINS UPON MAN AND BEAST.
Hitherto the various judgments had but touched the Egyptians in their circumstances and surroundings, but now the people themselves suffer. Moses sprinkled ashes of the furnace toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. This significant action was the invocation of Divine judgment, and is a very ancient custom, being still practiced in certain parts of the east. Most painful ulcerous sores broke out upon the people, the magicians, and beasts. This truly dreadful judgment was not confined to a special class or limited sphere (save, as before, Goshen and its dwellers), but "all the Egyptians" suffered throughout "all the land of Egypt." The wise men specially smarted under this Divine infliction (Ex. 9:11); but the obdurate heart of the king still remained untouched (Ex. 9:8-12).
SEVENTH PLAGUE.
AWFUL STORM OF HAIL.
In this judgment there is great circumstantiality of detail. Such a storm of hail, thunder, and fire never before visited Egypt since her formation as a kingdom (Ex. 9:18) nor since. That peculiarly rich and fertile country is one exempted from storms, and one in which rain almost never falls; little wonder, then, that the haughty king was thoroughly terrified and forced to confess it too; for here were combined the elements of nature, which descended with such terrific force that all in the fields or outside, whether man or beast, were destroyed: the trees were broken, and the low-lying plants were smitten. Such a hurricane never was seen or felt by Egypt before or since. But our God delights in mercy, while judgment is His strange work; and so the total extinction of all agriculture in the country (Goshen as before excepted) must have been the result had not the wheat and the rye, then but in germ, been preserved (Ex. 9:32). No doubt some of the servants or people of Pharaoh believed in the word of Jehovah, and thus preserved life in obedience to that word (Ex. 9:19, 20). For the first time in those judgments Pharaoh, through terror, no doubt, confesses the sin of himself and people, and justifies God in their infliction; but, as before, on the removal of the judgment, he hardened his heart, and, it is added, "his servants'." If it be asked, Why those awful judgments? increasing in severity as they succeed each other, the answer is at hand:- Jehovah's power must be shown, and Jehovah's name declared throughout all the earth (Ex. 9:16). These glorious results have been accomplished through Jehovah's doings in the land of Ham (Ex. 9:13-35).
EIGHTH PLAGUE.
THE LAND COVERED WITH DEVOURING SWARMS OF LOCUSTS.
Egypt was beginning to shake and tremble under the powerful hand of Jehovah, and either the haughty spirit of the monarch must be broken, or he perish by these judgments. A mighty swarm of "locusts" was threatened, so numerous that the face of the ground could not be seen (Ex. 10:5). Vegetation would be utterly destroyed, and the whole country turned into a desert; what had escaped the ravages of the "hail" would be consumed by the devouring swarms of "locusts;" the houses too would be filled with them, and nothing eatable escape. The result would be that the land would be visited with famine, mourning, and death. The servants of Pharaoh were thoroughly alarmed; the appalling nature of the calamity, they sought to avert by appealing to the king, adding, "Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?" (Ex. 10:7). The monarch yielded so far to the remonstrances of his ministers, as to call for the Hebrew leaders and grant liberty to depart, reserving, however, the women, children, and flocks; but Moses rejected the base compromise, insisting upon a full surrender of all belonging to Jehovah: "And Moses said, we will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go, for we must hold a feast unto the LORD" (Ex. 10:9). In anger the Hebrew brothers were driven from the presence of the king, and the threatened judgment came. The ruin and devastation that ensued is vividly described in Ex. 10:15. Now the proud king quailed and hastily calling for Moses and Aaron, he once more confessed that he had "sinned against the LORD your God," further adding, "and against you." Earnestly he begged forgiveness, and entreated for the removal of the plague. This dreadful incursion of locusts, the like of which for number and kind had never before been witnessed, and used by the LORD in the infliction of judgment upon the oppressors of His people, then in captivity, are also employed (symbolically of course) by Satan, in judgment upon Israel in apostacy from God and truth, in the last days (Rev. 9:1-11). The continued hardening of Pharaoh's heart led to still further and even more glorious displays of Jehovah's power and name (Ex. 10:1-20).
NINTH PLAGUE.
THE LAND THREE DAYS SHROUDED IN THICK DARKNESS.
We could scarcely conceive of a judgment more appalling than that with which God now visited Egypt, "one of the sunniest lands of the world." The thick darkness which overspread the whole land, save the favored spot where the Israelites were located, was so dense as to be "felt" (Ex. 10:21). The people could neither see nor move about for three days (Ex. 10:23). This scene of horror, if prolonged, must have resulted in either death or insanity. But God graciously limited its duration to three days. In order that the awful character of this severest of any of the judgments which had yet fallen upon Egypt be understood, it must be borne in mind that the worship of the sun was common there, as in eastern lands generally. One of the principal cities, called ON, signifying house of the sun, was the seat of this idolatrous form of worship. Thus blow after blow had been dealt at the wisdom and religion of Egypt. Its power had yet to be crushed, and that would be by one grand decisive act, reserved for that magnificent action at the Red Sea, when God accomplished in glory the deliverance of His people, and sunk the chivalry and power of the enemy as lead in the depths of the sea. The terrible contest is drawing to a close. Their gods, one after the other, instead of being a source of help, have become plagues which they long to get rid of, and the source of misery to king and people, and one of their principal and all-powerful deities has forsaken them, the darkness being as great as it was in the chaotic period, before God said, "Let there be light." The darkness of the ninth plague has the same word in the original to express it as in Gen. 1:2.
Awed by the terrible severity of this judgment, Pharaoh again sought to qualify the demands of Jehovah by retaining the flocks and herds; but, no, Jehovah will allow of no compromise; and "there shall not an hoof be left behind" was the stern and unyielding reply of the Hebrew prophet and deliverer. Pharaoh, incensed at the boldness of Moses, replied, "Get thee from me; take heed to thyself; see my face no more: for in that day that thou seest my face thou shalt die." Thus the infatuated monarch sealed his own doom. This we learn in the calm and dignified reply of Moses, "Thou hast spoken well: I will see thy face again no more" (Ex. 10:21-29).
TENTH PLAGUE.
DEATH OF THE FIRSTBORN OF MAN AND BEAST.
There is a peculiar air of solemnity about this last plague, not merely in the awful nature of the judgment, but also in its attendant circumstances. One feels treading on holy ground. This midnight visitation of sharp and sudden judgment, death, upon the firstborn—the pride, the glory, the strength of Egypt—sent a bitter wail of anguish throughout the whole land. From it none could escape; it could not be foreseen nor averted in any wise. It embraced in its range the monarch on the throne to the maid-slave at the mill. The princes, people, cattle, and beasts all came in as sharers in this terrible judgment. "And it came to pass that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle." Not a household but was visited in judgment. Such a cry never before was heard in Egypt, and never will—although that land is yet to be visited by judgments which will desolate it, and its people oppressed even as they oppressed Israel (Isa. 19). The terror and dismay of the people is general; and, now, instead of seeking to detain the Hebrews, their little ones, or flocks, "the Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste: for, they said, we be all dead men."
Preparatory to their departure it is said the Hebrews " borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment." The wealth and riches of Egypt were lavished in profusion and abundance upon the departing people, who "spoiled the Egyptians." The word "borrowed" need present no difficulty to the reader, as the Hebrew word simply means to demand or ask, and surely the right to do so was unquestionable after such a lengthy period of servitude—their only wages being the cruel lash of the taskmasters. The conduct of the people in this needs no defense or apology, as their claim was a just one, and God caused it to be respected (Ex. 12:36).
But a much more serious question than the unqualified release of Israel from the iron rule of Egypt was raised in the infliction of these judgments, especially of the last. Righteousness displayed in judgment, as also exhibited in salvation, was the great moral question of that day, even as of this. Both the judgment and the salvation were temporal, but surely they speak of themes infinitely glorious, and instruct in truths of everlasting importance.
In this awful judgment, therefore, all were equally involved, from it there could be no exemption. All stood before God on one common ground, for all had sinned. The oppressor and the oppressed, the master and the slave, the proud Egyptian and the Hebrew servant, stood before God on the platform of a ruined humanity. The sword of judgment would search the land of Goshen equally with the palace of Pharaoh. But, blessed be God! He who bore the sword on that dark midnight, and entered the unsprinkled dwellings, had before appointed a righteous ground and means of deliverance. The lamb slain instead of the Israelite told out impressively that the only way of escape from coming wrath is by another bearing the judgment. The glorious truth of substitution and its application to the believer as before God, is the grand teaching of Ex. 12 "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. 5:7), is the Holy Ghost's commentary on this first and significant of all the feasts of Jehovah. We doubt if in the volume of inspiration, a passage could be produced to excel Exodus 12: "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I (Jehovah) SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU." What a resting place for the wretched heart and struggling conscience of man; yea, a Divine resting place for weary souls (Ex. 11, 12).
THE RED SEA JUDGMENT.
After the solemn midnight judgment of the first-born of Egypt, and the due observance of the passover by Israel, the people leave the land of their captivity, laden with wealth, but trammeled with a mixed multitude, which afterward became a snare to them (Num. 11:4). They might easily have entered the great Arabian desert, the scene of their wanderings, without crossing the Red Sea at all. Had they rounded the Red Sea at any point above Suez they would have found no canal or passage to intercept their progress as now. But that would not have accomplished the counsels of God's love towards His people. The power of Jehovah over His and His people's enemies had to be displayed, and the Salvation of God enjoyed, so the people were directed to retrace their steps, and march southward towards the Red Sea, where they encamped at a point some miles below Suez (Ex. 14:2). They could not have selected a spot more hopeless of escape. The sea barred their progress in front, while on their right and left precipitous rocks and mountains of considerable height effectually hindered retreat. It is true that the passage through which they had entered was free, but the power of the enemy would soon occupy that only avenue of escape, and then death by the sword of the Egyptians, or a captivity more cruel than that from which they had just escaped, or death in the Red Sea were the dread alternatives. But Jehovah led His people thither, and that surely was enough for faith. It thus became a question between God and the enemy. Would Satan dispute God's right to bless His own—a people already His by the blood of the lamb (Ex. 12)? Would Satan dare to frustrate the counsels of Divine love and power? If God be for us, who can be against us? was gloriously answered on that ever memorable night. No doubt Pharaoh anticibated that God had now forsaken His people, and that his gods would yet triumph, for "Pharaoh will say of the Children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in."
To all appearance the doom of the people was settled, as the only way of escape was the valley through which they had passed, and that was now being rapidly occupied with the chosen chariots of Egypt, probably the king's own bodyguards, and all the chariots of Egypt. God would teach His people the meaning and reality of that precious word "salvation," for the first time expounded in the Word of God; moreover, it was to be "the salvation of Jehovah." It was God acting on behalf of His people, bringing them to Himself. The word, therefore, of God to His people was "go forward," and as by faith (Heb. 11:29) they pass on the sea divides and recedes on either side. No wonder that the majesty of this event is again and again referred to in illustration of the mighty power of God (Psa. 66:5-7; Isa. 10:26). Think of a sea, at its deepest soundings fully 6000 feet, and miles broad at its narrowest parts, dividing in two, and leaving its bed as "firm" and "dry" as any ground ever trod upon, and its waters rising up on either side, forming perpendicular walls of great height. We are not astonished to find that the fame of this mighty act of Divine power preceded the people in their march through the desert to Canaan and filled their enemies with fear, as the harlot of Jericho lets us know, "For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when ye came out of Egypt... our hearts did melt" (Josh. 2:10, 11).
The deliverance of the people is complete, the judgment of Egypt as thorough. Now Israel gathers on the eastern side of the Red Sea, standing every one in the full accomplished salvation of God; their enemies are gone forever, "there remained not so much as one of them "—"Jehovah hath triumphed, His people are free." The song of Moses celebrates in magnificent strains Jehovah's victory, besides telling of wilderness grace and Canaan glory; while Miriam's refrain, "Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea" (Ex. 15), makes up a scene of triumph rarely equaled, and certainly never excelled, in the blessed volume of inspiration itself.
It is ours, beloved Christian reader, to look back in adoring praise upon the cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ as that by which we have been brought in peace to God, and eternally delivered from the power of Satan and the world. Our Red Sea is Rom. 4:24, 25, and our celebration of deliverance Rom. 5:1-11.