Pharaoh & The Plagues

We're going back to Bible College to unpack the details behind the plagues account in Exodus. Welcome to Plagues 101! Mankind has always been tempted to look past the Creator and worship creation. The Egyptians fell into this trap as well. God uses Pharaoh's hardened heart to pour out a calculated attack on every Egyptian false god. One by one, they all fall until the only one left standing, is Pharaoh. In the end, we see that what is created should lead us to the Creator, then to the Cross.

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﻿                         Mountainview Church 
                  "FOLLOWING MOSES, FINDING JESUS" 

           "PHARAOH & THE PLAGUES" (EXODUS 7-10) 
                   OUTLINE STYLE: DEDUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT 

INTRODUCTION: BIG IDEA 

1. (01 SLIDE) BIBLE COLLEGE DAY (Welcome to Mountainview!) 
  a) Welcome to Plagues 101! (Back in time...serving in Pharaoh's court!) 
2. (02 SLIDE) FOLLOWING MOSES, FINDING JESUS 
  a) Mankind has always been tempted to look past the Creator and 
    worship creation. (Creation can actually bring us to the Cross!) 
  b) Recap: (1) Moses answering God's call. (2) Pharaoh's unleashed more 
    pain on Israel. (3) God responded by promising judgment on Egypt. 

TEACHING - FOLLOWING MOSES: 

3. (03 VERSE SLIDES) Ex. 7:14-18 PLAGUE 1: Water Turned To Blood 
  a) (04 SLIDE) HAPI (Hep, Hap, Hapy) The god of the Nile, water and 
    annual flooding. 
    i) A fertility god depicted as a man with a beard, but with breasts and 
      protruding stomach. 
    ii) He is believed to nourish the land through Nile's annual flooding. 
  b) Why blood? 
    i) The Nile was the life-blood of Egypt, bringing renewal every year. 
    ii) Throwback: Consider Moses coming out of the Nile!?!? 
       
4. (05 VERSE SLIDES) Ex. 8:1-4 PLAGUE 2: Frogs 
  a) (06 SLIDE) HEQET (Heqat, Heket) The goddess of fertility, depicted 
    as a frog or woman with frog's head. 
    i) Frogs symbolized fruitfulness and new life in Egyptian culture. 
  b) Why frogs? Why was it the second plague?  
     
     
     
5. (07 VERSE SLIDES) Ex. 8:16-17 PLAGUE 3: Gnats 
  a) (08 SLIDE) GEB (Seb, Gebb, Keb, Kebb) The god of the earth (dust, 
    dirt and sand). 
    i) Depicted in the form of a man lying down, with the head of a snake, 
      or a man with a goose on top of his head. (The goose representing 
      him as "The Great Cackler" with his laughter bringing earthquakes.) 
  b) Why Gnats? It's all about the dust! 
    i) (1) Plaguing the Nile, which renews earth, to (2) plaguing the earth. 
       
6. (09 VERSE SLIDES) Ex. 8:20-23 PLAGUE 4: Flies 
  a) (10 SLIDE) KHEPRI (Kheper, Khepera, Chepri, Khephir) The god of 
    creation, movement of the sun and rebirth. 
    i) Depicted as a man with a scarab beetle for a head. 
      Ø (VIDEO) National Geographic Video 
  b)  Why flies? Why not scarabs? 
    i) Scarabs are the animal that prevent fly reproduction! 
      Ø Flies equate to excrement, decay and death. (The god of rebirth?) 
      Ø Meanwhile the Hebrew camp is fly-free! (Separation! Dung-Free!) 
         
7. (11 VERSE SLIDES) Ex. 9:1-4 PLAGUE 5: Egyptian Livestock Die 
  a) (12 SLIDE) HATHOR (Het-hert) The goddess of joy, love, motherhood 
    and the protector of women. 
    i) Depicted as a cow, or as a woman with the head of a cow, or as a 
      woman with wearing cow-horns holding a solar disk on her head. 
    ii) When depicted as a cow, often depicted with a person suckling her 
      utter to show the provision of milk and sustaining of life. 
  b) God was fairly obvious with this one! (Accept dependence on Israel!) 
     
8. (13 VERSE SLIDES) Ex. 9:8-12 PLAGUE 6: Boils 
  a) (14 SLIDE) ISIS (Eye-sis) The goddess of magic, medicine and 
    motherhood of the Pharaoh. 
    i) Depicted as a woman with a headdress in the shape of a throne. 
      Also often depicted holding the god, Horus as an infant on her lap, 
      who is said to be the first divine Pharaoh. 
    ii) Considered a protective goddess and the divine mother of Pharaoh. 
      Maternal aid was invoked in healing spells to benefit the people. 
  b) An attack on magic and medicine! 
    i) The magicians run from Pharaoh's site because of the boils. 
      Ø Symbolic: In Egyptian culture (like many ancient cultures), anyone 
        afflicted with ailment could not be within the presence of royalty. 
         
9. (15 VERSE SLIDES) Ex. 9:14-18 & 23-26 PLAGUE 7: Hail 
  a) (16 SLIDE) NUT (Nuit, Nwt) The goddess of the sky and the heavens. 
    i) Depicted as a star-covered woman arching over the earth. (Often 
      depicted over Geb, the god of earth.) 
  b) Again, God was pretty obvious with this one! 
     
10. (17 VERSE SLIDES) Ex. 10:12-15 PLAGUE 8: Locusts 
  a) (18 SLIDE) SET (Seth, Setekh, Sut, Sutekh, Sety) The god of chaos, 
    disorder, violence, desert, storms and foreigners. 
    i) Depicted as a Man with the head of a 'Seth animal' (unidentifiable 
      within modern culture but often appearing canine in appearance). 
    ii) Seth represented everything that threatened harmony in Egypt. 
      Ø "He was a storm god associated with strange and frightening events...He 
        also represented the desert and, by extension, the foreign lands beyond 
        the desert. His glyph appears in the Egyptian words for 'turmoil', 
        'confusion', 'illness', 'storm' and 'rage'. He was considered to be very strong 
        but dangerous, and strange." (AncientEgyptOnline.co.uk) 
  b) Why locusts? Because they brought chaos! 
    i) Locusts, eating everything in site, known to eat cloth and garments 
      made with organic materials would have put Egypt into chaos. 
      Ø A common tactic of war in the ancient world was to cut off the 
        food supply to the people, to create confusion and disorder. 
  c) Locusts typically come from the South-west. (The East...Foreigners!?!) 
      Ø Another very specific attack on Set! 
         
         
11. (19 VERSE SLIDES) Ex. 10:21-23 PLAGUE 9: Darkness 
  a) (20 SLIDE) RA (Re) The god of sun, warmth and growth, and the king 
    of the gods. 
    i) Depicted as a man with a falcon's head, crowned with a sun disc. 
    ii) Considered the King of the Gods and described as the creator of 
      everything, and closest to Pharaoh. 
  b) Seems obvious...but wait, there's more! 
    i) Deeper Meaning: Ra is often displayed standing beside Pharaoh 
      with Set (dealt with in the second to last plague) as his protectors. 
      Ø The last Egyptian god to be addressed were considered the most 
        powerful, and directly linked to Pharaoh himself! 

APPLICATION - FINDING JESUS: 

12. (21 SLIDE) GOD HARDENED PHARAOH'S HEART (WHY?) 
  a) God, the Creator, used Pharaoh to show the world the folly of 
    worshipping created things. 
13. (22 VERSE SLIDES) ROMANS 1:16-24 
  a) Throughout history, humanity has been tempted to take our eyes off of 
    the Creator and focus on creation, the created things. (Every Culture!) 
  b) Today, through individualized spirituality, religions like Buddhism and 
    Hinduism and in many forms of Atheism and Gnosticism, the created 
    things hold more importance, value and worship than the Creator. 

CONCLUSION: 

14. (23 SLIDE) CREATION SHOULD BRING US TO THE CROSS 
  a) Consider how marvelous and majestic creation is, with our fallen world. 
  b) Now consider how much better it will be in eternity! 
      Ø Only through Jesus is that eternity possible. 
        o  Creation should always bring us to the Cross! 
15. (24 SLIDE) RESPOND IN WORSHIP 
      Ø SING ~ PRAY ~ GIVE 

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