Leaving Slavery

Welcome

Preteen Transition

Too Many Tastes to Please

As students enter your classroom, ask them to write their favorite foods on the board or on one big piece of paper. After students have recorded all of their foods, ask: “If we serve everything on this menu all year, can we keep everyone happy?”

Our opinions are fickle, and sometimes our desires we think will make us happy actually lead to bad situations. But God is able to deliver us and guide us in making good choices!

Where Do We Begin?

Have you ever learned any about ancient Greek or Roman mythology in school?

You may have heard these elaborate stories of gods and the wars that they would have with each other. Ares, the god of war. Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And everyone has heard of Zeus, who was the king of the gods in these tales.

These are interesting little stories for class, but in the ancient world, they considered these stories to be real. Every nation believed in multiple gods, and each one had rituals and practices they used to worship these gods. And their goal was to keep the gods happy so that terrible things wouldn’t happen to them.

But the problem was, they never really knew how to make the gods happy. There was no manual or instructions on how to achieve that. The sacrifice you brought one year may have led to a great harvest, but the same sacrifice the next year resulted in famine. Why??? Why where the gods angry with you? You didn’t really know. That’s why in these mythologies the gods seem so petty; no one knew how to please them!

That was what the world was like for every nation under the sun. Every nation except for one, that is...

The Hebrews didn’t believe in gods; they believed in God. They believed in one true, all-knowing, all-powerful God. They believed that He could be near, and that He could be known.

He revealed Himself to Moses as yahweh, “the Self-Existing One.” He told Moses He is the “I AM,” the answer to every need that Israel may have or situation they may face. He is the only God, and He is more than happy to prove it.

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So the Egyptians were always trying to please a whole host of picky, selfish “gods” they thought acted like mean little children if they didn’t get exactly what they wanted.

So, I’ve eaten some strange foods in my life...

Octopus

Caviar

Durian

Cheeburger Cheeburger

What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten???

Trying a new food can be challenging… but food tasting is minor. Some of the Egyptian “gods” were difficult to please with the people believing that they demanded inappropriate sacrifices or violent behavior.

I mean, we can really be thankful that we don’t have to endure trying to push people out of that type of thinking today.

Where Do We God From Here?

The Plagues Exposed Egypt’s False Gods

Last time we met, we talked about God setting in motion a plan that would lead to Israel’s deliverance from bondage. He saved Moses’s life.

God could have delivered Israel in many ways:

He could have miraculously transported them out of Egypt.

He could have rained down fire and brimstone, like he did against Sodom and Gomorrah.

He could have sent warrior angels to go throughout the nation and wipe out the army.

He could have even forced the hearts of the Egyptians to soften toward Israel so that they let Israel go willingly.

But God had a bigger plan than that. He wanted to deliver them in a way that demonstrated His power. He wanted to prove that He was greater than all of these “gods” Egyptians were worshipping.

Exodus 12:12 NKJV

12 ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.

Now this is so super fascinating...

God designed the plagues to make himself known to Egypt.... Each plague was God’s way of proving that He was more powerful than one of Egypt’s gods!

God proved He ruled over Hapi, the god of the Nile, by turning its water to blood.

He proved He was greater than Heket, who had the head of a frog, because He brought frogs against Egypt.

He was greater than Geb, god of the dust of the earth, because He brought lice from the dust of the earth.

He brought flies to prove He was greater than Khepri, a god with the head of a fly.

He killed Egypt’s cattle and livestock to prove He was greater than Hathor, the Egyptian god with the head of a cow.

He brought out boils and sores on people to prove He was mightier than Isis, goddess of medicine.

He caused hail to rain down from the heavens to prove He was stronger than Nut, the goddess of the sky.

He sent locusts to prove He ruled over Seth, the god of storms and disorder.

He made darkness remain for three days to prove His authority over Ra, the sun god.

Finally, He brought death to the firstborn of Egypt, including in Pharaoh’s household. Pharaoh was regarded as a god himself, since he held ultimate power in Egypt.

By the time God was done, Israel was fully convinced of whom they were serving. Even some of the Egyptians turned their hearts and believed!

And really, we too have to be willing to look at all of the evidence - all around us - of God’s greatness and choose to fear Him and believe in Him.

Have you ever been granted “special privileges?”

Like maybe being allowed to skip a test because you had a high “A” average in your class.

Some students get to skip the snack stand line at youth camp because they raised so much for Move The Mission.

At some point, we have found ourselves receiving “special privileges” for being a part of a selective group. And the same could be said for the children of Israel. As Egypt was experiencing the plagues, God set Israel apart so they wouldn’t be harmed by things He was doing to the Egyptians.

And so, the effects of many of these plagues didn’t touch Israel, because they were God’s chosen people.

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