God Is the One True God (October 16 in FirstLook)

God does nothing by accident! If you don't believe me check out what your FirstLook student will be learning this Sunday about the 10 plagues over Egypt.

Undoubtedly the mighty hand of the one true God was demonstrated in contrast to the powerlessness of the Egyptian false gods. Prior to the Passover, God declared, “I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord” (Exodus 12:12b). Many scholars believe the plagues were directly attacking the ancient Egyptian gods. The table below demonstrates the correlation between the plagues and the Egyptian gods.

In the Bible, even the number of plagues was significant. To the Israelites, the number 10 represented wholeness and completion. For instance, the Ten Commandments are the complete, divine perfection of the Law. By sending 10 plagues, God was stating they were completely plagued and completely judged. He was demonstrating His total power as the one true God.

PLAGUE	EGYPTIAN GOD
Moses lifts his staff over the Nile and God turns all the water in Egypt into blood (Exodus 7:14–24).	Hapi: The Egyptian god of the Nile.
God sends swarms of frogs out of the water to cover the land of Egypt (Exodus 8:1–15).	Heket: The Egyptian goddess of fertility, water, and renewal. She is depicted as having the head of a frog.
Moses strikes the ground with his staff, and God turns the dust into gnats which cover men and animals. This is the first plague that the Egyptian magicians could not replicate (Exodus 8:16–19).	Geb: The Egyptian god who ruled over the dust of the earth.
God sends dense swarms of flies which plague only the Egyptians. The Israelites are not affected by this wonder (Exodus 8:20–32).	Khepri: The god of creation. He is depicted with the head of a fly.
God sends a plague over all of the Egyptians’ livestock. Not a single animal belonging to the Israelites is affected (Exodus 9:1–7).	Hathor: The goddess of love and protection; depicted with the head of a cow.
God instructs Moses to throw a handful of ashes in the presence of Pharaoh. Doing so unleashes sores on all the Egyptians and their animals (Exodus 9:8–12). Cleanliness was of utmost importance to the Egyptians. Historically, this would have made them ceremonially unclean and therefore unable to worship their gods. They weren’t even allowed in the presence of Pharaoh. Therefore, only Moses and Aaron could now be in contact with him.	Isis: The goddess of medicine and peace.
God sends the worst hail and lightning storm the Egyptians had ever experienced. Israelites are, once again, unharmed (Exodus 9:13–35).	Nut: The goddess of the sky.
Moses lifted his staff against Egypt, and God sent a massive storm of locusts—so many that the ground was entirely black. They devoured every crop and every last piece of fruit growing on the trees (Exodus 10:1–20).	Seth: The god of storms and disorder.
God instructs Moses to lift his hand to the sky. In doing so, total darkness blankets Egypt for three full days. No Egyptian could see anyone else or leave his house. Only the Israelites have light where they live (Exodus 10:21–29). Scholars believe that, in Egyptian culture, darkness represented death, judgment, and hopelessness.	Ra: The sun god.
The final plague: The firstborn of each Egyptian household would die. The Israelites were instructed in the Passover rituals and no Israelite child was harmed (Exodus 11—12).	Pharaoh: The ultimate power of Egypt; considered the greatest god of all. He was believed to be the son of Ra, manifest in the flesh.