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.

God is the Lord (part 1) in KidQuest (September 25)

This next Sunday in KidQuest we will be looking at what Pharoah says to Moses when Moses asks him to let the Israelites go free.  Not only that but we will look at the plagues God uses to "change" Pharoah's mind.

Over the past few weeks we have heard God's covenant with Abraham and how God declared himself as the King of King by saying I AM in Exodus 3 to Moses.  However, the Israelites needed to learn more about their great God in order to follow him. They needed to trust him, and know He is the Lord.  Not only did God use the plagues to change Pharoah's mind but also to prove to the Israelites and the Egyptians that He is the only real God (I am who I am).

• When God changed the water to blood, God judged the Nile itself, which had been deified as a god.
• The plague of frogs was a judgment on ancient forms of idolatry in Egypt.
• When “dense swarms of flies poured into every place and throughout Egypt, many assert God was judging the Egyptian god, Uaticht.
• Some of the gods of Egypt were identified with figurines of bulls, cows, rams, and other livestock, hence the plague on the livestock.
• The plague of boils was not only painful, but an embarrassing judgment on the Egyptian obsession with physical cleanliness and beauty.
• Through the plague of hail, God proved there “is no one like me in all the earth” (Exodus 9:14), because He controlled the weather.
• God also proved He had control over the sun in the universe, creating the “darkness that [could] be felt.”

Through all of the plagues, God undermined the relationship between Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and the Egyptians and their false gods. By His defeat, God proved He alone had the right to His people; He alone was worthy of their worship.