Numbers 33:4 KJV
For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.
The Bible says that when God plagued Egypt so that they had to bury their first born, God did that to Egypt and to Egypt's gods. I was interested in that because I do not recall any of the plagues being specifically upon the deities of Egypt directly. Certainly several of the plagues were in reference to their worship of the Nile or to their god of the flies, and there was the direct challenge of the Egyptian magicians to counterfeit the plagues. But nothing was overtly an attack upon their gods.
So in reading I found three courses of thought how the death of the firstborn could have been against their gods:
First, the Jewish Targum of Jonathan, according to Gill, says that with the death of the firstborn was also the destruction of their idols.
The golden ones became molten, the wooden ones to ashes, their earthen ones diminished, their strong ones mutilated. I rather think of the Jewish Targum as similar to Catholic tradition; fantastic and absolutely unreliable.
The second and third appear to me to have more Scriptural validity.
Second, the gods referred to could be the rulers and great men of Egypt. The word of God does make reference to the great men, whether in wealth or stature as gods. This then would mean that the plague upon the firstborn included all of Egypt, not just the average citizen. Greatness, wealth, power neither physical nor political protected them from the plague.
Third, the plague also included the death of the firstborn among their animals, which were worshipped as gods.
The Bible isn't difficult to understand if only we will consider and study.
For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.
The Bible says that when God plagued Egypt so that they had to bury their first born, God did that to Egypt and to Egypt's gods. I was interested in that because I do not recall any of the plagues being specifically upon the deities of Egypt directly. Certainly several of the plagues were in reference to their worship of the Nile or to their god of the flies, and there was the direct challenge of the Egyptian magicians to counterfeit the plagues. But nothing was overtly an attack upon their gods.
So in reading I found three courses of thought how the death of the firstborn could have been against their gods:
First, the Jewish Targum of Jonathan, according to Gill, says that with the death of the firstborn was also the destruction of their idols.
The golden ones became molten, the wooden ones to ashes, their earthen ones diminished, their strong ones mutilated. I rather think of the Jewish Targum as similar to Catholic tradition; fantastic and absolutely unreliable.
The second and third appear to me to have more Scriptural validity.
Second, the gods referred to could be the rulers and great men of Egypt. The word of God does make reference to the great men, whether in wealth or stature as gods. This then would mean that the plague upon the firstborn included all of Egypt, not just the average citizen. Greatness, wealth, power neither physical nor political protected them from the plague.
Third, the plague also included the death of the firstborn among their animals, which were worshipped as gods.
The Bible isn't difficult to understand if only we will consider and study.
No comments:
Post a Comment