Let’s talk about Plagues!

First, to address the elephant in the room – this is unavoidably a chunk of story within which God afflicts large numbers of people with some horrible things. Whilst we can explore some of the ‘why’ possibilities that theological reflections offer, this is one instance where lots of people who aren’t Christians would know this story but only the part where God hurts people, and not the deeper messages being communicated in this.

So before some more exploration, I want to ask this;

How did you feel reading these stories this week?

I imagine that the majority of people reading this will be people who have considered themselves Christians for a while. As such, I also imagine that re-reading passages like this can create some strong cognitive dissonance, where things we think we might believe (ie. God is all-loving) appear to conflict with what we’re reading (ie. God killing all firstborn children in Egypt).

Let me encourage you to sit in the discomfort of that situation. Too often we can jump to easy-seeming answers which can quieten our questions, but we must allow ourselves space to wrestle with some of these issues – the very name ‘Israel’, given to Jacob and then his family, means to struggle with or wrestle with God.

Beyond that, let’s read through and around these stories about the plagues and see what else stands out to us and what we can learn.  

You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”  - Exodus 7:2-5

Here’s the plan spelled out. The end result is twofold; the liberation of the Israelites and the Egyptians coming to know God as Lord.

The means by which these two outcomes will be achieved are also twofold, and it probably depends on perspective as to how it’s interpreted; God will perform signs and wonders, and God will stretch out Their hand against Egypt by great acts of judgment.

We have two narratives, made distinct by identity – God is acting for the Israelites and against the Egyptians. This is emphasised in Exodus 8:22;

But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I the Lord am in this land.

This is the fourth plague, and after the first three had all afflicted all of Egypt, here God specifies that They won’t touch the area where the Israelites live. This is also specified in the fifth plague. God is, as stated at the burning bush, on the side of the oppressed people.

The language understood by Pharaoh isn’t reason or compassion, but power.

And so it is that God communicates to Pharaoh in the language of power. This is a theme that continues across the Old Testament, that God’s revelation of power and sovereignty is so often at someone’s expense.

This would have been even more clear in ancient cultures encountering this story as we reach the seventh plague. Thunder, hail and fire (fair to assume that means lightning, right?) is a dramatic image, and easy to translate to our own culture’s stories where storms represent natural power. But more than that, in Ancient Israelite tradition, thunder is symbolic of the voice of God – and here God is speaking in judgement… and it’s hard for the Egyptians not to take notice!

This causes an unprecedented change in behaviour from Pharaoh – or so it seems! He speaks, for the first time, of having sinned and that ‘The Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong.’

I’d forgotten this detail and was surprised as I read it. This came across to me as a sincere repentance, and certainly reads like it. But there are times in life where you needed to have been somewhere to really understand and this could be one of those. Moses views it differently to what I was thinking and calls Pharaoh out.

But as for you and your officials, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God. – Exodus 9:30

There have been clues before this that tell us about Pharaoh’s character. Did you notice that the only times that before this that Pharaoh had responded by telling Moses that the people could go were on the plagues which specifically targeted Pharaoh, his people and his officials. The second (frogs) and fourth (flies) plagues were aimed at Pharaoh personally and only then is he affected. When the river is turned to blood, impacting the water supply to the whole land, Pharaoh isn’t bothered. But some frogs come into his bedchamber and suddenly he’s willing to negotiate.

Pharoah is self-centred and self-serving. That, it appears, is his character. And after those two 180-degree turns, where he promises release for the Israelites and then changes his mind, Moses has got his number!

The plagues are an illustration of the battle that can rage within any of us. A battle between God and the selfish nature of humanity. Between good and evil. Between those held captive and the one’s holding them in captivity. God vs Pharoah, as Pauline spoke about last Sunday (listen back here), isn’t about God overpowering one human. We, like Pharaoh, can be reluctant to listen to God or to be obedient to God. Our heart’s can be hard or soft. This is a story about God’s display of authority and command over the world and everything in it.

Exodus is filled with God’s use of nature to reveal Their power and presence with the Israelites. In fact, we see this at the parting of the Sea of Reeds very soon after these plagues.

But between them lies a huge moment – the Passover. There’s so much in that story, but I won’t go into that further now. We’ll come back and look again at this story and the tradition that it shapes at the time of the Passover festival in April.

For now, sit once more in the discomfort of a story about a God who kills to show Their power.