The Gods of Egypt

Townhall.com ^ | March 3, 2016 | Jerry Newcombe

[Kaslin]

The title of a recently released film caught my attention: The Gods of Egypt. This column is not about the film, but rather it addresses God’s judgment on the gods of Egypt by way of the ten plagues.

The ten plagues were the systematic judgments of God against Pharaoh and the Egyptians for enslaving the Hebrews for 400 years and refusing to let them go.

“Let My people go,” said God through his servants, Moses and his brother Aaron. But Pharaoh refused. So under God’s instruction, Moses unleashed ten plagues against Egypt.

In each of these judgments, God spared His people, the Hebrews. He miraculously kept them from experiencing His wrath.

The final judgment, the slaying of the Egyptian’s firstborn, involved the very first Passover event. The Hebrew people were instructed by God to take a lamb without blemish, to sacrifice it, and to spread the blood on the top and the two sides of the doorpost, forming a type of cross.

Then the angel of death  would pass over the Hebrew households, but would slay the firstborn of the Egyptians. The New Testament says Christ our Passover lamb has been slain for us.

Dr. D. James Kennedy points out that each of the ten plagues was a judgment on one of the gods of Egypt. You can find his commentary on this it in the new D. James Kennedy Topical Study Bible in the book of Exodus.

Kennedy notes, “In the Book of Exodus, we see the great confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh. This is the Old Testament counterpart to the confrontation between Christ and Pilate, the representative of the pagan Roman Empire, with Pharaoh being the representative of the pagan empire of Egypt. Here is a classic confrontation between good and evil, Christ and Satan.”

Consider the plagues one by one and what Kennedy says about God’s judgment on Egypt’s false gods:

• 1)    The Egyptians worshiped the River Nile, the source of their lives. The first plague attacked that idol by turning the water into blood.
• 2)    The goddess Hekt (Heket, Heqet) had the face of a frog. “You worship frogs,” said God in effect, “now see what it’s like to have frogs everywhere.” In a short time, the Egyptians were sick of frogs.
• 3)    Plague number three saw lice fill the land. Kennedy notes, "Now one of the gods of the Egyptians was Seb, the earth god…The Egyptians' reverence for the ground having it covered with trillions of fleas or lice would no doubt cool their amorous desires for that earth god Seb."
• 4)    Swarms of flies comprised the fourth plague. Says Kennedy, “Scholars say they probably were not flies, so much as they were the beetles common to that area, called the scarabaeus from which we get the word scarab, which is a black beetle.”
• 5)    The fifth plague was the judgment on the Egyptian cattle. Apis, the chief god of Memphis, was a sacred bull worshiped by the Egyptians.
• 6)    The sixth plague involved boils. This was a judgment against the god Typhon. This god, notes Kennedy, was “a magical genie that was worshiped in ancient Egypt. Here was a god who was connected with the magicians, which were the priests of the Egyptian religion. We find here that the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boil was upon the magicians and upon all of Egypt. So their power was broken.”
• 7)    Then came the plague of hail. Shu was the “god of the atmosphere.” As Kennedy points out, “Now it is hard to go out to worship the god of the atmosphere when you are being pounded with large hail stones.”
• 8)    Next, locusts swarmed the land. The Egyptians worshiped the god Serapis, defender of the land against locusts.
• 9)    Another major god of the Egyptians was Rah, the sun god. But Plague number nine saw darkness come over the land, even during the day.
• 10)  “And finally in the last plague upon Pharaoh himself who was supposedly descended from the sun god Rah, his first born was killed,” writes Kennedy.

He sums it all up this way, “In the ten plagues, God shows the world for all time that He alone deserves our worship.”

Tragically, people today worship all sorts of false gods: money, celebrities, football or other sports. Some even worship their own possessions. Each of these will one day be buned up in God’s final judgement of this earth, and then all will see that only the Triune God is worthy of worship.

Whether audiences find the new movie, The Gods of Egypt, to be an entertaining fantasy adventure or just a high tech stinker, it's good to remember that the ten plagues were God's judgments on human idolatry. 

[2banana]

11) The Chicago Bears

[A CA Guy]

Is this a movie or Bible review?
How many thumbs up or down?

[Mr Apple]

Moses unleashed ten plagues against Egypt.

If Moses were alive today, he'd unleash plagues on all the Islamic Muslims who are pillaging and raping in Europe and Scandinavia.

[MNDude]

The god of America seems to be entertainment. I wonder what plague that would bring upon us.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

In the Bible, the sorcerers were able to recreate the same plagues as Moses, UNTIL it came to the lice. They could not replicate that one or the ones after.

[Candor7]

Apparently there are many gods. God indicated that many times in the old testament. We know Gods name, it is Jehovah in the English language. He directed that those who follow , him should put no god before him.

However there are still gods as God has said. Each pantheon of these gods seem to be a part of certain human cultural traditions around the world. Some are benevolent ,others strike terror in the hearts of mankind.Usually each pantheon has benevolent and non benevolent deities.

Even God has minor deities who work under him such as angels and saints.

The Egyptian gods compose an entire pantheon centered on the riverine culture of the Nile and its surrounding deserts.

The entertainment industry seems lately to use these pantheons as a basis for movies and shows. The TV series Vikings is another.Most of the practices of prayer,offering, meditation and ritual for most of these pantheons have been lost, So much of what is presented on TV and movies is highly inaccurate.

And so it is with the movie,”Egyptian Gods.” Its strictly entertainment based on mythology and imagination.

There are a few connections between gods and men that have not been lost to history or conquest. I leave those to others to discover. But they are generally inaccessible to those who do not speak and write the native language of the particular culture involved.

[Red Badger]

Nah, Buffalo Bills........................

[Elsie]

America is worshiping either the Republican party or the Democratic one.

[Elsie]

The god of America seems to be entertainment. I wonder what plague that would bring upon us.

Fags in every program!

[soycd]

The only realistic plague currently infesting Egypt is islam.

[Kommodor]

I do believe it’s called “Oscar Night”.

[baltimorepoet]

If Moses were alive today, he'd unleash plagues on all the Islamic Muslims who are pillaging and raping in Europe and Scandinavia.

Do you ever wonder if Muslims pillaging and raping in Europe are God's plague on sinful and secular Europe?

[BereanBrain]

Depends on what you mean by “god” or “God”.

Are you a Big Godder or a Small Godder?

If you believe in a BIG God, there can ONLY be one. But there can be lots of pretenders.

Biblically, the other “gods” were in fact, demi-gods. They deceived man into worshipping them, even though in fact, they were created creatures or descendants of created beings.

[Kaslin]

You heathen ;)

[Kaslin]

Now it does, but it did not exist in Moses’ time

[Yulee]

Maybe they were too busy scratching.

[Candor7]

I am afraid you asking about something that is of no concern of yours. I wrote a statement about what is, not about personal adherence.

Carry on, FRiend and good luck.

[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

There’s no “The” in the title of the film.