Time to release the children of Israel.....
2 Comments Published by Tom Gara on Friday, November 19 at Friday, November 19, 2004.
You know, when Egypt gets shafted, it doesnt suffer some 20th century, lightweight problem, like failing sewerage systems, electricity blackouts or economic crisis. These things are already structured into the fabric of the country and would not be considered a true shafting in their own right.
No, when a bad thing happens to Egypt, things get biblical.
There is now a massive swarm of Locusts (little flying grasshoppers, for those who don't know the word), literally blackening the skies of Cairo. Billions and billions of locusts, as far as you can see, in all directions. Driving through the suburbs of Cairo today, it felt like a hailstorm of insects - mostly flying in massive, endless coulds above, but enough coming down to our level to ensure a constant and fairly spooky soundtrack of Locusts going splat on the windscreen and crunch under the tires. At least I can tell my grandchildren that I lived through a plague of locusts. In Egypt, none the less, home of the Locust Plague.
Those of us who know their Old Testament (and those like me, who use google), know that a Plague of Locusts was number 8 in Gods line of ten punishments he dished out to the people of Egypt, trying to break their spirit and force them to free their Israeli slaves. First he turned all the fresh water into blood (now that would have been a horrible experience to live through), then the flooded the country in a swarm of frogs (who are menacing in a biblical way, I suppose, although "swarm of frogs" doesnt really inspire fear in my heart), then just to rub it in he turned all the dust into lice (or bed bugs, or gnats, depending on the translation. Little nasty things, none the less).
But the Egyptians are a resilient people, and these three punishments were little more than a slap on the wrist to them. So, God brings out some of the more heavy artillery. To complement the over abundance of frogs and lice, flies were added to the mix. Too many flies. Flies that tormented not only the people, but their servants, and their houses, and the land their houses was built on. God was a bit long winded in these things, you see. And then in something that was probably more of a product of the blood-water and abuntant lice and frogs and flies, all the livestock became diseased. Again, all though this was probably more a result of curses 1-4, God took credit for it and presented it as his fifth curse anyhow. He was opportunistic like that, you see.
From here, things just got plain nasty. God covered the Egyptians with boils, all over their skins, and the skins of their already diseased animals. Covered with boils, animals dying, frogs everywhere, wouldnt this be the time to decide that holding the people of Israel as slaves just isnt worth the hassle? I mean just go take some slaves from sub-Saharan Africa - God never seemed to punish anyone too severely for doing that, in all his infinite wisdom. And the Egyptians were probably considering doing this, after the general badness of the first 6 curses.
But then God goes and delivers a real let down of 7th curse. Isn't number seven supposed to be special? Not this time. This one was the diet coke of Godly curses. The margerine of the heavenly punishment world. God sent rain. And hail. And the Egyptians, covered in boils, hungry, itchy from the lice, surrounded unexplainably by frogs in the desert, must have been relieved and amused and at least happy to be able to have a good wash, given that all they have had to wash while for the last few months is that horrible blood-water.
So God realises his mistake, and decides that number 8 needs to be a real doozy. He is nearing the end of his Ten Punishments, and knows that he needs to send a message to the Egyptians that he isnt fucking around - and that he is going to finish of the top ten with an All-Awful-No-Commercials-Non-Stop-Triple-Play of turbo injustice.
Enter the locusts. The enemy of agricultural people everywhere, locusts eat everything they can land on, and are the end of any farm that they swarm to. To the heavily agriculture dependant people of the Nile Valley, a plague of Locusts might as well be a cropduster loaded with anthrax. Game. Over. Nothing more to eat for a while now, slave-holding-Egyptians. God onloads with both barrels and unleashes Locusts that "cover the face of the earth, so that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field". And that one really put the Egyptians on their knees.
So now, God knows that its time to go in for the kill and finish them off. With only two curses left (and a grand finale fireworks spectacular lined up for number Ten), God decides to get the atmosphere just right with curse number 9. What do you do when you want to create a nice romantic mood? Dim the lights, light up some candles, put on the Marvin Gaye, open a bottle of red wine, light the log fire and crumble the two Rohypnol pills into the glass. What do you do when you are about to deliver the worst shafting ever to a group of already severely defeated and powerless enemies? Kill the lights. Let them suffer. In the dark.
"And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. 10:22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days"
Think about this - if after the last eight punishments - the plagues of flies, frogs, lice, and locusts, after being covered with boils and forced to cook, drink and wash with fresh blood - you would start getting the undeniable impression that God isnt happy with you. And if, when convinced of this fact, the sun fails to go up for three days in a row, well, I'd be fairly certain things are headed in a consistant downward trajectory for the short-medium term. Its freak out time.
So, having sufficient set the mood, God brings in the grand finale, the 1812 Overture of the "lets shaft the Egyptians" symphony. He kills the first born child of every family in Egypt. History's first genocide? Undoubtably not, but surely an early example of the crude and deplorable logic of collective punishment being dished out on the basis of nothing more than race or nationality. What an absolute prick of a thing to do. Its not that I want to beat up on old Goddy for no reason here. I mean, if he acted this way, this uncompromising, this morally certain, every time any people decided to start taking others as slaves, then at least there would be a solid precedent, and one which is in many ways morally defensible. Slavery is horrible, and if there was an all powerful God, I'd have liked him to stamp it out early or at least discourage it in whatever way possible.
But instead, it seems to me (I'm no Bible scholar, so I may be wrong here) that God didn't go out of his way to free all the other enslaved people of the Earth, before or after this particular episode. And he certainly didnt intervene in the absolute boom times of slavery, when his most committed followers were practicing slavery as if it was going out of fashion.
No, it seems to me that God did this more to prove a point - that this is what happens when you disobey me, this is how bad I can get. This wasnt about the rights and wrongs of slavery. This was about proving how big and bad he was, and how much he could whoop ass whenever he wanted to. It was a big dick competition, with only one competitor. This is God as the bodybuilding martial arts fanatic who just has to get into a pointless fight and kick someones ass on a Friday night, just so everypne knows who is the tough guy. No justice, no morality, and nothing that fills me with a sense of overriding love and humanity. To quote Christoper Hitchens, "What a mad despot this is, and how fortunate we are that he exists only in the minds of his worshippers."
If I get run over by a car on the way home from the office tonight, you all know why :) I am now officially a Blasphemer! May the stoning begin!
No, when a bad thing happens to Egypt, things get biblical.
There is now a massive swarm of Locusts (little flying grasshoppers, for those who don't know the word), literally blackening the skies of Cairo. Billions and billions of locusts, as far as you can see, in all directions. Driving through the suburbs of Cairo today, it felt like a hailstorm of insects - mostly flying in massive, endless coulds above, but enough coming down to our level to ensure a constant and fairly spooky soundtrack of Locusts going splat on the windscreen and crunch under the tires. At least I can tell my grandchildren that I lived through a plague of locusts. In Egypt, none the less, home of the Locust Plague.
Those of us who know their Old Testament (and those like me, who use google), know that a Plague of Locusts was number 8 in Gods line of ten punishments he dished out to the people of Egypt, trying to break their spirit and force them to free their Israeli slaves. First he turned all the fresh water into blood (now that would have been a horrible experience to live through), then the flooded the country in a swarm of frogs (who are menacing in a biblical way, I suppose, although "swarm of frogs" doesnt really inspire fear in my heart), then just to rub it in he turned all the dust into lice (or bed bugs, or gnats, depending on the translation. Little nasty things, none the less).
But the Egyptians are a resilient people, and these three punishments were little more than a slap on the wrist to them. So, God brings out some of the more heavy artillery. To complement the over abundance of frogs and lice, flies were added to the mix. Too many flies. Flies that tormented not only the people, but their servants, and their houses, and the land their houses was built on. God was a bit long winded in these things, you see. And then in something that was probably more of a product of the blood-water and abuntant lice and frogs and flies, all the livestock became diseased. Again, all though this was probably more a result of curses 1-4, God took credit for it and presented it as his fifth curse anyhow. He was opportunistic like that, you see.
From here, things just got plain nasty. God covered the Egyptians with boils, all over their skins, and the skins of their already diseased animals. Covered with boils, animals dying, frogs everywhere, wouldnt this be the time to decide that holding the people of Israel as slaves just isnt worth the hassle? I mean just go take some slaves from sub-Saharan Africa - God never seemed to punish anyone too severely for doing that, in all his infinite wisdom. And the Egyptians were probably considering doing this, after the general badness of the first 6 curses.
But then God goes and delivers a real let down of 7th curse. Isn't number seven supposed to be special? Not this time. This one was the diet coke of Godly curses. The margerine of the heavenly punishment world. God sent rain. And hail. And the Egyptians, covered in boils, hungry, itchy from the lice, surrounded unexplainably by frogs in the desert, must have been relieved and amused and at least happy to be able to have a good wash, given that all they have had to wash while for the last few months is that horrible blood-water.
So God realises his mistake, and decides that number 8 needs to be a real doozy. He is nearing the end of his Ten Punishments, and knows that he needs to send a message to the Egyptians that he isnt fucking around - and that he is going to finish of the top ten with an All-Awful-No-Commercials-Non-Stop-Triple-Play of turbo injustice.
Enter the locusts. The enemy of agricultural people everywhere, locusts eat everything they can land on, and are the end of any farm that they swarm to. To the heavily agriculture dependant people of the Nile Valley, a plague of Locusts might as well be a cropduster loaded with anthrax. Game. Over. Nothing more to eat for a while now, slave-holding-Egyptians. God onloads with both barrels and unleashes Locusts that "cover the face of the earth, so that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field". And that one really put the Egyptians on their knees.
So now, God knows that its time to go in for the kill and finish them off. With only two curses left (and a grand finale fireworks spectacular lined up for number Ten), God decides to get the atmosphere just right with curse number 9. What do you do when you want to create a nice romantic mood? Dim the lights, light up some candles, put on the Marvin Gaye, open a bottle of red wine, light the log fire and crumble the two Rohypnol pills into the glass. What do you do when you are about to deliver the worst shafting ever to a group of already severely defeated and powerless enemies? Kill the lights. Let them suffer. In the dark.
"And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. 10:22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days"
Think about this - if after the last eight punishments - the plagues of flies, frogs, lice, and locusts, after being covered with boils and forced to cook, drink and wash with fresh blood - you would start getting the undeniable impression that God isnt happy with you. And if, when convinced of this fact, the sun fails to go up for three days in a row, well, I'd be fairly certain things are headed in a consistant downward trajectory for the short-medium term. Its freak out time.
So, having sufficient set the mood, God brings in the grand finale, the 1812 Overture of the "lets shaft the Egyptians" symphony. He kills the first born child of every family in Egypt. History's first genocide? Undoubtably not, but surely an early example of the crude and deplorable logic of collective punishment being dished out on the basis of nothing more than race or nationality. What an absolute prick of a thing to do. Its not that I want to beat up on old Goddy for no reason here. I mean, if he acted this way, this uncompromising, this morally certain, every time any people decided to start taking others as slaves, then at least there would be a solid precedent, and one which is in many ways morally defensible. Slavery is horrible, and if there was an all powerful God, I'd have liked him to stamp it out early or at least discourage it in whatever way possible.
But instead, it seems to me (I'm no Bible scholar, so I may be wrong here) that God didn't go out of his way to free all the other enslaved people of the Earth, before or after this particular episode. And he certainly didnt intervene in the absolute boom times of slavery, when his most committed followers were practicing slavery as if it was going out of fashion.
No, it seems to me that God did this more to prove a point - that this is what happens when you disobey me, this is how bad I can get. This wasnt about the rights and wrongs of slavery. This was about proving how big and bad he was, and how much he could whoop ass whenever he wanted to. It was a big dick competition, with only one competitor. This is God as the bodybuilding martial arts fanatic who just has to get into a pointless fight and kick someones ass on a Friday night, just so everypne knows who is the tough guy. No justice, no morality, and nothing that fills me with a sense of overriding love and humanity. To quote Christoper Hitchens, "What a mad despot this is, and how fortunate we are that he exists only in the minds of his worshippers."
If I get run over by a car on the way home from the office tonight, you all know why :) I am now officially a Blasphemer! May the stoning begin!
Actually, allow me to make some comments / editorial / commentary since I have some knowledge on the subject matter. If you don't want to read it all, the summary is:
a) The plagues are an attack on the gods of Egypt and all sacred, proving the powerlessness of Egyptian gods against the supremacy of God over nature, disease, and life / death. He strikes the gods of the Nile, the sun, the sky, the harvest, the gods of healing and the gods of death / resurrection.
b) The 7th plague was not just a rainstorm but a hailstorm that actually decimated the land, and killed all that were caught in it. It was no refreshing rain.
c) Pharaoh was not convinced to release the Israelites until his own sacred line was smitten and the gods were unable to protect the holy Pharaohs.
Further details: Because these plagues were common to natural occurrences that took place in Egypt they were connected with the gods of Egypt, for the Egyptians had gods which were connected with every part of life. Thus the very plagues meant that Yahweh was, in Egyptian eyes, in conflict with the gods of Egypt. The 10 plagues of Egypt were in reality a demonstration of God's superiority over the gods of Egypt and His control over nature, health / diseases, and life / death.
Think about it (I’ve made some references to the Bible to for cross reference in case you want to know how I came to some of these conclusions):
1) The Nile (the life of Egypt): The Nile's waters nourished the land and determined the welfare of all the people. Now the source that brought the Egyptians life brought death instead
2) Frogs: The frogs represented the fertility goddess, Isis, who was supposed to help women in childbirth. The frog that symbolized life was left to be raked in heaps of rotting piles of death.
3) The Lice -- The lice which came up to live out of the dust of the earth represented the Egyptians god of the earth. Generally quite annoying too, nothing like a case of lice to ruin your day.
4) The Flies: The stinging, disease-carrying flies ruined the land. Beelzebub, the prince of the power of the air, has been glorified as the god of flies, the god of Ekron.
5) The Disease of Livestock: A great number of cattle died by a sort of pestilence. The Egyptians believed animals were possessed by the spirits of gods. The bull was sacred in Egypt, identified in it markings to their god Apis. Also this significantly made the Egyptians poorer, hitting them in the pocket.
6) The Boils: Again God demonstrated His ability to control nature. When the death of their cattle didn't convince the Egyptians, God sent a plague that seized their own bodies. Sores in the body were looked upon as punishment for sin, a means by which to call one to repentance. This plague was a direct attack on the shamanism of the medico-mystical processes in Egypt
7) The Hailstorm: Moses gave the people a one-day warning before this plague. The notice was given because the sorcerers of Egypt were also agricultural shamans who supposedly controlled the weather. Those who did not believe God and took no shelter died in the fields (Ex. 9:21). There was ice and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all of the land of Egypt. The hail killed both men and cattle, and battered down the herbs, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and other plants.
8) The locusts: By this time, Pharaoh's people, his magicians, and advisors, began to rebel. Pharaoh alone stood defiant. Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and an east wind was brought upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. The plague was then sent which devastated the land and hence the power of the gods and shamans of agriculture. Pharaoh sent for Moses and pretended to repent. He asked Moses to pray to God to take the locusts away. It then writes that: And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt (Exodus. 10:13-14, 19).
9) The Darkness: Who controls the sun? Ra? We have reason to think, not only that the lights of heaven were clouded, but that all their fires and candles were put out by the damp or clammy vapors which were the cause of this darkness; for it is said (v. 23), They saw not one another. It is threatened to the wicked (Job 18:5-6) that the spark of his fire shall not shine, even the sparks of his own kindling, as they are called (Isaiah. 50:11), and that the light shall be dark in his tabernacle. The light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee (Rev. 18:23)." This plague was an attack on the power of the supreme deity of Egypt, the sun god Re or Amun-Re. The Egyptians could do nothing but stay in their homes and consider what they had experienced up to now, regarding the power of the God of the Israelites. Even then, Pharaoh refused to yield (Exodus 10:21-29).
10) The Death of the Firstborn: Checkmate
Yeah this is longwinded but I just wanted to comment on your posting Tom... in my opinion the plagues all make a lot of sense and the message that was perceived was quite clear. To borrow from the Borg: Resistance is futile!
PS: If you get hit by a car today it's probably because Egyptians drive like madmen... even Turkish drivers seem civilized in comparison.
I don't disagree with your perspective on this Digs - like you said, I think God was proving to the Egyptians that resistance is futile and that he is the only man in the house when it comes to their belief in these so called rain gods and fertility gods etc. Damn pagans. There is only one God, as even the mnodern day Egyptians will tell you.
I still think that this supports my main argument though - that this was a prick of a thing to do, morally unjustifiable and not really an action against slavery or in favour of freeing an enslaved people - just an opportunistic moment to prove to all watching who is the Big Daddy.
Of course, none of this ever actually happened in an objective, reality-based sense. But it is still fun to debate.