Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. To all my fellow pastors, I've got a question for you. Does your city know that your church exists? Listen, I get it. You're preaching, you're leading, you're discipling, you're doing ministry. We are in the same boat. And let's be honest, social media and marketing, not your strong suit. Not mine either. And that's probably the last thing on your mind. And that's why we chose to partner with Church Candy marketing for our church. Plant the garden. We out here, y'all. They help churches get more actual guests walking through the doors on Sunday without your eye having to stress over ads or algorithms or trying to crack the social media code. Right now, Church Candy is helping nearly 400 churches reach their communities with simple invite ads. And it works. It's super effective. I can tell you from firsthand experience. So if you're tired of being your city's best kept secret, how about you do this? Go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a free consultation book a discovery call. Their team will break it all down and show you how to start seeing new faces at your church this Sunday. I'm in the trenches with you trying to grow the church. And how about we just start a whole campaign? No more empty churches. So let's partner with Church Candy and get our churches full. The glory of Jesus. Let's go. We are continuing our trek through the book of Exodus. We Got Exodus chapters 9, 10, and 11. Got three chapters to cover today. If you are on a streak, I'm proud of you. If you're not on the streak, today's a good day to start one. If you've done the reading, we're going to dive in. If you haven't done the reading. Hey, stop the audio. Stop the video. Go do the reading. Read Exodus chapters 9, 10, 11. Honestly, some of the most action packed passages of scripture. We're really gonna deal with the plagues all day. That's. That's all we're gonna talk about today. There are 10 plagues total. You know what? It probably would just be helpful for me to just like recount the plagues. Okay, that'll be like 30,000. Picture context. Okay, so the plagues Are gonna officially start in chapter seven. In terms of the BOB reading plan, the plagues did start yesterday, but we were covering other things, so we didn't, like, get to the plagues. But we'll dedicate all of today's episode to the plagues. Plague number one now turns to blood. Plague number two, it's a plague of frogs, which still involves the Nile. So the first two plagues are centered around the Nile. The Nile was of utmost importance for the Egyptians. Okay? Egypt didn't have to depend on, like, farming because they. Or rain. So they were. Other. Other areas in the Mesopotamian world were susceptible to drought, famine, stuff like that. Whereas for Egypt, the Nile just overflowed every year and produced crops. Okay, so first two plagues are direct assault against the Nile. Plague number three, gnats. Plague number four is flies. Plague number five is a pestilence of livestock. Plague number six, boils. Plague number seven, thunderstorm of hail. Plague number eight, it's locust. Plague number nine, darkness. And then plague number ten is the death of the firstborn. So if you're unfamiliar with those plagues, those are the 10 plagues. Okay? So let's kind of wrap our minds around what's happening in these plagues. I'm actually gonna read Exodus chapter 12, verse 12, and Numbers, chapter 33, verse 3 and 4 to you. Exodus 12:12. Yesterday, I gave you a lot of motivation, Yahweh's motivation behind the plagues, which is to introduce himself to this God king known as Pharaoh. This arrogant, stubborn God king known as Pharaoh. Today, we're gonna add just a little bit of nuance to that picture that we started creating yesterday. So Exodus 12. God is gonna say exactly why he's sending these plagues, Says this. On that same night, I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals. I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt and the lord. This is what it says in Numbers, chapter 33, verse 3 and 4. The Israelites set out from Ramses on the 15th day of the first month, the day after the passover. They marched out defiantly, in full view of the Egyptians, who were bearing all their firstborn, whom the lord had struck down among them. For the lord had brought judgment on their gods. So Yahweh is bringing judgment on the gods of Egypt. Now, we have to place that within some kind of worldview. So here's the first thing that I'll say. Remember, Pharaoh is a God of Egypt. Okay? So the plagues are a response to Pharaoh saying, I Don't know Yahweh. Why would I let you know Israel? The Israelites go, don't know Yahweh. So Pharaoh, this, these, these two statements are not in competition with each other. Number one God says, or Yahweh says, I will gladly introduce you to who I am. Second, that the plagues. Well, first the plagues are to show you who I am. Second, the plagues are to judge the gods of Egypt. And these two things overlap because Pharaoh is a God. This is where I want to introduce you to a concept called monolatry versus monotheism. Okay. Some people would say that there's no place in the Bible, the Old Testament specifically, that is going to propose a, or platform a monotheistic worldview. What is monotheism? The belief in one God. A lot of people are going to say really the Bible is not platforming a monotheistic worldview, but a monolatrous worldview. So it's not the belief in one God, but the worship of one God. That instead of being idolatrous, I should be monolatrous, I should worship one God and one God only. And that I actually should acknowledge that there are other gods that exist. And that for anyone who was walking around in the Old Testament, that's actually how they, that was their worldview. They believed that these gods, lowercase g, were real. They believed that these were actual forces of wickedness, of evil. That makes a whole lot of sense. Actually, even if I just think about my own life in my own context, the moment I say that God, Yahweh, right, the triune God, the Trinity is the only God then now every time something bad happens, he has to take all the blame. Whereas in a world where there are gods, lowercase g, gods wreaking havoc, doing things to bring about chaos, I don't have to blame Yahweh for every tornado or hurricane or whatever. Okay, so a monolatist worldview seems to be what the Bible is actually platforming. Or else God is saying, I'm just gonna judge all these figments of the Egyptians imagination. Which is not what he's saying. He's not saying that these gods are a figment of their imagination. He's saying that these gods are actually real. This is monolatry, not monotheism, the belief in one God, but monolatry, the worship of one God. So what gods are actually being worshiped? Well, plague one is the plague on the Nile. The God that would have been worshiped for the Nile would have been the God Hapi H A P I. Which means that God is judging Hapi, is judging this demonic fallen angel, judging this principality and power, judging this thing by sending plagues. Okay, so the first God on plague one would be Hapi. Heket would have been the God that would have gotten judged in plague number two. Heket can typically be seen with a head like a frog, body of a person. Plague number five, I would say that Hathor is the God that's being judged this. The pestilence of livestock. And Hathor is typically dependent, sorry, depicted as a cow. Plague number six doesn't attack or judge one of the gods of Egypt. But definitely the issue is the entire system of religion is being judged. And the magicians or the priests were a really, really important part of that. And they get boils, so they cannot perform any of their priestly duties. So. So all religion for the nation of Egypt stops because your priests and your magicians actually are afflicted with boils because God is judging the gods of Egypt. Plague number seven is a thunderstorm of hail. And many scholars would say that the God Seth is getting judged in this plague of hail. Number eight, he would say Isis and men are getting judged in the plague of locust. And then plague number nine is the plague of darkness, which is the sun God Ra is being judged with the plague of darkness. And then all of a sudden, actually. Well, not all of a sudden. And then after all that, Pharaoh and all of Egypt is actually judged for their part to play and the idolatrous worship of gods that are not God in the. In the death of the firstborn. Okay, so God is bringing judgment. Yahweh is bringing judgment on all the gods of Egypt. And the things that God actually does to unravel his created order, correlate to gods that would have been responsible for that. And so if you're an Egyptian, just chilling and it's dark, there's a whole plague of darkness. Your naturally thought, natural thought would have been, ra has been defeated. The God Ra has been defeated. If you were. If you were out some. If you were at your house and there's this infestation of frogs, you would be thinking to yourself, why isn't Hecate getting this under control? You know, had you been experiencing this plague of livestock where cows are dying, you would definitely be thinking to yourself, it seems like Haor is under attack. And that's exactly what Yahweh wanted. He actually wants to wage war against the gods of Egypt because this spiritual warfare is real, because there are spirits. When people tell me, like, you know, I don't know why. You know, I'm struggling because I feel like God's will is X and that didn't happen. My first thing is like, you think God's will is the only will at work in the world? If God's will was always accomplished, every single person would be a Christian. That's God's will for all to be saved, for none to perish, for every single human being on the planet to make a decision for Jesus. Like the, the will, the will of God versus the will of gods and the will of man. It's coming to an understanding that we live in a world where there are multiple wills at work and wills at play. And I can't only see a world where there's God's will and nobody else's will. And now anything bad that happens, it's his fault because he wills it. I have to allow for the fact that no, like, hey, like Ra is a real demonic pagan God. Like, Ra's not fake. Ra's real and Ra has power and Ra has a will. And so there's destructive, terrible things that could happen and that will happen because there's that God, God. Yahweh's will is not the only will that accomplishes things. In the Earth Bible department family, it's Dr. Manny Arango and first thing I want to say is that I'm proud of you for completing the New Testament. You did it. And now that we're in the Old Testament, I hope that looking at Genesis and Exodus from an ancient perspective and worldview has kind of like opened your eyes. Well, I got news for you. If you've enjoyed some of the interpretations that I've brought to the table from Genesis, then that's just the tip of the iceberg. This entire book, Crushing Chaos, was written from an ancient hermeneutic. I'm looking at stories like the Flood, Adam and Eve from the perspective of an ancient person. And we've got an event coming up on April 26th where I'll take a lot of the content from this book and I'll turn that content into live lectures. You don't wanna miss it. You can actually register for that event right now. The link is in the description. And more than content, I think what you'll find as we gather together in Nashville are like minded believers and friends in a community of people that you don't just watch content with online that you can get to know in person. I'd love to see you in Nashville. I'd love to hug you high Five. You and I'd love to nerd out together for one day as we come together in Nashville to learn about how to crush chaos. I'll see you in Nashville. Peace. Move into our nerdy nugget. Yesterday we talked about the fact that the plagues are not just like active plagues, but actually the unraveling of creation. And I will kind of read a little bit to you from my upcoming book. I'm really excited about this, actually. I don't know if the publisher is cool with me reading this, but we're gonna ask forgiveness and not permission. Okay. Uh, here we go. I'll start reading. It says this. This is. I want you to see how Yahweh begins to unravel the order of his creation. I want you to see that the opposite of order is chaos, and that what happened in the plagues is an unleashing of chaos. Okay. Pharaoh proclaimed himself to be the incarnation of the Egyptian God Horus. He was believed to be the son of the sun God known as Ra. He represented the entire pantheon of gods to the Egyptian people. Simply put, Pharaoh was a God. This detail changes everything because Yahweh is going to engage with the self proclaimed God as if he's actually a God. And by the end of the narrative, Pharaoh will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is not the incarnation of Horus, nor the son of Ra, but a mere mortal whose arrogance has provoked the wrath of the one true God. Since a deity should be able to keep their creation from falling into chaos, Yahweh is going to prove to Pharaoh that he is a mere mortal by sending plagues of de creation and chaos on the land of Egypt. Yahweh's response to Pharaoh is layered, brilliant, and designed to demonstrate that Pharaoh is utterly dependent on the God, on the only God that is able to pull creation out of chaos and sustain order. Which is what God did in Genesis chapter one in the seven days of creation. It is a process of ordering, bringing things from chaos to order. Okay, remember, creation is the process whereby Yahweh brought order out of chaos. The plagues are simply a reversal of that process in creation. Water is gathered very, very important word together and necessary for life. And the plagues. Aaron and Moses hold their staff over all of Egypt's gatherings of water and they become a source of death. The Hebrew word used here to describe the gatherings of water is the exact same word from the opening chapter of Genesis when God creates the seas. Coincidence? I think not. In creation, Yahweh brings order by creating a clear boundary between water and land and separates these two realms from one another. In the plagues, that boundary is erased as frogs overrun land. Frogs dwell on both land and water and represent the undoing of Yahweh's clear boundary from genesis. In creation, Yahweh brings humanity forth from the dust of the ground. In the plagues, that dust becomes an infestation of gnats covering every living thing in the dust of their own mortality. In the creation, God brings forth vegetation. In the plagues of hail and locusts, all vegetation is destroyed. In the creation, Yahweh brings forth light. In the plagues, Egypt is covered in thick darkness. By the end of the plagues, the order of creation has been completely undone and Egypt is plunged back into the chaos of the Tohu. Va vohu. The entire narrative is tangible proof that Pharaoh is powerless to pull Egypt out of chaos, nor can he prevent Egypt from falling into chaos. The plagues demonstrate that Pharaoh is not a God and are the measured consequence for a mere mortal daring to believe that he is divine and worthy of worship. Instead of let's talk about this man to man. Yahweh essentially says to this mere mortal who has exalted himself to the place of a God, let's handle this God to God. Yahweh isn't treating Pharaoh like a human, but judging him according to his self proclaimed status. If there was ever just incentive to be a humble person, man. The entire nation of Egypt is brought to its knees because one leader did not want to simply abide at the station in life that was their lot, but wanted to claim to be God when they were not God. Okay, so our context clues for the day is monotheism and monolatry. Our nerdy nuggets are all the names of the gods that Yahweh is actually confronting. Hapi, Heket, Hathor, Seth, Isis and Men Ra. Our timeless truth is that God is the God who moves creation from chaos to order. And when we lose him because of our pride, because of our arrogance, we actually begin to lose all, all of the benefits of the order that he blesses us with in his ordered cosmos. And our life begins to unravel and we fall into the orbit of chaos. That's my timeless truth for the day. Hey, I Hope our our day 99 together was helpful as we looked at Exodus chapter 9, 10, 11. I hope you've kind of got some handles around the plagues and I'll see you right here for day 100. It feels crazy to even say that we're doing day 100 about to cross from two digits to three digits, baby. So glad we get to do this together. Hey, if you're on a streak, keep it going. If you're not on a streak, today's a great day to start a streak. Like, just gotta get tomorrow's done and the next day, the next day, the next day and before you know it, you. You won't even be able to recognize yourself. I love you so much. I'll see you right here tomorrow as we dive into day 100 together. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebibledepartment. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of course courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.