Today’s Scripture Reading (July 13,
2015): Exodus 8
James Patterson
says that the television series “Zoo” (currently airing on CBS) will be better
than the book. As an avid reader, that is saying something. I read the
Patterson book last summer and enjoyed it thoroughly. Without giving too much
away for those who want to read the book or watch the summer T.V. series, “Zoo”
is a thriller that asks the question “what exactly would happen if the animal
populations of the earth somehow began to act the way that humans do – killing not
just for food, but for sport? What if they were suddenly given the ability to
get back at the humans who have tormented and killed them for so long?” The
answer provides the background for everything that happens in the Patterson
book – and in the summer CBS television series.
But Patterson’s
basic question is an interesting one - and it comes with some different
applications. In our current area of study, the question that we should be
asking is why frogs? Why flies and gnats? Wouldn’t have been a far more dramatic
and scary plague if there were lions and tigers that were preparing and
planning to kill humans indiscriminately for sport like they do in the Patterson’s
book. I mean, doesn’t the presence of a lion in your midst fill you with more
dread than the presence of Kermit (the frog)?
The answer
to the question once again goes back to the Egyptian gods. As we saw in the
examination of the first plaque, one of the earliest gods was the god Khnum. He
was seen as the creator and the protector of the Nile. In fact, the Nile River
itself was an object of worship in ancient Egypt. One of the side effects of
the Nile being turned to blood was that God was proving that he was bigger than
Khnum. Khnum was shown to be impotent in his purpose to protect of the waters
of Egypt when he came face to face with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The plague
of frogs carries a very similar impact on the people. Khnum’s wife was Heqet.
Heget was a fertility goddess who was associated with the frogs of Egypt. When
the Nile overspread its banks, bringing life giving water to the fertile regions
of Egypt, the frogs came with it. The presence of the frogs was seen as
evidence of the return of life to the area – and as such they were welcomed.
The frog, along with Heqet who was often portrayed as a woman with a frog’s
head, became an object of worship in Egypt.
But as the
frogs multiplied in the second of the plagues to which Egypt is subjected, it
is not hard to imagine that Heqet would have fallen in disrepute. Her temples
would have been empty. Her frogs, who were normally worshipped as a sign of
life, were cursed as instruments of sickness and death. And once again the God
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had showed that he was superior to the gods who were
worshipped in Egypt – that he himself was the only God worthy of worship.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus
9
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