Part 10 (1/2)

Ill.u.s.tration of the subject of the last Chapter, exhibiting the Antagonism as carried on by visible agencies, instrumentalities, and events, in the plagues of Egypt and at the Red Sea.

There is a striking instance of this antagonism carried on by visible agencies, instrumentalities, and events, in the narrative of the plagues of Egypt, under the immediate direction of the Messenger Jehovah, after his appearance to Moses in the burning bush; of which plagues it was repeatedly declared to be the object on the one hand to convince the children of Israel, and by rehearsal to their descendants to convince them that he was indeed Jehovah; and on the other, to cause Pharaoh and the Egyptians to know that he was the Self-existent, and to cause his name to be declared throughout all the earth. Pharaoh, and the priests of Baal, and the wise men, the sorcerers and magicians, like Ahab and the prophets and votaries of Baal in his time; and Nebuchadnezzar and the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and Chaldeans of his, were to witness miraculous and resistless proofs that Jehovah, the Elohe of Abraham and Israel, was the only living and true G.o.d, the Creator, proprietor, and ruler of the world, and that their idolatry was an imposture and a cheat. In this, as in the other and all similar instances of a public formal conflict of the great antagonists and their agents, to determine which should be acknowledged as supreme, and be obeyed and wors.h.i.+pped, the demonstrations on the part of Jehovah were resisted, step by step, by the Adversary and his party, till they were overpowered, shown to be false pretenders, terrified, exposed, and confounded.

Jehovah directed Moses and Aaron, when they appeared before Pharaoh, and were required by him ”to show a miracle” in support of their pretensions, to cast down the rod they were to carry, and it should become a serpent--the animal with which the name and personal history of Satan were intimately a.s.sociated, and whose visible form was familiar among the material images, representative of him under the name of Baal, from the earliest times; the animal which he entered and actuated in Eden, and which, doubtless, he could enter and actuate again, and by jugglery employ rods in his exhibition. ”And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent;” as much as to say, Here is a miracle, producing before your eyes the G.o.d, the visible image and representative of the G.o.d whom you wors.h.i.+p. But we may suppose Pharaoh to have said, This we can do: this only shows the power of our G.o.d, and is to no purpose as evidence on your side. ”Then Pharaoh called the wise men and the sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt did in like manner with their _enchantments_; for they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents.” This satisfied him.

Similar feats had probably often satisfied him before. Visible effects of power in the production, apparently, of living animals, were manifest to his senses. The sequel, in the fact that ”Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods,” belonged to another category. If he regarded it as the moderns regard written language, he would be satisfied by calling it ”figurative,” or saying it was equivocal, and had no fixed or determinate meaning.

The nature of the conflict, and the visibility of the instruments and results, are thus sufficiently apparent. To the view of the beholders, the coincidence of the power of the unseen agent on the one side, with the act of Aaron and his rod as an instrument, and on the other, with the acts of the magicians and their rods, appeared alike. From aught that was apparent, if Moses and Aaron wrought their miracle by the power and will of Jehovah, the magicians wrought theirs by the power and will of their G.o.d. It was a miracle transcending the efforts of mortal power, and superior to that by which the magicians acted, that Pharaoh required. Nothing else would meet the case. But as he viewed it, this experiment was not conclusive.

At the next trial, Aaron, in the presence of Pharaoh and his servants, ”lifted up the rod and smote the waters that were in the river, and they were turned into blood.” The fish died, ”and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.” ”And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened.” The experiment of the magicians, in this case, must have been on a very limited scale, for it appears from the narrative that there was no water to be had for seven days, but such as was obtained by digging near the river. Still, if they apparently produced the effect on ever so small a quant.i.ty, those who trusted in them would be satisfied. The Nile was a leading object of Egyptian idolatry, as an instrument and emblem of the munificence of the G.o.d of that idolatry, whose superiority and power were argued from the vast benefits occasioned by the river, without the aid or inconvenience of clouds and rain. The miracle was therefore a public and signal rebuke of their idolatry, affecting directly every inhabitant of the land, and a stupendous demonstration of the supremacy of Jehovah. But the arts and instrumentality of the magicians counteracted its effect.

The ensuing trial, which const.i.tuted the second plague, covered the land, the houses, furniture, utensils, and the people themselves, with myriads of loathsome frogs, one of the sacred animals of their idol system, and of the progeny of their sacred river, consecrated to the sun, and, by reason of its inflations, deemed an emblem of inspiration.

They were thus confounded by the insupportable mult.i.tude and offensiveness of one of the objects of their idol wors.h.i.+p, sent forth by another, as if purposely to punish them. After the usual announcements and directions, ”Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt: and the magicians did so with their _enchantments_, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.” Their enchantments in this case seem to have had no favorable effect. The frogs brought up by them must have aggravated the already intolerable evil. Pharaoh begged Moses to entreat Jehovah to remove the plague, and promised in that case to let the people go. Moses consented, so that Pharaoh, by the counter miracle, ”might know that there is none like unto Jehovah, the Elohe of the Hebrews.”

The third plague, more tormenting to the persons of the Egyptians than the preceding, baffled and silenced the magicians. ”Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man and in beast; and the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their _enchantments_ to bring forth lice, but they could not. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of Elohim.” But his heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them.

In the preceding instances, Pharaoh and the magicians had been forewarned as to what kind of evil was to be inflicted, and had time to prepare their enchantments. When (the sun excepted) the chief of all the natural objects of their idolatry was to be changed into blood, so as to destroy the fish, and put a stop to all the benefits for which they deified it, the miracle was in itself calculated to be perfectly conclusive, and Moses was directed to say to Pharaoh, ”In this thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.” And when the progeny of their sacred river were to be brought up in such ma.s.ses as to cover the whole land and all the objects in it, so that they could not move without destroying those deified creatures, they were specially forewarned, and had time to arrange and work their enchantments with as much success as in our own day attends the workers of Popish miracles.

But in this last instance they had no previous notice. It was an experiment, doubtless, that they had never tried, they could do nothing without enchantments; they had no jugglery prepared for such a case; they were baffled, disgraced, and thrust aside: and in what follows, the utter and desperate malignity of sin is shown in such obstinacy, hardihood, and perseverance on the part of Pharaoh and his people, as has a parallel only in Satan and his angels. Occasionally, indeed, under the most appalling terrors of mind and sufferings of body, conscious that Jehovah had absolute power over all creatures and all elements, and that new and unknown horrors awaited them, some momentary concessions were extorted from their physical fears and agonies.

On the infliction of the plague of flies, (another of the deified or idolized representatives of Baal,) Pharaoh, to convince him that Jehovah was the same as the Elohe of the Hebrews, and that his supremacy and power were universal over all the earth, was told that while this plague should fall upon him, and upon his servants and people, and into their houses, and upon the ground, it should not touch the Hebrews. ”I will sever the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; _to the end thou mayest know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the earth_.” In this, as in the case of the frogs, and equally, it is presumed, in the case of the lice, they were necessitated to destroy mult.i.tudes of idolized creatures, representative of Baal, and thus by their own acts, as well as by their sufferings, to show that he was not able to protect his representatives, or those who wors.h.i.+pped him through them. Pharaoh hypocritically relented till, on the entreaty of Moses, Jehovah removed this plague.

In the inflictions which followed, each was more appalling and terrific than those which preceded. They were introduced by special announcements of their object, their intensity, and their effects; a set time was specified for their occurrence, and in each case the land of Goshen was exempted. They were such as most unequivocally to demonstrate the almighty power of Jehovah, the reason of their being visited upon the Egyptians, the nature and bearings of the controversy, and the antagonist position and character of the parties. Jehovah, displaying his prerogatives and his righteousness in the visible effects of his power, ”executed judgment against all the G.o.ds of Egypt.” By the fifth plague, the idolized animals, models of the molten calves, with all the cattle of Egypt, were destroyed. By the sixth, the sacred persons, the priests, magicians, sorcerers, with all the people, high and low, were tormented with boils and blains, so that ”the magicians could not stand before Moses, because of the boils.” This being ineffectual, the grounds of the controversy were again particularized, and more terrible inflictions threatened. ”I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.” Then Jehovah ”sent thunder, and hail, and fire; and the fire [or lightning] ran upon the ground; and the hail smote man and beast, and herbs and trees; only in the land of Goshen there was no hail.”

The air, which was the medium of the pestilential boils, and was an element of this terrific storm, unprecedented in Egypt or elsewhere, was, equally with the other elements, water and fire, idolized as an instrument, medium, or vehicle of Baal; fire being arrogated as his attribute or element, and the sun as his shekina: and being so regarded by the Egyptians, it was shown in the most awful and appalling manner that Jehovah exercised the most absolute control over them. Pharaoh, under the impulse of amazement and terror, sent for Moses and Aaron, and said: ”I have sinned this time: Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat Jehovah (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail, and I will let you go.” Moses replied, promising to do this, and that the storm should cease, that Pharaoh ”might know how that the earth is Jehovah's;” that is, that he might be convinced and know that the earth, the elements, and all creatures were Jehovah's, and not Baal's, and that he might renounce Baal, and acknowledge Jehovah. But ”when Pharaoh saw that the rain, and the hail, and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.” No demonstration was or would be sufficient to end the controversy, so long as the relentless Adversary behind the scenes could, through their base propensities and depraved wills, delude and instigate his Egyptian va.s.sals. The lesson to be taught to the Israelites and others, concerned not those hardened mortals only, but their subtle deceiver, and they, as subjects and instruments of his.

When the plague of locusts was threatened, Pharaoh's servants remonstrated with him, and urged him to let the people go; and he sent for Moses and Aaron, and proposed that the men should go, and leave their families and flocks behind. This being totally refused, they were fearfully scourged by another of their idolized insects, in the destruction of every herb and plant, and all that the hail had left.

This extorted from Pharaoh another confession: ”I have sinned against Jehovah your Elohe, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat Jehovah your Elohe that he may take away from me this death only.”

Next the plague of dense total darkness for three days was sent upon all the Egyptians, so that ”they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place.” Thus the chief visible object of their idolatrous homage, the imputed residence and shekina of Baal, was excluded from their view, and all acts of idolatry and access to images precluded. Pharaoh now showed a degree of angry desperation; and after offering to let the people go without their flocks, and those terms being rejected, he drove Moses from his presence, and threatened his life if he saw him again.

There remained yet one more plague, the instant destruction of all the first-born of Egypt at the dead of night, which so terrified the whole population with dread of immediate and utter extermination, that with one voice they urged the departure without delay of all the Israelites, with all their flocks and goods, and with whatever gifts and supplies they wished. ”And they took their journey; and Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day and night.”

Thus the Messenger Jehovah, who introduced this train of visible wonders by appearing to Moses in the burning bush, signalized the triumphant rescue and march of his people out of Egypt by reappearing, and going before them in the cloud-like appendage, visibly luminous as fire by night, and as an irradiant form by day, which continued as the constant signal of his presence during the whole period of their wanderings in the wilderness.

But their departure, which took place in the night, was no sooner made known to the Egyptians than ”the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against them.” They reproached themselves for having let them go, and were infatuated to pursue and bring them back. ”And all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his hors.e.m.e.n and his army pursued and overtook them at the Red Sea.” Still more stupendous exhibitions of power, supremacy and triumph on the one side, and of incurable and fatal delusion on the other, were required for the instruction and conviction of that and succeeding ages. ”And Melach (the) Elohim, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them, and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these, so that the one came not near the other all the night.”

Thus the final trial was arranged and conducted under the visible direction of the Messenger Jehovah. The sea was divided, and the hosts of Israel went over as on dry land. Pharaoh's chariots and army followed. ”Jehovah looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled them;” threw them into consternation by ”taking off their chariot wheels,” and by causing the waters to return, overwhelmed and drowned them in the midst of the sea.

”Thus Jehovah saved Israel, and Israel saw that great work which Jehovah did upon the Egyptians; and the people feared Jehovah, and believed Jehovah and his servant Moses.”

The greatness and wonderfulness of this deliverance, as referred to and celebrated in other parts of Scripture, if regarded, not as a signal and never-to-be-forgotten triumph of the Messenger Jehovah over Satan, and the agents of his idolatry and imposture, but simply in its relation to the numbers, power, or una.s.sisted skill of the Egyptians, are out of all proportion to the result. Instead of such an array of preparations, such threats and remonstrances, such a succession and selection of miracles and plagues, had the object been only to loosen their covetous hold on the labor and service of Israel, a single blow might as easily have destroyed them all in a moment as their first-born, or whelmed them in the Nile, as in the Red Sea. But their idolatry denied the supremacy, prerogatives, and rights of Jehovah, and ascribed them, not to irrational animals and senseless elements, except as vehicles and mediums of homage, but to an intelligent and powerful rival, compet.i.tor, and pretender to the throne and government of the world, who claimed, prescribed, and received their wors.h.i.+p, arrogated the credit of bestowing the blessings of providence, sanctioned the indulgence of their pa.s.sions, instigated their magical delusions, and had their confidence as to his power to protect them. It was to vindicate himself, and to confound that arrogant pretender, that Jehovah vouchsafed these demonstrations in the view of the Hebrews, who needed the lesson which they taught, and in a way to be rehea.r.s.ed and known among the Canaanites and other nations of the earth. It was a marked and memorable scene in the progress of that great antagonism which hitherto has const.i.tuted the basis, and, however obscured to the blinded view of the actors, or concealed by their craft and policy, has furnished the elements of history, and is yet in the view of the whole universe, with all the accompaniments of publicity and conclusiveness, to have its issue.

It would require a chapter to refer to all the descriptions and allusions commemorative of this scene, in the triumphant song of Moses, recalled and sung, Rev. xv. 3, by the redeemed, in celebration of their resembling deliverance, to the praise of the Lamb as their Redeemer, whom they address as the Lord G.o.d Almighty--Jehovah, the Elohim; and in the Psalms, cx.x.xv., cx.x.xvi., and other Scriptures, where to Jehovah are referred the wonders done in Egypt and in the wilderness, which by Moses are ascribed to him as Melach Jehovah.

But, waiving these references, it may be noticed as an additional evidence that it was the Delegated One, the Personal Word, who, after appearing visibly to Moses, and investing him with his ministerial office, executed those wondrous demonstrations in Egypt, that, prior to the signal exercise of his power and justice by which he destroyed all the first-born of the opposing party, he inst.i.tuted for the benefit and as auxiliary to the faith of his people, the ordinance of the pa.s.sover; of which, the slaughter of the paschal lamb, the sprinkling of the blood as the means of exemption from death, and other details, had a counterpart in the circ.u.mstances, reference, import, and Scripture narrative of his sacrifice of himself, Christ our Pa.s.sover sacrificed for us; the Lamb of G.o.d, slain virtually and in effect, as by covenant and oath, from the foundation of the world.