God vs. Errbody: Counterfeit Power in Egypt, Part Two | S2E14

(Part Two)

In this episode of the Dear God Lettuce Pray podcast, hosted by Santana, we walk into ancient Egypt during the confrontation between Moses, Aaron, Pharaoh, and Pharaoh's magicians. This was a world where government, religion, magic, agriculture, medicine, priestly purity, sacred animals, the Nile, the sun and Pharaoh's throne were all connected. So when God dropped the diss track (aka when God began sending the plagues), He was confronting more than one stubborn ruler. He was exposing an entire system of false power.

Exodus says Pharaoh's magicians could imitate some of the early signs. They copies the staff-serpent sign, the Nile turning to blood, and the frogs. Then Aaron struck the dust, the dust became gnats/lice, and Egypt's spiritual experts reached for their secret arts one more time. Exodus says, "but they could not".

This episode unpacks Counterfeit Power in Egypt through biblical, historical, and cultural context of the Exodus plagues, and why Exodus 12:12 says God executed judgment on the gods of Egypt.

Scriptures Referenced

Exodus 5:2-12:12, Genesis 2:7, and 2 Timothy 3:8-9

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Transcript

Santana 0:00

Then the magicians say, This is the finger of God. The Hebrew phrase is Ezba Elohim. That phrase matters because they are recognizing divine power rather than a better technique, a stronger ritual, or a more impressive performance for Moses and Aaron. And what makes that so powerful is that this confession comes from Pharaoh's own side. These are Pharaoh's religious specialists saying, We cannot match this. That should have stopped Pharaoh on his tracks, yet Pharaoh's heart remains hard. That is one of the sobering things about Exodus. Pharaoh is not always lacking evidence. Sometimes the truth is right in front of him, and sometimes the warning comes from inside his own court. Like the people around him can see what he refuses to receive. Pride can keep resisting even when the evidence is standing in the room. Now once we understand the moment with the magicians, the rest of the plagues start opening up differently. Exodus 12 12 gives us the same frame. God says, On all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. That means the plagues are public theology. God is making himself known through judgment and deliverance. Now this needs to be said carefully because there are a lot of charts online that match every plague to one Egyptian god as though the whole thing is a perfect one-to-one list. Some of these connections are strong, some are possible, and many are debated, but it is safer and more faithful way to say that, you know, it is that the plagues collectively judge Egypt's gods, Pharaoh's divine claims, and Egypt's false securities. So I would frame it this way. The plagues target what Egypt trusted, which was, you know, the Nile, fertility, land, body, priesthood, magic, animals, y'all know the list. God walks through Egypt's world and dismantles it layer by layer. By the fourth plague, another detail becomes important. God begins making a visible distinction between Egypt and Goshen, where the Israelites live. In Exodus 8 22, God says He will set apart Goshen that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. That matters. He can strike Egypt and preserve his people inside the same broader land. He can make a distinction between regions, households, and covenant people. Like he knows exactly where his people are. And honestly, that says something powerful in our world today. Like Israel's God is not local, confused, limited, or random. He is Lord in the midst of the earth. So then the livestock die, and and that hits more than the animals. Livestock meant, you know, food, milk, transportation, hives, farming, labor, wealth, all the things that contribute to economic stability. In Egypt, animals also carried religious symbolism. Bulls and cows could be connected with strength and fertility and kingship and divine imagery. Hather is commonly represented with uh cow imagery. An apis was a sacred bull associated with Memphis and later religious traditions. Remember, Memphis is also in Egypt, and it's also in Tennessee. And it's also in Texas. But anyway, right now we're talking about the Memphis in Egypt. So when the livestock are struck, Egypt's economy is hit, and Egypt's religious imagination is also exposed. The animals they depended on cannot preserve Egypt. The animals with sacred associations cannot shield the land from judgment. And again, the livestock of Israel are spared, which continues the theme of judgment with distinction. My God. Same land now. Same land in this moment. But God has distinction with his judgment. And then comes the bowls. Bowls break out on people and animals. Like this plague moves straight onto the body. The judgment becomes painful, visible, humiliating, and personal. Like, have you ever had a bull? No matter where it's been on your body, I know it hurts. Like it so imagine having a body covered in them. And Exodus 9 11 says, The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the bulls. That is such a reversal. Earlier, they said in Pharaoh's court and copied signs. Now their own bodies are so afflicted that they cannot even stand before Moses. The men who try to prove Egypt's power become living evidence of Egypt's weakness. Then comes hell and fire. This plague attacks the sky, the fields, the crops, the animals left outside, and the people who are still ignoring God's warning. I love that Exodus includes the warning because it shows that some Egyptians begin to fear the word of the Lord. Some of Pharaoh's servants brought their servants in livestock inside. Others ignored the warning and suffered loss. Now that detail gives the story texture because the Egyptians they don't all respond the same way. Like some are beginning to understand that when the God of Israel speaks, they should listen. The hail destroys flecks and barley, it breaks the trees and it kills what is exposed. In a farming world, that is devastating because crops are food and income. Then come the locusts. Whatever the hell left behind, the locusts devoured. And in an agricultural society, locusts are terrifying because they eat the future, they consume what people need to survive. Like they real deal stripped the land and they took what was supposed to become, you know, food, seed, and recovery for the Egyptians. By this point, Pharaoh's own servants asks how long Moses will be a snare to them. Like they can see Egypt is being destroyed. And Pharaoh keeps trying to negotiate partial obedience. Like he wants to control the terms, he wants to decide who goes and who stays. Like he wants some kind of compromise where he still holds power. But God did not tell Pharaoh to negotiate Israel's freedom. God told him to let his people go. And that's on period. And then comes the darkness. Y'all, I'm gonna keep it a buck with you. Um I recorded a lot more, and for the last two to three minutes of my recording, it cut off. And it literally cut off at the three-minute 30 second mark. I'm talking out of the blue, one of my devices was dying. Um, like where it cut off really tickled me, and I immediately started praying because no, I I'm gonna finish this episode. I'm I'm gonna finish this episode, and I cannot be stopped. I had another device. That is so wild, but anyway, as I was saying, then comes the darkness. This is one of the strongest cultural moments in the plagues because Egypt had powerful solar energy, the sun was connected to divine order, kingship, and gods like Ra. So when God covers Egypt in in thick darkness for three days, while Israel has light where they live, that is a direct humiliation of Egypt's cosmic confidence. And I'm sorry, every time I I read it and think of just imagine how that looks. Meanwhile, the slaves, his slaves, well, not necessarily his slaves, but y'all get my truth. The Israelites are enslaved in Egypt and they get light. So this ain't like some ordinary nighttime stuff. Like Exodus describes the darkness that can be felt. So in a land where sun symbolize order and divine power, the God of Israel covers Egypt's light. The sun does not get the final word, nor does Ra get the final word, and most definitely not Pharaoh, but the Lord does. Then comes the final plague, the death of the firstborn. Now, this is the heaviest judgment. The firstborn represented uh inheritance and household strength, and you know, just a continuation of a legacy. So in Pharaoh's house, the firstborn son represented the future of the throne itself. So this plages the place Pharaoh would have wanted most to protect his own house, his own dynasty and future. And this is also where Passover enters the story. Israel is spared under the blood according to God's instruction. The lamb, the blood on the doorpost, the meal, the urgency, and the departure became part of Israel's identity forever. God judges Egypt and he delivers his people. That is the heartbeat of Exodus. Judgment and deliverance, exposure and rescue. The gods of Egypt are judged, and Israel is brought out, like literally brought out all that mess. So when I come back to the magicians and the plague of gnats or lice, whichever one they are, I see that moment as a window into the whole Exodus confrontation. That one little line, but they could not, tells the truth about Egypt's entire system. Egypt can build all the monuments, enslave people, organize wealth, called priests and magicians, trust the Nile, honor sacred animals, watch the sun rise, and sit under Pharaoh's throne. But Egypt could not stop the Lord. The magicians could imitate some signs, make Pharaoh feel justified for a while, and add to the chaos around them, but they could not deliver anybody from it. They could not create life from dust. They could not cleanse the land or heal their own bodies, they could not even stand before Moses. They could not keep Egypt's light shining, they could not protect Pharaoh's house, and that is the difference. That is the difference between performance and authority. And Exodus is deeply honest about it. Something can look powerful and still be powerless to save, something can imitate spiritual authority and still have no ability to deliver. Something can impress people and still collapse when God draws the line. This is where the story gets close because Pharaoh's issue was well, obviously, it had nothing to do with the lack of evidence because he had evidence. Like he saw the signs, he heard the warnings, he even watched the plagues unfold. He even watched his own magicians fail. Not only did they fail, he heard them say, yo, like this ain't even on us. Like this is the finger of God. Like this is God, this is God's doing. And yet he still hardened his heart. That part is serious. Because sometimes the most dangerous posture is resistance. And that resistance can be dressed up as control and and really, man, look, people suffer because of it. Like sometimes God can be exposing something clearly, and pride will still try to negotiate. Like God can be dismantling a false security, and people still cling to it because it's familiar. Sometimes the thing that cannot deliver still feels safer than surrender, and that is Pharaoh, and that is why Exodus still speaks. Because this is an ancient story about Egypt, and also a story about the Lord exposing false power and delivering people from bondage. and God answers, like quickly pulls up. It is a story about counterfeit power reaching its ceiling, and through it all, God keeps making himself known. So when you read Exodus 7 through 12, slow down with the plagues. Look at what God is touching. I'm talking everything from the Nile to the Sun and even the firstborn. God is walking through Egypt's world and exposing every false security one layer at a time. Because the magicians can imitate for a while, yet they cannot create, cleanse, heal, protect, or deliver. And when they finally say this is the finger of God, they are admitting what Pharaoh refuses to surrender to. And the Lord is unmatched. He cannot be copied, controlled, outperformed, or even reduced to one more God in Egypt's system. He is the Lord. Pay attention to what Pharaoh keeps resisting. Pay attention to what the magicians can imitate and what they cannot. Pay attention to how God exposes Egypt while delivering his people. And maybe sit with the question privately before God. Where have I been impressed by something that can perform while having no power to deliver? Yeah. As always, spread kindness everywhere you go. I love you, but I know someone who loves you even more than that. This is the Dear God Let Us Pray podcast with your host Santana signing out. Say good, everyone.