Shadowland: Redemption

Shadowland: Redemption: Week 8

Exodus 8

The Egyptians did not worship animals in the sense we tend to think of it. They regarded these animals as manifestations of gods.

8:5 "frogs" - For the Egyptians, frogs symbolized fertility, as they became active shortly after Hapi brought the fertile silt every year. There were four primieval deities of the night involved in the Egyptian creation myth who manifested as frogs, including Kek, who played a role in US politics in 2016, but these were largely forgotten by the time of the Exodus. Heqet was a popular goddess depicted as a frog who bore the title "She who hastens the birth". She gave breath to the fetus at the last moment of birth, and later became associated with resurrection through the Osiris myth. As the animal form of deities, frogs were sacred, and it was forbidden to kill one. Ancient frog statuettes bear the hieroglyphs for Heqet, and are still sold today.
But now, the frogs were a literal source of uncleaness as well as typifying it as in Revelation 16:13.
8:8 The magicians were able to symbolically create destruction and chaos in the form of the evil serpent god Apep, but only Aaron's serpent was able to eat up Apep. And the magicians were able to produce death in a type by turning the waters of Hapi to blood. So also, they were able to produce more uncleaness in the form of frogs, but unable to take it away!
"Ironically, the frogs infested the bedrooms and beds of the Egyptians; the very places where the blessings of Heqet were sought. It is somewhat amusing to picture the people of Egypt attempting to gingerly step over these millions of frogs as they walked about, afraid to crush any of these sacred animals beneath their feet. [Answers From the Book]"
8:9-11 Pharaoh and all Egypt has now learned that only the true God can take away uncleaness.
8:16 "dust will become lice" (or gnats, from a root having the sense of fastening). Unlike the Caananite religion, the earth god of Egypt was male: the great Geb, who longed for his sister Nut, the sky goddess, but was forever separated from her by Shu (god of the wind and air). He was pictured lying on his back looking at Nut, with his knees at different heights suggesting mountains or hills. But now, as in Genesis, the dust of the earth was made a curse - on the Hebrews and the Egyptians alike.
8:18 "the finger of God" - the Egyptians thought animals whose reproduction was not obvious came into being by spontaneous generation. This probably hindered the attempts of the magicians/priests/scientists to create more gnats. Regardless of the reason, the magicians now see the finger of God, as in John 8:6.
8:21 "swarms" - "of flies" is added by the translators. Psalm 78:45 tells us that there were "divers kinds" of insects that "devoured them". The Egyptian goddess Uatchit ("papyrus dweller") was the "Lady of the Marsh". Depicted with wings, she was the protector of all life in the Nile delta.
8:22 "I will make a distinction" - Whereas the gnats were annoying, now the Egyptians are tormented in their flesh, foreshadowing the eternal torments of the unredeemed - of which the people of God have no part.
8:24 "The land was ruined by the swarms" - instead of protecting life in the delta, this "manifestation of the goddess Uatchit" destroyed it instead.
8:25-27 Pharaoh offers a compromise, which Moses rejects. "Detestable to the Egyptians" - while sheep were a food animal in Egypt, Egyptian priests were forbidden to eat mutton or wear wool, as sheep were sacred animals.
8:32 This time it specifically says Pharaoh hardened his own heart.