Introduction: This week I trimmed a door and then painted it
– poorly. I’m such a terrible house painter that when my
family gets together tales of my past wall painting
adventures are recited for amusement. Am I insulted? No. If
part of the family tradition was stories about my terrible
teaching, that would be painful. Some criticism matters. We
previously discussed Exodus 5:2 where Pharaoh said he did
not know the God of Israel, and he had no reason to obey
Him. We will learn this week that the plagues on Egypt were
not simply punishment for disobedience, they belittled the
gods that Pharaoh knew and presumably feared. Let’s plunge
into our study of the Bible and learn more!
I. Uraeus
A. Read Exodus 7:10-12. Were the staffs of the
sorcerers real snakes? (Verse 12 specifically
states, “they became serpents.” We previously
discussed that this power was undoubtedly demonic.)
B. Read Exodus 7:13. What reaction was Moses looking
for in Pharaoh? (No doubt Moses wanted Pharaoh to
say, “I’m not fighting with your God. You can go.”)
1. Was this a credible demonstration of the power
of God over the Egyptian gods?
2. Think about the pictures you have seen of the
crown worn by Pharaoh. What is on the front of
the crown? (It is a hooded cobra. According to
an Internet presentation by the Carlos Museum
of Emory University, this crown is called an
uraeus, from the ancient Egyptian word yaret,
which means “the one that rears up.” A common
American expression by one who is defeated is
“he ate my lunch.” God belittles the god worn
by Pharaoh by eating it for lunch!)
C. Read Genesis 3:1. Whose “lunch” is really being
eaten? (Satan’s. Pharaoh is Satan’s agent, and
Satan is not giving up easily.)
II. Hapi and Osiris
A. Read Exodus 7:15-16. Why do you think Pharaoh would
go “out to the water” in the morning?
B. Read Exodus 7:17-19. What did the Nile do for the
Egyptians? (It brought life. It produced crops.
Hapi and Osiris were Egyptian gods associated with
the Nile.)
1. Why, of all things, would God turn the water
of the Nile (indeed all the water) into blood?
Why not oil, vinegar, sludge, or something
else?
C. Read Leviticus 17:11. What does blood symbolize for
the Hebrews (and now Christians)? (Blood brings
atonement. It give us eternal life. It is God’s
symbol of life, not water. Thus the Egyptian symbol
for life is now replaced with God’s symbol for
life.)
III. Heqet
A. Read Exodus 8:5-7. Imagine a discussion about
conquering Egypt and one person suggests, “Let’s
send frogs.” What would you think of that
suggestion?
1. While researching the ancientegyptblog.com I
found that the Egyptian god Heqet (or Heqt)
was a woman with a frog head. She was the
fertility goddess. Heqet also had the task of
making sure that the crocodiles ate enough
frogs to keep their numbers in check. Why
would God target Heqet?
B. Read Exodus 1:9 and Exodus 1:22. What was Pharaoh
attempting to do with the number of the Hebrews?
(He was trying to limit the number of boys.)
1. Should Pharaoh understand that God has a
message that He can control the fertility of
the Egyptians? Recall that the relative number
of Egyptians and Hebrews was what started the
problem.
C. Look again at Exodus 8:7. Is this helping? Why
would the magicians create frogs? (They simply
looked at this as matching the power displayed by
God. Note the text does not say they created frogs,
rather they made them “come up on the land.”)
D. Read Exodus 8:8-10. For the first time Pharaoh
agrees to let the Hebrews go to sacrifice. Why do
you think Moses asked Pharaoh when, exactly, he
would like the frogs to be gone? (This shows the
power of God. Unlike Heqet, He can bring the frogs
and He can take them away.)
IV. Geb and Set
A. Read Exodus 8:16-17. Geb was the god of the earth
and dust, and Set the god of the desert and chaos.
Why would God send gnats? (If you thought the frogs
were annoying, God now sends insects that suck
blood from humans.)
B. Read Genesis 2:7 and Genesis 2:19. What is the
relationship between the ground and God? (God used
the ground to create man and animals.)
C. Read Exodus 8:18-19. The magicians could not mimic
the creation of gnats from the earth. Why would
they admit this represented the power of God? (This
is an excuse. So far they have mimicked the signs
of Moses and Aaron. But now they are dealing with
not only a God, but one stronger than their gods.)
D. Read Luke 11:19-20. What should Pharaoh have
concluded? (The Kingdom of God has come upon him.)
V. Uatchit and Khepri
A. Read Exodus 8:20-22 and Exodus 8:13-14. Put
yourself in the place of the Egyptians. You have
all of these dead, smelly frogs around you and now
you have flies which are no doubt landing on the
dead frogs and then landing on you! Aside from
being annoying and painful, why would God send
flies? (Khepri was the god of new birth. Uatchit
was the goddess of the flies and she guarded all
life in the Nile Delta. Now these gods are feasting
on dead frogs and humans!)
B. Look again at Exodus 8:22. How does this fit into
the dispute between the true God and the Egyptian
gods? (The Hebrews are protected against the
flies.)
C. Read Exodus 8:25-28. Pharaoh is now in negotiations
with Moses! What reveals the defeat of the Egyptian
gods? (Pharaoh asks that prayers to the Hebrew God
be made for him.)
D. Read Exodus 8:31-32. Are you like this? You pray
that God will help you with a specific problem, and
when He does you go back to your old ways?
VI. The Lesson
A. We still have plagues five through nine left in
this study. Like those we just examined, each
belittle the gods of Egypt. Read Exodus 9:15. What
does God tell Pharaoh is an alternative to the
plagues? (God could have killed them all with
“pestilence.” God has created difficult and
annoying problems, but He did not wipe out the
Egyptians as a nation.)
B. Read Exodus 9:16. What reason does God give for
sending plagues and not death? (To show God’s
“power so that [God’s name] may be proclaimed in
all the earth.”)
1. Does this explain why God targeted the gods of
Egypt?
2. Read Exodus 9:11. Who is God attacking here?
(The plague of boils keeps the magicians from
confronting Moses. Satan’s agents are
immobilized)
C. Read Exodus 9:17. What is at the heart of Pharaoh’s
sin? (He is exalting himself against the people of
God.)
1. Is this a problem in your life? Do you exalt
yourself by harming those who love God?
D. Read 1 Samuel 2:30. Is God against a person being
honored? (If you honor God, He will honor you.
Pharaoh’s sin was that he would not honor the true
God of Heaven.)
1. In plagues five, seven and eight God destroys
the wealth of Egypt. What is the lesson in
this?
E. Friend, will you make the primary goal of your life
to bring honor to God? If that is not already your
goal, why not decide right now to make that your
goal?
VII. Next week: Passover.
Copr. 2025, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are
from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing
ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within
parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail,
but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this
link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the
Holy Spirit as you study.
