Well folks, we’ve officially entered a really boring part of the bible.
Chapter 25- God speaks to Moses and tells him to have the people give offerings of precious metals, fine fabrics, oils, spices, etc. Then God give the specifications for building the ark of the covenant, the tables, candle sticks and dishes for the tabernacle.
Verse 18 “And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat.” But, but, but…Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image- any likeness of anything that is in have above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
Are these cherubim acceptable because they’re hammered instead of carved? That seems like a convenient loophole that basically renders the commandment against graven images pointless… Or, is God allowed to break his own rules?
Chapter 26- Instructions for building the tabernacle.
Verse 2, “The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain for cubits.” Remember back in Genesis 7:20 when the global flood was only 15 cubits deep? Now they’re supposed to build curtains that are taller than the flood was deep? Something’s fishy about one of those measurements.
Chapter 27- Instructions for building an alter and the courtyard that will be around the tabernacle. Aaron’s family is instructed to be the caretakers of the tabernacle.
Nothing interesting to say about this chapter…seriously dull stuff here.
Chapter 22- More rules. These deal mostly with making restitution for theft, and some various other things thrown in.
Most of this chapter is… *yawn*
A couple points of interest: If a man has sex with a virgin, he has to pay for her- either the bride price to marry her, or the equivalent cash if her father refuses to give her up for marriage. Again women have zero autonomy. These verses follows immediately after the rules about making restitution for theft, so it seems that sleeping with a virgin in like theft against her father.
The penalty for being a sorceress, having sex with animals, or sacrificing to any god besides the God is death. Those don’t seem like equivalent crimes, and none of them seem worthy of the death penalty.
If you afflict a widow or orphan, and they cry out to God, God will “kill you with a sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.” Look, being cruel to widows and orphans is no good, I agree. But making more widows and orphans doesn’t seem like the best solution.
Verse 25- “If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a money-lender to him; you shall not charge him interest.” Interesting how the political party who tout the bible the hardest are also the ones with a love affair for capitalism. Even before Jesus’s time, the bible was kinda socialist.
Chapter 23- More rules. God establishes 3 feasts to be observed every year. God promises to help the Israelites run off the people who currently live in their promised land, but warns them not to worship their gods.
This chapter contains the prohibition against boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk that you may have heard about. Over time, it has morphed into the Jewish dietary restriction against mixing meat and dairy products in the same dish. Gotta wonder why it was important to prohibit such a thing in the first place…to avoid adding insult to injury after you slaughter dinner?
“For Howard, one bacon cheeseburger, breaking two Jewish dietary restrictions simultaneously.”
The only other point of interest for me here was verses 25&26, “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.” Interesting. Too bad God doesn’t do this for his people any more.
Chapter 24- In previous chapters, it has been God giving these rules to Moses. Now in chapter 24, Moses writes them down and presents them to the people, who agree to follow them. God calls Moses up onto the mountain again where he stays for 40 days.
After the people agree to follow these rules, Moses performs sacrifices. Verse 8, “And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and…” Ewwww!
This chapter is a little confusing. Moses told the rules to the people, then wrote them down in a book, then God tells Moses to come to the mountain so He can give Moses stone tablets with these laws on them. Why are the tablets necessary if Moses has already written them down? Also, why do people these days depict the stone tablets as only containing the 10 commandments? God gave more than just those 10 laws to Moses.
Chapter 19- The Hebrews come to the land of Sinai. God reveals himself to them as clouds/lightening storm/trumpet sounds/voice from Mount Sinai, but warns the people not to touch the mountain or they will be killed. God asks Moses and Aaron to join him on the mountain.
You know, it’s good that God gave these people proof after proof of his existence. Plagues, manna, pillars of fire, a voice from the mountain…if I witnessed all of those things, I would believe in God. I don’t know that I’d necessarily want to worship this God, seeing as he’s done some pretty awful things along the way as well, but I’d at least know that he really existed. If only we had such unequivocal proof for a deity today.
The way he reveals himself to them in this mountain scene is a bit strange though. From verses 12&13, “Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.” It’s as though God wants to kinda give proof of his existence, but still doesn’t want to give everything away. He has some big secret hidden on that mountain, and if he tells you, he’ll have to kill you.
I’m reminded of the Wizard of Oz, especially given the scene in verses 16-18: “Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thundering and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.”
Also, it just struck me…volcano? Perhaps like I suspect with the plagues, this is just a mystified retelling of a natural disaster. Are there volcanoes in Egypt?
The other thing that I find interesting in this passage is that as God is commanding the people to consecrate themselves before coming to see the mountain, he advises the men, “be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.” (vs 15) Sex is dirty! Women are dirty! Dirty things displease the Lord! Oh what a world we might live in if religion hadn’t instilled in society such a fear of sex and loathing of women.
Chapter 20- God gives commandments to the people, including the famous 10 commandments. There is a lot of emphasis on not building idols/how to properly build an altar to God.
You know, these 10 commandments get touted as the pinnacle of morality. People fight to have them displayed in court houses, city halls, schools, etc as reminders of how to be moral. But, really? What’s inherently moral or immoral about working on the Sabbath? Or taking God’s name in vain? When I think of immorality, I think of things that cause harm to others.
The commandments that do deal with murder/adultery/stealing/covetousness/lying are all well and good, but do you really think humans couldn’t figure that out without a voice from the mountain telling them? It’s kinda common sense that if you want your society to prosper, you shouldn’t kill each other or steal things. The Code of Hammurabi is written law that predates Judaism/Christianity, but they seem to have figured things out alright.
And these 10 commandments leave out a lot of important moral teachings. Things like “don’t rape” or “don’t abuse children” or “owning another human being is wrong” are moral rules we’ve figured out for ourselves without the bible’s help. God is clearly more concerned with being worshiped properly than with instilling valuable morals.
Within the 10 commandments, God proudly announces that “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.” (vs 5) Jealousy, grudge-holding, punishing innocent children for the ‘sins’ of their parents… that’s some moral stuff right there.
Chapter 21- More rules on how to run society. Most concern how to treat slaves, how to punish those who commit assult/murder, and what to do when an animal kills someone.
There is some truly egregious shit here.
Male Hebrew slaves go free after 7 years. If he had a wife before becoming a slave, she goes free with him. If his master gave him the wife during slavery, she doesn’t go free (thus encouraging the male slave to voluntarily remain a slave after his 7 years are up).
Verse 7 “And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.” Women are to remain slaves forever, and it’s cool for dads to sell their daughters.
If you kill someone, you will be killed in return. If he lives after you assult him, you only pay for his recovery time. If you kill a slave, you’ll be punished, but “if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his property.” (vs 21) So, be sure to beat your slave just to the edge of death so they linger few days.
If you poke out your slave’s eye or knock out his tooth, you have to let him free. So be sure to hit gently.
If a man hurts a woman who is with child, there are penalties, but mostly only if the child gets hurt. No mention of what to do if you hurt a non-pregnant woman, so I guess just be careful which woman you chose to hit.
Seriously people, these aren’t good morals! I’m extremely thankful that our society mostly ignores the rules set forth by the bible!
I would like to take a moment to draw your attention to an excellent piece written by the awesome Greta Christina called 9 Questions That Atheists Might Find Insulting (And the Answers). Number 7 in that list is “But have you [read the Bible or some other holy book; heard about some supposed miracle; heard my story about my personal religious experience]?” I’ve heard that question so damn many times that I’m writing a whole blog about it, so nobody gets to ask me that question ever again, okay? But, go read the whole article and Greta’s great responses, and then don’t utter any of those questions ever again, please.
Christians, it’s awesome if you’re really interested in why I’m an atheist, and I’m happy to talk to you about it. But if you don’t do a little research first, it’s hard to believe that you’re actually interested in my experiences and not just trying to mindlessly convert me. I’m taking the time time to read your holy book, do me a favor and learn about my (lack of) beliefs as well.
I promise, it doesn’t hurt too badly. The whole world will be a better place if we take the time to learn about and understand each other.
Now, back on task:
Chapter 16- The Israelites continue on their journey. They complain about being hungry, so God provides quail and manna (a wafer-like, honey flavored bread product) for them to eat. He gives them specific instructions about how much food to gather, and when to gather it.
Reading about quail reminded me of Quail-Man. Oh, the awesome cartoons of my youth.
Geeze, the Israelites are a complain-y bunch. Although, they tend to complain about valid things…like slavery and starvation. So, I guess I won’t judge them too harshly.
They are commanded to gather 1 omer of manna per person per day. Curious what an omer is? From Wikipedia:
It is used in the Bible as an ancient unit of volume for grains and dry commodities, and the Torah mentions as being equal to one tenth of an ephah. The ephah was defined as being 72 logs, and the log was equal to the Sumerian mina, which was itself defined as one sixtieth of a maris;the omer was thus equal to about 12⁄100 of a maris. The maris was defined as being the quantity of water equal in weight to a light royal talent, and was thus equal to about 30.3 litres,[2] making the omer equal to about 3.64 litres.
Well that cleared it up for me. Thanks, Wiki!
I find it interesting that we recently had the story of Joseph, where stockpiling food to prepare for the future was a virtue, but now we have this story where any stockpiled food stinks and sprouts worms the next day. I understand that the message here is that the people were supposed to rely solely on God, but it does seem to conflict a smidge with the story of Joseph.
Chapter 17- The people run out of water again, so God commands Moses to strike a rock with his staff and water comes out. Amalek starts a fight with Moses’s people. Joshua fights them, while Moses holds his hands in the air with the help of Aaron and Hur. As long as Moses’s hands are raised, the Israelites prevail; if he puts them down, Amalek’s people prevail. By the end of the day, the Israelites win.
Aaron and Hur have to hold Moses’s hands up for him..wouldn’t theirs have gotten tired as well?
This Joshua character gets thrown in the mix with zero introduction. I assume he’s going to be important later, seeing as how there’s a whole book of the Bible named after him. Guess we’ll see when we get there.
Verse 9, “And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” I literally laughed out loud when I read “rod of God.” Is that what the kids are calling it these days? (I’m mature, I swear!)
Verse 14, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” If your goal is to make sure nobody remembers Amalek, you probably shouldn’t write about him in your holy book. Just sayin’
Chapter 18- Moses is acting as arbiter for every single dispute and question the people have about God’s laws. His father-in-law Jethro advises him to make other men rulers as well so they can handle the little disputes and only bring this big questions to Moses. This way Moses won’t get burnt out.
This is a pretty straight forward chapter. The only question I have is about Zipporah. Last we saw her, she was traveling with Moses to Egypt when that unfortunate circumcision business happened. Now in 18:2 it says “Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back,” and brings her and her sons to see Moses. Wonder when and for what reason Moses sent his wife away.
(It also seems that the bible and I have different views on the proper way to show possession when a name ends in an s. I like the Strunk and White style of always using ‘s because then you don’t have to worry about exceptions. The bible seems to prefer just an apostrophe. Moses’s or Moses’? Yet another thing on which God and I don’t agree, it seems.)
Chapter 13- More instructions for observing the passover feast. A command to dedicate all firstborn sons and male animals to God. When the Hebrews leave Egypt, God leads them the long way around the Red Sea to avoid war with the Philistines. God appears as a cloud during the day, and a pillar of fire at night for them to follow.
Verses 6&7, “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day there shall be a fest to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters.”
Reminds me of that quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
And the Lord spake, saying, “First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once at the number three, being the third number to be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.”
Seriously, the Bible is so repetitive, it’s a small wonder anybody reads it.
The Hebrews are told to remember why they are observing the passover: Because Pharaoh was stubborn, so God had to kill all the firstborn of Egypt. Pharaoh was stubborn? How quickly we’re expected to forget that is was God who hardened his heart. Pharaoh was just a pawn in this game.
Chapter 14- God hardens Pharaohs heart yet again, and Pharaoh decides to pursue the Hebrews. The Hebrews fear for their lives and wish they had just stayed in Egypt as slaves, instead of being killed by the Egyptians out in the desert. God has Moses part the Red Sea so the Hebrews can safely walk across. As the Egyptians follow, God steals the wheels from their chariots, then sends the sea crashing back down so they all drown.
I don’t know who to credit for this awesome image. Whoever you are, I love it!
God’s a cheater. Just like in Genesis when he had to resort to dislocating Jacob’s hip to win a fight, here he has to steal chariot wheels before he’s able to defeat the Egyptians. After having their wheels removed, the Egyptians recognize the power of God and decide to flee. God drowns them anyway. That’s like shooting someone in the back! We recognize that killing someone who is fleeing is wrong now-a-days, so why was it okay for God to do it?
Before the whole “drown all the Egyptians” bit, God says (again) that he will harden Pharaoh’s heart so he can perform great acts so that the Egyptians will know that he is God. But then in verse 28, “Not so much as one of them remained.” What good is proving your power to dead people?
Chapter 15- Moses and the Israelites sing songs of praise to God for killing the Egyptians. Then, as they continue on their journey, they run out of water and start complaining again. The come to Marah, where the local water is bitter. God has Moses throw a tree into the water, and that makes it sweet. God promises not the afflict the Israelites with the illnesses he brought on the Egyptians, as long as they follow him. God leads them to an oasis.
A few excerpts from the song of praise: “The Lord is a man of war.” “Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces.” “You sent forth Your wrath; it consumed them like stubble.” This God isn’t a particularly peaceful one. And, isn’t wrath a trait God frowns upon? In the New Testament, wrath is listed as a sin of the flesh, and anyone who practices it will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:20) Do as I say kids, not as I do.
Verse 20 here finally names Aaron’s sister, Miriam (and since Aaron and Moses are brothers, this why people assume the sister mentioned in chapter 2 is Miriam as well). Turns out Miriam is a prophetess. I’d like to know more about that, seeing as how the rest of the bible is pretty anti-women-in-leadership positions. 1 Corinthians, 14:34, “Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.” Hmm…
On a side note- after finding that Corinthians verse, I was curious where in the law it says women should submit. It would seem that it doesn’t. All the references to women being submissive to men/husbands are in the New Testament, unless you consider Eve’s position as “helpmeet” as an expectation for submission. Nowhere in the Old Testament law does it command women to submit. Seems like the NT made some stuff up…surprise!
Now that I’ve wandered completely off the Exodus topic, I think I’ll call it a day. Same bat time, same bat channel tomorrow, folks.
Chapter 10- Moses and Aaron threaten the Egyptians with a swarm of locusts that will eat all the crops that are left after the hail storm. Pharaoh’s servants encourage him to let the Hebrews go offer their sacrifices; Pharaoh says the men can go, but no children or animals, so the locusts come anyway. Pharaoh asks forgiveness for his sins so the locusts will go away, but he still won’t let all the Hebrews go. The next plague is total darkness for 3 days. Pharaoh agrees to let the people go, but not the animals needed for sacrifices, so there’s no deal. Pharaoh sends Moses away and threatens to kill Moses if he shows his face again.
A real swarm of locust in Madagascar.
This business of making deals with Pharaoh has gotten all together too confusing. Take for example verses 10-11, “Then [Pharaoh] said to them, ‘The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you. Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired.’ And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.” Yeah, any idea what that means? Since the plague happens anyway, I assume this means that no deal was reached, but it sure sounds like Pharaoh said they could go.
Chapter 11- God describes to Moses and Aaron that the final plague shall be the death of the firstborn children and animals of the Egyptians. It will be so bad that the Egyptians will send the Hebrews away for good, not just for the requested 3 days. But, God also says he will continue to harden Pharaoh’s heart.
This chapter is only 10 verses, but there’s a lot packed in here that I feel needs mentioning. It has finally become clear that this is a plan for freeing the slaves, not just getting them a brief vacation. So, as promised back in chapter 3, God has the Hebrews ask their Egyptian neighbors for silver, gold, clothing etc so as to plunder them before leaving.
Verse 3 starts, “And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians” which is how they are able to collect all their neighbors valuables. Are you kidding me? Are we really expected to believe that the Egyptians have endured 9 terrible plagues so far, and they’re totally cool with giving their valuables to the slaves to caused the plagues? How gullible the author of Exodus thinks we are!
The second part of verse 3 says, “Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.” When I read that, it struck me that Moses was raised in the household of a Pharaoh…not this particular Pharaoh, but still, that would mean he is familiar with the ways of the royal court. So, why has he been such a coward, so afraid to speak so far? And are the Egyptians so bad a record keeping that the new Pharaoh doesn’t know that this Moses guy is the adopted grandson of the royal family?
Then verse 5 mentions that the firstborn among the Egyptian animals will be killed during the plague. But how in world do the Egyptians have any animals left?!?! They were all killed during the plague in Ex 9:6, then some of the remaining zero animals were killed again in Ex 9:25, and now more of the remaining zero shall die again? Makes me wonder over what kind of time scale these plagues are occurring. Either these plagues are happening over the course of months or years, instead of days and weeks like it seems, or the bible has no freaking clue what it means to kill all of something.
Now that I’m pondering time scale here, I wonder if this story isn’t just an ancient group of people trying to explain natural disasters? If these things happened over the course of years, then all of these could be natural events- maybe an algae bloom turned the water red and undrinkable one year. Then another year there was a bad lice outbreak, another time a bad locust swarm, a few years later a bad hail storm, etc. Darkness could have been an eclipse, death of the livestock could have been an ancient mad-cow type thing. I think I’m on to something here…
Pharaoh is clearly having a total eclipse of the heart. Ba dum tss!
And, of course, verse 9 “But the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh will not heed you so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.’” Seriously, God is a show-off bully who is more interested in proving a point than actually helping his people.
Chapter 12- The Passover is instituted. The Hebrews are instructed to prepare a lamb for dinner, and use the lamb’s blood to place markings on their door so that the “Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.” They are also commanded to celebrate this passover meal for generations to come as a reminder of how God brought them out of Egypt. After the death-of-the-firstborn-plague happens, the Egyptians tell the Hebrews to gtfo.
There are very specific instructions given here about how to prepare the lamb, and spread the blood, and cook bread…it seems unnecessarily complicated, but I suppose you do what ya gotta do to keep the murderous mad man out of your house.
The bit about plundering the Egyptians is repeated in this chapter as well, and I’m rethinking my previous comments. I’m still skeptical that the Egyptians favored the Hebrews with gifts, but I could see it as a “take whatever you want, just get the hell out before anyone else dies” kind of thing.
When giving instructions for observing Passover in the future, God makes it clear that only the Hebrews and any foreigners willing to be circumcised are allowed to participate. Makes me wonder about the women…were they not allowed to participate at all? Was female circumcision also required? Maybe a female could participate if all the men in her household were circumcised? Whatever the case, it’s clear yet again that women don’t warrant mentioning.
Chapter 7- God commands Moses and Aaron to tell Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go. God also says he will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that Moses and Aaron will have to perform signs that prove to the Egyptians that their god is the real God. Aaron turns his rod into a snake, but Pharaoh’s magicians are able to duplicate the trick, so Pharaoh doesn’t believe. The same happens when Aaron turns all the water in the land into blood.
A couple of things stand out to me here. First, there is a lot of “God told Moses to tell Aaron to tell Pharaoh” or “God told Moses to tell Aaron to do…” Why didn’t God just speak to Aaron directly? And why is Moses the guy who we give all the credit to here? If it weren’t for his role as messenger between God and Aaron, Moses wouldn’t be useful at all, so why is he the biblical name everyone remembers? He must become more important later.
Again we see God purposefully making things harder than necessary by hardening Pharaoh’s heart to prove a point. Couldn’t he have just revealed himself to the Egyptians to prove he was God? Were plagues really necessary?
Also, this means that we may not get to make the choice to follow or not follow God. I think I’m an atheist because I’ve researched a lot about religion and not found compelling evidence that any of it is true. But, maybe I’m just an atheist because God is forcing me to be one in order to prove a point. (Occam’s razor would suggest the first…)
It’s also interesting that the Egyptian magicians are able to replicate the supposed miracles that Aaron is performing in the name of God. That means one of two things- 1) magic was real back in those days, and people really were using enchantments to do God-like things. Or 2) if we assume that the laws of physics have always been constant, and therefore magic has never really worked, that means that these “miracles” just had natural, repeatable causes. My money is on the laws of physics.
It brings to mind that quote by Arthur C Clarke, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” If you were to give an iPhone to someone from the Middle Ages, they would think you’re a god, and apparently if you perform good slight of hand back in the days of Moses, people thousands of years later will think you were God’s prophet.
Verse 25 says that the water-as-blood thing continues for 7 days. After 7 days without water, there wouldn’t be any Egyptians left to hold the Hebrews hostage. Supposedly even the water in people’s jars and pitchers had turned to blood- they would have died from dehydration.
Chapter 8- God tells Moses to tell Aaron to Pharaoh to let the people go, or they will bring a plague of frogs to infest the water, land and people’s homes. Aaron and the magicians make frogs appear. Pharaoh agrees to let the Hebrews go sacrifice to their god if the frogs will go away. Moses prays, the frogs die and stink, Pharaoh changes his mind. God tells Moses to tell Aaron to turn the dust into lice. The magicians can not replicate this trick, and tell Pharaoh it must be God doing it. Pharaoh’s heart remains hard. Next comes a plague of flies. God makes a point to only afflict the Egyptians with the flies, so that they will see that the Hebrews are God’s special people. Pharaoh agrees again to let them go sacrifice to God if the flies go away. Moses prays, the flies leave, Pharaoh changed his mind again.
So, I previously had the idea that the Hebrews were exempt from all the plagues, but apparently they suffered the bloody water, frogs and lice before God started sparing them. With friends like God, who needs enemies? If, in at attempt to set me free, someone made me endure dehydration and swarms of frogs and lice, I’d tell them that I didn’t want their help anymore!
From my childhood, I remember “LET MY PEOPLE GO” as this powerful command to set free the slaves. Turns out, it’s still just “Let my people go into the desert for 3 days to sacrifice to God.” Not as inspiring.
Also, Pharaoh is an idiot. If you think all your slaves want is 3 days in the desert, and they’re capable of causing so damn much misery over and over, well… is free labor really worth it?
Chapter 9- God kills all the livestock of the Egyptians, but the Hebrew livestock survives. Pharaoh’s heart is still hard. Moses and Aaron scatter ashes from a furnace which causes boils to erupt on the Egyptians. The magicians are so miserable by this point that they don’t even bother to show up. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart again. A plague of hail-fire that kills servants, livestock, and plants comes next. This plague does not affect the Hebrews. Pharaoh apologizes for his sins just long enough to get Moses to stop the hail, then his heart is hardened once more.
So, with this livestock-death plague– the Hebrews owned livestock? Interesting that slaves had property of their own.
Also interesting is that all the livestock of the land of Egypt are killed in verse six, yet more Egyptian livestock somehow exist to be killed by hail in verse 25. The Bible can’t even maintain consistency for one measly chapter.
I’m also curious about Pharaoh’s hard heart. Sometimes it simply says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. Sometimes it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart just like God said he would. Sometimes it says that God actively did the hardening. I wonder if it even matters who chose to do the hardening, since it was all part of God’s plan to show off to the Egyptians anyway.
I know “hard heart” is a metaphor here, but I can’t help but think that Pharaoh must have had a wicked bad case of atherosclerosis.
