I was watching the “Prince of Egypt” recently, and I was
struck by a thought that I had never thought about before. I was enamored with the 10 Plagues of Egypt
and God’s use of all of the elements to accomplish his goals. Many believe that everything boils down to four
basic elements ; that is Air, Water, Fire, and Earth. In each of the plagues God used one of these elements
to create the plague, and each plague affected one of these elements…except the
last one.
The last plague was performed by the Angel of the Lord
against man himself. And since man was
made in the image of God, it was the fifth element against the fifth
element. The element of Man.
·
Water into blood – Water
o
Take your staff and stretch out your
hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams,
and over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may
become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels
of wood and in vessels of stone. Exodus 7:19
·
Frogs – Water
o
Stretch out your hand with your staff over the
rivers, over the streams and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the
land of Egypt. Exodus 8:5
·
Gnats – Earth
o
Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of
the earth, that it may become gnats through all the land of Egypt. Exodus 8:16
·
Flies – Earth
o
Then the Lord did so. And there came great swarms of
flies into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was laid waste because
of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt. Exodus 8:24
·
Cattle Die – Earth
o
For if you refuse to let them go
and continue to hold them, behold, the hand
of the Lord will come with a very severe pestilence on your
livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels,
on the herds, and on the flocks. Exodus
9:2-3
·
Boils – Fire & Air
o
So they took soot from a kiln, and stood before
Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out
with sores on man and beast.
Exodus 9:10
·
Hail – Air & Fire
o
Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast
and on every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. Exodus 9:22
o
So there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very severe,
such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. Exodus 9:24
·
Locusts – Earth
o
Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for
the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat every plant of
the land, even all that the hail has left. Exodus 10:12
·
Darkness - Air
o
Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there
may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt. Exodus 10:21
·
First Born – Man
o
and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the
firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the
slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as
well. Exodus 11:5