The latest news from Egypt is that the Egyptian Museum at Cairo is burning due to molotov cocktails. If this is true, and the museum is damaged, it would be a great loss of priceless Egyptian artifacts. Over 8 million tourists visit Egypt every year and a large percentage of them pay a substantial fee to tour the Egyptian Museum to admire antiquities that date back as far as the Pharoahs. The Bible book of Exodus tells us that when Pharoah refused to release the Hebrews to follow Moses out of Egypt, God sent ten plagues upon the Egyptians. These plagues were an affront to the many gods the Egyptians worshipped and which may now be studied at the museum.
Plague #1 - God turned the water of the rivers, streams and ponds to blood. This plague lasted seven days. Hapi, the god of the Nile didn't even have a canoe to escape this assault.
Plague #2 - Frogs from the Nile. The goddess Heket had a frog's head. The Egyptians revered this goddess, so God gave them leaping ribbiting mountains of frogs, even in their beds and bread bowls!
Plague #3 - The dust of the ground turned into gnats which covered the miserable people and animals. Geb was the god of the earth and had his power dethroned by this plague.
Plague #4 - Swarms of insects. The god Knepri had the head of a fly and was the god of creation. He couldn't swat these bugs out of existence as they "laid waste to the land of Egypt."
Plague #5 - Death of the cattle and livestock . The god Hathro had the head of a cow and was the god of protection (he didn't do a good job of protecting, since the Bible says that all the livestock of Egypt died).
Plague #6 - Ashes turned to boils. Isis was the goddess of medicine but she had no perscription to ease this terrible onslaught of boils.
Plague #7 - Hail fell from the sky and became fire. Nut was the goddess of the sky who couldn't prevent this devastating plague. She offered no umbrella, fire extinguisher, or flame retardant.
Plague #8 - Locusts swarmed from the sky. Whatever was left from plague #7 (the hail) was now consumed by the locusts who "left nothing green". The food supply of the Egyptians would have now been decimated --- fish died in the bloody nile, cows died from plague # 5, plague #7's hail took out crops and now the locusts are finishing off whatever remains. Seth was the god of storms and disorder and this plague proved him worthless.
Plague #9 - Three days of darkness so deep "it could be felt", representing death and hopelessness. Ra, the sun-god, was the second most worshipped god. In the minds of the exhausted Eyptians he would now have been completely overpowered by the awesome God of the Hebrews.
Plague #10 - The Death of the FirstBorn. Pharoah was the ultimate god in Egypt and believed to be the son of Ra the sun-god who God made a fool of in plague #9. Even Pharoah's own first-born was killed by this tenth plague. Ten plagues is a Biblically significant number because it represents the idea of "fullness", meaning that Egypt was "completely plagued". None of the plagues, however, touched the Hebrews in any way. As Ex. 10 tells us: "6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt ... But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal. Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel." (God still makes that distinction).
I suggest that the Egyptian Museum does not impress God, just as the false gods of Egypt did not impress Him thousands of years ago when He toppled them like dominoes. He is probably not fond of the idea that people pay money to gaze upon and admire the artifacts that represent a pagan society that abused His Chosen People for so long. I do not hope the Museum burns, or the Egyptian people suffer. However, it's not a bad idea to look past the headlines and consider current events from God's Holy perspective. Shalom (sh LOAM).
