Blogging Exodus 9:8-12
8 So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for
yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward
the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh.
9 And it will become fine dust in all the land of
Egypt, and it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast
throughout all the land of Egypt.”
10 Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood
before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward heaven. And they caused boils
that break out in sores on man and beast.
11 And the
magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were
on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
12 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he
did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils,
for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
At every previous confrontation
between Moses and Pharaoh, vers 11 implies, Egypt’s chief magicians had
accompanied the king of Egypt. The
magicians had tried to discredit the existence of Moses’ God, but Moses had
produced credible miracles. They’d tried
to minimize the Hebrew God’s power, to make Him look like a minor new addition
to the north African pantheon, but Yahweh’s serpent dominated and devoured theirs. The magicians had offered alternative facts
for the miracles plaguing their country, but after replicating some of the effects,
they’d had to admit that the complexity and precision of the phenomenon could
not be explained other than “This is the
finger of God” (Exodus 8: 19).
The magicians had turned all of their occult skill and spiritual
expertise against Moses and failed, but the magicians were true Egyptians,
patriots. The unlettered peasants might
be bowed by this abominable shepherd turned prophet, but they would stood by
their president Pharaoh.
Until they didn’t.
And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils,
for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
When the water turned to blood,
the magicians and other members of the Egyptian elite had drunk wine and milk
for a week. When frogs and flies infested
the land, the magicians and other wealthy Egyptians had slaves to sweep and fan
away the pests. When lice spread, the unshaven
peasants couldn’t afford the best ointments and treatments available to the magicians. When livestock died, the members of Pharaoh’s
magical cabinet could supplement their losses with bailouts confiscated from the
surviving stock of slaves, peasants, and immigrants. So, they had stood by their Pharaoh and defied
the prophet of God.
Until they couldn’t.
Until, the finger of God
penetrated their wall of privilege and the elite, the initiated, the magical
minority suffered just like all the regular people.
And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils,
for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
They stood against the prophetic
word until heroin was on the private school kids like on the urban
schools. They stood against the convicting
word of God until the mass shooters were killing people in evangelical Baptist churches
and “good” suburban schools. They stood
against the preaching of justice and liberation until police started shooting
their neighbors and getting away with it.
Until their blonde-haired, blue-eyed granddaughters started telling the
world that “it happened to me, too.” Until
the finger of God penetrated their walls of privilege.
Until they couldn’t stand it
anymore.
And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils,
for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
What are the magical walls of
privilege behind which you have waited out the moving of God?
What makes you feel like it can’t
happen to you?
What makes you feel so superior
to those people over there?
Mark that line in the sand where
your self-righteousness is drawn. Mark
it well because God will step over it.
The righteous God wisely
considers the house of the wicked,
Overthrowing the wicked for
their wickedness.
Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor
Will also cry himself and not be heard. (Proverbs 21: 12-13).
Remember the Pharisee who prayed
his privilege and religious exceptionalism:
God, I thank You that I am not
like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I
fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess I fast twice a week; I give tithes of
all that I possess (Luke 18: 10-11).
Remember that Jesus condemned the Pharisee and justified the
tax-collector, the government employee who standing
afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast,
saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ (Luke 18: 13, 14).
Feel how you feel about
that. Feel how angry the thought of a
religiously right man condemned while an admitted sinner and government
employee --- probably in a union--- is “justified.” Do you feel like . . . . you can’t stand it?
And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils,
for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
--Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for
education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is
pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME
Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He writes the popular blog: A Word
to the Wise at
www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves
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1117 23rd Avenue
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
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