13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the
morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of
the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me, 14 for
at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your
servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in
all the earth. 15 Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck
you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the
earth.
. . . 17 As yet
you exalt yourself against My people in that you will not let them go. 18 Behold,
tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has
not been in Egypt since its founding until now. 19 Therefore
send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the
hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field
and is not brought home; and they shall die.” ’ ” . . .
Exodus 9: 14-15 refers to 3
categories of Egyptians: Pharaoh,
Pharaoh’s servants, and Pharaoh’s people.
The people are the mass of
regular Egyptian citizens. The servants of Pharaoh included the royal
family, courtesans, nobles, priests, chief magicians, military leaders, and
elite households who supported and ran the details of government. Pharaoh and his servants are equivalent to
the president, Congress, the Supreme Court, their collective cabinets and
staffers, and the whole body of Washington
insiders who operate and manipulate our federal system.
Insiders are marked by the favor
they receive and/or by the loyalty that they give.
During the fifth plague all the livestock of Egypt died (Exodus
9:6), but enough time had passed for Egyptian insiders (Pharaoh’s servants) to
have replenished their herds. Now, the
wealthiest and most powerful Egyptians faced a choice They could be loyal to
their leader or they could listen to the Word of God.
He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made
his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. 21 But he
who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in
the field.
America and every political sub-category
in America has its own body of “insiders.”
Every agency, municipality, denomination, and office-of-the-such-and-such
is managed and manipulated by “servants of the people” who are so well
connected that when no matter the economic crisis, the official solution
official always involves bailing them out.
Insiders are favored servants,
but they are also LOYAL servants.
How loyal are you to the leaders
of your little empire? Do you defend the
leaders of your party when they do exactly the thing you attacked leaders of
the other party for doing? Have you
re-written your theology to accommodate the platform of your preferred cultural
leaders? Do you stand for truth and
integrity until your favorite public figure is caught lying, at which point
your stance shifts to “Who are we to judge?”
Does your definition of “victim” and “predator” keep shift with the
affiliations of the accused and the accusers?
You and I are offered the same
ancient choice. We can obey the Word of
God, or we can remain loyal servants inside
of our factions.
Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to
God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard
(Acts 4: 19-20).
If you’ve never had to choose to
follow God and rebuke your faction, it doesn’t mean that your faction has always
been right. It means that you have always chose to follow your faction and
disobey God.
Our worldly loyalties do not insulate us from God's divine judgment. Just as promised, volcanic hail fell on the land of Egypt.
And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent
thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on
the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very
heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a
nation . . . Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were,
there was no hail (Exodus 9: 23-26).
The insiders who heeded the
prophetic word saw that the God of their slaves was true and willing to be
merciful even to those who were insiders in the evil empire. This might have been the beginning of a faith-based
revival in Egypt.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He
is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).
Hurricane Katrina hits New
Orleans. Hurricane Harvey hits Dallas. Hurricane Florence hits New Jersey. Shooting
at Black church in North Carolina.
Shooting at conservative white church in Texas. Shooting at elementary schools, military
bases, and workplaces all over. HIV ravages East Coast and West Coast
communities. HIV rates increase higher
in conservative deep south states than anywhere in the nation. Every time a plague, storm, and or violent
tragedy strikes the strongholds of our respective factions, we turn to
prayer. But just at the point when we would
be convicted of OUR sins and turn in faith and repentance away from the gods we’ve
made in our images and to the God of scripture, just at that point we shift
from faith --- to damage control.
And Pharaoh sent and called for
Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I
have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked.
Entreat the Lord, that there may be no
more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”. . .
So Moses went out of the city
from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on
the earth.
And when Pharaoh saw that the
rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened
his heart, he and his servants. So
the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither
would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses.
(Exodus 9: 27-34)
Pharaoh and his loyal servants
didn’t know that there were would be 3 more plagues and a Red Sea of destruction. They didn’t know that they’re decision to minimize
the damage to their empire rather than maximize the opportunity for divine
grace would lead to more damage than they could control for. They didn’t know.
You do.
And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves
this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were
on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you
dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).
--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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Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
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