Wisdom's Corner
God Against Seth

The third plague which God empowers Moses and Aaron to bring on the Egyptians is lice.

There has been much discussion for many years about what exactly these lice were. But the Greek version of the Old Testament (known as the Septuagint) uses the Greek word for louse so they evidently were indeed lice.

The lice that Moses and Aaron bring forth, cover the whole land. They are on men and their animals. (There are modern-day stories about areas of Egypt having such large outbreaks of the camel tick, that the baby ticks in the sand actually make it look like the sand is alive.) This is how it was with the lice. In our text, Exodus 8:16-19, it says that all the dust of the land became lice.

The Egyptian priests tried to bring forth lice just like they had done with the frogs. But they could not do it. They said this must surely be the finger of God. This term is very important. The use of an expression about the finger of a god was related to the god Seth. Seth had fought against Horus for world domination (they wanted to rule the earth). "The finger of Seth" was the expression for this fight over power and rule. The same type of expression was also used for other Egyptian gods, such as Thoth who fought against the sun god, Ra.

When the Egyptian priests said it was the "finger of God," they were admitting that the One True God was most powerful and had dominion over the earth.

This plague of lice was also against the Egyptian priesthood itself. The ancient historian Herodotus tells us that the Egyptian priests shaved their bodies every other day to prevent lice and other impure things from adhering to their bodies. They bathed twice every day in cold water and twice each night. (You wonder how they bathed when the water had been turned into blood!)

With the lice continually upon them, the Egyptian priests would not have been able to be "pure" for their service to their gods. This would also be a way of God showing them that He was more powerful than their gods.

God is truly a powerful God. I want to know what I must do to obey Him. Pharaoh was still not ready to listen to God. Do not be like Pharaoh.

Until next time, keep studying your Bible. Get the wisdom of God. And if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 1999

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)