Wisdom's Corner
God Against Typhon

Pharaoh was still not convinced that he should let the Israelites leave Egypt. So God told Moses and Aaron to take ashes from a furnace and throw them into the air. The ashes would cover the entire land of Egypt and cause very bad sores to appear on all the Egyptians and their animals. These sores would have infection in them and be very painful.

Moses and Aaron did as they were told. Moses took the ashes that he and Aaron picked up and threw them into the air. Sure enough, the ashes were taken throughout the land of Egypt and every Egyptian and every animal got the very painful and infected sores. The priests hurt so bad they could not even stand before Moses. But Pharaoh was not convinced to let the Israelites leave.

The Egyptians worshipped the god Typhon. Red bulls and very rarely even humans were sacrificed and burned on the grate of Typhon. The sacrifice was given the name Typhos. Then the ashes from the burned sacrifice was taken by the priests and thrown into the air. The Egyptians believed that if any of this ash fell on the skin of a living Egyptian, the person was safe from any defilement (anything that would cause the person to be physically ill and therefore spiritually unclean).

Moses and Aaron did not take the ashes from the furnace of Typhon. The furnace which they took their ashes from was one that the Israelites used to make the mud bricks for the buildings of the Egyptians (the word in the Hebrew is the word for that type furnace). God was showing the Egyptians and particularly Pharaoh that Typhon was powerless. He was showing them that simple ashes from the slave furnaces could be made to have more power by the One True God than ashes from their 'holy' furnaces.

The bad sores would again make the Egyptian priests unclean for their religious practices. This was also a way to show God's power against their god of learning and medicine, Imhotep. Imhotep had been a very wise man and architect many years before the time of Moses. He was regarded very highly when alive and when he died the Egyptians believed he became a god. Imhotep was unable to prevent illness to come upon the Egyptians. Imhotep's wisdom was nothing compared to God's wisdom.

Make sure you are learning the wisdom of the One True God. Get His wisdom. And remember that if you will follow His teaching, he will cleanse you from any from any spiritual defilement. Until next time, keep reading and studying your Bible. 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)