Wisdom's Corner
God Against Isis and Seth

God sent a very hard hail storm upon the land of Egypt. It is interesting that in Exodus 9:24 the word "grievous" used for the hail storm is the same word in the Hebrew translated "hard" in reference to Pharaoh's heart. This storm was the worst in the history of the land of Egypt. Hail does fall in Egypt but is never bad. Rarely is any damage done to crops. But this hail storm was different. Anyone or anything standing outside was killed. And all the trees were broken. And all the crops were destroyed.

The Egyptians believed that Isis and Seth took care of agricultural production. These two gods made sure that the harvest was plentiful. God showed that He was more powerful than they were by destroying two very important crops -- flax and barley.

Flax was used in the making of linen. Linen was the material of choice for clothing for most Egyptians. And the priests of Egypt were required to wear linen. They could not wear any other material. Destroying the flax meant that the priests would not have the linen necessary to make "holy" clothes for serving their gods. Also, hundreds of yards of linen were used to wrap the mummies. Without the linen the body could not be properly wrapped for burial. This may have been very serious later when the Pharaoh's first-born son dies and requires royal burial.

Barley was used in making bread. It was particularly used by the poor for this purpose. And barley was one of the main foods given to their animals. The hail not only took away most animals that would be used for food. It took away the grain that the surviving animals would eat. And it took away an important source of food for the people. The gods Seth and Isis were shown to be weak and powerless before the One True God. (It should be mentioned that the Bible is very specific about the time of year when the plague of hail came. The flax and barley were in the maturing phase. This would be late January or early February. These were usually harvested in March. But the Bible says that the wheat was not yet grown up. This happened in March and April. So the Egyptians at this point still had the opportunity of having wheat for bread by the grace of God.)

Also notice that God said He had brought Pharaoh to his position so that God's name would be known throughout all the land. Pharaoh should have allowed the people to know that God was to be worshipped. Instead, Pharaoh continued the Egyptian myth that there was none like himself in all the land. He was the chosen of the gods and was to be looked upon as deity. God told Pharaoh that the next three plagues, including the hail, would settle that once and for all.

God truly is powerful. He has all power. Do not try to ignore God like Pharaoh did. Learn about Him and worship Him. Until next time, keep studying your Bible and 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)