Friday, January 21, 2005

The Plague of Frogs

My favorite part of the story of the plague of frogs used to be the part where Moses asks Pharaoh when he wants the plague of frogs to end. Pharaoh foolishly answers, "Tomorrow." Why on earth would someone want to spend any more time with God's judgment than they had to? Why not say, "Now! Yesterday!"?

But today, I think I have picked a new favorite aspect. Moses and Aaron have just brought the plague of frogs on Egypt, and Pharaoh summons his magicians. Do they cast some magic spell that makes the frogs go away? No, they do the same "magic" that Moses and Aaron do--they create more frogs.

I don't have any evidence on hand for this, but I think I've heard that there was some kind of frog deity in Egyptian mythology. God kind of stood that thinking on its ear by sending the frogs to execute His justice. The magicians were not able to stand up against God; they were only able to imitate Him.

The same holds true today. Satan isn't really able to reverse God's plans; he can only come up with poor substitutes. What God decrees is unalterable. It's interesting; maybe the Egyptian magicians were trying to cast a "frog removal" spell, but it had unintentional results. Satan has been given quite a bit of power and he can put on quite a show. But when we really sit back and study it, we see that it's really just his attempt to impersonate God.

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