(Moses in disguise gives a brief introduction): We have all heard the story of how God delivered His people through my hand, Moses. He used me and my brother Aaron to bring ten plagues on Egypt. But what would the story sound like from Pharaoh’s point of view? This morning, Pharaoh is here to tell us his perspective.
(The pastor dressed as Pharaoh comes out from the back of the church): I am Ramses II. Pharaoh of Egypt. I am the supreme ruler of all Egypt. I am not only the head of the nation, but I am also the head of the religious leaders. Yes, I’m here to tell you my side of the story. So sit back, relax, listen and learn.
My name means “Great House”. My job is to be the divine interpreter between the gods and my people, the Egyptians. I do a good job of keeping harmony if I don’t say so myself. I make the laws, I don’t have to follow them. I make war when I want. I collect taxes, as much as I want. The land of Egypt is my property, that’s why they call me: “Lord of the lands”, I am powerful. My subjects bow to me.
So when Moses, little Moses, came to me and said, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let my people go.’ I laughed. Do you have any idea who you’re talking to? So I said to him: “Who is the Lord, that “I” should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.”
I could feel my heart harden. I wanted to take my sword and cut off his head right then and there. How dare you talk to me like that? Then I heard the sound of voices. They were singing, within audible distance of my Great House. I went to the window, bolted it and saw my slaves excited, happy, singing. There was hope in their eyes about this great deliverer of Israel. And my heart hardened even more when I heard my servants sing:
I sing: “When Israel was in the land of Egypt, let my people go. Oppressed so much that they could not stand, she lets my people go. Go down, Moses, far down in the land of Egypt, tell old Pharaoh (that’s me) let my people go.”
“Tell old Pharaoh.” Moses is going to tell me – Let his people go! Are you kidding? They are MY slaves. I am your ruler. Egypt and all the people belong to me. Moses not only wanted me to let the slaves go, but he approached me on behalf of his God, his Lord, implying that his God was mightier than me, and all the gods of Egypt. He said that his God would put on a display of signs and wonders the world had never seen before.
Once again, I laughed and my heart hardened even more. I knew there was going to be a showdown. Among the many gods of Egypt and their one God. their God against all our gods. We were in the plural. We were many. They are just unique.
My heart continued to harden at the thought of Moses’ audacity to confront the gods of Egypt. Egypt has incredible power, majesty and splendor. Our Pyramids alone are a monument to human ingenuity beyond human explanation. Our massive pyramids, monuments, temples, and shrines speak to our belief in many gods.
Here there is no separation of church and state. I am the church and the state. Religion dominates our nation. Nothing is secular in Egypt. Everything we do is backed by a deity and worship. I mean everything!
So when Moses came up to me with his Jehovah God taking on all the countless gods of Egypt, I laughed. And hardened my heart.
I still remember the first day Moses and his brother Aaron approached me at the Big House. I asked them to show me a miracle that would prove the power of his God over mine. They carried a stick. Aaron threw the staff at my feet and it turned into a snake.
That’s all, that’s all you got. So I called my sorcerers and my magicians and they threw down his staff and it also turned into a snake. I started to laugh at the weakness of his God, but then his snake swallowed our snake. It didn’t impress me, it just hardened my heart a little more.
But then the real battle began. Moses and his Jehovah God decided that they would confront our many gods in Egypt with 10 different plagues. Yes, 10.
When Moses came to speak to me the next morning, the first thing he said was, “Thus says the Lord: By this you will know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters that are in the river, and they will turn to blood.
And the fish that are in the river will die, and the river will stink, and the Egyptians will not want to drink the water of the river.”
How do you dare. The Nile River is the soul of our nation Egypt. We worship the gods of the Nile.
So Aaron took the rod and stretched out his hand over all the waters of Egypt. Over our streams, rivers, ponds and pools of water, and ALL, ALL turned to blood. Even stone and wooden vessels filled with water turned to blood.
I cried inside, but my heart hardened. The Nile, the soul of my land, had been polluted. No country in the world depends more on this great river than my nation, Egypt, on the Nile River. The water irrigates our land through its floods. You see, at the end of June, July and August, the Nile rises above its banks and completely covers the land.
The water spreads inland, turning the desert into an agricultural oasis. Things that would never grow in a desert begin to grow. The water leaves puddles everywhere, so we have a natural irrigation system all year round. All because the flood waters rise so high. Without the Nile, Egypt would be nothing more than a barren desert.
Our god Nile provides transportation, irrigation, pastures, hunting grounds, fishing, and life in general. The Nile is sacred to us. Our god Nile is so important that we sing this fertility hymn to him: “Hail to you, O Nile, who springs from the earth and comes to keep Egypt alive. The one who waters the meadows that he recreated to keep all the children alive. He who makes the desert drink and the place far from the waters, that is his dew that comes down from heaven.”
How dare your God stand up to our Nile gods: Khnum (ha’noom), the guardian of the Nile, Hapi (hap’pee), the spirit of the Nile and god of crocodiles, and most importantly, Osiris, the god of the underworld, whose bloodstream comes from the depths of the Nile. Without the Nile, he would bleed to death. Osiris is the ruler of all the Egyptian gods. And my heart hardened when I realized that Moses and his God had attacked the Nile in an attempt to bleed Osiris to death.
It was a horrible day. The fish died and Egypt stunk, stuck beyond imagination. But it was also a slap in the face against our gods Neith and Hathor (hather). They are the gods of our fish. And Hapi, the crocodile god, was also spotted, as the crocodiles arose from the bloody waters and flooded the land and frightened and devastated the people. Yes, I gobbled them up.
My wizards tried to follow his lead as best they could. But they failed. And my proud heart only hardened against Moses and his God. He was not going to give in to Moses, even though the bloody water lasted 7 long days.
When it was over, I felt that I had regained my strength. And then Moses came to me again. He said, “Thus saith the Lord, let my people go to serve me; and if you refuse to let them go, I will smite all borders with frogs. And the river will produce frogs in abundance, which will come up and enter your house and your bedroom and on your bed. Frogs in my bed! Really!
Now, you should know that we worship a frog goddess, her name is Heqt (hayket), she is the wife of Khnum (ha, noom). Our frogs are sacred. In fact, I instituted the death penalty for anyone who intentionally killed a frog. It is a violation of our frog goddess. But the plague of Moses brought frogs to our beds, our floors and our streets; frogs were everywhere. We couldn’t help but kill frogs just by moving or sleeping. Moises and his craziness only made me angrier. And my heart hardened more and more.
But it wasn’t over yet. Now Moses and his God brought mosquitoes, yes, many mosquitoes and lice. So small you could barely see them, but they were everywhere in the air and in the dust on the ground.
So once again, I called my magi to duplicate what Moses was doing with the power of his God. And do you know what my wise men told me: “This is the finger of the Lord God. This is beyond us! We’re done. I’m sorry.”
What? Talk about a heart that moves beyond hard: it had to be even stronger because my wizards grew weak. So Moses brought the flies. A swarm of thick, nasty flies. They were everywhere, so thick you could barely see them and they literally ruined our land.
Once again I was angry: they were attacking our Egyptian god of the fly: Uatchit.
And while I am seething with anger, Moses had the audacity to tell me: “The Lord has spoken – Let my people go; and if you do not let them go, the hand of the LORD is on the beasts that are in the field, and on the horses, and on the donkeys, and on the camels, and on the oxen, and on the sheep; and there will be a serious plague.”
And then there were more songs from the slaves:
SING: Pharaoh, Pharaoh, oh baby, let me go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
As they rubbed it, the God of Moses separated the cattle of Israel from the cattle of Egypt, and no cattle belonging to the children of Israel died. Just our cattle.
All the plagues up to this point, brought pain. But now, it would be a loss of personal property. Our economic system would be devastated. Our food supply destroyed. And once again, our Egyptian gods, Apis and Ptah (puhtah) and Mnevis (navis), would all be insulted.
Through these plagues, Moses and his God were attacking our gods. One by one. But you know what, I haven’t heard yet. I just hardened my heart even more when another plague hit our land. This time, it was boils.
Moses was getting braver every day. He stood in front of me and took a handful of ashes and threw it into the sky. And he said: These ashes will turn into boils that will break out with ulcers in men and animals throughout your land if you do not let God’s people go.”
Oh brother – do you think I was about to bow down to him? now? Things were tough, but he wasn’t going to let Moses and his God win! I was at this for a long time.
When the boils appeared, people had festering sores everywhere. There was a cry of pain throughout the land of Egypt such as I had never heard before.
Our god, Sekhmet, who prevents diseases, was losing popularity among my people. I cried out to our god Serapis (seh ruh peez) and Imhotop (ee mow tep), gods…