Daily Bible Portion (Thursday)
Daily Bible Portion – 5 of 7
"AND I APPEARED"
(Weekly Reading>>Exodus 6:2-9:35, Ezekiel 28:25-29:21, Romans 9:14-17, 2Corinthians 6:14 to 7:1, Revelation 16)
The Second Plague - Frogs
(Exodus 8:1-15)
After waiting seven days (for purification from the blood), Yahweh sent Moses again to Pharaoh to say, “Let my people go so they may worship Me.” When he refused, Aaron was commanded by Yahweh to raise his staff over the streams, canals and ponds and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt. The frogs were left where they died, in the Nile, in the houses, the courtyards and in the fields. They piled up in heaps and the land reeked of them. Their fertility god had brought the stench of death throughout the kingdom.
The attack of frogs was an attack on Heka (Heqt) the toad goddess, wife of Khnum who was goddess of the land. Heka was also the goddess of resurrection and procreative power. Frogs were consecrated to Osiris and were the symbol of inspiration. Frogs and toads were very sacred to the Egyptians. If anyone killed a frog, even unintentionally, the sin was punishable by death.
Pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate the frogs, but could not make the frogs disappear. Pharaoh had to ask Moses for help. Moses answered,
After the land was cleaned, Pharaoh’s heart was still hardened.
Today, a heterosexual marriage between a man and a woman is threatening to be seen as the minority. The world is forcing more non-biblical points of view upon the general public, pressuring them to accept a gay or lesbian homosexual couple as being created by God just as the heterosexual couple is. Even adoption laws are changing because of this. It is hard to imagine Adam and Adam or Eve and Eve in the garden but this is what is being stated. They want to challenge the whole original plan and rewrite the Bible.
Married couples today face a rise in infertility. In 1984 5% married couples were infertile. Today it is 10% or 6.1 million and another 7.4 million use infertility services. Desperate couples are putting their hope in the medical profession to procreate and many face thousands of dollars trying to conceive through in vitro (IVF) methods. Unfortunately many of these couples may not be aware that they may have innocently violated Yahweh’s universal laws governing marriage and brought about their own infertility. Learning God’s ways and repenting could clear up much of the infertility problem of today.
The Third Plague - Gnats
(Exodus 8:16-19)
With no warning at all for Pharaoh, Yahweh had Aaron strike the dust of the ground with his staff. Throughout the land of Egypt the dust became gnats/lice. Gnats were on all the men and animals.
The plague of gnats was an attack on Geb, the Great Cackler, god of earth and vegetation. His representation was that of a goose that was said to have laid the egg that hatched the sun. The royal throne of Egypt was known as the throne of Geb. He was the father of Osiris and husband of Nut.
Egyptian priests shaved their heads to prevent lice which, if found, would render them unclean. The plague of gnats/lice/fleas stopped all priestly rituals.
The magicians could not duplicate this and said, “This is the finger of Yahweh.”
Today with the promise for higher crop yields and not having the knowledge of Yahweh’s natural agricultural instructions, many farmers have resorted to adding chemicals to the soil that they are told will help control weeds. They also planted seed with an insecticide already in its DNA to kill the insects that were destroying their produce. Now these chemicals have not only shown up throughout the food chain, they have been found polluting our rivers, lakes and streams, contaminated wild fish and animals and shown up in pregnant women and in their new born babies. The weeds the chemicals professed to kill have now become super weeds. The soil exposed to these chemicals is depleted of natural nutrients and good bacteria, and often becomes sterile. Humans ingesting this genetically modified (GMO) produce are now becoming resistant to antibiotics and developing compromised immune systems. This leaves the door wide open for possible infections, disease and infertility.
The Fourth Plague - Flies
(Exodus 8:20-32)
In the second series of plagues, Yahweh told Moses and Aaron to rise early and confront Pharaoh as he went to the water, and say to him, “Let my people go, so they may worship me.” Moses warned Pharaoh if he did not let them go a plague of flies would come upon the Egyptian people but not on the land of Goshen where Yahweh’s people lived. Here Yahweh made a distinction between clean and unclean, holy and unholy. A separation was made between what was Egypt, with all its idolatry, and what was holy to God.
Pharaoh’s heart did not change and the flies came in swarms on all the people, filling their homes. Pharaoh responded by saying the Israelites could offer a sacrifice to Yahweh but remain within the borders of Egypt. Moses replied that the Hebrew sacrifice would be detestable to the Egyptians as Yahweh required the sacrifice of a bull, one of the most sacred gods in Egypt. If the Israelites did this in their land, the Egyptians would try to stone them.
Yahweh does not want us to harbor other gods or idolatry, in our hearts. We learn through His word what He considers is idolatry, and what might cause our hearts to desire other gods. Spirits of addiction, greed and lust; the need to keep up of appearances (food, clothing, cars etc) is called desiring things of the flesh and can propel the need for excessive money. Unloving spirits can cause people to feel the need to have man’s approval and become like others; harboring spirits of jealousy and fear can result in arguments, and slanderous thoughts or speech against others. These reveal struggles within the hearts of man and represent idols that take the focus of our hearts away from Yahweh, which He considers to be adultery. Our sin comes from within ourselves (James 4). The cure for this is to separate ourselves from that which keeps us from honoring Yahweh. Repent and learn to obey Him, allowing Him to circumcise our hearts.
Yahweh said, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Genesis 4:7).
All Creation obeys Yahweh. The sun, moon and stars stay in their orbits; the ocean does not cross its boundaries; the seasons change and the birds migrate - all in obedience to Yahweh’s creation. It is only man, made in God’s image, who is given a free choice to obey Yahweh or not.
The plague of flies was an attack on Khepfi, who was the god of insects. Included in the same plague was the beetle, a scarab, which was the emblem of Re (Ra), the sun god. Their sun god had now become detestable to them. To stop the massive swarms of flies, Pharaoh again had to come to the God of Moses for help. The flies left, but Pharaoh’s hard heart would not let the Israelites go.
continues tomorrow...
"AND I APPEARED"
(Weekly Reading>>Exodus 6:2-9:35, Ezekiel 28:25-29:21, Romans 9:14-17, 2Corinthians 6:14 to 7:1, Revelation 16)
The Second Plague - Frogs
(Exodus 8:1-15)
After waiting seven days (for purification from the blood), Yahweh sent Moses again to Pharaoh to say, “Let my people go so they may worship Me.” When he refused, Aaron was commanded by Yahweh to raise his staff over the streams, canals and ponds and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt. The frogs were left where they died, in the Nile, in the houses, the courtyards and in the fields. They piled up in heaps and the land reeked of them. Their fertility god had brought the stench of death throughout the kingdom.
The attack of frogs was an attack on Heka (Heqt) the toad goddess, wife of Khnum who was goddess of the land. Heka was also the goddess of resurrection and procreative power. Frogs were consecrated to Osiris and were the symbol of inspiration. Frogs and toads were very sacred to the Egyptians. If anyone killed a frog, even unintentionally, the sin was punishable by death.
Pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate the frogs, but could not make the frogs disappear. Pharaoh had to ask Moses for help. Moses answered,
It will be as you have said, and from this you will learn that Yahweh our God has no equal (Exodus 8:6 CJB).
After the land was cleaned, Pharaoh’s heart was still hardened.
Today, a heterosexual marriage between a man and a woman is threatening to be seen as the minority. The world is forcing more non-biblical points of view upon the general public, pressuring them to accept a gay or lesbian homosexual couple as being created by God just as the heterosexual couple is. Even adoption laws are changing because of this. It is hard to imagine Adam and Adam or Eve and Eve in the garden but this is what is being stated. They want to challenge the whole original plan and rewrite the Bible.
Married couples today face a rise in infertility. In 1984 5% married couples were infertile. Today it is 10% or 6.1 million and another 7.4 million use infertility services. Desperate couples are putting their hope in the medical profession to procreate and many face thousands of dollars trying to conceive through in vitro (IVF) methods. Unfortunately many of these couples may not be aware that they may have innocently violated Yahweh’s universal laws governing marriage and brought about their own infertility. Learning God’s ways and repenting could clear up much of the infertility problem of today.
The Third Plague - Gnats
(Exodus 8:16-19)
With no warning at all for Pharaoh, Yahweh had Aaron strike the dust of the ground with his staff. Throughout the land of Egypt the dust became gnats/lice. Gnats were on all the men and animals.
The plague of gnats was an attack on Geb, the Great Cackler, god of earth and vegetation. His representation was that of a goose that was said to have laid the egg that hatched the sun. The royal throne of Egypt was known as the throne of Geb. He was the father of Osiris and husband of Nut.
Egyptian priests shaved their heads to prevent lice which, if found, would render them unclean. The plague of gnats/lice/fleas stopped all priestly rituals.
The magicians could not duplicate this and said, “This is the finger of Yahweh.”
Today with the promise for higher crop yields and not having the knowledge of Yahweh’s natural agricultural instructions, many farmers have resorted to adding chemicals to the soil that they are told will help control weeds. They also planted seed with an insecticide already in its DNA to kill the insects that were destroying their produce. Now these chemicals have not only shown up throughout the food chain, they have been found polluting our rivers, lakes and streams, contaminated wild fish and animals and shown up in pregnant women and in their new born babies. The weeds the chemicals professed to kill have now become super weeds. The soil exposed to these chemicals is depleted of natural nutrients and good bacteria, and often becomes sterile. Humans ingesting this genetically modified (GMO) produce are now becoming resistant to antibiotics and developing compromised immune systems. This leaves the door wide open for possible infections, disease and infertility.
The Fourth Plague - Flies
(Exodus 8:20-32)
In the second series of plagues, Yahweh told Moses and Aaron to rise early and confront Pharaoh as he went to the water, and say to him, “Let my people go, so they may worship me.” Moses warned Pharaoh if he did not let them go a plague of flies would come upon the Egyptian people but not on the land of Goshen where Yahweh’s people lived. Here Yahweh made a distinction between clean and unclean, holy and unholy. A separation was made between what was Egypt, with all its idolatry, and what was holy to God.
Pharaoh’s heart did not change and the flies came in swarms on all the people, filling their homes. Pharaoh responded by saying the Israelites could offer a sacrifice to Yahweh but remain within the borders of Egypt. Moses replied that the Hebrew sacrifice would be detestable to the Egyptians as Yahweh required the sacrifice of a bull, one of the most sacred gods in Egypt. If the Israelites did this in their land, the Egyptians would try to stone them.
Yahweh does not want us to harbor other gods or idolatry, in our hearts. We learn through His word what He considers is idolatry, and what might cause our hearts to desire other gods. Spirits of addiction, greed and lust; the need to keep up of appearances (food, clothing, cars etc) is called desiring things of the flesh and can propel the need for excessive money. Unloving spirits can cause people to feel the need to have man’s approval and become like others; harboring spirits of jealousy and fear can result in arguments, and slanderous thoughts or speech against others. These reveal struggles within the hearts of man and represent idols that take the focus of our hearts away from Yahweh, which He considers to be adultery. Our sin comes from within ourselves (James 4). The cure for this is to separate ourselves from that which keeps us from honoring Yahweh. Repent and learn to obey Him, allowing Him to circumcise our hearts.
Yahweh said, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Genesis 4:7).
All Creation obeys Yahweh. The sun, moon and stars stay in their orbits; the ocean does not cross its boundaries; the seasons change and the birds migrate - all in obedience to Yahweh’s creation. It is only man, made in God’s image, who is given a free choice to obey Yahweh or not.
The plague of flies was an attack on Khepfi, who was the god of insects. Included in the same plague was the beetle, a scarab, which was the emblem of Re (Ra), the sun god. Their sun god had now become detestable to them. To stop the massive swarms of flies, Pharaoh again had to come to the God of Moses for help. The flies left, but Pharaoh’s hard heart would not let the Israelites go.
continues tomorrow...
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