With the fifth plague Egypt begins to experience death. The livestock of the Egyptians is struck down. In the ancient world the connection between domesticated animals and humans was much closer than for most people today. People then depended on their animals for many aspects of life and so the partnership between man and animal was a core aspect of life. The Egyptians went further by revering domestic animals to the point where many of their gods were depicted as domestic animals. These animal-gods, however, were not able to save Egypt. Rather, in this plague, they were shown to be empty objects of vain worship. And all along the flocks and herds of the Israelites remained unharmed! This would have been a humiliating blow to the Egyptians. And yet still Pharaoh remains unyielding. At this point the irrationality of human rebellion seems to be epitomised in this obstinate ruler. He is holding on to his autonomy with absurd stubbornness in the face of clear demonstrations of God’s sovereignty. These clear signs of “the finger of God” do not change him. Miracles and demonstrations of God will not change anyone because people do not reject God based on intellectual conviction primarily. We suffer from a god-complex in which we habitually try to exercise God-like control over our environments and this is very hard for us to give up. You may be more like Pharaoh than you think. The first thing we find out about the Israelites after the Exodus is that they are going to respond to God in much the same way as Pharaoh did. Are you willing to let God be your God?
Ask God to soften your heart and help you to be more amenable to his will.
Read Exodus 9:1-7
