Biblical narrative vs Egyptian narrative
That the World May Know
Biblical narrative - God speaks order out of chaos, and then creation drags itself back into chaos
Egyptian narrative:
- Re hovers over a murky swamp and accidentally brings the world into being
- Pharaoh is much like a chief priest in Egyptian cosmology - it is up to Pharaoh to maintain order
- Creation is in a vault and there is water above and water below and it is up to Pharaoh to maintain the order or else the world would come crashing down (contrast with Biblical narrative where God speaks order and creation obeys)
We can buy into the Biblical narrative (one of trust) or the narrative of Egypt (one of fear) - Empire vs Shalom
God Heard Their Cry
- Goshen is the best top soil in the world - Israel originally was sent to Israel now in slavery but as a nomadic people they were given the greatest farmland they could ask
- Israel used the best metal tools of the day, thanks to Egyptian furnaces, to farm the land
- Israel did give into Egyptian gods, they "stood one foot in barley and one foot in empire"
God's new question is "How do I get Egypt out of my people?"
- God does this by giving them empire, similarly to how God gives his people a king when they want a king instead of to simply follow Yahweh
- Israel then participates in Empire, but they are now at the bottom... they can't have one foot in and one foot out and expect to continue to receive God's blessing during their rebellion
- God needs a leader, a partner, to help lead his people out of Egypt
Plagues
Competition between the gods of Egypt and Yahweh
- The sticks to snakes actually says that "Moses' stick swallowed up the magician's sticks", not the snakes... The point is the sticks, which represent power - like a scepter and God's stick is swallowing up Pharaoh's stick
God is out to redeem his people, and to also "let the Egyptians know that Yahweh is God"... he's not mad at Egyptians, he's mad at Pharaoh.
Marty uses Obama's and Trump's inauguration speeches together to show how regardless of our political convictions, essentially our government without Yahweh is all about Empire.