Bible Study Archives

If you haven’t read the previous two posts on the tenth plague, you might want to go do that now. It will help this post make more sense.

In light of the idea that God did not kill the firstborn sons of Egypt, why then does the Bible say that it is God who would destroy them (Exodus 11:1, 4-5; 12:12)? This is a perfect example of a place in Scripture where God takes responsibility for a terrible event which occurred on His watch.

God didn’t participate in the destructiveness of the event, but due to the rebellion of the Egyptians and the destruction they had invited upon themselves, God was not able to fully prevent the destruction that came, and so took measures to rescue and deliver those He could. As for the rest of the event, God allows Himself to take the blame for the death of the firstborn because this disaster happened on His watch and so He bears responsibility for it.

There are two pieces of evidence later in Scripture which reveal to us that this is the way the tenth plague should be understood.

The Destroyer Killed the Firstborn Sons of Egypt

The first is what the writer of the book of Hebrews says about this event in Hebrews 11:28. In that text, the author clearly hesitates from saying that it was God who killed the firstborn sons of Egypt and writes instead about “he who destroyed the firstborn.” The author of Hebrews seems to be saying that it was the destroyer who destroyed the firstborn sons of Egypt, and it was God who kept the destroyer from touching the sons of those families who had the blood of the lamb on their doorpost.

The Death of Jesus on the Cross Reveals God’s Role in the Passover

It is this blood of the lamb which gives us the second way to read about the tenth plague in a new light.

Nearly all Christians know that the blood of the lamb is later used to symbolize the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross for us. In the last supper, which was a Passover meal, Jesus talked about His blood being poured out for us (Luke 22:20). The book of Revelation portrays Jesus as the lamb who was slain since the foundation of the world (Rev 5:6).

So if these sorts of texts guide our understanding of the tenth plague, we must not look to the death and destruction of the firstborn sons of Egypt as a proper indication of God’s activity in this event, but rather, we must look to the blood of the lamb. The lamb slain for protection, deliverance, and redemption is where we see Jesus in the events of the first Passover.

And in fact, the symbolism could not be more clear when we remember that the Israelites would have understood the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt as proper revenge for the death of their own sons at the hands of the Egyptians 80 years earlier. When we remember this, and read about the crucifixion of Jesus in light of the first Passover, the contrast between the God who delivers and the destroyer who kills could not be more clear.

The way to see Jesus in the text of the tenth plague is not so much in what Jesus did, but in what Jesus did not do.

For example, when Moses was born, all the sons of Israel were killed by Pharaoh’s army. So, when Moses comes into prophetic power over Egypt, God is shown to be exacting revenge against Egypt by putting to death all the firstborn sons of Egypt.

When Jesus is born, something similar happens. Herod commands that all the boys two years old and younger in the region of Bethlehem be put to death. If one is thinking that Jesus is fulfilling Moses and following in the footsteps of Israel (as the opening chapters of the Gospel of Matthew indicate), we would expect that Jesus, once He enters into His prophetic power over the Roman Empire, does something similar as what was done in the tenth plague. We would expect Jesus to put to death all the firstborn sons of the Romans. But Jesus does the exact opposite.

Rather than kill the firstborn sons of His enemies, Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, lets Himself be killed by His enemies.

Rather than exact revenge upon His enemies for what they had done 33 years earlier, Jesus allows the crime to be repeated again upon Himself. He does not put His enemies to death, but dies in the place of His enemies.

Rather than take steps to protect Himself from the angel of death, He goes willingly to the slaughter so that His blood can protect His enemies.

In this way, the crucifixion of Jesus is a shocking reversal and fulfillment of the tenth plague. Through the crucifixion of Jesus, we learn what God is really like.

God is not a baby-killing deity, who seeks to exact revenge on His enemies for a crime many decades old, but is a self-sacrificial, enemy-loving God, who would rather die for His enemies than see His enemies die.

So when we read about the tenth plague in light of Jesus on the cross, we can see that God is not to be found in the destroying angel who slaughters babies out of revenge or because of the sins of a proud and self-righteous ruler.

Instead, God is to be found in the self-sacrificial death of a lamb, who pours out His blood for others, so that death and destruction, when it comes, passes over the house and cannot touch those who live within. When Jesus reveals the God of the tenth plague to us, it is not a God of death, fear, and destruction, but a God of deliverance, hope, protection, and redemption.

How can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?

These are the sorts of questions we discuss and (try to) answer in my online discipleship group. Members of the group can also take ALL of my online courses (Valued at over $1000) at no charge. Learn more here: Join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship Group I can't wait to hear what you have to say, and how we can help you better understand God and learn to live like Him in this world!

Who Killed the Firstborn Sons of Egypt?

By Jeremy Myers

69 Comments

Yesterday I introduced the idea that the ten plagues were primarily a way for God to reveal His power over and against the impotence of the Egyptian deities. In this post, we want to consider the tenth plague in more detail, and specifically consider the question about who killed the firstborn sons of Egypt.

The Tenth Plague

First of all, it is helpful to remember that the tenth plague is not the first plague. That is, no matter how we understand the events of the tenth plague, it is critical to remember that God did not start with this plague of death, but rather, this plague followed nine specific warnings and clear demonstrations of power.

God did not just send Moses to Pharaoh and without any warning, have the firstborn sons of Egypt struck dead. No, there was a whole series of events that led up to this terrible disaster in Egypt.

Furthermore, it should also be noted that the tenth plague was not God’s idea, nor was it the idea of Moses. The destruction of the firstborn sons of Egypt was something that the previous Pharaoh had visited upon the people of Israel 80 years earlier when the Egyptian army killed all the newborn sons of Israel two years old and younger (Exodus 1:16). This is an example of sin cannibalizing itself, so that the sins of the fathers fall upon later generations.

But beyond even this, after the ninth plague, Pharaoh told Moses that if Moses came before him again Pharaoh would kill him (Exodus 10:28). In a way, then, it was Pharaoh who had given the ultimatum of “win or die.” Pharaoh had lost every confrontation against the God of Israel, and so now Pharaoh decreed that the contest was over and even though he had lost, he would still not let God’s people go. The only way forward, then, was to finally and ultimately break Pharaoh’s pride.

Did God Kill the Firstborn Sons of Egypt?

In Exodus 11–12, the text indicates that God decided to kill all the first-born sons of Egypt. This is explicitly stated in various locations, such as in Exodus 11:1 where God decrees that He will bring one more plague against Egypt.

In the following verses, God states that He Himself will go into the midst of Egypt to slay the firstborn sons (Exodus 11:4-5). God later says that it is He who will kill the firstborn in the land (Exodus 12:12). To protect themselves, the Israelites are to put the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their house so that when death comes, it passes over their house and goes on to those homes which are not protected by blood (Exodus 12:23).

Yet something strange happens in the text.

There seems to be a bit of a transition in Exodus 12:23. There is a peek behind the curtains to what was really happening when the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt occurred.

On the surface of the entire passage, it seems as if God is the one who is doing the killing.

While Exodus 12:12 “suggests that since the Egyptians’ sinfulness had gone too far, God personally executed their firstborn … the Bible contains some specific references to the plagues which hint of something very different occurring” (Campbell, Light through the Darkness, 58).

For example, Exodus 12:23 says that when God passed over the doors of the houses which had been marked with the blood of the Passover lamb, He would not allow the destroyer to enter into the house to kill the firstborn of that house.

So it was not God who struck down the firstborn sons of Egypt, but a being referred to as “the destroyer.”

If Exodus 12:23 provides some clarity with what was going on, it appears that God’s primary activity in the tenth plague was not in killing the firstborn sons of Egypt, but in protecting people from the destroyer that had come to kill all things.

In this way, the “passing over” of the Lord is not so much the action of God in skipping a house, but in covering the house with a hand of protection so that the destroyer could not enter that house to kill the firstborn son. Exodus 12:23 indicates that there were two beings involved in the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt: There was God, who put a hand of protection over certain houses, and there was the destroyer, who sought to destroy all, but who was thwarted from doing so by the protective hand of God over certain homes.

So just as with previous violent portrayals of God in the Bible, it seems that when the actual violence occurs, it is the destroyer who destroys, and God’s primary activity is in the arena of protection and deliverance.

Tomorrow we will look at how to understand the tenth plague in light of Jesus Christ dying on the cross. It seems that by His actions on the cross, Jesus affirms the idea that God was the deliverer in Exodus 12; not the destroyer. Until then, what questions, comments, and objections do you have to this approach?

How can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?

Understanding the Ten Plagues

By Jeremy Myers

17 Comments

The ten plagues were the means by which the people of Israel gained freedom from slavery in Egypt.

While some scholars argue that the first nine plagues were non-violent, it is impossible to say that they were non-destructive. Even if it could be proved that no human died in any of the first nine plagues, it is nearly certain that countless fish, frogs, animals, and insects died over the course of these nine plagues. For example, it is quite unlikely that any fish survived the first plague—the turning of the water of the Nile into blood. The same goes for the disease on the cattle (the fifth plague), and the hail and fire of the seventh plague.

Nevertheless, as we seek to understand the violence of God in the Old Testament in light of Jesus Christ, it is the tenth plague that is of primary importance for this study, for it this plague which killed all the firstborn sons of Egypt.

The Ten Plagues and the Impotence of Egyptian Deities

However, before we consider the events of the tenth plague, it is important to recognize that all the ten plagues were at their core an attack on the powers of the Egyptian deities (cf. Gen 12:12).

The plagues were designed to show the impotence of the Egyptian idols, the supremacy of God’s power and the futility of resisting His declare will. The plagues also showed His mercy, being tailored to disrupt and humiliate the worship of their pagan deities without causing loss of human life until the final plague, which occurred only after God had exhausted every other option (Graeser, et. al, Don’t Blame God, 74).

The first plague, turning water into blood, revealed the impotence of Khnum, the guardian of the river, Hapi, the spirit of the Nile, and Osiris, whose blood was the Nile.
The second plague, the frogs, revealed the impotence of Hapi and Heket, who were symbolized by frogs and were related to Egyptian fertility rites.
The third plague, that of lice, revealed the impotence of Seb, the earth god.
The fourth plague, that of flies, revealed the impotence of Uatchit, the god of flies.
The fifth plague, the disease on cattle, revealed the impotence of Ptah, Mnevis, Hathor, and Amon, Egyptian gods associated with bulls and cows.
The sixth plague, the plague of boils, revealed the impotence of Sekhmet, the goddess of epidemics, and Imhotep, the god of healing.
The seventh plague, the hail mixed with fire, revealed the impotence of Nut, the sky goddess, Isis and Seth, Egyptian agricultural deities, and Shu, the god of the atmosphere, weather, and sky.
The eighth plague, the swarms of locusts, revealed the impotence of Serapia, the deity who was to protect Egypt from locusts.
The ninth plague, that of darkness, revealed the impotence of Re, Amon-re, Aten, Atum, and Horus, all of who were related to the sun.
Finally, the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt, revealed the impotence of Pharaoh himself, who was worshiped as a deity in Egypt.

Note: For a great chart on these Egyptian deities and their relation to the Ten Plagues, see Barnes’ Bible Charts on the Plagues.

Tomorrow we will begin to look at how to read and understand the tenth plague in light of Jesus Christ. Until then, have you heard this perspective about the ten plagues revealing the impotence of the Egyptian deities? What are your thoughts about it?

How can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?

I’ve Started Using Logos Bible Software… And you can get 15% Discount

By Jeremy Myers

13 Comments

I have a long and varied history with Bible software packages. I like the idea of Bible software, but have often had trouble finding one that works well with my thought flow and study habits. A while back, I even wrote a complaint about QuickVerse.

So when I recently decided to give Logos a try, I was a little hesitant to use it. But I must say that I was quite pleased and surprised at how easy Logos Bible software was to use, and also how powerfully it helped my study, research, and writing routines.

To show you some of what I mean, here is a 15 minute video I made with some of the abilities of Logos Bible software that I am really pleased with.

Another thing I like about Logos Bible software is that every month or so, they make one of their books available as a free download. I think I have downloaded the last four or five books, and I am looking forward to getting some more free books from Logos in the future.

This month’s free book is Spirituality of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann.

If you are thinking of buying some resources from Logos Bible Software, make sure you use this discount code to get 15% off your order:

Logos Bible Software Discount Code: tillhecomes6

There’s a “5” on the end there… don’t leave that off!

Yes, if you make a purchase using that code, Logos will pay me a bit of money as a “Thank you” for referring you to them, but that is not why I am recommending this software. I do not recommend anything I do not use myself or find helpful in my own studies, research, and writing. I recommend Logos because I think they have the best Bible study software available today.

Does Jesus talk about Hell more than Heaven?

By Jeremy Myers

133 Comments

I sometimes hear pastors and teachers say that Jesus talked about hell more than heaven, and so we should do the same in our evangelism.

In other words, it is is often suggested that Jesus “scared” people into the kingdom. He threatened people with hell if they didn’t believe in Him, and so in our evangelism, we are perfectly justified in using threats of burning forever in hell and other similar scare tactics to get people into the Kingdom of God as well.

And it isn’t just the wacko fringe Christians who say this. I have heard it preached from the pulpits of some relatively “sane” evangelical churches. This sort of approach is also quite common in some of the leading evangelistic approaches of our day. People are trained to tell others that God is holy, righteous, and good, and since one sin is enough to condemn us to hell, God is justified in sending us there if we don’t believe in Jesus for eternal life.

And rather than shying away from hell, we are told to use it as a way to invite people into heaven. After all, we are told, Jesus preached about hell more than heaven, and so should we.

But is this true?

Is it true that Jesus talks about hell more than heaven?

In my book I am currently writing on the violence of God in the Bible, I will be including a full chapter on what the Bible says about hell, and the vast majority of that chapter will find its way here to this blog.

But by way of preview (and because the topic of this month’s synchroblog is hell), here are some of the main points I will be writing about in that chapter:

References to “fire” are usually not references to hell.

Jesus does speak about “fire” several times in the Gospels (e.g., Matt 3:10-12; 7:19; 13:40-50; John 15:6). But these references to fire are not references to a place of eternal torture for the unredeemed, but are simply symbols of temporal discipline and destruction that come upon some people as a result of straying from God’s instructions. Fire can even be for purification of believers (the Greek word for fire is pur) as seen in 1 Corinthians 3:15.

Sometimes Jesus refers to “hell fire” (e.g., Matt 5:22), but these are actually references to “Gehenna,” which I discuss in a later point.

The few references where fire may refer to the everlasting flames of hell are places like Matthew 25:41, and are used in reference to a place created for Satan and his angels. Do some humans end up there? It appears so, but again, this will not be for torture and torment. To explain why will have to wait for the book…

References to “the outer darkness” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” are not references to hell.

There are several instances in Matthew where Jesus refers to “the outer darkness” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 8:12; 13:42-50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). These terms are sometimes used in connection with fire and so most people think they also refer to hell.

But they don’t.

A careful contextual study of most of these texts reveal that the image of “outer darkness” is a symbol of exclusion from blessing and honor, and the image of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is a vivid symbol of deep and profound regret. The events discussed in these places are typically events that will take place at the Judgment Seat of Christ (which is only for believers) and the Wedding Supper of the Lamb (which is also only for believers).

Again, I need full studies to show this, and these will have to wait for my book…

References to “hades” and “gehenna” are not references to hell.

There are numerous references in the Greek New Testament to hades and gehenna, and regrettably, most English translations translate these words as “hell.” But a place of eternal, conscious torment is what modern people think of when they think of hell, this is not what first century Jewish people would have thought of when they heard the words hades and gehenna.

Hades, of course, is the ancient Greek god of the underworld, the god of death. In biblical usage, it is often a Greek translation from the Hebrew sheol, which means “the pit” or “the grave.” Neither of these are references to hell, but simply refer to the hole in the earth in which dead people are laid (cf. Acts 2:27, 31; Rev 20:13).

There is, of course, the story about the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31, which seems to equate hades with torturous flames in a pit of hell. But there are numerous problems with understanding this text as referring to what really happens to people after they die (for example, Lazarus is there with the rich man and they can communicate), and so it is dangerous to take this text to literally.

Finally, Gehenna refers to an actual place that existed outside the gates of Jerusalem. It was a little valley in which trash was thrown to be burned. This imagery must be understood wherever Jesus talks about “hell fire” and uses Gehenna (cf. Matt 5:22).

And do I need to say it? … Yes, I know a fuller explanation is wanted on all these terms and texts, but it will have to wait for the book…

When all of this is considered, we see that Jesus didn’t talk about hell more than heaven. He rarely mentions hell at all. As such, I think there is absolutely no place for threatening people with hell if they don’t believe in Jesus for eternal life. Yes, we can warn people (as Jesus did) about the disastrous temporal consequences of their sin, but threatening people with eternal torment in flames is neither Christlike nor theologically correct.

To say that Jesus warned people of hell and so should we is just plain wrong.

Jesus Really Didn’t Talk about Heaven that Much Either

Having said all this, Jesus really didn’t talk that much about heaven either.

Just as we don’t really want to scare people into believing Jesus, we shouldn’t try to bribe them either. While Jesus talks about heaven more than hell, neither have a big emphasis in His teaching.

Instead, Jesus frequently talks about everlasting life, and life in the kingdom of God. Eternal life, of course, begins the moment we believe in Jesus for it, but the longer we live in Him, the great the experience of eternal life gets.

And the Kingdom of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven) is not a synonym for heaven, but simply refers to the rule and reign of God in our lives.

If you want to evangelize, and you want follow the way of Jesus and the apostles, you don’t need to threaten or bribe. Simply lay out the grand vision of what life is like when we live it God’s way. Life under the rule and reign of God is a life of joy, freedom, contentment, fulfillment, and satisfaction. It is a life of laughter and delight. It is a life free from bondage and slavery and addiction. It is life as it was truly meant to be lived.

This is the life Jesus lived, and this is the life Jesus invited people into. If we want to evangelize others like Jesus, we don’t need to threaten them with hell or bribe them with heaven, but can simply invite them into a way of life is that is better than anything else the world has to offer.

This post is part of the May Synchroblog on the topic of hell. Below is a list of the other bloggers who participated this month. Go read what they have to say on the topic of hell.

Wesley Rostoll – Hell, thoughts on annihilationism
K. W. Leslie – Dark Christians
Angie Benjamin – Hell Is For Real
Paul Meier – Hell Is For Real – I’ve Been There and Came Back
Glenn Hager – Abusing Hell
The Virtual Abbess – What The Hell?
Kimbery Klein – Hell, if I know.
Michael Donahoe – Hell Yes…or No?
Liz Dyer – Hell? No!
Margaret Boelman – Hell No I Won’t Go
Loveday Anyim – Why the hell do you believe in hell?
Linda – The Y In The Road
Edwin Aldrich – What the Hell do we really know.
Mallory Pickering – The Time I Blogged About Hell
Elaine – What The Hell?

The Death of Jesus in the Tenth Plague

The Destroyer Killed the Firstborn Sons of Egypt

The Death of Jesus on the Cross Reveals God’s Role in the Passover

Who Killed the Firstborn Sons of Egypt?

The Tenth Plague

Did God Kill the Firstborn Sons of Egypt?

Understanding the Ten Plagues

The Ten Plagues and the Impotence of Egyptian Deities

I’ve Started Using Logos Bible Software… And you can get 15% Discount

Logos Bible Software Discount Code: tillhecomes6

Does Jesus talk about Hell more than Heaven?

Is it true that Jesus talks about hell more than heaven?

References to “fire” are usually not references to hell.

References to “the outer darkness” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” are not references to hell.

References to “hades” and “gehenna” are not references to hell.

Jesus Really Didn’t Talk about Heaven that Much Either

Theological Study Archives

Advertise or Donate

Search (and you Shall Find)

Get Books by Jeremy Myers

Schedule Jeremy for an interview

Click here to Contact Me!