Why the plagues of Egypt?

The plagues God brought on the Pharaoh of Egypt and Egyptian people were to show the Egyptian deities were no match for His power. It was also a way to show the Israelites he was in charge. None of the gods of Egypt were of consequence to the God of Moses. In the time the Israelites were in Egypt they were indoctrinated to these deities and subjected to the ways of their masters. (I researched the deities of Egypt and was amazed at the number of them listed. There are 490 deities plus 19 groups of deities. I don't see how they could have kept track of them all.) Hapi was god the Nile - Heh was god of the frogs - Apis was the god of calfs - Geb was the god of the earth - Nut was the god of the sky - Ra was the sun god -Seth was the god of storms, disorder and violence - Atum was god of the first born - Anubis was the god of death -Resheph was the god of pestilence. These names were gleaned from Wikipedia. I make no claim that these were the gods Yahweh was dethroning in the 10 plagues. It was His purpose to show pharaoh and the Hebrews that He was greater than any Egyptian god and His power was second to none. It is hard to believe the Hebrews were so stubborn in letting go of the gods of Egypt or complaining about Moses and Yahweh after the demonstrations before Pharaoh, the pillars of smoke and fire, the parting of the sea and all of the other signs and wonders. The time spent in slavery did a job on them to be sure.

One other Fact that escapes most readers of exodus is that when the Lord set up what was clean and what was unclean. All of the clean animals were the ones Egypt used as sacrifices and all of the unclean animals were the ones the Egyptians worshiped. Talk about throwing this in the faces of the Egyptians. I am sure the Hebrews knew full well that this was to let them know what was taught was false information about gods that were false. The ways of the Lord are amazing to behold.

I hope you enjoyed the little insights presented here.

May the Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

From December of 2015

 

The Amazing Thing about Scripture is that it Is Timeless. It is accurate and relevant more than 2000 years after it was written.

There are times when reading the scriptures and the gospels that I stop and ask why is that happening this way. Has This ever happened to you. There are some things that the scholars are trying to explain but find it difficult if not impossible to explain and prove. Others are relatively simple to explain. Much of the new testament is fairly cut and dried, or is it? The star of Bethlehem is a mystery and probably will always be so. There are many theories and suppositions as to what it could have been, none of which are proven or universally accepted.

For me there are many questions. Two of them are:

1. Why did Herod send troops to kill children from 2 years of age and younger if Jesus was in swaddling clothes?

2. Why is there no record of the deed in historical records?

Interesting enough the answer can be had by knowing the conditions and times that Jesus lived in. First of all is the slowness of transportation at the time, mostly by foot or camel. Until the wise men traveled to Israel, stopped and queried Herod of the birth of Jesus, found Jesus and left Israel without returning to tell Herod what they found and the time it took Herod to realized they would not return, it is most likely that the better part of two years had passed. Jesus could have been more than a year old when the slaughter of the children took place. As to why the deed is not in any records, Bethlehem was only a small village at the time comprising only a thousand or so inhabitants. unlike today, this was not an uncommon occurrence in ancient mid eastern civilization. The deed would not necessarily have been taken note of for a small settlement such as Bethlehem in historical records. 

What is my point? Knowing some of the history and living conditions at the time of Jesus brings the reality of the life of Christ into vivid focus and brings better understanding of some of the things Jesus and the others mentioned in the bible said and did. It is not a lessening of the reality of Christ but an enrichment of it. It creates a feeling of being there. It gives an understanding of the conditions and what the purpose of the actions and words were at the time. For me it is astounding that to this day the words of Christ and God are still very much alive. By understanding the reality of the living conditions then it becomes even more wondrous.

After the holidays I need to find out who is still blogging and who is no longer following. At that time I will once again start giving shout outs. Tank you for your patience.

I have two Christmas cards to share with you today. I do not remember whom they were sent to but I know they have been received. They are both created from Stamps Happen stamp company. Sorry I could not find these stamps for sale anywhere so no link is provided. The Company owning the rights is Custom Rubber Stamp Company. Many of the stamps are discontinued.

The Copics used: C2,Y11, Y28, BG18, Y02, E000, E43

The image was fussy cut fastened with Sookwang tape. The halo was tricky. I left a small strip of card stock to connect the images and used a razor knife to cut it off after it was fastened to the card face and silver halo. The silver and the gold for the halo and star were scraps from my stash. The Noel was created in Word, cut out and attached with Sookwang tape. The card face was also scrap from my stash.

The next card does not have a Copic list with it. It was about the time I first started to note the colors used ( Several years ago ). This image is called Angel of Light. Again there is no Image for sale to refer to and is more than likely discontinued.

This was one of the harder images to color because of the fine detail. It was fussy cut and fastened to the card stock with, what else, Sookwang tape. Smile. The Stars and snowflake are Starform glitter stickers. I didn't have a star to use as the star of Bethlehem so a snowflake sticker was use to represent it. 

A delicate gold "Stamponit" sticker was used at  the fold inside the card for a little extra interest. Not very fancy but effective.

That is it for today. I appreciate your stopping by to visit. Have a SAFE Happy New Year. Remember to always Love the Details. See you in 2016. (BOY THAT FEELS STRANGE)

Back to April 16, 2016

  

This is a post from Monday April 18, 2016

For the past week or so I have been walking as much as possible. This past week, however, I turned up the the pace. I wanted to do as much as possible each day and have the best week ever. In a 7 day period I did 143,000 steps (paces).That translates into 66.79 miles. Within that, 217 floors (10 feet in height per floor) were registered. One 30,000 (14.16 miles) and one 35,000 (16.57 miles) and several 15 to 20,000+ step days were recorded. This was triggered by achieving a recorded distance of more than 1600 miles since last May. That is more than 3.5 million paces. Why am I telling you this? My walks are my time with our Lord and, at times, with my dear wife when she wants to walk for awhile.  (I do spend good quality time with Jill other than this. No, she does not do the distance I do. Smile! I have no wish to carry her back to the house.) It is great alone time and meditation time. Just wanted to share this with all of you. Each and every step we as Christians take is one step closer to our goal. Looking back should present a view of how far we have come. In this case there is a spiritual and even a mental tally we should be able to recognize. It should be encouraging to you to recognize where you started and where your journey has brought you. Hindsight will keep you on track and moving in the right direction.

I have been reading through the book of wisdom for the past several months. There is much to ponder in this book. It is not the first time through but each time I try to read it from a different version of scripture. In 2 Chronicles 1:10 - 12 Solomon asks for wisdom and knowledge in that order. God grants his wish in that order. Knowledge is of no use without wisdom. Knowledge in and of itself is useless without the wisdom to know how or when to use it. 

I have Two cards to share with you as well. I am not going to elaborate much on them. They are made from materials purchased at the Allentown, Pennsylvania  Craft Fair. The first card was a bit of a challenge but Came out fairly well.       

This card was meant to be a note card as is the second card I will present to you. The heart die cut is Impression Obsession  "Die126-U". The Key is Our Daily Bread "Keys". The border is from Stamp On It. The paper and pearls are from my stash. Everything was glued on with TomBow Mono Liquid Glue using a tooth pick as the applicator

The next note card is a Impression Obsession die cut as well. It is "Die044-Y". 

There are about 40 or 50 flowers in that flower head. Each one was glued on with TomBow Mono Liquid Glue using a tooth pick as the applicator. The white centers to the flowers was done with a white Gel pen. All Papers are from my stash.

The image that was shared last time is still in progress. Very tedious. 

That will be it for now. Remember to always Love The Details. Hugs and  Blessings.

 Life got in the road this week. I will post, hopefully, next Wednesday.

May the good Lord bless and Keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."