The plagues of Egypt were brutal. I have never
before considered the devastating effects they had on its citizens. The Old
Testament doesn’t take this aspect of the plagues into consideration. It only
highlights that the Egyptians were eager by the end of the ordeal to send the Hebrews
‘out of the land in haste’ lest they all die (Exodus 12:33)
Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, took
liberty to elaborate on the more realistic picture of the disaster of the time during
which many people died. It horrified me reading it. Consider that they had no
spring water and they were forced to drink of the bloody river, the land was
full of ‘pestilential creatures’ such as
never had been seen before, the boils and blains and the three days of intense
darkness killed many due to lack of air, and of course the worst was the death
of all the first born, including the cattle so their food supply was greatly
diminished for those who survived (Josephus, “Jewish Antiquities Book 2,
Chapter 14). Egypt was just about destroyed.
I know some people don’t like the Old Testament
because God comes across as a vengeful God. When you consider the Flood and all
the wars God’s people have waged with His help, it can seem so. God somehow
seems almost biased towards one group of people at the expense of all others. Consider His expressions of love and devotion:
He considers Israel to be ‘the apple of His eye’ (Deut 32:9,10; Zechariah 2:8;
Psalm 17:18)….and His treasure and jewels (Exodus 19:5; 28:17-21; Malachi 3:17;
D&C 60:4; 101:3).
This is what I see in the Old Testament. I have
always seen in it the merciful Jehovah because of His perpetual forgiveness and support of the
backsliding Israel but I believe it had to be so because It was a time when the
establishment of the House of Israel was taking place. It was a time when the
Abrahamic covenant had to be grounded for the peculiar and favoured people of
God to be built and stabilized because this group of people is where the
salvation of the human family resides. Whether you are born into it or adopted
into it, you have to belong to it to be saved.
God’s favouritism of the House of Israel is
extensive in the scriptures and most people of the world don’t understand it or
see it. Consider just a few: “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
an holy nation, a peculiar people…and this is why: that ye should show forth
the praises of him who hath called you out of darknesss into His marvellous
light (1 Peter 2:9).
Most people prefer the New Testament to the Old
because it portrays a loving God. I get it, Jesus was all about love, a love
that took Him to the cross. The interesting thing is that Jesus didn’t come to
earth to minister to the world. He came to minister to the favoured but apostate
House, to bring back in His words, ‘the lost sheep of Israel’ (Matthew 15:24; 3
Nephi 15:19-23). The Gospel was not taken to the rest of the world until after
his death.
He came to the Israelites because to them
pertains “the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the
law, and the service of God, and the promises (Romans 9:4). The House needed the
establishment of His Church to receive the covenants and to engage in the
service to bless the human family of the earth….to fulfil the Abrahamic
covenant. He came as the Shepherd to
teach the under-shepherds how to rescue the sheep…..We are favoured because we
are the believers and because we are the workers.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Return to the Fold By Greg Sargent)
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