Theological Commentary: Click Here
At first
glance, there isn’t much in this chapter that hasn’t been said quite frequently
in the past few weeks. God will judge
Egypt. Babylon will be His instrument of
destruction. Even more, this will be
done so that they will know that God is who He says He is. If nothing else, it is important to realize
that this happens because it is the only way left to God to get them to realize
He is there and He is powerful.
As I read
through this chapter, though, I came to realize that the content of this
chapter isn’t new. Hasn’t God already
proven himself to the Egyptians? Hasn’t
he already silenced a prince of the Pharaoh?
Hasn’t He already destroyed them?
Of course He
has. The Exodus was already a story of
God’s will versus human hubris. God has
already demonstrated His ability to conquer the human will. So, what does this teach us?
The truth is
that human beings have short memories.
We have short memories individually, naturally. But communally, we have equally short
memories. This is why we have the
saying, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” Given the same opportunity, we will likely
all make the same mistakes as people who were in the same situation before us.
God knows
this about us. He could have obliterated
Egypt during the Exodus. He didn’t. He gave them another chance. He could have obliterated them through the
Babylonians. He once more doesn’t. He gives them another chance.
Humans may
be stubborn. We might not learn lessons
well, especially from other people. But
as slow and stubborn as we might be, God is even more patient and loving. That’s an interesting lesson to get out of this
chapter on the destruction of Egypt.
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