Creation Coming Undone

Scripture: Exodus 10: 21-29

Sermon: Creation Coming Undone

Topics: Environmentalism, Pro-Life, Plagues

Preached: October 28, 2018 Woodlawn CRC

Rev. Mike Abma

Preamble

In this sermon series on Exodus, we have allotted one sermon for all ten plagues.

One.

That means we can only really read and concentrate on one of them – which will be the 9^th plague, the plague of darkness.

But let me give you a little refresher on the preceding plagues,

or to be more precise, the signs.

1. The first you may remember is the water of the Nile and all of Egypt turning to blood. And Pharaoh does nothing.

2. The second is a multitude of Frogs. Frogs everywhere.

Pharaoh begs that they be gone,

But once they are gone, he will no longer listen.

3. The third are gnats/lice/ticks – some kind of insect invasion everywhere.

Again, Pharaoh does nothing.

4. The fourth are flies – this time not everywhere.

Not where Israel lives, in Goshen, but everywhere else.

All the following signs do not affect Goshen.

Pharaoh relents, and says to Moses

You may go do your sacrifices, but not far away.

But once the flies are gone, Pharaoh says No.

5 The fifth sign is a disease that infects livestock.

Again, Pharaoh does not listen and does nothing.

6. The sixth sign are boils or a rash of some kind, on humans and animals.

Again Pharaoh would not listen.

7. The seventh sign – Severe Weather – Thunder-Hail that smashes trees

Pharaoh admits I have sinned. You can go.

Once the storm is over, Pharaoh does nothing.

8. The eighth sign — Locusts – that act like an entomological vacuum cleaner.

They eat up every little bit of green left in Egypt.

Pharaoh again admits, I have sinned.

Your men may go to worship, but not the women and children.

Once the locust are gone, Pharaoh does nothing.

Now the 9^th Sign The Ninth Plague: Darkness

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.’ 

²²So Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and there was dense darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³People could not see one another, and for three days they could not move from where they were; but all the Israelites had light where they lived. 

²⁴Then Pharaoh summoned Moses, and said, ‘Go, worship the Lord. Only your flocks and your herds shall remain behind. Even your children may go with you.’

 ²⁵But Moses said, ‘You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt-offerings to sacrifice to the Lord our God. ²⁶Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must choose some of them for the worship of the Lord our God, and we will not know what to use to worship the Lord until we arrive there.’ 

²⁷But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go. ²⁸Then Pharaoh said to him, ‘Get away from me! Take care that you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.’ ²⁹Moses said, ‘Just as you say! I will never see your face again.’

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

INTRODUCTION

I read an article this week that tried to explain all 10 plagues.

According to this article, it was all caused by a volcano that erupted near the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea.

According to this article’s theory:

The volcanic ash fell into the Nile river turning it red.

The ash in the water caused the frogs to hop out of the water.

The dead frogs on land caused an epidemic of gnats.

The dead frogs then gave rise to an epidemic of flies.

The flies spread disease to the livestock.

The diseased livestock caused widespread boils and rashes.

The volcanic ash eventually caused severe weather patterns.

And then it caused darkness.^[1]

I read that article, and thought, “Okay. That all kind of makes sense.”

But the Biblical text never tries to give the plagues

a geological or meteorological explanation.

The Biblical text gives a theological explanation for these plagues,

or signs.

And in a way, the theological explanation is rather straight-forward and simple.

The theological explanation is this: moral disorder causes creational disorder.

Pharaoh and Egypt are pictured as agents of moral disorder.

From the killing of babies at the beginning of Exodus,

to the enslavement of the Israelites,

to their terribly brutal treatment.

Pharaoh and Egypt embodied

everything that was anti-life

and everything that was anti-creation.

Their moral disorder caused the creational disorder.

Their ethical chaos caused the environmental chaos.^[2]

And the way these 10 plagues or signs read,

this disorder gets progressively worse.

In other words, each new plague is worse than the last one.

Notice, too, how these plagues affect all of creation:

they start in the water,

then they infect the land;

and finally they infect the air too.

All the realms of creation are infected – water, land, and air.

With these plagues, all of Creation was coming undone.

THE UNDOING OF CREATION

Let me go back to the story of Creation a minute.

Remember Genesis 1?

Where does Genesis 1 start?

It starts with darkness and chaos (tohu vabohu)

But then God begins to bring order to this chaos.

* he separates light from darkness

* he separates the sky from the seas

* he separates the seas from the dry land

* he separates the day from the night

* he separates the animals of the sea from the animals of the air

* he separates the animals of the land from humans, made in his own image.

All this ordering, all this arranging, all this creating

is done with the purpose

of allowing life to flourish.

The Ten Plagues move in exactly opposite direction.

Water, the source of life, turns to blood, the symbol of death.

Frogs of the water, die upon the land.

Gnats then flies multiply without limits.

Livestock, which should flourish, flounder and die.

Trees and plants, which should grow, get utterly smashed down by hail.

Every slip of green gets consumed by locusts.

And then there is darkness – a deep darkness that can be felt.

This is not the word for evening or the word for night.

No, this is the word “darkness” that is used in Genesis 1

when “darkness covered the deep.”

It is as if Creation has come undone to such an extent

that things are reversed right back to

that primordial darkness – the darkness of the tohu vabohu

the darkness of chaos.

That is why this 9^th plague is the worst one thus far.

There will only be one that is worse,

and that is the final one – the one of death.

THE CAUSE

In all these plagues, these signs,

creation is calling, screaming even,

for Pharaoh to change.

But Pharaoh doesn’t listen.

Pharaoh doesn’t change.

He tunes out what is happening.

And the few times he does tune in,

the few times he seems about to relent, to change,

that is only temporary. When things seem to go back to normal,

he reverts to his stubborn self.

What was causing Pharaoh to be so stubborn?

Yes, there is the very mysterious line: The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

But that does not deny the reality that Pharaoh remained a human being,

with a human will

that forcefully refused to bend to Moses’ request.^[3]

What caused Pharaoh to refuse to bend?

Well, we read about that already last week in chapter 5.

Remember when Moses first asks Pharaoh to let the Israelites go?

Remember what Pharaoh’s response was?

He said, “You Israelites are just lazy, lazy, lazy!

You, Moses, are just trying to take them from their work.

No, they have to work,

and they will have to work harder and harder

so that they will not have the energy to listen to your lies.”

That is Pharaoh’s consistent response.

It is an economic response.

He refuses to listen to Moses,

and then he refuses to listen to creation,

because he does not want to lose his work force;

because he does not want a slow-down in production;

because he does not want the GDP of Egypt to drop;

because he does not want the economy ruined.

Even those few times Pharaoh begins to relent,

it is always with an eye to the bottom-line.

* you may go, …..but not far.

* your men may go, ….but not the women and children.

* in this 9^th plague of darkness,

you may go, men, women and children,

but your livestock must stay behind.

But Pharaoh’s stubbornness

causes so much suffering:

waters are polluted

trees are smashed

crops are ruined

and livestock die.

The story of Exodus is about the liberation of God’s people.

But the story is bigger than that.

The deliverance of Israel is ultimately

for the sake of the whole earth,

and for the sake of all creation.

That has always been God’s mission:

the redemption of the whole earth,

the deliverance of all creation.

But for now,

Pharaoh refuses to listen,

though the earth groans,

though creation cries out in 9 different ways,

and each time a bit louder,

Pharaoh remains deaf.

OUR WORLD

That raises a question.

Is Creation saying something to us today?

Is the earth groaning, is creation crying, in our day and age?

I recently read an article about frogs.

Did you know that frogs are disappearing at an alarming rate?

Over the last several decades,

the world has lost over 200 species of frogs.

What might that be telling us?^[4]

I also recently read about the Moose population in Maine and New Hampshire.

Last year they tracked 179 different moose calves.

125 of those calves died.

Why? Because they were infested with gnats or ticks

that sucked the life right out of them.

Normally the cold winters would have killed these ticks.

But the winters have been too mild lately,

and the moose are dying at an alarming rate.

What might that be telling us?^[5]

I also recently read about the devastating effects of the pine beetle.

The pine beetles are moving northward

killing more and more coniferous trees.

70 million acres of coniferous forests in the USA have been killed.

That is 100,000 trees dying a day.

What might that be telling us?^[6]

Now you may not have heard about

the frogs,

or the moose,

or even the trees.

But you must have noticed the weather.

You must have noticed

that storms and hurricanes and typhoons

are getting fiercer and more frequent;

that heatwaves are getting hotter and longer;

that 100-year floods are now coming every 10 years or so.

Are we listening to what creation is telling us?

But you know what people say:

“these are all within “normal ranges and ordinary cycles.”

Even if people concede that this is not “normal,”

the response is often a “shrug of the shoulders.”

“What can we reasonably do

that will not slow production,

that will not hurt our GDP,

that will not ruin the economy?”

Isn’t it just a little disturbing

that the very language and reasoning used to do nothing

is a so much like Pharaoh’s of long ago?

The God we worship and the God we adore

has always been a pro-life God:

he is for the life of the trees in the forest;

he is for the life of the moose among the trees;

he is for the life of the frogs in the wetlands;

he is for the life of all those living near the shores of wetlands.

If we are really pro-life,

shouldn’t we live in such a way

that we are for all of creation;

shouldn’t we live in such a way

that all of life flourishes rather than flounders;

shouldn’t we live in such a way

that all people prosper, not just some people.

Shouldn’t we live according to a

moral order,

that is in keeping with creation’s order,

an order that is ultimately rooted in God, our Creator.

CONCLUSION

Exodus 10 ends in great sadness.

There is an impasse.

Pharaoh is done with Moses –

he never wants to hear from Moses or see him again.

“Get away from me!’ Pharaoh says.

But who pays the price for his stubbornness?

Who pays the price for his deafness?

Who pays the price for his unwillingness to change?

You know the story.

You know what happens next.

You know that it is the next generation that pays the price.

The next generation……pays the price.

The Exodus story is all about

not being like Pharaoh,

not being like Egypt,

not being deaf to the will and the words and the way of God.

The Exodus story is all about

knowing that we are God’s people

living in God’s world,

living according to God’s way.

Being God’s people

means that we believe strongly that this world belongs to God.

Being God’s people means we believe strongly

that we have been given the task of caring for God’s creation.

We believe strongly

that we must care for the poor.

We believe strongly

that we must work for justice in this world.

We believe strongly

that living according to the way, the truth, and the life,

will be a blessing to all:

to all peoples,

to all creatures,

to all creation.

People of God,

do not grow weary in living as God’s people in this world.

Do not grow weary in doing what is right.

Remember that we are a people of hope.

And our hope is finally, and firmly, rooted

in our mighty God

who guides us through the day

and who protects us through the night.

For in him is life,

and that life, that light,

shines in the darkness.

And the darkness does not overcome it.

Amen

PRAYER

Mighty God, speak to us today so that we hear, so that we obey.

Speak to us in your Word, through your Creation, by your Spirit.

Speak to us of your justice and your peace.

In Jesus name we pray

Amen

1. Joel Block, “The Ten Plagues of Egypt,” in Religious Education 71:5 (Sept-Oct, 1976). ↑

2. This theme is well expressed in Terrence Fretheim’s “”The Plagues as Ecological Signs of Historical Disaster,” in Journal of Biblical Literature 110:3 (1991), and also in Fretheim’s Commentary on Exodus in the Interpretation Series. ↑

3. See Terrence Fretheim’s Excursus on the Lord hardening Pharaoh’s heart in his Commentary on Exodus. ↑

4. “Frogs are Disappearing” in the NYT October 22, 2018. ↑

5. “47,00 Ticks on a Moose,” in the NYT October 18, 2018. ↑

6. See National Geographic article and video “Life of Pine” March 2018. ↑