S4E6: Divine Intervention or Natural Events? What the Plagues Meant

What do you mean God speaks?

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Were the plagues that struck Egypt in Exodus Divine intervention or natural events? This is a question that is raised by those who present natural explanation for these plagues. But, things that follow laws of nature are God speaking, just as things that do not seem to. The real question is: what distinguishes these events in Exodus from just any other things that happen? Because the difference will not be found in whether they are natural or not.
And there is a difference in what it meant for God to speak and unfold these plagues, both in what they communicated, and how God was communicating them. For the first nine plagues were primarily about communication, rather than punishment. How these plagues unfolded would have meant something very clear and specific for the ancient Egyptians who experienced them. And God was speaking not only to human beings, but to things in Nature, to unfold these events. For though everything is God speaking, God also speaks to everything.
Join me this episode to explore what I mean.
Also, thank you for waiting during this long, unplanned hiatus! Your continued support and encouragement really does keep this series going!
[Note Jul 1, 2024 : The first section, discussing the Pharaoh's motivation was removed to shorten the episode, since it was largely review of the previous episode. It seems this change isn't being updated though on most apps though, for some reason--the episode should be just 40 minutes long otherwise. ]
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فصول

1. Why I don’t like the phrase, “God intervenes” (00:00:00)

2. Natural explanations of the plagues in Exodus (00:04:29)

3. Everything is God speaking, but God also speaks to everything (00:11:52)

4. God can speak to Creation to "fill in" the content in a specific way (00:18:31)

5. Plagues were firstly about communication (00:25:00)

6. What the plagues would've meant to the Egyptians (00:30:36)

7. How everything was speaking what God was speaking (00:37:04)