Logic of God
Exodus Chapter 9: Plague 6 - The Plague of Boils
Send us Fan Mail The sixth plague brings us to another major shift in the Exodus story. Moses takes soot from a kiln, throws it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh, and it becomes fine dust across Egypt, breaking out as boils on man and beast. But this plague does something even more striking: the magicians of Egypt, who once stood opposite Moses and attempted to imitate the works of God, can no longer stand before him. In this episode, we dig into why God specifically chooses soot from a kiln. Could the soot point back to the forced labor and brickmaking of the Hebrews? Does the kiln carry connections to Egyptian wealth, industry, metalworking, or worship? And what happens when the very things Egypt used to build its power become the dust God uses to judge it? We also explore a striking connection between the third and sixth plagues. In the third plague, the dust of the earth becomes gnats, and the magicians finally confess, “This is the finger of God.” Then they disappear from the story for two plagues. When they return in the sixth, dust appears again, but now the magicians cannot even stand before Moses. The men who recognized the finger of God still did not bow willingly, and now they are physically brought low before His power. From there, we trace the imagery of dust, ashes, boils, and judgment throughout Scripture, from Job sitting in ashes covered in sores, to Abraham calling himself “dust and ashes,” to Deuteronomy’s warning that rebellious Israel could experience “the boils of Egypt,” and finally to the sores poured out in Revelation. We also consider how this changes the way we see Jesus healing the sick and cleansing lepers. The same God who demonstrates His authority over disease in Egypt later walks among the afflicted and demonstrates His authority to heal and restore. But the greatest shift may be happening inside Pharaoh. This is the first plague where the text explicitly says that the LORD hardens Pharaoh’s heart. After everything Pharaoh has witnessed, after his own magicians have recognized the finger of God, and after those magicians can no longer even stand before Moses, Pharaoh still refuses to yield. The warnings are becoming judgment. And that brings the story uncomfortably close to us. We draw connections between Pharaoh and the religious leaders who later opposed Jesus. Both witnessed the works of God. Both were confronted by an authority greater than their own. Yet knowledge of God is not the same thing as humility before God. The question of the sixth plague is no longer simply, “What happened to Egypt?” It is what happens when God has shown us enough to know better, and we still refuse to bow. Because eventually every knee bows. The question is whether we bow willingly in worship or are brought to our knees by the reality of who God is. Website: thelogicofgod.com Email: main.thelogicofgod@gmail.com Instagram Facebook Patreon
