Day Nine - The Plague of Boils

There is a lot of information regarding this plague.

Rather than write some of it in story form,

it would be easier to grasp the information if it were

given as just that—information.

We are half-way through our remembrance days of the judgments of God.
Here are some things to think about and perhaps shout about as you think of God’s promises for you:

1. The plagues served as a visible demonstration of the mighty power of God.
2. The plagues were punishment of Pharaoh and the Egyptians for their cruel treatment of the children of God.
Today He gives special hope to the widow and the fatherless:
“Do not move the ancient boundary Or go into the fields of the fatherless. For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you.” Proverbs 23:10-11
“The LORD will tear down the house of the proud, but He will establish the boundary of the widow.” Proverbs 15:25
3. The plagues were judgment from God on the false gods of Egypt as said in Numbers 33:4, “While the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the LORD had struck down among them. The LORD had also executed judgments on their gods.”
4. The plagues tested human responsibility – their choices.
5. The plagues warned other nations – God will curse those who curse Israel. “And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.” Genesis 12:3
6. The plagues were a time of testing for God’s chosen people. "Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? "Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.” Deuteronomy 4:33-34

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4

We must continue to remember with our children because what we remember from the past, may present itself again on our future as the day of the Lord draws near!

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Today we will discuss the Plague of Boils.
For many, you may not even know what a boil is. Most likely your children only know the term “boil” as it is used when you boil water in a pot as we did in our discussion of the frog-god.

The boils of judgment, however, were different. Teenagers will be able to agonize with the Egyptians over the pain of this judgment.

Boil – “A localized accumulation of pus in the skin, resulting from infection.” Wiktionary
It often looks like an overgrown pimple.

The best way to help your children visualize this plague would be to have them wear band-aids all over their body. We don’t normally put a band-aid over a pimple; however, this will make the point that they had painful sores.

As you read through the Bible account of this story, you might want to have some soot or ashes on hand. The ashes were thrown into the sky and then turned into boils on man and beast.

Read the TRUE STORY from Exodus 9
Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Take for yourselves handfuls of soot from a kiln, and let Moses throw it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. "It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and will become boils breaking out with sores on man and beast through all the land of Egypt."

"So they (Moses and Aaron) took soot from a kiln, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast.
The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians.
And the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses."

The FALSE gOD / IDOL of the Egyptians was the Isis, the goddess of healing.

“Ancient Egyptians believed that the gods guided and directed the natural forces of the mind and body, and each god or goddess was responsible for protecting a particular part of the human body. Isis was responsible for the liver.”
“Sores on the body were looked upon as punishment for sin, a means by which to call one to repentance. None of the Hebrews had any boils. This plague was a direct attack the mystical processes in Egypt.” Biblical holidays

Wow – this plague over this Egyptian god could bring us a little closer to home! While medicine and doctors can be a good thing, are there times when we step over the line and begin to deal with other gods in our quest for healing?

Ashes were a source of purification – when Moses threw the ashes in the air, they became a source of defilement rather than purification.

Ash Wednesday (a holiday most of us know little about) takes its name from the practice of putting ashes on the forehead as a symbol of repentance. Often the ashes come from the burning of the crosses used on Palm Sunday celebrations. Many religions mix the ashes with a special oil, and the presiding minister of this special service places the ashes on the foreheads in the sign of a cross starting with his own forehead first.

Ashes are mentioned in Scripture:
1. A law for those who have touched a dead person:
Numbers 19:9-10 “Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep it as water to remove impurity; it is purification from sin. 'The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; and it shall be a perpetual statute to the sons of Israel and to the alien who sojourns among them.”

2. A promise for those who have repented:
Isaiah 61:3 "To grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."

3. Used as a sacrifice for sin:
Hebrews 9:13-14 “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

We will discuss the reason for blood in a sacrifice at a later time. Just know – it is EXCITING to understand the POWER of the BLOOD covenant!

Teaching Points:
1. Sores on the body = sin which needed ashes for cleansing
2. Ashes were from the sacrifice
3. They worshiped the goddess of healing – rather than God
4. Ash Wednesday = repentance of sin. We don’t need ashes anymore because of the blood of the Lamb of God!
5. A Covenant must have blood – Hebrews 9
6. New covenant = Christ’s blood in exchange for the blood of an animal.
7. We have a garland of praise instead of ashes!

PRAYER:  Thank God for the cleansing power of His blood.  Thank God for the trials He allows in our lives because of fruit of righteousness they bring about.

SONG:  There is Power in the Blood