Questions about the Exodus

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scapularkid8

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  1. If God is all loving, why would He basically torture thousands of people (His creations) with plagues for the sake of a few thousand? I guess the final result was the Crucifixion, and in that sense it’s justified, but still…an angel of death?!
  2. Were the Midianites Jewish? How could Moses marry Zipporah if they weren’t? That would be contrary to the covenant.
  3. Is there any Egyptian record of the plagues upon Egypt (such as hieroglyphs or papyrus)? Or did they do a propaganda move, and hide those events.
  4. What about the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea? Have they found any proof of that? If they haven’t, no big deal to me, I was just curious.
 
Hi,
These answers aren’t definitive, but they may provoke some more thoughts…
  1. If God is all loving, why would He basically torture thousands of people (His creations) with plagues for the sake of a few thousand? I guess the final result was the Crucifixion, and in that sense it’s justified, but still…an angel of death?!
Because those few thousand include you, me, and many other people today who learned from the example of our forefathers.
That’s the theme of Hebrews.

Note a couple of things: It doesn’t say the children suffered horribly – just that the angel took them in death.
Remember also, what difference is it really to God if you are on this side or that of death? Does he not see you in both?

This is a deep question which can only be answered shallowly here.
  1. Were the Midianites Jewish? How could Moses marry Zipporah if they weren’t? That would be contrary to the covenant.
Yes they were Hebrew – although, they had intermarried and become dark skinned. It was a racial slur from Mose’s sister Miriam which brought the punishment of white leprosy on herself.

The problem with intermarriage is that other cult/pagan traditions would pull them away from the Law of God which was intended to be part of our salvation. Zipporah’s clan already showed evidence of this by not circumcising males on the day prescribed by the covenant.

Moses, when he married Zipporah also showed signs of breaking the covenant by following his wife’s custom.

Notice, though, that intermarriage was the way women typically came to be part of the Hebrew people. Take for example Ruth (See the book of Ruth) – that is Jesus great … grandparent. She is a Moabitie – not a Jew/Hebrew.
  1. Is there any Egyptian record of the plagues upon Egypt (such as hieroglyphs or papyrus)? Or did they do a propaganda move, and hide those events.
Egypt is extremely difficult historically, their records and archaology are ±100 years on just about everything. I am not sure how one would prove what was what, and no – when an opposing God won a battle, the Egyptians probably didn’t do much to remember that… Also, Christians had a tendency in the early ages to deface and destroy Egyptian temples, etc. along with grave robbers, and the like – much of the history has been obscured.
  1. What about the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea? Have they found any proof of that? If they haven’t, no big deal to me, I was just curious.
Generally the proof is in the negative. Most such artifacts are way to young to be actual specimins, which makes them more likely forgeries. I haven’t checked in the last couple of years, so I could be out of date on this. However, considering the size of the chariots – and the miraculous nature of the drowning – I don’t know whether or not one should expect to find them.
Iron generally wouldn’t last several thousand years in salt, nor would wood, so only certain metals and clays would be expected to remain at all.
 
scapularkid8 said:
  1. If God is all loving, why would He basically torture thousands of people (His creations) with plagues for the sake of a few thousand? I guess the final result was the Crucifixion, and in that sense it’s justified, but still…an angel of death?!
  2. Were the Midianites Jewish? How could Moses marry Zipporah if they weren’t? That would be contrary to the covenant.
  3. Is there any Egyptian record of the plagues upon Egypt (such as hieroglyphs or papyrus)? Or did they do a propaganda move, and hide those events
Click to expand...
  1. The plagues God sent/allowed were not necessarily something unusual or especially harsh. Such things have occurred throughout the world’s history. What was unusual is that God timed and foretold their occurance - and gave Pharoah the opportunity to avoid having them occur if he would allow the Israelites to go into the wilderness to worship.
  2. The Midianites were descended from Abraham, but they were not Jewish in the sense of belonging to the 12 tribes of Israel - the Jewish nation. The covenant promise was passed on to only one of Abraham’s children, Isaac. The Israelite or Jewish nation was formed from the 12 **sons of Isaac **and their descendants.
In addition Isaac (and Ishmael), Abraham had other children, including one named Midian:
*Genesis 25:1 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Ketu’rah. 25:2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Mid’ian, Ishbak, and Shuah. *

Regarding whom Moses could marry:
All the many laws of the OT covenant had not yet been given at the time of Moses’ marriage to Zipporah. They would come later, after Moses had led the people out of Egypt.

Very few laws had been given to Abraham 400+ years earlier. Circumcision is the only one I can think of (Gen 17:10).
  1. As noted earlier, the plagues were not unusual types of events and as such may never have been recorded. Consider the many flu epidemics, bug infestations, hail storms, etc. that have occurred in the U.S, since it’s foundation. How many of them would appear in permanent historical records meant to be kept for centuries?
Nita
 
Thanks Nita,
Given the split of some dictionaries on the meaning of Hebrew your clarification is appreciated, I was sloppy on that one.
😊
 
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