When Relationships Turn Nasty
Exodus 10
1.The good and bad of protocol
a. Some people are simply rude and do not know it:
DEAR MISS MANNERS -- Trying to keep the conversation going at a family dinner, I decided to look at people’s hands. I remarked that one grandson and also his wife had beautiful hands.
However when I came to my other grandson’s hands, well, they were huge and I didn’t really have much time to think, so I said,
"Your hands would be slimmer if they weren’t so fat."
Well, that obviously was the wrong thing to say, as he is overweight, although truthfully, I wasn’t thinking of that.
He was furious! My daughter-in-law said, "That’s your grandmother for you," and he said, "We don’t have to take that!"
So everyone looked at me, and I felt like crawling under the table.
Is it normal for anyone to be that sensitive? I really didn’t intend to hurt his feelings, but I do feel that most people would have just flubbed it off and said, "Thanks a lot," or something.
I am 80 years old, and I just feel that he was not respectful. Or am I wrong? Isn’t there such a thing as being overly sensitive?
b. But some people are so into protocol that they over do it and are inefficient in getting to the point:
GENTLE READER -- You know who is beginning to get oversensitive about such claims? Your very own Miss Manners. She is far too polite to exhibit fury, but she is really exasperated with the common double whammy you describe:
First you deliver an obvious, standard insult to an unsuspecting person, and then, when he is insulted by it, you hit him again, with the coy insult of being oversensitive.
It is not that Miss Manners fails to realize that people can say perfectly stupid things they don’t mean. That is why we have the fine old institution of the apology. As you immediately realized your error, you should have started groveling: "I can’t
believe I said that! That’s not what I meant at all! You have beautiful hands; I’ve always thought so. Whatever idiotic joke I thought I was attempting, it came out all wrong. Will you ever forgive me? I hate myself for being such a fool...."
Had you done this, and your nephew not finally interrupted you by muttering, "Oh, that’s all right, forget it. I know you didn’t mean it," Miss Manners would now be on your side.
But you allowed the insult to stand, thus allowing him to believe that you did mean to insult him. And now you want to act insulted at him because he was insulted that you insulted him. That strikes Miss Manners as undersensitive.
(soure: http://www.indigo.org/humor/hands.html)
c. Pastor Ed would have said: Just because you are elderly does not mean you should fail to respect those who are younger. You can never be so old that being rude or ignorant is okay. Ain’t your mama done taught you none good manners?
d. Many adults do not have proper respect for children or teens…and the kids pick up on it…everyone needs to be respected…
3. A protocol is a rule which guides how an activity should be performed…Etiquette fundamentally prescribes and restricts the ways in which people interact with each other, and show their respect for other people by conforming to the norms of society. (wikipedia)
4. The diplomatic courtesy between Moses and Pharaoh began to break down near the end, and this happened for a reason.
Main Idea: Respect and relationships deteriorate when people are not trustworthy.
I. The Plague of LOCUSTS
A. God hardened Pharaoh’s HEART (1-2)
1. Long term goal: So the Israelites would be able to recount this to their children (2)
2. Short term goal: So that the present generation would realize that Yahweh is God
B. The Confrontations Turn NASTY (3-7)
1. Moses respect gone…he simply walks away (6)
2. Pharaoh’s officials offer unsolicited criticism (7)
3. Moses no longer willing to compromise (8-10)
4. Moses & Aaron driven away (11)
C. The FRESH START Cycle Over Again (12-20)
• plagues of locusts were not unknown, but they would hit a region and move on; in this case, all of Egypt was plagued at once…like never before…
• Normal: 130 million locusts per square mile, some swarms have covered more than 400 square miles (20 miles X 20 miles); this was more massive than that; they can move up to 60 miles per day in distance
• The Book of Joel records a locust plague that was a judgment to Israel, figurative of the end time Tribulation
gods insulted included: Isis-goddess of life
Respect and relationships deteriorate when people are not trustworthy.
II. The Plague of DARKNESS
No announcement
A. A Darkness that Could Be FELT (21-23)
1. psychologically or physically felt?
• Some think it an extension of a natural occurrence: "This wind, which generally blows in Egypt before and after the vernal equinox and lasts two or three days, usually rises very suddenly, and fills the air with such a quantity of fine dust and coarse sand, that the sun loses its brightness, the sky is covered with a dense veil, and it becomes so dark that "the obscurity cause by the thickest fog in our autumn and winter days is nothing in comparison" ( Schubert ). Both men and animals hide themselves from this storm; and the inhabitants of the towns and villages."
• Problem: then it would not have been considered a miracle, and Pharaoh could just right it off as a natural phenomenon…
2. total darkness
• most mysterious of all the plagues
• based upon sequence, it should be the 2nd worst plague
• the Rabbis thought it was hard for the people to even move
• some suggest that the darkness forced the Egyptians to take time to think and contemplate all that had happened -- a time for introspection
• one modern Rabbi comments: At Moses’ signal, uninterrupted blackness prevails over Egypt for three days, and yet somehow the Children of Israel were unaffected. The Biblical narrative even adds that there was something about this darkness that prevented people from moving from their places, as though they were crushed under a heavy burden….On the one hand, I am willing to treat with my customary skepticism the midrashic interpretations that this darkness took the form of a solid, lava-like substance … that solidified around the unfortunate Egyptians and literally prevented them from moving their limbs.
• (source: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/Preaching/S980131_Bo.htm)
• One New Testament picture of Hell is outer darkness…
• 23 "No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived." Mist put out fires?
• Matthew Henry writes: "The tradition of the Jews is that in this darkness they were terrified by the apparitions of evil spirits, or rather by dreadful sounds and murmurs which they made, or (which is no less frightful) by the horrors of their own consciences…"
• My conclusion: darkness with a supernatural viscosity/fog/mist
3. could lamps dispel it, or was it like being in a cave?
4. the fear and panic this would have brought cannot be imagined
5. but the Hebrews were exempt
6. Insulted more gods…
Amon-Re, Amun-Ra, the foremost deity of the Egyptian pantheon. Amun-Ra was the most powerful god
Horus
Sky god
Horus is the god of the sky, and the son of Osiris. His mother is Isis.
Since he was god of the sky, Horus became depicted as a falcon, or as a falcon-headed man, leading to Horus’ name, (in Egyptian, Heru), which meant The distant one. Since Horus was said to be the sky, it was natural that he was rapidly considered to also contain the sun and moon. It became said that the sun was one of his eyes and the moon the other,
B. Pharaoh tries to meet Moses HALF WAY (24)
1. Women can go, but not livestock
2. But Moses has no reason to bargain…all or nothing
Not a hoof is to be left
3. Was this a pretense? Did leaving with all signify they would not come back?
C. Pharaoh is DONE seeing Moses (28-29)
"Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die."
29 "Just as you say," Moses replied, "I will never appear before you again."
Respect and relationships deteriorate when people are not trustworthy.
III. How This Applies to OUR Relationships
A. People who renege and are fickle are rightfully DESERTED
B. Conflict can be difficult to CONTAIN if not addressed early
• Pharaoh had reasonable opportunity to address the conflict…kept delaying
• Avoiding addressing the inevitable usually makes things worse
C. When losing an argument, one is tempted to ATTACK the person
D. Some of our relational failures we EARNED
E. We should work at maintaining CIVILITY
• the real test of your character: how do you behave in conflict?
• how do you treat an adversary or an enemy
• is there a Christian way to go through a divorce?
• is there a Christian way to address an injustice at work?
• is there a Christian way to handle a problem with your kids at school?
• is there a Christian way to right a wrong when you have been cheated?
• is there a Christian way to file a charge against someone?
• is there a Christian way to kick one out of a club or organization? to fire someone for negligence? to go to war? to treat someone you despise?
CONCLUSION
The answer returns back to the grandmother in the opening illustration: we should work hard at maintaining as much respect as we can for others…with Pharaoh, Moses was justified in losing respect…had been very patient…walking the extra mile is not walking the extra 20 miles…it is a moderate but generous buffer…
Respect and relationships deteriorate when people are
