Providence in the Pandemic
Drawing parallels between current and historical events is precarious. But if today’s pandemic evokes the plagues of Egypt, the hardness of heart that inflicted Pharaoh is clearly still contagious. In some supermarkets, for instance, customers have deliberately coughed in the faces of hard-pressed staff and refused to keep a safe distance from other shoppers.
Others have emulated behaviours depicted a few chapters later in the Exodus story. When God provides the Israelites with manna in the wilderness, some ignore God’s instructions and gather more than they need. The result is that the next morning it’s full of maggots.
(This article is from Connecting with Culture, a series from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity)