Writing is not mentioned in the Book of Genesis. This may be surprising to hear. In fact, the first mention is found Exodus.
Exodus 17:14-16
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.” Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. He said, “Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the LORD, the LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”
God tells Moses to write this down, so it will be remembered. This command comes after the battle between the Children of Israel and the Amalekites. Moses stands on a hill and as he raises the wooden staff, the Israelites were winning. When his arms began to fall, the Israelites began to lose. Eventually, Moses’s arms were supported by Aaron and Hur and the battle was won.
Through a typological lens, this is clearly connected to the Cross, where just as Christ is flanked by the two others, Moses is accompanied by Aaron and Hur.
God says his statement must be written down, to ensure it is permanently remembered.
Written in Stone
After the Covenent was presented to the people and they agreed to be bound by it. Moses went up Mt Sinai to tell God.
Exodus 24:12
The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
Here we see God wrote down the law and commandments with His finger in stone.
Exodus 31:18
When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
Finger of God
We may think this simply a metaphor. But the phrase ‘finger of a god’ was probably an idiom from Ancient Egypt. And we see it mentioned earlier in Exodus.
Exodus 8 v 18-19
But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the LORD had said.
The Egyptian magicians had replicated the earlier plagues, but they couldn’t copy this plagues because it was created via the Finger of God.
This is a finger of the gods amulet from Egypt. It is believed to protect the person who wore it and represented the performative power of a god.
I don’t believe an amulet like this was used to create the third plague, as in the text it says it was a staff which hit the ground they caused the plague of gnats.
But rather the Egyptian magicians may have been claiming the plague was willed by a god, the action was protected and therefore could not be replicated. So the finger was representing the power of God protecting His people.
We read later in Exodus, His finger was used to write in stone tablets.
Exodus 31:18
When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
Jesus and the Finger of God
The Finger of God is only mentioned once in the New Testament.
Luke 11 v 20
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Jesus’ argument is that if by His finger, demons flee, then He must be God and therefore His Kingdom has come.
A deeper layer here, is Luke is connecting this with the Exodus account. The Egyptian magicians could not replicate the plagues. And equally, the Pharisees could not drive demons out like Christ. And by extension Luke is saying that God is bringing judgement to the religious leaders as He brought judgement to Pharaoh and Ancient Egypt.
'Judgment on the religious leaders'; God writes with His finger in John 8... related to your article at all. Can you expand on this if so?
Great piece!