Overreacting

I was recently intrigued by the expression, "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face." Overreacting can be needlessly self destructive. Apparently the saying had its beginning as early as the 9th century. Wikipedia explains that there are numerous stories of pious women disfiguring themselves in order to protect their virginity.

One such legend is that of Saint Ebba. She was the Mother Superior of the monastery of Coldingham Priory in Scotland. In A.D. 867 news came of Viking pirates raiding nearby villages. She gathered her nuns and urged them to disfigure themselves to appear unappealing to the marauders. The goal was to protect their chastity. She demonstrated this by cutting off her nose and upper lip. Her nuns quickly followed suit. Upon arrival the Vikings were so disgusted that they burned the entire building to the ground with the nuns inside.

Pharaoh's overreaction had similar consequences centuries before. When faced with the threat of Plague #8, locusts, he repeated his first seven reactions to that bad news heralded by Moses and Aaron. After the duo left, the king's servants said to him (Exodus 10:7 MSG), "How long are you going to let this man harass us? Let these people go and worship their God. Can't you see that Egypt is on its last legs?" He refused to listen remaining hard-headed and hard-hearted through those creepy locusts, creepier darkness, and the final blow - death of his son. To save face he managed to lose everything of value in his country including his entire army.

Perhaps you can discover others in history who have made similar blunders. They could all join Pharaoh and Saint Ebba in the Overreaction Hall of Fame.

Hind Sight

Hindsight is generally 20/20. Coaches and armchair quarterbacks find it so when they evaluate a team's weekend performance on Monday. Pharaoh discovered that truth as his army drowned in the Red Sea.

We have the details of the first time Moses and Aaron appeared before the King of Egypt to deliver their divine message. At that point all they sought was the aristocrat's permission to take a three-day trek into the wilderness to sacrifice to their God. Without the benefit of foreknowledge, Pharaoh's response was a vehement "NO!" Exodus 5:2 (MSG) records his exact words: "And who is God that I should listen to him and send Israel off? I know nothing of this so-called 'God' and I'm certainly not going to send Israel off." He could've/should've left his reply at a simple "no." He was all-to-correct when he stated that he knew nothing of this God.

His stubbornness lasted from the bloody waters to the plagues of frogs, lice/gnats, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness, all the way to the death of the firstborn. When Pharaoh lost his son, it knocked him for a loop. I'm guessing his mind wandered back to the moment he first viewed the blood-red Nile. If he had just listened then, none of these horrific events would have happened. Perhaps his wife's sorrowful nagging added to his temporary distress. He couldn't get rid of the Israelites fast enough.

It didn't take long for Pharaoh to regret his weakness. He summoned his chariots, pursued Moses, and caught him at the Red Sea. He could've/should've waved a last farewell and returned to the palace with his army intact. Alas, this dictator is a few spears below the learning curve. He sent his entire militia into the parted sea to kill or recapture the multitude of escaping slaves. The bad guys all died mired down in mud as the waters reclosed over their heads.

This story doesn't prove the step brother is always smarter than the true heir to the inheritance. It does, however, confirm that hindsight is 20/20.