“Oh, man! What is that smell?”
“I think it’s that dead armadillo we saw down the road.”
“But that thing’s a hundred yards away!”
“What else can it be?”
We had just emerged from the car at my uncle’s farm in Mississippi. All the kids piled out of the car and two of us took off running—to see the armadillo. Sure enough, the six-pound carcass was putting out a pungent odor powerful enough to make a skunk envious. I’d seen half-ton dead cows that were less noxious than the tiny armored varmint. I don’t know whether it was the combination of the summer heat, the direct sunshine, the still afternoon air, the humidity, or all of the above. But that tiny critter, unnoticed in life, made an impact in his death that I will never forget.
The Bible is filled with smells, the book of Exodus particularly. God’s first plague turned all the water in Egypt to blood. All the fish in the Nile died “and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile” Exodus 7:21.
In the second plague, God covered the nation in frogs. After Pharaoh asked Moses to pray for relief, the frogs died. “They were piled in heaps, and the land reeked of them” Exodus 8:14.
After the people of Israel left Egypt, God provided bread in the wilderness so they would survive the desert. But when the Hebrews tried to save manna from one day to the next, disobeying God’s instructions, “it bred worms and stank” Exodus 16:20.
We are repulsed by foul odors—and with good reason. The discovery of bacteria has provided a scientific explanation for a process we have understood for centuries: eating foul-smelling food will make us sick, whether sour milk, rancid meat, or spoiled fruits and vegetables.
The power of smells, both good and bad, is so strong that the Bible uses them as a metaphor. Unlike me and my cousin Kaye, running to poke sticks at the wormy carcass of a dead armadillo, most people are revolted by carrion (and probably would rather not read about it here!). Most back away—as they should. Foul odors create an unconscious revulsion that causes us to retreat in disgust. (Most of us, anyway.)
And the Hebrews told Moses he had done that to them: he had made them a disgusting stench. When Pharaoh accused the Hebrews of laziness, everyone blamed Moses.
“The Lord look upon you and judge, because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh … and put a sword in his hand to slay us” Exodus 5:21.
But Moses had obeyed God! He must have felt so disappointed. I can imagine his prayer: God, I did not ask for this. I was happy herding sheep for Jethro. This was all YOUR idea. Remember the burning bush, God? And now the people say I have made them a stench in Pharaoh’s nostrils!
But God had a plan. He sent ten plagues to defeat Egypt’s top ten idols, and the Egyptians begged Pharaoh to send the Hebrews away. But before they left, the people who once found their savour to be abhorrent in Pharoah’s eyes were now looked on with grace and generosity.
“And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gave them whatever they requested. Thus, they plundered the Egyptians” Exodus 12:36.
Have you ever felt abhorrent? It sounds extreme, but I know it is true: some of us have felt so alone, so rejected, that we wonder why our mere existence seems to disgust people. We sniff our armpits only half in jest and wonder what we are doing that turns people off.
Jesus can change that. Whatever it is—real or imagined—Jesus can anoint you with a pleasing aroma. It will not please everyone: there will always be Pharaohs and idol worshippers who will hate God’s people. But submit to the authority of Jesus and ask Him to anoint you with His grace, His love, His aroma:
“For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to those who are not being saved, we seem a fearful smell of death and doom, while to those who know Christ we are a life-giving perfume” 2 Corinthians 2:16.
Dear God, anoint us with Your perfume! May we stir the aroma of grace and love and hope wherever we go.
AΩ.
Household Words: 