Finger of God
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The "finger of God" is a biblical phrase, mostly used for the means by which words were said to have been written onto stone tablets that later were brought down the Biblical Mount Sinai by Moses, commonly referred to as the Ten Commandments, but also used once by Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke.
The first time the phrase "finger of God" appears is in the Bible in eighth chapter, in the paragraph of verses sixteen through twenty, of the Book of Exodus, which reads "And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said."
The second time the phrase "finger of God" appears is at the last verse, verse eighteen of the thirty-first chapter of the same book, which reads "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God."
The third time the phrase appears, and the last time in the Old Testament, is a second reference to the tablets of the Ten Commandments, and is found in Deuteronomy 9:10, which says "And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly."
The phrase is also used once by Jesus in the New Testament during his proof that he did not cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, because he was questioned by nonbelievers for casting out demons. He said, "But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." in the Gospel of Luke 11:20.
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