In Technology, We Ultimately Trust

Here is the second instalment looking at the theological thread of technology in the Bible. You can read the first one here.

The story of the Egyptians following the Children of Israel through the Red Sea is symbolically another Biblical narrative on technology.

Here we see Moses and the mixed multitude camp by the Red Sea, with the Egyptian army heading towards them.

Exodus 14 v 6

So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his army with him. He took 600 of the best chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

God then stops the Egyptians from engaging with the Israelites, by placing a cloud between them. Moses stretches out his hand over the Red Sea. God then causes an East wind to blow and overnight, the sea parts.

The Israelites walk through the waters on dry land, and the Egyptians follow with their chariots. It is a disaster for the them, as the wheels of the chariots fall off. They are stranded as the waters return. Drowning them all.

The Israelites relied on God, who used natural forces, the cloud, the sea and the wind, to save them. The Egyptians put their trust in chariots, a man made technology.

In Isaiah we read,

Isaiah 31 v 1

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord.

The warning here is that technology should not be used as a replacement for trusting in God.

Technology should serve us, not master us.

If we ultimately put our trust in technology, we deify it. We turn it into a god and a merciless one at that.

The more we look to technology to save us, we become imprisoned in a maze of technological idolatry.

And like the Egyptian charioteers, finally become lost in a chaotic flood.