“Nature gods” contrasted with the true God. Ancient documents from Babylon and from points of mankind’s migration show that the worship of “nature gods” (such as the Babylonian sun-god Shamash and the Canaanite fertility god Baal) became very prominent in those early times. The “nature gods” were associated in men’s minds with periodic or cyclic manifestations of power, such as the daily beaming forth of the sun’s rays, the seasonal results of solstices and equinoxes (producing summer and winter, spring and fall), the winds and storms, the falling of rain and its effect on earth’s fertility in seedtime and harvest, and similar evidences of power. These forces are impersonal. So men had to fill in the blank, providing personality for their gods by their own imagination. The personalities they conjured up for their gods were generally capricious; they lacked any definite purpose, were morally debased, and were unworthy of worship and service.

Yet the visible heavens and earth give clear proof of a superior Source of power that produced all these forces in an interrelated, coordinated arrangement, one giving undeniable evidence of intelligent purpose. To that Source the acclamation goes: “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.” (Re 4:11) Jehovah is not a God governed by or limited to celestial or earthly cycles. Nor are his expressions of power capricious, erratic, or inconsistent. In each case they reveal something about his personality, his standards, his purpose. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, edited by G. Kittel, in treating the view of God contained in the Hebrew Scriptures, thus observes that “the important and predominant feature is not force or power but the will which this power must execute and therefore serve. This is everywhere the decisive feature.”​—Translated and edited by G. Bromiley, 1971, Vol. II, p. 291.

The worship of such “nature gods” by the Israelites was apostasy, a suppression of truth in favor of a lie, an unreasoning course of worshiping the creation rather than the One who created it; this is what the apostle states at Romans 1:18-25. Though invisible, Jehovah God had made his qualities manifest among men, for as Paul says, these are “clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable.”

God’s control of natural forces distinctive. To prove himself the true God, Jehovah might reasonably be expected to demonstrate his control over the created forces, doing so in a way that would be distinctly connected with his name. (Ps 135:5, 6) Since the sun, moon, planets, and stars follow their regular courses, since the earthly atmospheric conditions (producing wind, rain, and other effects) obey the laws governing them, since locusts swarm and birds migrate, then these and many other normal functions would not suffice to sanctify God’s name in the face of opposition and false worship.

Nevertheless, Jehovah God could cause the natural creation and elements to testify to his Godship by using them to fulfill specific purposes beyond their ordinary function, often at a specifically designated time. Even when the events, such as a drought, a rainstorm, or a similar weather condition, were not unique in themselves, their coming in fulfillment of Jehovah’s prophecy made them distinctive. (Compare 1Ki 17:1; 18:1, 2, 41-45.) In most cases, though, the events were extraordinary in themselves, either because of their magnitude or intensity (Ex 9:24) or because they occurred in an unusual, even unheard of, way or at an abnormal time.​—Ex 34:10; 1Sa 12:16-18.

Similarly, the birth of a child was ordinary. But the birth of a child to a woman who had been sterile all her life and who had passed the age of childbirth (as in the case of Sarah) was extraordinary. (Ge 18:10, 11; 21:1, 2) It gave evidence of God’s intervention. Death, too, was a common occurrence. But when the death came at a predicted time or in a preannounced way with the causative factor otherwise unknown, this was extraordinary, pointing to divine action. (1Sa 2:34; 2Ki 7:1, 2, 20; Jer 28:16, 17) All these things proved Jehovah to be the true God, and the “nature gods” to be “valueless gods.”​—Ps 96:5.

Proves to Be God to Israel. To the nation of Israel down in Egypt, Jehovah promised: “I shall indeed prove to be God to you; and you will certainly know that I am Jehovah your God.” (Ex 6:6, 7) Pharaoh trusted in the power of Egypt’s gods and goddesses to counteract the workings of Jehovah. God purposely allowed Pharaoh to continue in his defiant course for a time. This extension of matters was so that Jehovah might ‘show his power and have his name declared in all the earth.’ (Ex 9:13-16; 7:3-5) It permitted the multiplying of God’s “signs” and “miracles” (Ps 105:27), the bringing of ten plagues demonstrating the Creator’s control over water, sunlight, insects, animals, and human bodies.​—Ex 7-12.

In this, Jehovah proved distinct from the “nature gods.” These plagues, including darkness, storm, hail, swarms of locusts, and similar events, were predicted and came precisely as indicated. They were not mere coincidences or random occurrences. Advance warnings enabled those who heeded them to escape certain plagues. (Ex 9:18-21; 12:1-13) God could be selective as to the plagues’ effect, causing some to leave a specific area exempt, thereby identifying who were his approved servants. (Ex 8:22, 23; 9:3-7, 26) He could start and stop the plagues at will. (Ex 8:8-11; 9:29) Though Pharaoh’s magic-practicing priests appeared to duplicate the first two plagues (perhaps even trying to credit them to their Egyptian deities), their secret arts soon failed them, and they were obliged to acknowledge “the finger of God” in the execution of the third plague. (Ex 7:22; 8:6, 7, 16-19) They could not reverse the plagues and were themselves affected.​—Ex 9:11.