The plagues in Egypt
This is a story you have heard in Sunday School, but there is much to discover that you may not have heard before.
The start
Moses and Aaron come back and share the good news with the Israelites and they believe him. But when they take this to the Pharaoh he only increases the workload and Israel is no longer interested in deliverance.
The next station is that Moses goes to the Pharaoh and performs his miracles, but Pharaoh is not impressed.
Now after no one expects anything from Moses and Aaron anymore, God begins His work.
The magicians
The magicians play an important role in the text here. You could also call them egyptian priests, but the word for priest kohen which is used for the priests assigned in Israel, Melchisedek, Jethro, Moses father in law and even the priests in Egypt is not used for the respective people during the plagues but chartum which distinguishes them from priests.
The pattern
The plagues follow certain patterns that are interesting to observe.
- The first nine plagues are in groups of three.
- Plagues 1–3 bring inconvenience.
- Plagues 4–6 bring destruction.
- Plagues 7–9 bring fear.
- The first plagues of each series (1,4,7) begin in the morning (with Pharaoh at the Nile checking the “health of the Nile”).
- The last of the series (3,6,9) comes without warning.
The StaffDuring the plagues 1–3, the staff is used by Aaron.No staff used during plagues 4–6.Moses uses the staff during plagues 7–9.
Magicians can imitate plague 1 and 2,cannot imitate plague 3 and see the finger of God in there,are so much “affected” by plague 6, that they cannot even appear later.
As the plagues continued, Pharaoh’s heart grew harder and Moses increased his demands.In plagues 1–3 no distinction is made between Israelites and Egyptians, but from plague 4 on they are distinguished.
The plagues are directed against the power of the Egypt and its gods, but not against the people, who are even warned and can always find refuge with the Israelites in Goshen.
The plagues are to show that God is the real one and that the Egyptians should seek refuge with Him along with the Israelites, which many did.
The plagues in detail
1, Water to blood
The Nile turns to blood and all the water is unusable.
The Nile is the lifeblood of Egypt. The flood of the Nile makes the fields fertile and the water is the source of life for the people.The god of the Nile is the father of all the gods in Egypt. But this time he looks like he has been slaughtered.
2, Frogs
Frogs become a plague and the Pharaoh sees God behind it and asks Moses to stop it.
The goddess Heqet, wife of the Nile god, is the goddess of birth (and rebirth). Since the Pharaoh was playing birth control on the Israelite children, God is declaring who is in charge of new life.
3, Gnats
The magicians were unable to reproduce this action and see the finger or the god in it.
According to a story from Egyptian mythology, there was a god who blinded another god (while he was approaching him unnoticed). The finger of God thus has the meaning of an ominous event whose origin cannot be determined. The migicians admits that God is stronger.
4, Flies
Maybe a better word is bugs and is a real issue for to the Egyptians. Now they are exposed and God makes a distinction between Israel and Egypt that only the Pharaoh had made before.
5, Livestock
The livestock affected by these plagues is key to many aspects of society:
- Horses: needed for military
- Donkey: for carrying loads
- Camels: for trade
- Cattle, sheep, goats: important for daily work, food and clothing production
6, Boils
Moses and Aaron throw dust into the air, which turns into boils. The magiciants cannot appear because they are unclean.Originally, throwing dust into the air is a rite of atonement performed by the sorcerer. Not only can the magicians no longer perform it, but the rite has been “demystified” as well.
7, Hail
This is where it gets serious and God strikes with the full force that He announces. And God warns the people to take shelter. The hail that comes is devastating and was the worst they had ever seen and no god protected them from it.Pharaoh admits that he has sinned (the same word is used as when Pharaoh unknowingly took Abraham’s wife) and he has sinned again by hardening his heart.
8, Locusts
The locusts will come and destroy all that the hail has left. His own officials beg the Pharaoh to do as Moses wishes. But Pharaoh still does not let the people go. As the plagues continue, Pharaoh admits his sin.
The people were exposed to the hail, even there was a god who’s only job was to protect from locusts, and there are special locust amulets that should protect from such a plague.
9, Darkness
The last of these is plagues was darkness. This was taken as a serious sign and in addition the life in Egypt stopped. Furthermore, Ra, the sun god, was a very important god in Egypt. The Pharaoh does not admitting his sin this time, but God strengthens his heart so much, that he threatens to kill Moses, Gods messenger, the next time he sees him.
The tenth plague
The tenth plague is delayed a little and is separate. It is the death of the firstborn.
The death of the firstborn
To understand this, we need a little background. When God called Moses He revealed Himself as a father and called Israel His Firstborn.
When Pharaoh tries to kill Israel, God responds by killing of Egypt’s firstborn.
But there is another aspect. The firstborn is the heir. If the Pharaoh dies, his firstborn will take over, but if the firstborn dies, who will take over? Also, the gods of Egypt are represented by animals (Horus the falcon, Heqed the frog, Hathor the cow), and the death of the first-born animals was also a blow against the future of the Egyptian gods.
Due to Pharaoh’s “strong heart” the people of Egypt were already in favor of Moses and the death of the first born in Egypt (showing that there was no future in Egypt) would help the Egyptians to move on with God and many did.
Before this thePassah is introduced (protection from the tenth plague but also the origin of the Lord’s supper) which could be seen as the birth of Israel and was open to anyone who wanted to join Israel.The Feast of the Unleavened Bread is introduced — there is no time to wait, but to hurry.
The sign on the hand and forehead is mentioned — the people should have a reminder that God brought them out of Egypt, He is more powerful than the Egyptian gods and Israel should not forget this. So the sign is a sign of loyalty to God.