The Ten Plagues

According to the Old Testament, The Ten Plagues are the plagues Jehovah visited upon Egypt in the time of Moses. These were manifestations of his great power and caused his name Jehovah or "He Causes to Become" to be declared among the nations (Ex 9:14, 16). For generations afterward their effects would be discussed by other peoples (Jos 2:9-11; 9:9; Isa 4:8; 6:6) Also, these plagues proved that the gods of Egypt were powerless (Ex 12:12; Nu 33:4).

Contents

The Ten Plagues

The plagues were:

  1. rivers turned to blood (Exodus 7:14-25)
  2. a plague of frogs (Exodus 8:1-25)
  3. gnats (Exodus 8:16-19)
  4. flies (Exodus 8:20-32)
  5. pestilence on livestock (Exodus 8:1-7)
  6. boils (Exodus 9:8-12)
  7. hail (Exodus 9:13-35)
  8. locusts (Exodus 10:13-14,19)
  9. three days of darkness (Exodus 10:21-29)
  10. death of the firstborn (Exodus 12:29-36)

Context

The main reason for the plagues was Pharaohs repeated refusal to release the Jewish people from slavery. Moses, acting as a messenger, and his brother Aaron, who spoke for Moses due to his speech defect, requested leave for the people to "sacrifice to God in the desert". Although Pharaoh usually promised to let them go after each plague, he usually withdrew his permission shortly afterwards.

The third, sixth and ninth plague came without warning, suggesting that the plagues came in three iterations of three. Indeed, Biblical commentators point out parallels between individual plagues.

Prophecy

The plagues, including darkness, storm, hail, swarms of locusts, and similar events, were predicted and came precisely as indicated. It would be highly unlikely to attribute them as 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).

God "proved himself God to Israel" and "near to them" by reclaiming them with "an outstretched arm and with great judgments" (Ex 6:6, 7; De 4:7). Following the destruction of Pharaoh's hosts in the Red Sea, the people of Israel "began to fear God and to put faith in God and in Moses his servant" (Ex 14:31).

Egyptian gods

Another consequence of the plague was the proven superiority of God over the Egyptian deities ("nature gods"). Although some have advanced theories as to which god was affected by which plague, this is only scantily supported by Midrashic sources, and these attempts have generally produced widely divergent results.

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