The Ten Plagues

*Parallel to rev plagues…

This is the first of the plagues. There are nine in total (the tenth is the slaying of the firstborn, which is in a class by itself), and they are grouped together in threes. In this structure of threes, the first two plagues only come after warning and a call to repentance; the third plague in each set comes without warning.

Each of them confronts and attacks a prized Egyptian deity. Not only did they bring punishment against Egypt, the plagues also answered Pharaoh’s original question: Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? (Exodus 5:2) The plagues show the LORD God to be greater than any of the deities of Egypt.

Specifically, this first plague was directed against the numerous Egyptian river deities. The Nile itself was virtually worshipped as a god by the Egyptians, and the LORD God shows that He has complete power over the Nile, not some river god.

i. “The ‘plagues’ are described by cognate Hebrew words, all meaning ‘blow’ or ‘stroke’.” (Cole) Each plague was as if God were to strike or beat a deity worshipped by the Egyptians.

ii. The Egyptian god Khnum was said to be the guardian of the Nile, and this showed he was unable to protect his territory. The god Hapi was said to be the spirit of the Nile and was brought low by this plague. The great god Osiris was thought to have the Nile as his bloodstream; in this plague he truly bled. The Nile itself was worshipped as a god, and there are papyri recording hymns sung in praise of the river.

iii. There is a significant mention of something like this in a papyrus from this general period known as the Ipuwer Papyrus. It actually says (Ipuwer 2.10) that the Nile was blood and undrinkable. The same papyrus repeatedly mentions that servants left their masters.

i. If the magicians of Egypt really wanted to do a miracle, they should have turned the bloody river clean again. They didn’t because it seems that Satan cannot perform a constructive, cleansing miracle. He can bring supernatural destruction, but not goodness. All they did was make more bloody water!

—-----

God threatened a plague of frogs for a specific reason. The Egyptian goddess Heqet (or, Heket) was always pictured with the head of a frog. Among the ancient Egyptians, frogs were considered sacred and could not be killed.

i. Egyptians worshipped the frog as a female goddess because frogs were common around the Nile, because they reproduced rapidly, and because being amphibians they are part of two worlds, creatures of both land and water.

**ii. “Thus the first and this second plague are about the water; the third and fourth about the earth; the five next about the air; and the last about man.” (Trapp)

—------

The Egyptian priesthood was extremely careful about hygiene and ritual cleansing; an infestation of lice made them unable to worship their gods.

The plague of lice was also upon every beast. The gods of Egypt would not receive the sacrifice of lice-infested animals, so this stopped their sacrificial system.

—------

Literally, it says God sent a swarm (Hebrew, awrob) upon Egypt; it does not specify what the swarm was. It may have been a variety of insects. Psalm 78:45 says these swarms devoured them, and this indicates that there were biting insects in the swarm.

This shows that the point of this plague was probably the same as the plague of lice. The Egyptian gods could not be worshipped amidst this uncleanness.

—-------

mentaries — David Guzik

Study Guide for Exodus 9

Click here to view listing below for Exo 9:1

« Prior Book

« Prior Chapter

Next Chapter »

Next Book »

More Plagues Upon Egypt

A. The fifth plague: Disease on livestock.

(Exodus 9:1-4) God tells Moses to warn Pharaoh.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For if you refuse to let them go, and still hold them, behold, the hand of the LORD will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep — a very severe pestilence. And the LORD will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.”’”

a. Go in to Pharaoh and tell him: In mercy, God told Moses to give another warning, so that Pharaoh would have opportunity to repent.

b. Let My people go, that they may serve Me: In this appeal two things were clear. First, the people of Israel belonged to God, not to Pharaoh. Second, it was clear that God wanted Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go for the sake of the LORD Himself, not even so much for the sake of the children of Israel.

i. Pharaoh was responsible to treat Israel well for the sake of the LORD, not so much for the sake of Israel. In the same way, we must treat each other well not only for the sake of our fellow brother or sister, but also for the sake of the LORD. We owe it to Him even more than we owe it to them.

c. A very severe pestilence… nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel: Pharaoh was warned that another plague was on the way, one that would severely damage the livestock of Egypt — but not the livestock owned by the people of Israel.

(Exodus 9:5-7) The disease and death of the livestock.

Then the LORD appointed a set time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land.” So the LORD did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died. Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go.

a. All the livestock of Egypt died: This plague was directed against the Egyptian god Hathor who was thought to be a mother goddess was in the form of a cow. In addition, Egyptian religion considered cattle sacred and the cow was often a symbol of fertility. God shows Pharaoh and all of Egypt that He was mightier than this imagined pagan god.

i. Cole cites an ancient record of a battle the Egyptians lost because their enemies put a herd of cattle in front of their advancing troops. It worked because the Egyptian soldiers would not shoot at the opposing army for fear of accidentally killing what they considered to be the sacred cattle.

—----

a. The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils: This plague was probably directed against the Egyptian god Imhotep, who was said to be the god of medicine. Even those who were thought to be closest to the Egyptian gods (the court magicians) were stricken with this plague.

—----

This shows that the Lord is not only God of the water and land but of the sky and fire.

This plague was directed against several Egyptian gods. Notable among them was Nut, the sky goddess.

This sounds like perfect words of repentance from Pharaoh, but true repentance had not worked its way into his heart. Pharaoh was grieved at the consequences of sin, but not at the sin itself.

—----

A further demonstration of sovereignty over the air, “the east wind”

Yahweh showed Himself greater than the Egyptian god Set, thought to be the protector of crops.

—----

This shows God’s control over the heavenly bodies themselves, especially the sun.

Seemingly, God did not even allow artificial light sources to work. The Egyptians attempted to use candles and lamps but were unable to produce light. This was dramatic show of greatness over the prominent Egyptian god Ra, thought to be the sun god.

—-‐-

The Bible tells us there were several reasons why God sent these plagues upon Pharaoh and Egypt.

To answer Pharaoh’s question, Who is the LORD? (Exodus 5:2). In the plagues, God showed Himself greater than any of the false gods of Egypt.

To show the power of God through Moses (Exodus 9:16).

To give a testimony to the children of Israel for future generations (Exodus 10:2).

To judge the false gods — demons, really — of Egypt (Exodus 12:12, Numbers 33:4).

To warn the nations — more than 400 years later, the Philistines remembered the LORD God of Israel as the one who plagued the Egyptians (1 Samuel 4:8).

As a testimony of the greatness of God to Israel (Exodus 15:11, Deuteronomy 4:34).

All of this began with Pharaoh commanding the infants of Israel to be slaughtered.

“The nine plagues can now be seen as a whole. They touched every phase of nature: mineral, animal, vegetable, human. They affected persons and property, and included all, from the highest to the lowest.” (Thomas)

This plague was directed against two significant Egyptian gods. First, Osiris was the Egyptian god thought to be the giver of life. Second, this was against the supposed deity of Pharaoh himself, because his own household was touched (the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne).

Egypt and Pharaoh would not give God His firstborn — Israel (Exodus 4:22-23); so God took the firstborn of Egypt. Finally, Pharaoh knew that the LORD God was greater than all the Egyptian gods and was greater than Pharaoh himself — who was thought to be a god.

Mixed multitude-

“The Hebrew says ‘swarm’, from the same root as that used in 8:21 to describe the plague of gadflies.” (Cole)