THE TEN PLAGUES OF EGYPT
Synopsis Of The Ten Plagues of Egypt
The series of terrible and spectacular signs began forthwith.
The first plague: the water of the Nile turns to blood.
Mosheh came to pharaoh in the morning when he had gone to the river, probably to offer a sacrifice, for the river was a god. Mosheh again asked his permission for the Hebrews to go and worship YAHWEH in the desert, and to show the reality of their ABBA, under the king’s very eyes, he proceeded to turn the Nile into a river of blood.
We now know that this ‘marvel’ which the Scriptures describes as terrifying is in fact an annual phenomenon, lasting seven days and occurring naturally during the flooding of the river. This is the sequence of events. To begin with, at the summer solstice, the river, swollen by the torrential rains in Ethiopia, rises steadily to nineteen or twenty-two feet above its normal level. Its waters, that have just crossed vast sluggish stretches of land in the distant Sudan, are at first sticky and viscous: this is the ‘green Nile’, and its water is dangerous to drink. Fortunately, its duration is brief, not more than four or five days. Then the volume of water rapidly increases, and when the flood has reached its full height it becomes reddish brown in colour for a week and looks very like blood; this is the ‘red Nile’. The colour is due to countless numbers of fungi and infusoria coming from the central mountain-mass of Ethiopia. In October when the waters have withdrawn from the flooded soil of Egypt, the brownish deposit is left behind, and every year makes the fertility of the valley certain. It should be observed that the water of the ‘red Nile’ is excellent for drinking purposes, and the fish suffer no harm from the vegetation it carries at this stage.
This being the case, how did it come about that the Egyptians, accustomed for ages to this colouration of the river, occurring about the middle of August, should have shown such fear at Mosheh’ ‘marvel’?
Here again the Scriptures records that the magicians of Egypt used their witchcraft to do the same. They seem to have found little difficulty in producing an isolated example of the same phenomenon at the proper season. Little wonder that Pharaoh refused to listen to the petitioners any longer: he turned away and went back to his palace, taking no notice even of this (Shemoth (Exodus) 7:22-23).
The second plague: the frogs (Shemoth (Exodus) 8:1-11).
Mosheh and Aaron approached Pharaoh again, and made a further threat. If he would not allow the Hebrews to go into the desert and worship their ABBA, Egypt would be invaded by frogs.
In fact, this was a normal occurrence when the waters fell and the Nile returned gradually to its bed. The frogs then scattered themselves over the fields and at times, in spite of the ibis who eat them up all along the way, even came into the houses. Consequently Pharaoh’s magicians found no difficulty -this being the right season -in imitating the ‘marvel’ produced by Mosheh and Aaron. Pharaoh, however, agreed that their people should go, provided the frogs went first. But as soon as the land was rid of them, he broke his word and forbade the Yisraelites to leave the building sites.
The third plague: the mosquitoes (Shemoth (Exodus) 8:12-15).
At Mosheh’ word, Aaron struck the dust on the ground with his staff and it was turned into dense clouds of mosquitoes. The magicians tried to do likewise, but failed. They felt bound to comment: ‘This is the finger of YAHWEH.’ But Meneptah remained obstinately deaf to the Hebrews’ request. They must continue to shape bricks for the building of Pi-Rameses.
The fourth plague: the gadflies (Shemoth (Exodus) 8:16-28).
These were very trying little creatures, and this succession of plagues sent by Yisrael’s ABBA into his land seemed at last to have worn Pharaoh down. He decided to grant Mosheh’ request, at least in part. The Hebrews might sacrifice to YAHWEH, but without crossing the frontier. Mosheh gave the obvious answer; the solution was not practical, for YAHWEH’s followers offered on his altar, animals, goats or even bulls, that were worshipped in the Delta. The Egyptians would stone them if they slaughtered these sacred animals. Pharaoh appeared to appreciate the problem, and he gave permission for them to sacrifice in the desert, but ‘not far’ from the frontier. This obviously was not in accordance with Mosheh’ secret purpose and he probably meant to take advantage of the three days’ leave and organize a final departure. Meneptah asked for the plague to end and Mosheh destroyed the gadflies, but Pharaoh remained adamant.
The fifth plague: the death of the livestock (Shemoth (Exodus) 9:1-7).
The Scripture describes a fearful scourge: horses, donkeys, camels, oxen, sheep and goats, all died without exception. Those of Yisrael in the land of Goshen on the other hand, were spared as a matter of course, just as the people had been exempted from the other plagues. But Pharaoh was still adamant. He would not let them go.
The sixth plague: the boils (Shemoth (Exodus) 9:8-12).
This was a ghastly and widespread epidemic, affecting both men and beasts. Pharaoh remained stubborn.
The seventh plague: the hail (Shemoth (Exodus) 9:13-35}.
Unlike the other ‘blows’ (in Hebrew moftim), this sudden alteration in the weather was not a common event in Egypt. Storms thunder and hail were extremely rare occurrences. In the evening Mosheh had made a point of visiting Pharaoh and gave him this message from YAHWEH: ‘Let MY people go to offer me worship. This time I mean to send all MY plagues on you and your courtiers and your subjects so that you shall learn that there is no one like ME in the whole world. Had I stretched out MY hand to strike you and your subjects with pestilence, you would have been swept from the earth. But I have let you live for this: to make you see MY power and have MY NAME published throughout all the earth. High-handed with MY people still, you will not let them go.’ A great hail-storm was announced for the morrow, and, at the appointed time, Mosheh had scarcely stretched out his hand towards heaven when hail stones fell in great numbers over the countryside, striking the crops and smashing the trees. Thunder rolled and rumbled. Mosheh had warned Pharaoh to put his cattle under shelter, and this he had ordered to be done. Some of his courtiers had followed suit, but others disregarded the warning, and their beasts were killed without mercy.
But if all the animals in Egypt had been previously slaughtered by the fifth plague how could there have been any left for this one? It may be an error due to failure to harmonize different accounts of the event, and in any case, the epic style of the narrative may well account for the inconsistency.
At all events, it was so unusual a happening that Pharaoh was frightened. He sent for Mosheh and Aaron and said: ‘YAHWEH is in the right; I and my subjects are in the wrong. Entreat YAHWEH to stop the thunder and the hail, and I promise to let you go.’ This was a false promise; as soon as the storm was over, he retracted, as YAHWEH had foretold.
The eighth plague: the locusts (Shemoth (Exodus) 10:1-20).
As Mosheh had warned Pharaoh, these insects were to devour whatever had managed to survive the destruction produced by the hail. 2 This announcement of a fresh catastrophe began to be seriously disturbing to the high officials of the palace. The courtiers became nervous; why did Pharaoh refuse to let these people go? Let them depart, therefore, that they may worship YAHWEH their ABBA. For the East was only too well acquainted with locusts and dreaded them. They were a terrible scourge and a synonym for the complete destruction of the crops and of the resulting famine. And so Pharaoh decided to make a deal with the Hebrews; he made arrangements for talks, and found out how many of them meant to go and offer sacrifice in the desert, They told him: ‘We shall take our young men and our old men. We shall take our sons and daughters, our flocks and our herds, because for us it is the feast of YAHWEH.’ He realized their cunning and saw that their real intention was to leave Egypt for good; and so he took care to lay it down that only the adult men might depart to the desert: the women and children were to stay behind as hostages. On these terms no understanding was possible. Meanwhile the locusts arrived. Thereupon Pharaoh begged Mosheh to get rid of them and in return he promised a quick deliverance. But as usual, once the scourge had ceased, he would not let them go.
2 There is a curious detail to be noticed in passing. This eighth plague was to be the work of locusts. There must therefore have been something for them to eat and destroy. A foreseeing editor has been careful to point out that the hail fell at a time when the barley was in the ear and the flax budding, whereas the wheat and the spell, being late crops, were not destroyed. He was evidently a scribe thoroughly at home in the sequence of Egyptian agriculture. His details enable us to date this ‘blow’ early in February.
The ninth plague: the darkness (Shemoth (Exodus) 10:21-29).
Then YAHWEH said to Mosheh: ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven, and let darkness, darkness so thick that it can be felt cover the land of Egypt.’ And for three days there was deep darkness over the whole land of Egypt. This was very probably due to the Rhamsin, a wind from the sandy desert, that carried with it clouds of fine dust, thick enough to act as a screen blocking the sunlight. The simoon and the sirocco could finally bring about widespread darkness by blowing to an enormous height a mass of sand which might come down in Sicily or even in southern Italy. There followed a further discussion on the composition of the caravan. Mosheh persisted in his demand that everyone should go, including the cattle. On the subject of the latter, he produced a subtle argument: until the last minute, he said, the Yisraelites would not know which animal they were to offer in sacrifice -would it be an ox, a lamb, a ram, a goat? None knew. Therefore they would have to have all their beasts with them. But this time Pharaoh became furious. He was beginning to feel that he had had enough of these Semitic slaves who threatened him, brought disasters upon his nation, and dared to oppose him. ‘Out of my sight !’ he shouted at Mosheh, Take care! Never appear before me again, for on the day you do, you die.’
The tenth plague (Shemoth 11). The last one. It ensured Yisrael’s final deliverance.
At first the Egyptians had experienced only a rather trying series of events; the invasion of frogs, the clouds of mosquitoes and gadflies; the people on the whole were apathetic and had put up with these minor inconveniences without much protest. But Pharaoh’s obstinacy had led to more dramatic blows, and their material interests were now threatened, first, by the sickness and death of farm animals and the destruction of the harvest by hail; and then by the locusts. Even so, Pharaoh still refused Mosheh’ request.
YAHWEH said to him: ‘One disaster more I shall bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt, just one. ...After this he will let you go.’ The climax was at hand, and the end of the drama in sight.
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