035. XXII. The Egyptian Plagues

§ XXII. THE EGYPTIAN PLAGUES Exodus 7:1 to Exodus 12:34

1. Jehovah’s warning to Pharaoh. Then Jehovah said to Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuseth to let the people go. But thou shalt say to him, ‘Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, hath sent me to thee to say, “Let my people go that they may worship me in the wilderness; but hitherto thou hast not hearkened. Thus saith Jehovah, In this thou shalt know that I am Jehovah; behold, I will smite, and the fish that are in the Nile shall die, and the Nile shall become foul, so the Egyptians shall loathe to drink the water from the Nile.” ’

2. Defilement of the Nile. Thereupon Jehovah smote the Nile, and the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink the water from the Nile. And all the Egyptians dug round about the Nile for water to drink; for they could not drink the water of the Nile.

3. Swarms of frogs. When seven full days had passed after Jehovah had smitten the Nile, Jehovah commanded Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus saith Jehovah, “Let my people go that they may worship me. And if thou refuse to let them go, then I will smite all thy territory with frogs; and the Nile shall swarm with frogs which shall go up and come into thy house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy courtiers, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens and kneading troughs; and the frogs shall come up even upon thee and thy people and all thy courtiers.” ’ Thereupon Jehovah smote the land of Egypt with frogs.

4. Pharaoh’s request. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and said, Make supplication to Jehovah, that he may take away the frogs from me, and my people; then I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to Jehovah. And Moses said to Pharaoh, Will you graciously inform me at what time I shall make supplication in your behalf and in behalf of your courtiers and people, that the frogs be destroyed from your palaces and be left only in the Nile ? And he answered, To-morrow. Then Moses said, Be it as you say; that you may know that there is none like Jehovah our God. The frogs shall depart from you, and from your palaces, from your courtiers and people, they shall be left only in the Nile.

5. His perfidy. Then when Moses had gone out from Pharaoh, he cried to Jehovah in regard to the frogs which he had brought upon Pharaoh. And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields. And they gathered them together into innumerable heaps; and the land was filled with a vile odor. But when Pharaoh saw that a respite had come, he hardened his heart.

6.Swarms of gadflies. Then Jehovah said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, just as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus saith Jehovah, “Let my people go that they may worship me. For if thou wilt not let my people go, then I will send swarms of gad-flies upon thee, thy courtiers, and thy people, and into thy palaces, so that the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of gad-flies, as well as the ground whereon they are. And I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, so that no swarms of gad-flies shall be there, in order that thou mayest know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people; by to-morrow shall this sign be.” ’ And Jehovah did so; and there came troublesome swarms of gadflies into the palace of Pharaoh; and in all Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of gad-flies.

7. Pharaoh’s consent and request. Then Pharaoh called Moses, and said, Go, sacrifice to your God here in this land. But Moses said, It is not advisable so to do; for we shall sacrifice to Jehovah our God that which the Egyptians abhor; if now we sacrifice before their eyes that which the Egyptians abhor, will they not stone us? We wish to go three days’ journey in the wilderness and sacrifice to our God, as he shall command us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Make supplication in my behalf. And Moses said, I am now going out from you, and I will make supplication to Jehovah that the swarms of gad-flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his courtiers and people to-morrow; only let not Pharaoh again deal deceitfully by refusing to let the people go to sacrifice to Jehovah.

8. His repeated perfidy. So Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to Jehovah. And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of gad-flies from Pharaoh, from his courtiers and people, until not one was left. But Pharaoh was stubborn in heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.

9. Death of the cattle of the Egyptians. Then Jehovah said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus saith Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go that they may worship me. For if thou refuse to let them go and still holdest them, then will the hand of Jehovah be upon thy cattle which are in the field, upon the horses, the asses, the camels, the herds and the flocks, in the form of a very severe pest. But Jehovah will make a distinction between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, and nothing shall die of all that belongs to the Israelites.” ’ Accordingly Jehovah appointed a set time, saying, To-morrow Jehovah shall do this in the land. And Jehovah did that thing on the morrow: and all the cattle of Egypt died; but of the cattle of the Israelites none died. Then Pharaoh sent and found that not even one of the cattle of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was stubborn and he did not let the people go.

10. Destructive hail. Then Jehovah said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus saith Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may worship me. Dost thou still exalt thyself against my people, in that thou wilt not let them go? Then tomorrow about this time I will send down a very heavy fall of hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the day it was founded, even until the present.” ’ So Jehovah sent thunder and hail; and fire ran down upon the earth; and Jehovah rained hail upon the land of Egypt. And the hail was very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote all the vegetation of the field, and shattered every tree of the field. Only in the province of Goshen, where the Israelites were, was there no hail.

11.Pharaoh’s continued perfidy. Then Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses, and said to him, I have sinned this time; Jehovah is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. Make supplication to Jehovah —for there has been more than enough of these mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer. Then Moses said to him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to Jehovah ; the thunders shall cease, and there shall be no more hail, that thou mayest know that the land is Jehovah’s. But as for you and your courtiers, I know that even then you will not fear Jehovah. So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to Jehovah. Then the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was no longer poured upon the earth. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had ceased, he sinned yet again and was stubborn in heart, he together with his courtiers.

12. Jehovah’s warning. Then Jehovah said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh. So Moses went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go that they may worship me. For if thou refuse to let my people go, to-morrow I will bring locusts into thy territory, and they shall cover the surface of the earth, so that one shall not be able to see the earth, and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth to you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field; and thy palaces shall be filled, and the houses of all thy courtiers, and of all the Egyptians; neither thy fathers nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen the like, since the day that they were upon the earth to this day.’ Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

13.Partial consent of Pharaoh and his courtiers. Thereupon Pharaoh’s courtiers said to him, How long is this man to be a snare to us? Let the men go that they may worship Jehovah their God. Do you not know that Egypt is being destroyed ? So Moses was brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to him, Go worship Jehovah, your God; but who are they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young, and with our old men, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks, and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast to Jehovah. And he said to them, May Jehovah then be with you. If I let you go together with your little ones, beware, for evil is before you. Nay, rather, you men go and worship Jehovah, for that is what you desire. Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

14. Devastation of the land by locusts. And Jehovah caused an east wind to blow over the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning the east wind had brought the locusts, and they settled down in all the territory of Egypt, exceedingly many; before them there were never so many locusts as they, neither after them shall there ever be so many. For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land looked dark, and nothing green was left, either tree or herb of the field, throughout all the land of Egypt.

15.Pharaoh’s request. Then Pharaoh called for Moses in haste, and said, I have sinned against Jehovah your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and make supplication to Jehovah your God, that he may at least take away from me this deadly plague. So he went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to Jehovah. And Jehovah caused to blow from the opposite direction an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea; not a single locust was left in all the territory of Egypt.

16. Moses’s final interview with Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh called Moses, and said, Go, worship Jehovah, only let your flocks and your herds remain behind; let your little ones also go with you. But Moses said, You must also give us sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. Our cattle also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind; for we must take these to offer to Jehovah our God; and we do not know what we must offer to Jehovah, until we come thither. Thereupon Pharaoh said to him, Begone from me, beware, never see my face again; for in the day you see my face you shall die. And Moses said, You have spoken truly, I shall never see your face again.

17. The final warning. But Moses said, Thus saith Jehovah, ‘About midnight I will go throughout the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sitteth upon his throne, even to the first-born of the maid-servant, that is behind the mill. And there shall be a great wail of lamentation throughout all the land of Egypt, the like of which has never been, and shall never be again.’ But against none of the Israelites shall a dog move his tongue, against neither man nor beast; that you may know that Jehovah doth make a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel. And all these your courtiers shall come down to me, and prostrate themselves before me, saying, ‘Go forth, together with all the people that follow you’; and after that I will go out. Thereupon he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

18. Directions regarding the departure. Then Moses called all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Draw out and take lambs from the herds and kill. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door-posts with the blood that is in the basin; but, as regards yourselves, none of you shall go out of the door of his house. For Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two doorposts, Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the Destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. Then the people bowed low their heads in worship.

19. Death of the firstborn of the Egyptians. And it came to pass at midnight, that Jehovah smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive that was in the prison. Then Pharaoh rose up in the night, together with all his courtiers and the Egyptians, and there arose a great wail in Egypt for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called Moses and Aaron by night and said, Arise, go forth from the midst of my people, together with the Israelites; go, worship

Jehovah as you have requested. Also take with you your sheep and your cattle, as you have requested, and go and ask a blessing for me. And the Egyptians urged the people strenuously, that they might send them quickly out of the land, for they said to themselves, Else we shall be dead. Therefore the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.

I.The Different Groups of Plague Stories. In the remarkable treaty, which Ramses II concluded early in his reign with the Hittites who held northern Syria (Introd.III, vi), provision was made for cooperation in punishing delinquent subjects and in the extradition of political fugitives and immigrants, so that it was almost impossible to escape from the power of the Pharaoh. The problem of why the Israelite serfs were ever allowed to depart from Egypt was evidently in the minds of the later Hebrew narrators. All the traditions are agreed that the Egyptians did not consent until a series of remarkable calamities had broken their spirit and weakened their resources. Regarding the nature of these calamities each group of narrators had its characteristic version. In the late priestly narratives the plagues are all of a miraculous origin and character. They are, in fact, not so much plagues as wonders, performed in the presence of Pharaoh by Aaron’s magical staff, to prove his superiority over the Egyptian magicians. In the Northern Israelite narratives Moses himself wields the staff which calls forth the plague. In the early Judean narratives (cf. above) Jehovah sends the plagues after Moses has each time warned Pharaoh of the coming calamity. In these oldest records the plagues are not miracles, but simply natural phenomena characteristic of Egypt. Their magnitude and severity alone are unprecedented. Fortunately, this oldest history has been quoted fully, only two or three paragraphs having been lost. Separated from the later versions, it furnishes a closely connected account of seven distinct plagues.

II.The Oldest Account of the Plagues. Each plague is introduced by the same formulas and scenes. Each succeeding plague is more severe than the preceding, until the divine judgment reaches it culmination in the death of the first-born. They also appear to stand in a certain logical and chronological order. The defilement of the waters of the Nile may well have occurred in July or August, when the river is at its height. The second plague would fall most naturally in September, when frogs are most common in Egypt. Their rapid increase would naturally follow from the defilement of the waters. In the hot climate of Egypt the huge heaps of decaying frogs would inevitably breed great swarms of flies in the following months of October and November. The flies would in turn spread abroad the disease germs which attacked the animals and flocks in the pest-ridden region of the Nile. In the land of Egypt the plague of hail would be possible only in the rainy month of January. The great swarms of locusts, which may have obscured the sun, causing the local darkness described in the Northern Israelite narratives, came most naturally in the early spring just before the Passover, with which the last plague was associated.

III.The Egyptian Background of the Plagues. Owing to the presence of vegetable matter or minute organisms washed down by the Nile when it rises in June, the water is first colored green and then later turns to a dull reddish tinge. Many early travellers have commented on the unwholesomeness of the water at this stage. To-day, as in the past, the Nile is the only source of water supply in lower Egypt. Any unusual natural or local cause, which would corrupt the water of this sacred river, would bring in its train the plagues which immediately follow each other in the biblical stories. Early writers report repeated plagues of frogs in different parts of the ancient world. Gnats and stinging flies of various kinds are perennial plagues in the land of the Nile. Cattle plagues are also common. One was reported in 1842, which destroyed forty thousand oxen. In the late priestly account the plague attacked men as well as animals. The Hebrews, living apart in the land of Goshen, were in a different zone and would naturally escape those plagues which appear, according to the earliest records, to have been confined to the lower Nile valley.

Thunder storms, with lightening and hail, although very rare in Egypt, are not unknown during the rainy months. One observer saw hail storms but three times in twelve years. Lepsius states that “in December, 1843, there was a terrific storm with hail which made the day dark as night.” The statement in the Northern Israelite version that the plague came “when the barley was in the ear and the flax was in the bloom” fixes the date about the middle of January.

Although the locust plagues are more common in Palestine, travellers in Egypt have observed great swarms of these insects, which often obscure the light of the sun and destroy all vegetation in their path. From ancient times Egypt has been the home of many kinds of pestilence. Its hot climate and dense population favor the propagation and spread of contagious diseases. The preceding plagues had prepared the way for the sudden and terrible pestilence which spared neither young nor old, strong nor weak, cutting off the flower (the first-born) of every Egyptian home. Again, however, the Hebrews, living apart from the afflicted district, escaped the dread scourge.

IV.Historical Facts Underlying the Plague Stories. The contemporary Egyptian records contain no direct references to the biblical plagues. Merneptah, in his old age, succeeded his father Ramses II. For ten years at least, until 1215 B.C., he maintained the Egyptian rule in Palestine. He also succeeded in repelling the Libyan hordes which came from the northwest, and died peacefully and was buried with his ancestors at Thebes.

After the death of Merneptah, however, a series of calamities overtook Egypt, which are probably the basis of the Hebrew plague stories. Rival pretenders contended for the throne and civil war broke out in many parts of the empire. By the close of the thirteenth century complete anarchy prevailed. The local nobles and chiefs improved the opportunity to proclaim their independence or to make war upon each other. The land was deluged with blood. A later king (Ramses III) states that, “Every man was thrown out of his right; they had no chief ruler for many years until later times. The land of Egypt was in the hands of the nobles and rulers of towns; each slew his neighbor, great and small” (Harris Papyrus, IV, 398). Famine with all its misery and horrors followed. At this time also a certain Syrian proclaimed himself king. “ He made the entire land tributary to him; he united his companions and plundered their possessions. They made the gods like men and no offerings were presented at the temples ” (.Harris Papyrus). While no one would attempt to identify this Syrian with Moses, the narrative reveals a state of affairs in Egypt, which made it very easy for the Hebrews on the eastern borders to break away from their hateful bondage. The Libyans and other foreign invaders also improved this opportunity to invade and plunder Egypt. In the hot, unsanitary climate of the Nile, the anarchy and bloodshed and famine that prevailed may well have given rise to a series of plagues culminating in a terrible pestilence, as recorded in the oldest Hebrew traditions. Although differing in details, the oldest biblical narratives and the contemporary records are therefore in fundamental agreement.

V.The Significance of the National Calamities. The Egyptian king, who finally succeeded in restoring order, implies in the account of his work that the preceding disasters were due to the disfavor of the gods. With true insight Israel’s prophetic historians saw in these same events the hand of Jehovah preparing the way for the deliverance of his people. As the traditions were handed down, each succeeding generation expressed this truth in more definite and concrete terms, until the stories have assumed their present form. Underlying these stories is the great truth that there is no chance in God’s universe. The seemingly important and unimportant events in human history all conserve his divine purpose. No human power—the will of kings nor the might of empires—can hinder the realization, of that purpose. Those who resist it are broken, but those who, like the Israelites, act in accord with the divine will are trained for service and led on to a noble destiny.

VI.The Traditional OriginofthePassover. Both the early and the late Hebrew traditions agree in tracing the origin of the feast of the Passover to the great deliverance from Egypt. Moses’s original request of Pharaoh was that the Hebrews might go out three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to their God. The object was evidently to celebrate the spring festival which had long been an established institution among the Semitic ancestors of the Hebrews. At this ancient feast all members of a clan or tribe came together to renew the covenant with their tribal god. A lamb was sacrificed and its flesh eaten amidst feasting and rejoicing (cf. St. O.T., IV, p. 258). It was a time of joy and thanksgiving. In associating it with the great deliverance from Egypt, the later Hebrew prophets and priests gave it a new meaning, and yet at the same time emphasized the original content of the old Semitic feast. Even as the ancient Teutonic and Roman festivals were transformed into Christmas, so the old Semitic feast of thanksgiving became the Hebrew Passover. It remained preeminently the festival of the family or clan. The pascal lamb symbolized the renewal of the covenant with Jehovah. The blood sprinkled on the door-posts and lintels, the dish of bitter herbs, the girded loins, the sandals on the feet, and the staff in hand all recalled the great deliverance. The songs and prayers appropriately voiced the gratitude of the race for this and the subsequent proofs of Jehovah’s tender love and care.