Faith: The Plagues of Egypt

As a child I was taught in Sunday school about the book of Exodus in the Bible, but the teachings were mainly about Moses, the Exodus through the red sea and the ten plagues God sent on Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.

These ten plagues happened in order that Pharaohs hardened heart would soften and his eyes be open to who God really was and listen to God and set the Israelite's free from oppression and slavery.

It’s not that Pharaoh didn’t believe in or worship gods, he did, he believed in the sun gods and the river gods etc. – he just didn’t believe in the God of the Israelite's – the true God.  Pharaoh didn’t take offence at the Israelite's having their own God but he did take offence at the suggestion that the God of Israel might have a claim on him. Pharaoh didn’t want other people’s beliefs imposed upon him.

 By sending the plagues God was declaring that He is the only true and relevant God - “And Moses said, “May it be as you say. You will know that there is no one like the Lord our God” (Exodus 8 v 10).

God through the plagues goes head to head with Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods as it says in Numbers 33 v 4b “the Lord……brought judgement on their gods”

But why the 10 plagues, what do they mean – why did God send the specific plagues he did – well it is because many of the plagues are attacks on specific Egyptian gods.

Plague 1 - turning water into blood (Exodus 7 v 14-24) – this plague was an attack on Hopi, the Egyptian god of fertility. Without the River Nile there was no fertility in Egypt, which effectively meant there would be no Egypt. 

“This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink and the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water. (Exodus 7 v 17-18)

Plague 2 – Frogs (Exodus 7 v25 - 8 v 15) – this plague was an attack on Haqt who had the head of a frog and was another fertility god.  By sending this plague God is showing that frogs are his to command and no one else’s.

“This is what the great LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. The frogs will go up on you and your people and all your officials” (Exodus 8:1–4)

Plague 5 – Diseased Livestock (Exodus 9 v 1-9). The bull was another symbol of fertility and all over Egypt there would have been shrine to the Bull. Two of the Bull-gods who would have been worshipped are Apis and Mneivs and none of them could resist the plague on the livestock of Egypt.

“This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, the hand of the LORD will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses and donkeys and camels and on your cattle and sheep and goats”  Exodus 9:1–3

Plague 6 – Boils (Exodus 9 v 8-12). The plague of Boils on the Egyptians could not be overturned by Sekhmet who was the lion-headed goddess of plagues

“Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on men and animals throughout the land. -  Exodus 9:8–9

Plague 7– Hail (Exodus 9 v 13-35). The plague of Hail could not be over turned by Nut, the goddess of the Sky - not could she stop the wind which brought the plague of locusts (Egypt 10 v 1-20) – Plague 8.

“Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every man and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die. […] The LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt; hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation” — Exodus 9:13–24

“This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your fathers nor your forefathers have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now” — Exodus 10:3–6

Plague 9 – Darkness for three days (Exodus 10 v 21-29). This plague was no prevented by Re, the sun god who at nigh descended into the netherworld before rising victorious again with dawn. But during the 9th plague he did not rise. These three days of darkness were a clear sign that Re had been defeated. 

The first nine plagues show that before Israel’s God, who is our God that all other gods are powerless, all pretenders are defeated and all blasphemers are silenced.