(possibly Ramesses II, making the pharaoh of the Oppression Horemheb) to let the Israelite slaves leave.
The plagues as they appear in the Torah are:
1. (Exodus 7:14-25) rivers and other water sources turned to blood ('Dam')
2. (Exodus 7:26-8:11) reptiles (commonly believed to be frogs) ('Tsfardeia')
3. (Exodus 8:12-15) lice ('Kinim')
4. (Exodus 8:16-28) Either flies, wild animals or beetles ('Arov')
5. (Exodus 9:1-7) disease on livestock ('Dever')
6. (Exodus 9:8-12) unhealable boils ('Shkhin')
7. (Exodus 9:13-35) hail mixed with fire ('Barad')
8. (Exodus 10:1-20) locusts ('Arbeh')
9. (Exodus 10:21-29) darkness ('Choshech')
10. (Exodus 11:1-12:36) death of the firstborn ('Makat Bechorot')
Whereas all the other plagues did not affect the Israelites, the Torah indicates they were only spared from the final plague by sacrificing the Paschal lamb, marking their doorpost with the lamb's blood, and eating the roasted sacrifice together with Matzot ("Poor Man's Bread" לחם עוני) in a celebratory feast. The Torah describes God as actually passing through Egypt to kill all firstborn, but passing over (hence "Passover") houses which have the sign of lambs' blood on the doorpost. It was this plague which resulted in Pharaoh finally relenting, and sending the Israelites away at whatever terms they wished.
The Torah also relates God's instructions to Moses that the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt must be celebrated yearly on the holiday of Passover ("Pesah" פסח); the rituals observed on Passover recall the events surrounding the exodus from Egypt. The Torah additionally cites God's sparing of the Israelite firstborn as a rationale for the commandment of the redemption of the firstborn (Exodus 13:11-16). This event is also commemorated by the fast of the firstborn on the day preceding Passover but which is traditionally not observed because a siyum celebration is held which obviates the need for a fast.
The following is a summary of the Biblical account of the plagues which is found in chapters 7-12 of Exodus.
Prelude (5:1 - 5:9, 7:8 - 7:13)
Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh, and delivered God's demand that the Israelite slaves be allowed to leave Egypt for the purpose of worship and prayer for their God. After an initial refusal by Pharaoh, God sent Moses and Aaron back to show him a miraculous sign of warning - Moses' staff turned into a serpent. Pharaoh's sorcerers, using trickery, also turned their staffs into snakes, but Moses' swallowed theirs. Pharaoh remained unimpressed.
Blood (7:14 - 7:25) דָם
The first plague was blood. God instructed Moses to tell Aaron to extend his hand over the river Nile and so it would turn into blood staff; all of its water turned into blood. As a result of the blood, the fish of the Nile died, filling Egypt with an awful stench. Other water resources used by the Egyptians were turned to blood as well (7:19). Pharaoh's sorcerers demonstrated that they too could turn water to blood, and Pharaoh therefore made no concession to Moses' demands. This plague lasted for seven days.
Frogs (7:26 - 8:11) צְּפַרְדֵּעַ
The second plague of Egypt was frogs. God commanded Moses to tell Aaron to stretch his staff over the water, and hordes of frogs came and overran Egypt. Pharaoh's sorcerers were also able to duplicate this plague with their magic. However, since they were unable to remove it, Pharaoh was forced to grant permission for the Israelites to leave so that Moses would agree to remove the frogs. To prove that the plague was actually a divine punishment, Moses let Pharaoh choose the time that it would end. Pharaoh chose the following day, and all the frogs died the next day. Nevertheless, Pharaoh rescinded his permission, and the Israelites stayed in Egypt.
Gnats or Fleas (8:12 - 8:15) כִנִּים
The third plague of Egypt was fleas. God instructed Moses to tell Aharon to take his staff and strike at the dust, which turned into a mass of gnats that the Egyptians could not get rid of. The Egyptian sorcerers declared that this act was "the Finger of God", since they were unable to reproduce its effects with their magic.
Beasts or Flies (8:16 - 8:28) עָרֹב
The fourth plague of Egypt was Arov. Commentaries usually render this word as flies, but some understand it to mean beasts, capable of harming people and livestock. The Torah emphasizes that the arov only came against the Egyptians, and that it did not affect the Land of Goshen (where the Israelites lived). Pharaoh asked Moses to remove this plague and promised to allow the Israelites to worship God in the wilderness. However, after the plague was gone, Pharaoh "hardened his heart" and again refused to keep his promise.
Pestilence (9:1 - 9:7) דֶּבֶר
The fifth plague of Egypt was an epidemic disease which exterminated the Egyptian livestock; that is, horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep and goats. The Israelites' cattle were unharmed. Once again, Pharaoh made no concessions.
Boils (9:8 - 9:12) שְׁחִין
The sixth plague of Egypt was shhin (š'ћin). The Shkhin was a kind of skin disease, usually translated as "boils". God commanded Moses and Aaron to each take two handfuls of soot from a furnace, which Moses scattered skyward in Pharaoh's presence. The soot induced festering Shkhin eruptions on Egyptian men and livestock. The Egyptian sorcerers were afflicted along with everyone else, and were unable to heal themselves, much less the rest of Egypt.
Storm (fiery hail) (9:13 - 9:35) בָּרָד
The seventh plague of Egypt was a destructive storm. God commanded Moses to stretch his staff skyward, at which point the storm commenced. It was even more evidently supernatural than the previous plagues, a powerful shower of hail intermixed with fire. The storm heavily damaged Egyptian orchards and crops, as well as men and livestock. The storm struck all of Egypt except for the Land of Goshen. Pharaoh asked Moses to remove this plague and promised to allow the Israelites to worship God in the desert, saying "This time I have sinned; God is righteous, I and my people are wicked." As a show of God's mastery over the world, the hail stopped as soon as Moses began praying to God - hail which was then in the air never reached the ground; it simply disappeared. However, after the storm ceased, Pharaoh "hardened his heart" and refused to keep his promise.
Locusts (10:1 - 10:20) אַרְבֶּה
The eighth plague of Egypt was locusts. Before the plague, God informed Moses that from that point on He would "harden Pharaoh's heart," (as promised earlier in 4:21) so that Pharaoh would not give in, and the remaining miracles (the final plagues and the splitting of the sea) would play out.
As with previous plagues, Moses came to Pharaoh and warned him of the impending plague of locusts. Pharaoh's officials begged him to let the Israelite go rather than suffer the devastating effects of a locust-swarm, but he was still unwilling to give in. He proposed a compromise: the Israelite men would be allowed to go, while women, children and livestock would remain in Egypt. Moses repeated God's demand that every last person and animal should go, but Pharaoh refused.
God then had Moses stretch his staff over Egypt, and a wind picked up from the east. The wind continued until the following day, when it brought a locust swarm. The swarm covered the sky, casting a shadow over Egypt. It consumed all the remaining Egyptian crops, leaving no tree or plant standing. Pharaoh again asked Moses to remove this plague and promised to allow all the Israelites to worship God in the desert. As promised, God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not allow the Israelites to leave.
Darkness (10:21 - 10:29) חֹשֶׁךְ
God instructed Moses to stretch his hand over Egypt, and this brought a plague of complete and utter darkness, which lasted for three days. This was an unnatural darkness, and was tangible. However, the Israelites were able to see perfectly. After the plague subsided, Pharaoh summoned Moses, and again tried to bargain with him: he offered to let all the Israelites go out to the wilderness, but required them to leave their livestock in Egypt. Moses refused this condition, and implied that before long, Pharaoh himself would offer to provide the sacrifices, as long as the Israelites would leave. This outraged Pharaoh, and he threatened Moses with death.
Death of Firstborn (11:1 - 12:36) מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת
The tenth and final plague of Egypt was the death of all Egyptian first born males - no one escaped, from the lowest servant to Pharaoh's own first-born son, including first-born of livestock. This was the hardest and cruelest blow upon Egypt and the plague that finally convinced Pharaoh to submit, and let the Israelites go.
God told Moses that this plague would cause Pharaoh to send the Israelites away, and ordered him to prepare the people to leave. He also commanded Moses to teach the ritual of Pesah - the sacrifice of a lamb for God, and the eating of Matzot ("Poor-man's Bread" לחם עוני). God told Moses to order the Israelites to mark their doorpost with the lamb's blood, in order that the plague of death would pass over them.
In the middle of the night, God himself came upon Egypt and directed the Angel of Death to take the life of all the Egyptian first-born sons, including Pharaoh's own son. That night, there was a great cry in Egypt, such as had never been heard before, or ever will be heard again. However, no Israelite first-born was killed, as God "passed over" the Israelite houses.
After this, Pharaoh, furious and saddened, ordered the Israelites to go away, taking whatever they wanted. The Israelites didn't hesitate; and at the end of that night Moses led them out of Egypt, with "arms upraised".
Context
Although the main reason for the plagues appears to be Pharaoh's repeated refusal to release the Israelites from slavery, according to the Torah, God deliberately made Pharaoh unwilling to release the people, so that God could manifest his great power and cause it to be declared among the nations (Ex 9:14, 16), so that other peoples would discuss it for generations afterward (Jos 2:9-11; 9:9; Isa 4:8; 6:6). In this view, the plagues were punishment for the Egyptians' long abuse of the Israelites, as well as proof that the gods of Egypt were powerless. (Ex 12:12; Nu 33:4).
If God triumphed over the gods of Egypt, a world power at that time, then the people of God would be strengthened in their faith, although they are a small people, and would not be tempted to follow the deities that God put to shame. Although some have advanced theories as to which of the Egyptian gods would have been discredited by which plague, this is only scantily supported by Midrashic sources, and these attempts have generally produced widely divergent results.
Textual issues
Traditional views
One of the noticeable features of the tales is that there appears to be an underlying pattern, the third, sixth and ninth plagues come without warning, and many Biblical commentators see there as being three sets of three plagues each. Attempts to draw parallels between each have had limited success, and are somewhat disputed. Some point to Rabbi Yehuda (quoted in the Haggadah of Pesach) who implied this idea by grouping the first three, middle three and last four together with the mnemonics DE.ZA.KH. A.DA.SH. BA.A.HA.V.
Another significant feature is that some plagues, but not others, are instigated by Aaron, rather than Moses. Many critical religious commentaries resolve this situation by saying that due to the principle of Ha-karat ha-tov, Moses was obliged to appreciate the help he received earlier from the Nile, as a baby (Exodus 2:1-10), and the dust, when he murdered a guard in his youth, (Exodus 2:11-12) and was therefore unable to smite either of these.
Secular views
According to the documentary hypothesis, the plagues of boils, and of lice, are merely the Priestly source's version of JE's plagues of pestilence, and of flies. The Torah is thus seen as only gaining 10 plagues when both these versions were merged together, and thus treated as separate plagues. Similar merging also allegedly explains the pattern where the third, sixth and ninth plague, come without warning, as originating from different sources to the one in which warning is provided. Likewise, in this hypothesis, one source presents Aaron as carrying out the plague, one presents Moses as their origin, and one presents God as the explicit origin, and since the plagues they each describe do not completely overlap, this provides an explanation for why Moses carries out some plagues, but Aaron carries out others. The hypothesis also breaks the account of the plagues down further.
In an historical context, the greatest candidate for the Israelite presence in Egypt is that of the Hyksos. However, rather than being slaves who escaped, the Hyksos were rulers who were chased out of Egypt. The extreme resistance, in the story, of the unnamed Pharaoh to releasing them therefore, according to such an historical-critical view, serves to provide an explanation of why an Egyptian Pharaoh so angrily chased after the Israelites.
Historicity
The vast majority of scientists and secular thinkers believe the plague stories are simply mythical or allegorical, or inspired by passed-down accounts of disconnected natural disasters. Some, however, have speculated on possible natural inspirations behind the story of the succession of plagues.
Natural explanations
Typically, modern writers, and particularly skeptics, account for such details of the account as being pious exaggerations, or literary devices, intended to encourage faith.
Following the assumption that at least some of the details are accurately reported, many modern Jews believe that some of the plagues were indeed natural disasters, but argue for the fact that, since they followed one another with such uncommon rapidity, God's hand was behind them. Indeed, several Biblical commentators (Nachmanides and, more recently, Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky) have pointed out that, for the plagues to be a real test of faith, they had to contain an element leading to religious doubt.
Morality
The last plague has been depicted by critics as a cruel and unjustifiable punishment against the Egyptians, and is criticized for promoting an unethical schadenfreude ("pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune"). A common and widely accepted Jewish Midrash explains the dreadful plague by expanding upon Exodus 10:28, where Pharaoh threatens to kill Moses:
When Moses went to Pharaoh to demand of him that he let the people go, the whole event is happening in front of Pharaoh's first born son who teases and mocks his father for allowing the Hebrew shepherd to humiliate him. Enraged by the insult and mad with pride, Pharaoh resolved to have revenge for the plagues, and told Moses that he shall deal with the Hebrews in such a manner that a great cry will be heard in Egypt, such that has never been heard before. This was an allusion to the crimes of his father, who ordered the drowning of the male children of the Hebrews. Therefore, Pharaoh brought this harsh punishment upon his own people. His cruel plan was turned back upon him, so that what Pharaoh wanted to do to the Hebrews, God made to happen to him.
This Midrash justifies the last plague with two main arguments:
- Retribution in kind מידה כנגד מידה (Mida ke-neged mida): in the Bible the punishment fits to the crime, not only in severity, but also in symbolism. This is for a pedagogic reason: so that everyone, including the sinner himself, shall know why he has been punished by God.
- Self defence הקם להרגך, השכם להורגו (Ha-kam le-horgecha hashkem le-horgo): Pharaoh planned to slaughter all Hebrew children. By inflicting upon Pharaoh the same thing he planned for the Hebrews, his plan was thwarted.
However, under this rationale, God is basically committing the same evil that Pharaoh intended to commit. By sending a plague that will kill innocent Egyptian children God is performing the same "crime" for which Pharaoh deserved punishment, that of wanting to kill innocent people. After all, what did the Egyptian children have to do with Pharaoh's murderous desire? Self defense would have only required killing Pharaoh himself. Furthermore, since Pharaoh had not yet done the crime, God's act cannot be seen as retribution.
Some scholars, however, disagree with the interpretation of this plague which emphasizes children, and focus rather on the "first-born" aspect of the plague. As was typical in cultures of the time (and is seen many times in the Old Testament), the custom was for the first-born son to be the major inheritor, from the lowest strata of society to the throne of Pharaoh itself; and thus the first-born sons of Egypt would embody the leadership of the families of the nation. In addition, according to this interpretation, the priests of Egypt were largely first-born sons. Thus, in this view, the first-born sons of Egypt were in fact the decision makers, and communally responsible for the deeds of the nation, good or evil. [1]
The Plagues in Popular Culture
- The 1956 film The Ten Commandments depicts the plagues of Blood, Hail, Darkness, and Death of the Firstborn - but not Frogs, Flies, Lice, Death of Cattle, Boils, or Locusts.
- The Ten Plagues of Egypt were dramatized by the heavy metal group Metallica in their song "Creeping Death", on their 1984 release Ride the Lightning. Late bassist Cliff Burton came up with the title of the song while watching the 1956 Biblical epic The Ten Commandments, specifically when the Angel of Death moved among Egyptians, killing the firstborn in each family. The plagues were also dramatized (albeit diverging somewhat from the canonical list) as part of a modern horror film in The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971).
- In the horror film The Mummy (1999) the mummy of the pharaoh's high priest, Imhotep (related only in name to the historical Imhotep) brought with him the plagues of Egypt after he was revived from the dead. The first, fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth plagues were all depicted.
- In the 1999 film Magnolia it rains frogs; the film quotes the Bible: "If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs,"
- In Category 7: End of the World, a couple of plagues are seen in the movie. They include: frogs, water to blood, locusts, and hail.
- Actress Hilary Swank's new movie, The Reaping (2006) is a horror movie about the ten plagues and their appearance in today's modern day.
- In artist/writer Mike Mignola's Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comic series, the Lovecraftian entity Sadu-Hem unleashes a "plague of frogs" on the Earth, in the form of a humanoid race of frog-men. These creatures seek to supplant humanity by releasing the Ogdru Jahad and their spawn, the Ogdru Hem.
- In the Family Guy episode "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'", when Peter Griffin claims to be a supernatural being by claiming he had healed Chris's illness, people start to worship him. During that period of worship, 6 of the 10 plagues were shown in this episode (the seventh one was mentioned by Lois, which was Hail). First, all lightbulbs in the Griffin household goes out (Darkness). Second, Brian starts to get fleas all over him (Lice). Third, Chris has acne all over his face (Boils). Fourth, the water in the bathtub Stewie is bathing in turns to a goopy blood-like liquid (Water turning to Blood). Fifth, frogs come out of Peter and start swarming. Finally, when the Golden Statue of Peter falls to the ground, it lands on Chris, in which Chris faces near-death (Death of the First-born Son). When Peter apologizes for all that has happened, the plagues are removed.
- The album Plague Songs is based on the Ten Plagues. Each song concerns itself with a different plague.
- The X-Files episode The Sixth Extinction depicts two of the plagues (sea of blood, and locusts) appearing as as foreboding sign of the impending apocalypse.
<-- Mile Chai Jewish Books and Judaica
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the 10 Passover Plagues.
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