THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT (EXODUS 7-10)

                                                 The Plagues of Egypt (collage,1989)

 

 One way of approaching any portion of biblical history is to first consider the historical and geographical background. Next, one should concentrate on the actions of all the leading characters in the narrative, including God Himself. When we take this approach to the story of the plagues of Egypt, here is what we come up with.

Background of the Story

Many commentators have noted that all of the first nine plagues are known to occur in the land of Egypt at one time or another naturally and they even form a logical progression in which each disaster leads naturally to the next. High rainfall in the Nile headlands brings down masses of fine-grained red clay and and toxic algae which kills the fish; this drives frogs infected by dead fish on to the shore where they infect the vegetation; the receding flood leaves behind pools of water which breed mosquitoes and flies which spread disease; the cattle contract anthrax ingested from infected pastures while the boils on people and beasts come from infectious bites from the flies. Then in spring, massive hail ruins the early crops followed by locust that strip the later crops. By March, in dryer weather, strong dust-laden winds start blowing, which darken the skies.

Now, of course, all of the details of the account in Exodus can't be explained that way, but for the most part these can be looked at as natural events common in Egypt where the most supernatural element is in their precise timing and location – generally not affecting the part of Egypt where the Jews lived.

God's Actions

The first thing to point out is that there is also a spiritual rationale for these plagues since each one targets a deity worshiped by the Egyptians. God turns each of these deities against the Egyptians.

The last plague of the first-born dying, of course, can't be explained by merely naturalistic means, although some scholars have actually attempted it. However, even this Tenth Plague can be seen as part of a consistent pattern of God's actions starting with God killing an animal to use its skin to clothe Adam and Eve after they sinned; God providing a sheep for Abraham to slaughter in place of his son Isaac; the need for the first-born of the Egyptians to die in order to free the Jews; the necessity of the Jews to sacrifice a lamb so that their firstborn wouldn't be affected; the first-born of Israel being ransomed by animal sacrifices; the various animal sacrifices required in Leviticus; and finally the necessity of God's own first-born, Jesus – the lamb of the world – to die in our place in order to ransom us from the penalty of death.

One major problem seems to have been caused by the structural divisions made so far; the tenth plague is severed from the other nine. This is, however, not as big a difficulty as might at first appear and is the accepted analysis of Childs and others. The account of the tenth plague is set apart from the others not only by its length, but also by its inclusion of much legislative material and the fact that it does not as easily lend itself to a naturalistic explanation. Also, it has been noted by Gordon that the first nine plagues, from a literary perspective, actually form three cycles of three:

Figure 1: Exodus 7:14-10:29

                        Cycle A: 1. blood (7:14-24)

2. frogs (7:25-8:15)

3. gnats (8:16-19)

Cycle B: 1. flies (8:20-32)

2. plague on the cattle (9:1-7)

3. boils (9:8-12)

Cycle C: 1. hail (9:13-35)

2. locust (10:1-20)

3. darkness (10:21-29)

Such an organization can be viewed as another piece of evidence for God's orderly actions behind the scenes.

Moses' and Aaron's Actions

There is a similar pattern behind these two men's actions in the way they confront Pharaoh since each of the three cycles includes the following elements:

Plagues “1”: announced in the morning by the riverside using identical wording

            Plagues “2”: announced in the Pharaoh's palace using identical wording

            Plagues “3”: given without any prior warning, symbolic gesture employed

There is, however, a progression as one moves from one cycle to the next:

Cycle A: Egyptian magicians compete with Moses

            Cycles B and C: clear distinction made between Hebrews and Egyptians

Also:

Cycle A: rod of Aaron employed

            Cycle B: no rod mentioned

            Cycle C: rod or hand of Moses mentioned

It is interesting to note in passing that the word “Hebrew” appears at the beginning of four plague accounts: the first of Cycle A, the second of Cycle B, and the first and second of Cycle C.

Pharaoh's Actions

The repeated motif concerning Pharaoh in this narrative is seen in the variations on the theme of his hardness of heart. If one reads them in chronological order, God starts out in 4:21 by saying “I will harden.” This appears to be an absolute statement, but (a) “if” clauses are sometimes missing in OT prophecies even though the prophecy is conditional upon man's reactions; (b) foreknowledge by God of future events is not really the same as predestination; and (c) it doesn't state when God is going to do it.

The next instances of hardening in the Exodus passage either say that Pharaoh hardened his own heart or that his heart was hardened (leaving the question open as to who caused it). Then we at last get to the point where God is definitely stated as the “hardener.” But even after that time, the text states, “Pharaoh sinned yet again and hardened his heart.” So we can conclude that he still had a measure of free will even at that point and could have repented if he wanted to.