the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Plagues of Egypt
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
I.
1. Water Turned to Blood
2. The Plague of Frogs
3. The Plague of Lice
4. The Plague of Flies
5. The Plague of Murrain
6. The Plague of Boils
7. The Plague of Hail
8. The Plague of Locusts
9. The Plague of Darkness
10. Death of the Firstborn
II.
1. Intensification
2. Prediction
3. Discrimination
4. Orderliness and Increasing Severity
5. Arrangement to Accomplish Divine Moral Purpose
III.
1. Discrediting of the gods of Egypt
2. Pharaoh Made to Know that Yahweh Is Lord
3. Revelation of God as Saviour
4. Exhibition of the Divine Use of Evil
Introduction:
The Hebrew words are so used as to give the name "plagues" to all the "wonders" God did against Pharaoh. Thus, it appears that the language in the account in Exodus puts forward the wondrous character of these dealings of Yahweh with Pharaoh. The account of the plagues is found in Exodus 7:8 through 12:31; Psalm 78:42-51; Psalm 105:27-36 . These poetical accounts of the plagues have a devotional purpose and do not give a full historical narrative. Ps 78 omits plagues 4, 6, 9; Ps 105 omits plagues 5 and 6. Both psalms change the order of the plagues. Account of the preparation which led up to the plagues is found in the narrative of the burning bush (see
Much elaborate effort has been made to derive from the description of the plagues evidence for different documents in the narrative. It is pointed out that Moses (E) declared to Pharaoh that he would smite the waters (Exodus 7:17 ), and then the account, as it proceeds, tells us that Aaron smote the waters (Exodus 7:19 , Exodus 7:20 ). But this is quite in accord with the preceding statement (Exodus 4:16 ) that Aaron was to be the spokesman. Moses was to deal with God, Aaron with Pharaoh. Again it is noticed that some of the plagues are ascribed to the immediate agency of Yahweh, some are represented as coming through the mediation of Moses, and still others through the mediation of Moses and Aaron. Certainly this may be an exact statement of facts, and, if the facts were just so, the record of the facts affords no evidence of different documents.
An examination of the account of the plagues as it stands will bring them before us in a most graphic and connected story.
I. The Natural Phenomena.
All the "wonders" represented anywhere in Scripture as done by the power of God are intimately associated with natural phenomena, and necessarily so. Human beings have no other way of perceiving external events than through those senses which only deal with natural phenomena. Accordingly, all theophanies and miraculous doings are embodied in natural events.
The presence of Yahweh with the sacrifice by Abraham was manifested by the passing of a "smoking furnace and a burning lamp" between the pieces of the offerings (Genesis 15:17 the King James Version). The majesty and power of God at Sinai were manifested in the "cloud" and the "brightness," the "voice" and the "sound of a trumpet" ( Hebrews 12:19 ). The Holy Spirit descended "as a dove" (Matthew 3:16 ). The Deity of Jesus was attested on the mountain by a "voice" (Matthew 17:5 ). Jesus Himself was "God ... manifest in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16 the King James Version). He was "found in fashion as a man' ( Philippians 2:8 ). And all the miracles of Jesus were coupled with sensible phenomena: He spoke to the sea and it was calm; He touched the leper and he was clean; He called to Lazarus and he came forth.
Yet in all these natural events, the miraculous working of God was as clearly seen as the natural phenomena. It is thus to be expected that the "wonders" of God in the land of Pharaoh should also be associated with natural events as well as manifest miraculous elements. The "blood" in the river, the "frogs" hopping about on the land, the "lice," the "flies," the "murrain," the "boils," the "hail," the "locusts," the "darkness," and the "pestilence" are all named as natural phenomena. Long familiarity with the land of Egypt has made it perfectly plain to many intelligent people, also, that nearly, if not quite, all the plagues of Egypt are still in that land as natural phenomena, and occur, when they do occur, very exactly in the order in which we find them recorded in the narrative in Exodus. But natural events in the plagues as in other "wonders" of God embodied miraculous doings.
1. Water Turned to Blood:
The first of the plagues ( דּם ,
2. The Plague of Frogs:
Frogs ( צפרדּעים ,
3. The Plague of Lice:
It is impossible to determine what particular troublesome insect pest of Egypt is meant by the 3plague, whether body-lice or mosquitoes or sandflies or ticks or fleas ( כּנּם ,
4. The Plague of Flies:
As the seasons pass on, after the recession of the waters, the flies ( ערב ,
5. The Plague of Murrain:
In addition to the separation established between Israel and the Egyptians, a definite time is now set for the coming of the 5th plague. It is to be noticed also that diseases of cattle ( דּבר ,
6. The Plague of Boils:
In the plague of boils ( שׁחין ,
7. The Plague of Hail:
Hail ( בּרד ,
8. The Plague of Locusts:
The plague of locusts ( ארבּה ,
9. The Plague of Darkness:
The progress of the seasons has been quite marked from the first plague, just before the rising of the waters, on through the year until now the khamsin period ( חשׁך ,
10. Death of the Firstborn:
No intimation is given of the exact character of the death inflicted on the firstborn ( בּכור ,
Thus, it appears that probably all the plagues were based upon natural phenomena which still exist in Egypt in the same order, and, when they do occur, find place somewhere during the course of one year.
II. Miraculous Use of the Phenomena.
The miraculous elements in the plagues are no less distinctly manifest than the natural phenomena themselves.
1. Intensification:
There was an intensification of the effect of the various plagues so much beyond all precedent as to impress everyone as being a special divine manifestation, and it was so. There was national horror of the blood-like water, disgust at the frogs, intolerable torture by the stinging insects and flies, utter ruin of the farmers in the loss of the cattle, the beating down of the crops by the hail, and the devouring of every green thing by the locusts, the sufferings and dread of the inhabitants by reason of the boils, the frightful electric storm, the suffocating darkness and, finally, the crushing disaster of the death of the firstborn. All these calamities may be found in Egypt to the present day, but never any of them, not to say all of them, in such overwhelming severity. That all of them should come in one year and all with such devastation was plainly a divine arrangement. Merely natural events do not arrange themselves so systematically. In this systematic severity were seen miracles of power .
2. Prediction:
The prediction of the plagues and the fulfillment of the prediction at the exact time to a day, sometimes to an hour (as the cessation of the thunder and lightning): There was first a general prediction (Exodus 3:19 , Exodus 3:20; Exodus 7:3; Exodus 9:14 , Exodus 9:15 ) and an indication as the plagues went on that the climax would be pestilence (Exodus 9:15 ). Then several of the plagues were specifically announced and a time was set for them; e.g. the flies (Exodus 8:23 ), the murrain (Exodus 9:5 ), the hail (Exodus 9:18 ), the locusts (Exodus 10:4 ), the death of the firstborn (Exodus 11:4 ). In some cases a time for the removal of the plague was also specified: e.g. the frogs (Exodus 8:10 ), the thunder and lightning (Exodus 9:29 ). In every instance these predictions were exactly fulfilled. In some instances careful foresight might seem to supply in part this ability to predict. Perhaps it was by means of such foresight that the magicians "did so with their enchantments" for the first two plagues. The plague being in existence, foresight might safely predict that it would continue for a little time at least, so that, if the magicians sought for bloody water or called for frogs, they would seem to be successful. But the evidence which Yahweh produced went beyond them, and, at the third plague, they were unable to do anything. These things postulate, on the part of Moses and Aaron, knowledge far beyond human ken. Not only magicians could not do so with their enchantments, but modern science and discoveries are no more able so to predict events. Even meteorological phenomena are only predicted within the limits of reasonable foresight. Such wonders as the plagues of Egypt can in no wise be explained as merely natural. The prediction was a miracle of knowledge .
3. Discrimination:
The discrimination shown in the visitation by the plagues presents another miraculous element more significant and important than either the miracles of power or the miracles of knowledge. God put a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites, beginning with the plague of flies and continuing, apparently, without exception, until the end. Such miracles of moral purpose admit of no possible explanation but the exercise of a holy will. Merely natural events make no such regular, systematic discriminations.
4. Orderliness and Increasing Severity:
The orderliness and gradually increasing severity of the plagues with such arrangement as brought "judgment upon the gods of Egypt," vindicating Yahweh as Ruler over all, and educating the people to know Yahweh as Lord of all the earth, present an aspect of events distinctly non-natural. Such method reveals also a divine mind at work.
5. Arrangement to Accomplish Divine Moral Purpose:
Last of all and most important of all, the plagues were so arranged as to accomplish in particular a great divine moral purpose in the revelation of God to the Israelites, to the Egyptians and to all the world. This is the distinctive mark of every real miracle. And this leads us directly to the consideration of the most important aspect of the plagues.
III. Divine Moral Purpose.
1. Discrediting of the Gods of Egypt:
This discrediting of the gods of Egypt is marked at every step of the progress of the plagues, and the accumulated effect of the repeated discrediting of the gods must have had, and, indeed, had, a great influence upon the Egyptians. The plagues did 'execute judgment against the gods of Egypt' (Exodus 12:12 ), and the people and princes brought great pressure to bear upon Pharaoh to let the people go (Exodus 10:7 ). The magicians who claimed to represent the gods of Egypt were defeated, Pharaoh himself, who was accounted divine, was humbled, the great god, the Nile, was polluted, frogs defiled the temples and, at last, the sun, the greatest god of Egypt, was blotted out in darkness.
2. Pharaoh Made to Know That Yahweh Is Lord:
Pharaoh was made to know that Yahweh is Lord, and acknowledged it (Exodus 9:27; Exodus 10:16 ). To this end the issue was clearly drawn. Pharaoh challenged the right of Yahweh to command him (Exodus 5:2 ), and God required him then to "stand" to the trial until the evidence could be fully presented, in accordance with the fundamental principle that he who makes a charge is bound to stand to it until either he acknowledges its utter falsity or affords opportunity for full presentation of evidence. So we see God made Pharaoh to "stand" (Exodus 9:16 ) (while the Bible, which speaks in the concrete language of life, calls it the hardening of Pharaoh's heart) until the case was tried out (compare Lamb, Miracle of Science , 126-49).
3. Revelation of God as Saviour:
A more blessed and gracious moral purpose of the plagues was the revelation of God as the Saviour of the world. This began in the revelation at the burning bush, where God, in fire, appeared in the bush, yet the bush was not consumed, but saved. This revelation, thus given to the people, was further evidenced by the separation between Israel and the Egyptians; was made known even to the Egyptians by the warning before the plague of hail, that those Egyptians who had been impressed with the power of God might also learn that He is a God that will save those who give heed unto Him; and, at last, reached its startling climax when the angel of the Lord passed over the blood-marked door the night of the death of the firstborn and the institution of the Passover.
4. Exhibition of the Divine Use of Evil:
Last of all, the plagues had a great moral purpose in that they embodied the divine use of evil in the experience of men in this world. As the experience of Job illustrates the use of evil in the life of the righteous, so the plagues of Egypt illustrate the same great problem of evil in the lot of the wicked. In the one case, as in the other, the wonders of God are so arranged as "to justify the ways of God to men."
The minutely accurate knowledge of life in Egypt displayed by this narrative in the Book of Exodus is inconceivable in an age of so little and difficult intercommunication between nations, except by actual residence of the author in Egypt. This has an important bearing upon the time of the composition of this narrative, and so upon the question of its author.
Literature.
The literature of this subject is almost endless. It will suffice to refer the reader to all the general comms., and the special commentaries on Ex, for discussion of doctrinal and critical questions. Two admirable recent discussions of the plagues, in English, are Lamb, Miracle of Science , and Merrins, "The Plagues of Egypt," in Bibliotheca Sacra , 1908, July and October.
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Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Plagues of Egypt'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​isb/​p/plagues-of-egypt.html. 1915.