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The Ten Plagues

The ten plagues were a ten-part lesson designed to teach Pharaoh, everyone in Egypt including the Israelites, and the rest of the world that Yahweh is the One and only God.  Additionally, according to Charles Ryrie, they demonstrated Yahweh’s power and the utter uselessness of these Egyptian gods:

• Plague 1—Hapi (thought to be the spirit of the Nile) and Khnum (thought to be the guardian of the Nile).
• Plague 2—Heqt (thought to have the form of a frog) and Hapi.
• Plague 3—It’s not clear in this plague which Egyptian god Yahweh is mocking.
• Plague 4—Uatchit (a god thought to appear as a fly).
• Plague 5—Ptah (thought to be the creator), the Apis bull (thought to be the incarnation of Ptah), and sacred cows in general.
• Plague 6—Sekhmet (a goddess thought to have healing powers) and Serapis (another god thought to have healing powers).
• Plague 7—Seth (thought to be the protector of crops) and Nut (thought to be the goddess of the sky).
• Plague 8—Isis (thought to be the goddess of life) and Seth.
• Plague 9—Ra (thought to be the sun god).
• Plague 10—Osiris (thought to be the giver of life) and Pharaoh (thought to be god on earth).[i]

Yahweh spoke the universe into existence,[ii] and He could have destroyed Egypt by simply saying the word.  But He did not.  Yahweh wanted to teach this lesson, and He told Moses to write it down as a permanent record and as a warning to the world that disobedience is costly.  At the end of the lessons, Pharaoh would die.

The First Plague—Turning Water Into Blood

God introduced the first plague with these words:

“By this you shall know that I am Yahweh.”[iii]

Moses instructed his brother Aaron to strike the Nile River with his staff, and it turned into blood.  Then he told Aaron to stretch out his staff over the waters of Egypt, and all the streams and ponds in Egypt turned into blood.  Pharaoh responded by asking his magicians to perform a similar sign through trickery, which they did.  So Pharaoh hardened his heart, and he did not let God’s people go.

The Second Plague—Frogs

Seven days later, God instructed Moses to deliver this message to Pharaoh:

“Let My people go, that they may serve Me.  But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs.”[iv]

Pharaoh refused to obey God so Aaron stretched out his staff over the rivers, ponds and streams, and frogs came up out of the water and covered the whole land of Egypt.  Pharaoh asked his magicians to perform a similar feat, and they did.  But he summoned Moses immediately and promised him that he would let God’s people go if Moses would ask Yahweh to remove the frogs from the land.

Moses allowed Pharaoh to choose the specific time the frogs would be removed to show him that “there is no one like Yahweh our God.”[v]  Pharaoh said tomorrow, and the next day the frogs were gone.  Still, he refused to obey God.

The Third Plague—Gnats

God told Moses to instruct Aaron to stretch out his staff and strike the dust on the ground, and it would turn into gnats.  He did it, and gnats covered the whole land of Egypt.  Pharaoh’s magicians tried unsuccessfully to copy this plague, and they went to Pharaoh and said, “This is the finger of God.”[vi]  Even though Pharaoh’s servants were beginning to understand that Yahweh is God, Pharaoh did not believe it, and he did not let God’s people go.

The Fourth Plague—Flies

The first three plagues showed Pharaoh that Yahweh is God, and they were inflicted on the entire land of Egypt.  However, Yahweh made an important distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians during the fourth plague.  He instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh that if he did not let His people go, swarms of insects would cover Egypt, but they would not swarm in Goshen where the Children of Israel lived.  God said,

“But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of insects will be there, in order that you may know that I, Yahweh, am in the midst of the land.  I will put a division between My people and your people.  Tomorrow this sign shall occur.”[vii]

Once again, Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go so insects swarmed throughout Egypt and devastated the land, but they did not swarm in Goshen.  Pharaoh softened his position a bit after he saw the damage caused by the insects.  He summoned Moses and told him that he could sacrifice to Yahweh, but he would have to do it in Egypt.

Moses responded by reminding Pharaoh that they intended to sacrifice cattle to Yahweh, and since the Egyptians believed cattle were gods, they might be attacked.  Pharaoh reluctantly agreed to let them go, and Moses warned Pharaoh not to renege on his promise again.  But it was no use.  Pharaoh changed his mind and refused to let God’s people go.

The Fifth Plague—Disease on the Livestock

Yahweh told Moses to warn Pharaoh that if he refused to let His people go “the hand of Yahweh will come with very severe pestilence on your livestock,”[viii] but He said that the plague would affect none of the Hebrew livestock.  God gave Pharaoh a day to make up his mind, but he still refused to let God’s people go.

The next day, Yahweh inflicted a disease on the livestock in Egypt, and many of them died.  Pharaoh sent his scouts to Goshen to find out if any of the Hebrew livestock had survived, and they reported back to him that all of their animals were alive and well.  Still Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let God’s people go.

The Sixth Plague—Boils on Men and Animals

God told Moses to take soot from a kiln and to throw it into the air in front of Pharaoh.  Immediately, it became a fine dust that covered the land of Egypt, and it caused boils to break out on men and animals.  Boils broke out so badly on Pharaoh’s magicians that they could not stand in his presence.  Still, he refused to accept Yahweh’s authority.  Pharaoh had a stubborn, unyielding heart, and Yahweh was furious with him.  For the first time, Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let God’s people go.

The Seventh Plague—Hail

God’s anger was growing by the moment, and He said,

“This time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.  For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth.  But, indeed, for this cause I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power, in order to proclaim My Name (Yahweh) through all the earth.”[ix]

God instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh and his servants to bring their animals in from the fields to safety because the next day He would send a hailstorm the likes of which they had never seen.  By now, many Egyptians believed Moses and feared Yahweh, and they quickly brought their animals inside for cover.  Those who did not believe God turned a deaf ear to His merciful warning, and they were destined to suffer great loss.

The next day the storm began, but it was not a typical hailstorm.  Hail and fire (not lightning) mixed together rained down from heaven.  Ordinarily, water and fire cannot coexist, but this time they did.  In the deutero-canonical[x] book “Wisdom” that is included in Catholic Bibles, King Solomon[xi] said this about the seventh plague:

“Even more wonderful, in the water—which quenches all—the fire raged fiercer than ever[xii]….For the whole creation, submissive to your commands, had its very nature re-created, so that your children should be preserved from harm[xiii]….A new attuning of the elements occurred, as on a harp the notes may change their rhythm, though all the while preserving the same tone; and this is just what happened[xiv]….fire reinforced its strength in water, and water forgot the power of extinguishing it….”[xv]

What a sight that must have been.  But in the land of Goshen where the Hebrew people lived there was no storm at all, and for the first time Pharaoh feared Yahweh.  Hurriedly he sent for Moses and pleaded with him to ask Yahweh to call off the storm.  He said, “I have sinned this time; Yahweh is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones.”[xvi]  Pharaoh told Moses that if Yahweh would stop the storm, he would let His people go.

Moses did as Pharaoh requested, but he knew Pharaoh’s fear of Yahweh was normal human fear—not fear leading to obedience to God.  Sure enough, when the storm ended Pharaoh broke his word again.

With these plagues, Yahweh was demonstrating His sovereignty over the forces of nature and nature itself.  He was also displaying His superiority over the most powerful principality in the world.  No king or god can prevent from happening anything that God wills to happen.  Yahweh is in control, and the Exodus experience became an enduring lesson for all of mankind about the omnipotence of Yahweh.

The Eighth Plague—Locusts

God told Moses,

“Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am Yahweh.”[xvii]

This would not be a normal locust infestation.  They would come in such a massive swarm that they would literally cover the ground.  Nothing is beyond Yahweh’s reach: not insects, not bacteria, and not viruses.  By this time, Pharaoh’s servants were afraid of Yahweh, and they begged him to let God’s people go.  Pharaoh called for Moses and told him he could take the Hebrew men with him but that he would have to leave the women and children behind to ensure their return.  Moses rejected Pharaoh’s offer, and the locusts descended on Egypt.

The locusts devastated the remaining vegetation, and Pharaoh begged Moses to remove them.  Again, he admitted he had sinned, and he promised to let God’s people go.  Yahweh caused a strong wind to blow the locusts out of Egypt, but when they were gone Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  He did not let God’s people go.

The Ninth Plague—Darkness

Without notifying Pharaoh in advance, God told Moses to stretch out his hands and darkness would cover Egypt for three days.  It was not ordinary darkness, though.  It might have been a severe sandstorm, and it could have been darkness along with thick, moist air.  Some people have speculated that ashes from the volcano on the Greek island of Santorini may have caused the darkness following a stunning eruption at about the time of the Exodus, but no one knows for sure.  This much is certain.  Pharaoh knew that his chief god, Ra the sun god, was obliterated for three days and that the people of Egypt were angry with him for exposing them needlessly to Yahweh’s unrelenting hand.

Pharaoh called for Moses and told him to take all his people with him, but to leave the animals in Egypt.  Again, Moses refused Pharaoh’s offer because they needed the animals to make sacrifices to Yahweh.  God hardened Pharaoh’s heart once more, and he did not let His people go.

The Tenth Plague—The Death of the First-Born or Passover

The tenth plague was different from all the others because this time Yahweh targeted the first-born of every living creature.  It would touch every home in Egypt, including Pharaoh’s house.  The tenth plague was different in these respects as well:

• Yahweh came in Person to execute it.[xviii]  He used the tenth plague to demonstrate His sovereignty over life and death and to show Pharaoh, Egypt, and the rest of the world that there are consequences for rebellion against Him.
• Yahweh used it to re-emphasize that He “makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.”[xix]  In a broader sense, He was showing that He differentiates between His people and everyone else.
• Yahweh used the tenth plague, or Passover, to teach us a lesson about redemption, and He commanded us to celebrate Passover yearly forever.[xx]

Passover is the day Yahweh redeemed His people, when He passed over their houses and spared them from the death penalty.  But the penalty for sin is death.  God told Adam that he would surely die if he disobeyed Him,[xxi] and God cannot go back on His Word.  The blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts and lintels of their houses was, and still is, symbolic of the sacrifice Yahweh made to secure our salvation.  In other words, Passover is not just about redemption from bondage in Egypt.  In a larger sense, it is about redemption from bondage to sin, and that is why He commanded us to celebrate it every year forever.

God told Moses,

“This month shall be for you the beginning of months, it shall be for you the first of the months of the year.  Speak to the entire assembly of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month they shall take for themselves—each man—a lamb or a kid for each father’s house, a lamb or a kid for the household.  But if the household will be too small for a lamb or kid, then he and his neighbor who is near his house shall take according to the number of people; everyone according to what he eats shall be counted for the lamb or kid.  An (singular) unblemished lamb or kid, a male, within its first year shall it be for you; from the sheep or goats shall you take it.  It shall be yours (your lamb) for examination until the fourteenth day of this month; the entire congregation of the assembly of Israel shall slaughter it in the afternoon.  They shall take some of its blood and place it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they will eat it.  They shall eat the flesh on that night—roasted over a fire—and matzos; with bitter herbs shall they eat it.”[xxii]

Yahweh refers to the Passover lamb as “a lamb” three times.  He told them to take “a lamb” for each household, and if a household was too small for “a lamb,” He told them to combine families and share “a lamb.”  Everyone will have enough, and no one will have too much.  This is fundamental to God’s plan for redemption and salvation.  Next, God refers to it as “the lamb”—the unblemished lamb.  Then, God refers to “the lamb” as “your personal lamb”:

“It (the lamb) shall be yours (your lamb) for examination until the fourteenth day of this month.”[xxiii]

Yahweh told the Children of Israel to take “the lamb” into their houses for four days.  During the four-day period, it becomes “your lamb.”  You get to know it.  It becomes part of your family.  You learn about its character and disposition.  In every sense of the word, it becomes “your lamb.”  Yahweh’s redemption is personal as well.  He made a sacrifice for you, and He is your Lamb.

Finally, Yahweh told them to slaughter their personal lamb on the afternoon of the 14th.  It was as if they were slaughtering a member of their own family.  The children knew and loved their lamb, and they probably cried when it was slaughtered.  Yes, this lamb is your lamb, and it is dying for your salvation.  Your Lamb’s blood is the only thing that saves your life.

To redeem us and to atone for our sins, the unblemished Passover Lamb of God had to die.  He had to pay the price for our sins in order to save us.  This is the most important message contained in the Scriptures.  Yahweh explained the literal meaning of Passover to Isaiah this way: “Yahweh inflicted on Him the iniquity of us all,”[xxiv] and He is our “guilt offering.”[xxv]  The Person about whom Yahweh is speaking in Isaiah is the Messiah, and He took the penalty for our sins upon Himself.  As you will see later, this Person is the personification and manifestation of Yahweh.

This is an excerpt from His Name is Yahweh.  It explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important.  It’s a book that you need to read and share.  It’s available in eBook format and in paperback.

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