The plagues in Egypt
This is a story you likely heard in Sunday School, but there is much more to discover in it than you may have heard before.
The start
Moses and Aaron return to Israel and share the good news with the Israelites, who believe him. But when they take their request to Pharaoh, he only increases the workload, and Israel loses all interest in deliverance.
Next, Moses goes to Pharaoh and performs his miracles, but Pharaoh is not impressed.
Only once no one expects anything more from Moses and Aaron does God begin His work in earnest.
The magicians
The magicians play an important role in the account. You could also call them Egyptian priests, but the word normally used for priest, kohen — the word used for the priests appointed in Israel, for Melchizedek, for Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, and even for the priests in Egypt elsewhere in Genesis — is not the word used for these figures during the plagues. Instead the text calls them chartum, a term that sets them apart from ordinary priests.
The pattern
The plagues follow certain patterns that are worth observing closely.
- The first nine plagues fall into three groups of three.
- Plagues 1–3 bring inconvenience.
- Plagues 4–6 bring destruction.
- Plagues 7–9 bring fear.
- The first plague of each group (1, 4, 7) begins in the morning, with Pharaoh at the Nile checking the “health of the Nile.”
- The last plague of each group (3, 6, 9) comes without warning.
The staff follows its own pattern: Aaron uses it during plagues 1–3, no staff is used during plagues 4–6, and Moses uses it during plagues 7–9.
The magicians follow a pattern too. They can imitate plagues 1 and 2, but cannot imitate plague 3 and recognize the finger of God behind it; and by plague 6 they are so badly afflicted themselves that they cannot even appear before Pharaoh again.
As the plagues continue, Pharaoh’s heart grows harder and Moses’ demands grow larger. And starting with plague 4, a further distinction appears: in plagues 1–3 no line is drawn between Israelites and Egyptians, but from plague 4 onward they are clearly distinguished.
The plagues are directed against the power of Egypt and its gods, not against the people themselves, who are even given warning and can always find refuge with the Israelites in Goshen.
The point of the plagues is to show that God is the real God, so that the Egyptians, too, might seek refuge in Him alongside Israel — which, in the end, many did.
The plagues in detail
1, Water to blood
The Nile turns to blood, and all its water becomes unusable.
The Nile is the lifeblood of Egypt: its annual flood makes the fields fertile, and its water is the people’s source of life. The god of the Nile was regarded as the father of all the gods in Egypt — but this time, he looks as though he has been slaughtered.
2, Frogs
Frogs overrun the land, and this time Pharaoh recognizes God’s hand behind it and asks Moses to stop it.
The goddess Heqet, wife of the Nile god, presided over birth and rebirth. Since Pharaoh had been the one controlling birth among the Israelite children, God is declaring, through her own symbol, who is really in charge of new life.
3, Gnats
This time the magicians cannot reproduce the plague, and they recognize the finger of God behind it.
That phrase draws on a story from Egyptian mythology in which a god blinds another god while approaching him unnoticed. “The finger of God” carries the sense of an ominous event whose source cannot be traced or countered — and by using it, the magicians themselves admit that God is stronger than they are.
4, Flies
“Flies” may be too narrow a translation — “bugs” is probably closer, and they become a real plague for the Egyptians. From this point on, God himself draws a distinction between Israel and Egypt, a distinction only Pharaoh had drawn before.
5, Livestock
The livestock struck by this plague was essential to nearly every part of Egyptian society:
- horses, needed for the military
- donkeys, for carrying loads
- camels, used for trade
- cattle, sheep, and goats, vital for daily work, food, and clothing production
6, Boils
Moses and Aaron throw dust into the air, and it turns into boils on people and animals alike. This time the magicians cannot even appear before Pharaoh, since they are ceremonially unclean. The irony cuts deep: throwing dust into the air was originally a rite of atonement performed by these very sorcerers. Not only can they no longer perform it — the rite itself has now been thoroughly discredited.
7, Hail
This is where it gets serious: God strikes with the full force that He announces, and yet He still warns the people to take shelter. The hail that falls is devastating — the worst they had ever seen — and no Egyptian god protects them from it. For the first time, Pharaoh admits that he has sinned, using the same word used when Pharaoh unknowingly took Abraham’s wife — but as soon as the hail stops, he sins again by hardening his heart.
8, Locusts
The locusts come and destroy everything the hail had left standing. This time, Pharaoh’s own officials beg him to do as Moses wishes — but he still refuses to let the people go, even as the plagues continue and Pharaoh admits his sin.
The Egyptians had already been exposed by the hail, since there was a god whose only job was protection from locusts, along with special locust amulets meant to serve the same purpose — none of which worked.
9, Darkness
The last of these plagues is darkness — taken as a deeply serious sign, one that brought life in Egypt to a complete stop. Ra, the sun god, was one of the most important gods in Egypt, which makes the darkness a direct strike at him. This time Pharaoh does not admit his sin; instead, God strengthens his heart so much that he threatens to kill Moses, God’s own messenger, the next time he sees him.
The tenth plague
The tenth plague stands apart from the rest, delayed and set in its own category: the death of the firstborn.
The death of the firstborn
To understand why this plague is different, it helps to recall some background. When God first called Moses, He revealed Himself as a father and called Israel His firstborn. So when Pharaoh tries to kill Israel, God responds in kind, by killing Egypt’s firstborn.
There is a further layer to it. The firstborn is the heir: if Pharaoh dies, his firstborn takes his place — but if the firstborn dies, who is left to take over? And since the gods of Egypt were represented by animals (Horus the falcon, Heqet the frog, Hathor the cow), the death of the firstborn animals was also a blow against the future of the Egyptian gods themselves.
Because of Pharaoh’s 'strong heart', the people of Egypt were already in favor of Moses, and the death of the firstborn (showing that Egypt had no future left to offer) helped push the Egyptians toward God, and many did leave with Israel.
Before the tenth plague strikes, the Passover is introduced — protection from the plague, but also the origin of the Lord’s Supper, and something like the birth of Israel as a people, since it was open to anyone who wanted to join Israel. Alongside it, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is introduced, underscoring that there is no time to wait, only to hurry.
Finally, the sign on the hand and forehead is introduced as a lasting reminder: God brought Israel out of Egypt, He is more powerful than the Egyptian gods, and Israel must not forget it. The sign, in other words, is a mark of loyalty to God.