The Plagues of Egypt

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Seventh Plague of Egypt - John Martin
My family and I have been watching a wonderful series on YouTube called The Bible Project. So far, we have made it through all the videos covering the first five books of the Bible that are commonly referred to as the Torah, or the Pentateuch. Anyway, the videos reminded me of a paper I wrote about the book of Exodus  and the significance of the plagues for not only Israel, but also Egypt. I thought I'd share that excerpt with you here, I hope you find the information as cool as I do.


An Understanding of Yahweh Through the Plagues

The first characteristic regarding God that the plagues reveal has more to do with the Pharaoh and the effects of his sins. In this light, the plagues are a result of Pharaoh’s policies that seek to purge Egypt of the Israelites.[1] The commands of Pharaoh have upset the integrity of God’s creation and have cosmic implications in that violating the moral order has an adverse on the natural order.[2] The plagues are not conjured up for any reason than for God to give Pharaoh over to the destructive sins he has chosen to commit. In a sense, God is also choosing to reveal through creation what happens when humanity insists on sinning, mainly that creation slips into chaos as a result. When this is taken into account, it is not only man that needs to be redeemed, but the whole of creation as well because of humankind’s sin. 

Secondly, the plagues are a way of signifying God’s superiority over the deities of Egypt through humiliation. Consider the first plague on the Nile river which turns it into blood. The Nile river was extremely vital in making Egypt a political powerhouse in the ancient near East. In Egypt’s pantheon, the god Hapi is the god of the Nile. Essentially, God’s plague on the Nile then, is an attack on the religion of Egypt.[3] In addition to God attacking the god of the Nile, it is said that God’s plague on the livestock of the Egyptians could be another attack on the pantheon of Egypt. This is because the Egyptian goddess Hathor, the mother goddess, is often depicted as a cow.[4] This kind of attack continues through each plague which targets the members of the pantheon that shares significance with the plague, this includes the Pharaoh who was also seen as a deity. So, in essence Yahweh is stating that the religion of the oppressors is no match for him by humiliating the symbols of what the pantheon represents. It is in this way, that shows not only Egypt, but Israel too, the power that God holds which is demonstrative of the purpose of why He has called Israel to Him, so that His name might be declared to all the earth.[5] Israel’s redemption is led by a being that cannot be matched.

                [1] Terence E. Fretheim, The Pentateuch (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press 1996), 101.
                [2] Ibid. 
                [3] Peter Enns, “Exodus,” Lecture, Gordon College, Wenham, MA, 2011.   
                [4] Ibid., 6.
                [5] Ibid.,  

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