PLAGUES OF EGYPT. – Punitive wonders wrought by God through Moses and Aaron in Egypt following the repeated refusals of Pharaoh to grant freedom to the people of Israel. There were ten, and they occurred in the order described in Ex. 7:14–12:26. In Ps. 78:44–52; 105:27–36, the order is somewhat different and the list incomplete; a poetic commentary and adaptation for didactic purposes is found in Wis. 11:14–20; 16:1–18, 25, with more extensive reference to the ninth and tenth plagues.
They may, in some way, be classified into five pairs: plagues from water (reddening of the river, frogs: Ex. 7:14–8:15); plagues from the earth (gnats, flies: ibid. 8:16–32); plagues from fire (?) (pestilence of animals and ulcerous sores: ibid. 9:1–12); plagues from the air and wind (hail, locusts: ibid. 9:13–10:20); plagues from the sky (darkness, death of the firstborn: ibid. 10:21–12:36).
1) The water of the Nile turned to blood (Ex. 7:14–25). Aaron, at God’s command, stretched out his rod (cf. ibid. 4:2 ff.; 7:8 ff.) over the waters of the river, and they were changed into blood, that is, they took on a blood-red colour and became deadly to fish. The plague lasted seven days (v. 22: the magicians of Pharaoh were able to imitate the wonder, it seems, in a small quantity of water). An analogy may be seen in the phenomenon of the red Nile, when the river in flood, toward the end of June, assumes a reddish-black colour (probably due to the silt carried by the current), a colour which, however, is intense only in the upper course of the river; yet even in that case the waters are not harmful to men or animals, as is supposed in the biblical account, where the phenomenon is presented with an intensity and measure that exceed all natural limits.
2) Infestation of frogs (ibid. 7:26–8:11). After seven days, Aaron again stretched out his hand over the river, and from the waters there emerged a host of frogs that invaded the land and penetrated into the houses and even the most hidden storerooms of the Egyptians. The magicians were able to bring forth frogs by their sorcery, but not to make them disappear (ibid. 8:3: later they proved unable to imitate the other wonders and were forced to acknowledge the finger of God); they perished after Moses had entreated the Lord for the cessation of the plague. The multiplication of frogs (or gnats and other insects) in the marshes of the Nile is normal when the waters recede after the flood. But the circumstances clearly bring out (as in the similar cases that followed: locusts, gadflies, gnats) the prodigious character of the biblical account: the phenomenon occurred to an unheard-of extent, perhaps out of season, at the mere word of Moses, and then suddenly ceased by his command.
3) The gnats (ibid. 8:12–15; Heb. kinnîm, whose meaning is uncertain; Vulg. sciniphes). These seem to be minute insects like gnats, exceedingly troublesome (very common in the marshes around the Nile when the river returns to its bed). The invasion was such that even the dust of Egypt seemed to be turned into swarms of insects (ibid. 8:13).
4) The gadflies or dog-flies (ibid. 8:16–28; Heb. ‘ārōbh, of uncertain meaning; LXX kynomvía; Vulg. cœnomyia, dog-fly). Announced by Moses, they swarmed into private dwellings and every corner of the land, except the region of Goshen, inhabited by the Hebrews, and caused severe harm to men and beasts. This plague also ceased suddenly through Moses’ prayer, after Pharaoh had promised to release the Israelites.
5) Pestilence of animals (ibid. 9:1–7). A severe epidemic struck the livestock, killing a great number of horses, donkeys, oxen, sheep, and camels, while the livestock of the Israelites was spared.
6) Ulcerous sores (ibid. 9:8–12). This plague is anomalous in relation to the preceding one. At God’s command, Moses and Aaron threw ashes toward the sky, and immediately a frightful contagion of pustules or tumours (of undetermined nature: “ulcers” according to the LXX and Vulg.) broke out, causing further slaughter of animals and even of men.
7) The hail (ibid. 9:13–35). It was announced by Moses one day in advance to allow time to bring the livestock in from the fields. In Egypt, livestock is in the pastures from January to April, and the plague of hail occurred precisely in February, when the barley had already put forth ears and the flax was in bloom (ibid. 9:31). The next day, Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and there followed thunder, lightning, and a downpour of hail, large and violent as had never been seen, which shattered trees, destroyed the grass, and killed persons and beasts in the fields. The hailstorm must have seemed all the more extraordinary inasmuch as in Upper Egypt it never rains, and in Lower Egypt, where these events took place, rainfall is rare. The plague, while devastating a large part of Egypt (at least much of the Nile delta), completely spared the region of Goshen, where the Hebrews dwelt. Pharaoh himself was severely affected. The seventh plague is poetically described in Wis. 16:16–19, where it is said, among other things, that rain and hail were accompanied by fire that, even amid the water, retained its destructive energy and consumed the produce of the fields; in the straightforward account of Ex. 9:29 mention is also made of fire: lightning and flashes.
8) The locusts (ibid. 10:1–20). As Pharaoh persisted in his obstinacy, Moses, at God’s command, stretched out his rod over the land, and immediately a violent sirocco rose from the east, pouring over the land an immense swarm of locusts, which completed the devastation by destroying all the grass and fruit of the trees that the hail had spared. This plague is well known in the eastern countryside. Favoured by the hot winds from the south and east, locusts move in dense swarms over distant pastures, and where they alight, desolation follows. But the prodigious character of the eighth plague emerges from the circumstances of the biblical account.
9) The darkness (ibid. 10:21–28). As Pharaoh continued his usual game of unfulfilled promises, Moses, at God’s command, stretched out his hand toward the sky, and a dense darkness enveloped the land to such an extent that no one could see another person or move from his dwelling; yet there was light in the region inhabited by the Hebrews. An analogy may be seen in the well-known south wind called khamsin, which not infrequently strikes Egypt in spring, raising into the air an immense cloud of sand and dust that sometimes darkens the sky even at midday. But the darkness described here was of an incomparably greater intensity and duration. The portent is amply described in Wis. 17:1–21, which offers a fine