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Against All Gods
Purpose of the Ten Plagues
Timothy Sliedrecht
Tyndale Theological Seminary
Old Testament Survey – OT 500i
Mr. Marinello
7 March 2005
Just as Genesis is a book of beginnings, Exodus is a book of beginnings. Genesis recounts the beginning of Creation and “the beginning of faith in the form of the patriarchal line. Exodus now continues that line, relating to the beginning of the nation Israel.” After hundreds of years of apparent ‘silence’ of the Lord, He spoke so loudly that not only did the Israelites hear Him perfectly clear, but the Egyptians did as well. To ‘prove’ that He was the Israelites’ Lord and that He was above Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods, God displayed His mighty, unsurpassed power, as He had done with Noah (i.e. the Flood), Abraham (i.e. Sodom and Gomorrah), Joseph (i.e. success in Egypt), and Moses (i.e. the burning bush and signs).
Through the ten plagues, God more than adequately answered Pharaoh’s initial question: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go?” Each plague was a direct encounter and defeat of particular Egyptian gods: “I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.” In the end, the Israelites would know God’s presence and commitment to them as their covenant Lord and “the Egyptians [would] know that [God is] the Lord when [He] stretches out [His] hand against Egypt and brings the Israelites out of it.”
1: BloodThe first plague, where God turns all the water which comes from the Nile – water in all the streams, canals, ponds, reservoirs, wooden buckets and stone jars – into blood, was a polemic against the Egyptian Nile god, Hapi, portrayed as “a fat man with breasts of a woman which indicated the powers of fertility and nourishment.” The Nile was Egypt’s life source providing them not only with water, but also, due to yearly flooding, with fertile soil for vegetables and fruit, and with fish, their main source of meat. Since Hapi brought fertility to the land, he was associated with Osiris, the fertility god of earth and vegetation. Ironically, “the Nile was considered the blood of Osiris” and “the link from this life to the next.” Therefore, turning the Nile into actual blood brought shame not only to Hapi, but to Osiris; Amon, a creator god; and Khnum, guardian of the Nile, as well.
Interestingly, the means by which the Hebrews suffered in the Egyptian killing of their newborn boys (probably as a sacrifice to Hapi) became the means by which the Egyptians would suffer. “Now the source that brought the Egyptians life brought them death instead.” Turning the Nile to blood destroyed their life-source cutting at the very heart of the fat man himself, so that the Egyptians “will know that [God] is the Lord,” and Hapi, Osiris, Amon, and Khnum are not.
2: FrogsThe second plague, where God infested Egypt with frogs, was a direct attack on Heqt, the primordial fertility goddess associated with procreation and resurrection who “was portrayed with the head of a frog.” Ironically, many frogs after the annual Nile flooding were considered a good thing in that they represented high reproduction rate and they controlled the insect population, thus helping the crops and being associated with Osiris.
However, the fact that there were so many that they got into everyone’s beds, ovens and kneading troughs, demonstrated that Heqt was not able to keep control of the rapid regeneration of the frogs. As such, this plague was a mockery of the Egyptian god.
Traditionally, “frogs and toads were very sacred to the Egyptians. If someone killed a frog, even unintentionally, the person was punishable by death.” With so many everywhere, it would have probably been impossible not to accidentally step on one. What’s more, in the end, by God’s power they all died, “were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them,” thus making a mockery of their god Heqt and traditions all the more, proving that “there is no one like the Lord [Israel’s] God.”
3: Gnats (or lice)The third plague, the plague of gnats (or lice), was a judgment against Geb, the god of the earth, and against the Egyptian priests. Geb was in charge of the soil from which the Egyptian crops grew. Consequently, “Egyptians gave offerings to Geb for the bounty of the soil.” However, God embarrassed Geb by making the all of dust of Egyptian soil become gnats which “came upon men and animals.” Regarding the rituals of Egyptian priests, personal cleanliness was a high priority in order for them to enter the temples of their gods. They had to wash themselves sometimes as much as ten times a day, fumigate themselves in incense, keep their fingernails and toenails trimmed, and shave all the hair off their bodies. No lice or gnats were permitted on their bodies. However, with so many nasty gnats, “the daily rituals of the priests were not possible because of physical impurity… the priests of Egypt could not even enter their temples to beseech their gods due to their own impurity of the flesh!” In the end, even the magicians recognized this plague as “the finger of God” and did not even try to replicate any of the following plagues.
4: Flies:
God used the fourth plague, the swarms of flies, almost certainly to be identified as scarab beetles, as an attack against Kheper, god of flies and beetles who had the head of a beetle. The fact that the beetle rolled balls of dung symbolized, to the Egyptians, Kheper’s relationship with Re, the sun god. Beetles were therefore sacred, and actually symbolized creation and family happiness. In fact, many were sculptured out of gold as idols, which have been found in Egyptian tombs. One of the most sacred objects of happiness for Egyptians became a curse, a means of unhappiness, to them to the point where Pharaoh was willing to bargain with Moses. Recognizing that the beetles did not enter Goshen proved to Pharaoh and the Egyptians that Israel’s God was in control even of the “sacred scarab” and that “the Lord [was] in [their] land.”
5: Death of LivestockThe fifth plague in which all of the livestock of the Egyptians died was directed at Apis (Ptah), Hathor, Mnevis, and Khnum. Apis was the sacred bull of Ptah, the creator god of the Memphis region. To represent Apis, one bull with special marks was chosen with the thought that Ptah impregnated its mother. “The animal was well fed and all measures were taken for its well-being. As long as the Apis was well the livestock of the country was thought to be the same.” Considering the fact that all of the livestock died, the Apis representative must have died as well. As for Hathor, she was the goddess of love, beauty and joy and was represented by a cow. Cows were therefore sacred to the Egyptians.
Since all of the cows in Egypt died, love, beauty and joy were far from the Egyptians and their cow-god was made into a mockery. The last two gods represented in this plague were Khnum, who had a ram’s head, and Mnevis, who was a sacred bull worshipped at Heliopolis. The fact that “all of the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died” once again proved that the God of Israel was more powerful than the gods of Egypt.
6: BoilIn the sixth plague, by causing “festering boils” to break out on the men and animals of Egypt, God attacked Imhotep, the god of medicine; Isis, the god of love, magic, medicine, motherhood, children and peace; and Sekhmet, the lion-headed god of epidemics and healing. Imhotep and Isis were highly regarded and worshipped by the Egyptians for they gave the Egyptians health and happiness. Sekhmet was apparently responsible for plagues, “but she also had the power to heal those visited upon by pestilence.”
What’s more, many of the priests of Sekhmet were doctors and veterinarians. Bearing the roles of these gods in mind, the fulfillment of God’s promise of festering boils demonstrated His superiority over Imhotep, Isis, and Sekhmet and that He alone was in control of the plagues, epidemics, and health of the people in Egypt. The severity of the plague all the more demonstrated God’s supreme power. It affected “all the Egyptians” and even disabled the magicians, those thought to be closest to the gods, from standing before Moses.
Deuteronomy 28:27 and 35 describe the boils of Egypt as painful afflicting the knees and legs and spreading from the soles of the feet to the top of the head. Boils involved swelling, itching, pussing, skin inflammation, spreading, breaking open… pretty much a lot of discomfort and pain. The “uncleanliness” of this plague stopped all of the worship of and appeals to all the gods as much as the gnats had done earlier. Imhotep, Isis, and Sekhmet didn’t stand a chance.
7: HailThe seventh plague marked the beginning of God’s “full force” against the gods of Egypt. As the “worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation,” God destroyed the misdirected respect the people had for many of the gods, including Nut, the goddess of the sky; Horus, the sky god of Upper Egypt; Shu, the god of wind; Tefnut, the goddess for rain, dew and moisture; Osiris, the god of agriculture and nature; and Seth, the harvest god. Nut, Horus and Shu were suppose to prevent weather disasters, Tefnut was suppose to bring water in liquid, not solid form, and Seth and Osiris were suppose to guard the crops (which were destroyed from the hail). However, they all failed in their supposed powers. The gods had actually become a plague to the Egyptians, failing to help them… failing to match the power of the God of Israel. What’s more, the plague again did not affect Goshen and God stopped the thunder and hail as Moses said He would, “so that [the Egyptians would] know that the earth is the Lord’s,” not the Egyptian gods’.
8: LocustsIn a further attack against Osiris, the god of agriculture and nature, and Seth, the harvest god, along with Ernutet, the “Lady of the fertile land and granaries,” and her daughter Nepri, the goddess of the grain, God completed the destruction of the hail storm by sending locusts in which “nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.” The gods had failed to protect even what little the Egyptians had left, leaving them to starvation. Even before the plague began, Pharaoh’s officials knew that Israel’s God was Lord and that Egypt and all their gods combined could not come close to matching God’s power.
9: DarknessMoving to a climax, God, through the plague of darkness, brought judgment on all the gods associated with the sun, moon and stars including Atum, the sun-god worshipped at Heliopolis; Tem, the god of the sunset; Shu, the god of sunlight and air; Ptah, the creator of the moon and stars; and Horus, “the god of light who personified the life-giving power of the sun.” Most of all, God made a fool of one of Egypt’s major deities, Re, the god of the sun who was combined with Amon, the creator god. It was from the life-giving rays of Amon-Re that all life supposedly came and was daily maintained. “He stood for life, rebirth, children, health, virility…” the list goes on. Basically, combined with Amon, Re was the greatest god in all of Egypt. Counted on by the Egyptians to bring light every day, Amon-Re suddenly did not shine for three whole days leaving the Egyptians in total physical and spiritual darkness – “darkness that can be felt.” Fear filled the Egyptians, fear not only of the abandonment of their gods, but of the nonexistence of their gods and, more importantly, of the power of the God of Israel.
10: Death of Firstborn
This fear culminated in the climatic tenth plague, the death of all the firstborn sons in Egypt, including the firstborn son of Pharaoh. A firstborn son had extremely high significance in the Ancient Near East, receiving a double portion of his father’s inheritance and special qualities and blessings. “Judgment on the firstborn represented judgment on the entire community.” Judgment on all of the firstborn sons in Egypt represented judgment on all of Egypt. Since each Pharaoh was considered to have descended from one of the highest gods, in particular Re, he stood as a living representation and his son as a future representation of all the Egyptian gods. Therefore, judgment on Pharaoh’s firstborn represented judgment on all of the gods of Egypt. As the climatic and most devastating “un-natural” plague, the death of all the firstborn sons was God’s “judgment on all the gods of Egypt,” ultimately proving that “[He is] the Lord.”
In “hardening Pharaoh’s heart” ten times and making a distinction between Israel and Egypt, God specifically and completely displayed His power above all of the Egyptian gods and proved to the Israelites and Egyptians that Pharaoh was no god at all, that the Egyptian gods were actually nonexistent, and that the God of Israel was the One and Only God, Creator and Controller of the universe. Destroying the false gods of Egypt in actuality destroyed the directly connected Egyptian livelihood and revealed to them that true life could only be found in the God of Israel.
After many miracles and the “casting out” of the many gods of Egypt and after three days of darkness, God conquered Pharaoh and saved the Hebrew slaves of Pharaoh from death through the blood of the sacrificed lambs, leading them to new life in the Promised Land. Ultimately, true new life would be fully realized in Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb. After many miracles and the casting out of many demons and after three days of darkness, He conquered Satan and, by His blood, saved from death all believers who had been slaves of Satan, leading them to eternal life in heaven.
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Each plague was a direct encounter and defeat of particular Egyptian gods: “On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn sons and firstborn male animals in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD!” Exodus 12:12
| Plague | Egyptian gods |
| The Nile turned to Blood | Hapi, god of the Nile. Isis, goddess of the Nile. Khnum, guardian of the Nile. |
| Frogs | Heqt, goddess of birth (usually depicted with the head of a frog). |
| Gnats (or lice) | Geb, god of the earth/soil (priests couldn’t perform daily rituals because of physical sores). |
| Flies | Re, god of flies and beetles (depicted with head of beetle). |
| Death of Livestock | Apis & Mnevis (sacred bulls). Hathor (goddess of love/depicted by a cow). Khnum (depicted by a head of ram). |
| Festering Boils | Imhotep god of medicine.; Isis; god of love, magic and medicine. Sekhmet god of epidemics and healing. |
| Hail | Nut, goddess of the sky. Shu, god of wind. Tefnut, goddess of rain, dew and moisture. Seth, harvest god. |
| Locusts | Osiris, god of agriculture and nature. Seth, god of harvest. Nepri, goddess of the frain. |
| Darkness | Re, god of sun. Atum, the sun-god. Shu, the god of sunlight and air. Horus, the god of light. |
| Death of Firstborn | First born son of Pharaoh. It was thought each Pharaoh was descended from Re. As son of Pharaoh, he was considered the “future representation of ALL Egyptian gods.” |
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