Plagues <>i Egypt (for 1 1 1 «- use of the Hebrew word, Bee Plagi i I, the term usually applied to the se- ri<- of div ine \ isitations of wrath with w hich JehoA ah punished the Egyptians, and especially their king, for their refusal to lei Israel go. Iu considering the history ni the Ten Plagues we have to notice the place where they occurred and the occasion <>n which they were sent, and to examine the narrative of each judgment, with a view !>> ascertain what it was and in what man- lH r Pharaoh and the Egyptians were punished by it. as well as to sec if we can trace any general connection between the several judgments; and we shall thus he prepared to estimate their providential character, as well as to determine how far they were miraculous events, and how far natural or simulated. In this dis- cussion we make large use of Poole's article in Smith's Diet, of th Bible, with additions from other sources. See I gypt; Moses.
1. Th History of the Occurrences. — 1. The Place. Although it is distinctly stated that the plagues pre- vailed throughoul Egypt, save, in the case of some, the [sraelitish territory, the land of Goshen, yet the descrip- tions seem principally to apply to that part of Egypt which lay nearest to Goshen, and more especially to "the field of /nan." or the tract aboul thai city, since it seems almosl certain that Pharaoh dwelt in the Delta, and that territory is especially indicated in Psa. lxxviii. 43. Thai the capital at this time was not more distant i- evident from the time in which a message could be sen! from Pharaoh to Moses on the occasion of the Exo- dus. The descriptions of the first and second plagues seem especially to refer to a land abounding in -i reams and lakes, an. I so rather t<i the Lower than In the Upper
country. We musl therefore look especially to Lower Egypl for our illustrations, while bearing in mind the evident prevalence of the plagues throughout the land.
2. Th* Occasion. When that Pharaoh who seems to
n I he lir-t oppressor was dead. God sent Moses
to deliver Israel, commanding him to gather the elders of his peopli together, and to tell them his commission.
I: is added. ••And they shall hearken to thy voice : and
thou shah c thou and the elders of Israel, unto the
kin- of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him. The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now lei us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilder- ness, thai we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. And I am sure that the king of Egypl will nol let you go, im. id by a mighty hand. And I will stretch oul my hand, and smite Egypl with all my wonders which I will do in the midsl thereof: and after that he will let
iii, 18 20). I rom what follows, that
ne- should borrow jewels and raiment, and
"spoil Egj pi ' (vi i. 21, 22 . H seems evidcnl thai they
if < • 1 1 1 \ lor tin purpose "f sacrificing; hut ii will he seen that if they ilid so. Pharaoh, l>\ In- armed pursuit and on, rtaking them when thej had i n- campecl al the close ol the third day's journey, released Moses from his i ngagi ment
Win n Moses went to Pharaoh, Aaron went with him.
hi can- Moses, not judging himself to lie eloquent, was
diffident of speaking to Pharaoh. •■And Moses said be- fon i in- Lord, Behold, I | am of nncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unlo me? And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pha- raoh : and Aaron thy brother shall he thy pro), hit" (Exod. vi, 30; vii, 1 ; comp. iv, 10 16). We are there- lore to understand that even when Moses speaks it is
rather bj Aaron than himself. Ii is perhaps worthy of note thai in the tradition of the Exodus which Mane- tho gives, the calamities preceding the even! arc said to have been caused by the king's consulting an Egyptian prophet; lor this suggests a course which Pharaoh is likely to have adopted, rendering it probable that the magicians were sent for a- the priests of the gods ol the country, so thai Moses was ( salted by contrast with these vain objects of worship.
It has been asked, What period of time wa- in the infliction of these successive plagues? In an- swer to this, some contend for a year; but tiny have DO heller reason for this than that it enables them to compare the plagues with certain natural phenomena occurring al fixed seasons of the year in Egypt. This ha- been done with considerable ingenuity, though not without some rather violent straining in particular cases; hut without some better reason than this we should not feel justified in accepting a hypothesis which the general tone of the narrative does not suggest. Each plague, according to the historian, lasted only for a short time; and unless w< suppose an interval of sev- eral weeks between each, a few months or even weeks would afford sufficient time for the happening of the whole. We may now examine the narrative of each plague.