The Plagues of Egypt (Hebrew: מכות
מצרים, Makot Mitzrayim), the Biblical Plagues or the Ten Plagues
(Hebrew: עשר המכות, Eser Ha-Makot) are the ten calamities inflicted upon Egypt by
God in the Bible (as recounted in the book of
Exodus, chapters 7 - 12), in order to convince Pharaoh[1] to let the Israelite slaves leave.
The plagues as they appear in the Bible are:
- (Exodus 7:14-25) rivers and other water sources turned to blood ('Dam')
- (Exodus 7:26-8:11) amphibians (commonly believed to be frogs) ('Tsfardeia')
- (Exodus 8:12-15) lice or gnats ('Kinim')
- (Exodus 8:16-28) wild animals ('Arov')
- (Exodus 9:1-7) disease on livestock ('Dever')
- (Exodus 9:8-12) unhealable boils ('Shkhin')
- (Exodus 9:13-35) hail mixed with fire
('Barad')
- (Exodus 10:1-20) locusts ('Arbeh')
- (Exodus 10:21-29) darkness ('Choshech')
- (Exodus 11:1-12:36) death of the firstborn ('Makat Bechorot')
Whereas all of the other plagues did not affect the Israelites, the Torah indicates that they were only spared from the final
plague by sacrificing the Paschal lamb, marking their
doorpost with the lamb's blood, and eating the roasted sacrifice together with Matzot
("Poor Man's Bread" לחם עוני) in a celebratory feast. The Torah describes God as actually passing
through Egypt to kill all firstborn, but passing over (hence "Passover") houses which have the sign of lambs' blood on the
doorpost. It was this plague which resulted in Pharaoh finally relenting, and sending the Israelites away at whatever terms they
wished.
The Torah also relates God's instructions to Moses that the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt
must be celebrated yearly on the holiday of Passover ("Pesah" פסח); the rituals observed
on Passover recall the events surrounding the exodus from Egypt. The Torah additionally cites God's sparing of the Israelite
firstborn as a rationale for the commandment of the redemption of the firstborn (Exodus
13:11-16). This event is also commemorated by the fast of the firstborn on the day
preceding Passover but which is traditionally not observed because a siyum celebration is held
which obviates the need for a fast.
The Plagues of Egypt are recognized by Jews, Christians, and
Muslims.
The plagues
The following is a summary of the Biblical account of the plagues which is found in chapters 7-12 of Exodus.
Prelude (5:1 - 5:9, 7:8 - 7:13)
Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh, and delivered God's demand that the Israelite slaves be allowed to leave Egypt for the
purpose of observing a holiday of worship and prayer for their God. After an initial refusal by Pharaoh, God sent Moses and Aaron
back to show him a miraculous sign of warning - Aaron's staff turned into a serpent .
Pharaoh's sorcerers, using trickery, also turned their staffs into snakes, but Aaron's serpent is
more powerful, and swallows the staffs of the magicians.
Blood (7:14 - 7:25) דָם
The first plague was blood. God instructed Moses to tell Aaron to extend his staff over the river Nile; all of its water turned into blood. As a
result of the blood, the fish of the Nile died, filling Egypt with an awful stench. Other water resources used by the
Egyptians were turned to blood as well (7:19). Pharaoh's sorcerers demonstrated that they too
could turn water to blood, and Pharaoh therefore made no concession to Moses' demands.
Frogs (7:26 - 8:11) צְּפַרְדֵּעַ
The second plague of Egypt was frogs. God commanded Moses to tell Aaron to stretch his staff
over the water, and hordes of frogs came and overran Egypt. Pharaoh's sorcerers were also able to duplicate this plague with
their magic. However, since they were unable to remove it, Pharaoh was forced to grant permission for the Israelites to leave so
that Moses would agree to remove the frogs. To prove that the plague was actually a divine punishment, Moses let Pharaoh choose
the time that it would end. Pharaoh chose the following day, and all the frogs died the next day. Nevertheless, Pharaoh rescinded
his permission, and the Israelites stayed in Egypt.
Lice (8:12 - 8:15) כִנִּים
The third plague of Egypt was Kinim, variously translated as Gnats, Lice or Fleas. God instructed Moses to tell Aaron to take his staff and strike at
the dust, which turned into a mass of gnats that the Egyptians could not get rid of. The Egyptian sorcerers declared that this
act was "the Finger of God", since they were unable to reproduce its effects with their
magic.
Beasts (8:16 - 8:28) עָרוֹב
The fourth plague of Egypt was beasts, capable of harming people and livestock. The
Torah emphasizes that the arov only came against the Egyptians, and that it did not affect the Land of Goshen (where the Israelites lived). Pharaoh asked Moses to remove this plague and promised to
allow the Israelites to worship God in the wilderness. However, after the plague was gone, Pharaoh "hardened his heart" and again
refused to keep his promise.
Pestilence (9:1 - 9:7) דֶּבֶר
The fifth plague of Egypt was an epidemic disease which exterminated the Egyptian
livestock; that is, horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep and goats. The Israelites' cattle
were unharmed. Once again, Pharaoh made no concessions.
Boils (9:8 - 9:12) שְׁחִין
The sixth plague of Egypt was shkhin (š'ћin). The Shkhin was a kind of skin disease, usually translated
as "boils". God commanded Moses and Aaron to each take two handfuls of soot from a
furnace, which Moses scattered skyward in Pharaoh's presence. The soot induced festering Shkhin eruptions on Egyptian men
and livestock. The Egyptian sorcerers were afflicted along with everyone else, and were unable to heal themselves, much less the
rest of Egypt.
Storm (fiery hail) (9:13 - 9:35) בָּרָד
The seventh plague of Egypt was a destructive storm. God commanded Moses to
stretch his staff skyward, at which point the storm commenced. It was even more evidently supernatural than the previous plagues,
a powerful shower of hail intermixed with fire. The storm heavily
damaged Egyptian orchards and crops, as well as men and
livestock. The storm struck all of Egypt except for the Land of Goshen. Pharaoh asked Moses to remove this plague and promised to
allow the Israelites to worship God in the desert, saying "This time I have sinned; God is righteous, I and my people are
wicked." As a show of God's mastery over the world, the hail stopped as soon as Moses began praying to God - hail which was then
in the air never reached the ground; it simply disappeared. However, after the storm ceased, Pharaoh again "hardened his heart"
and refused to keep his promise.
Locusts (10:1 - 10:20) אַרְבֶּה
The eighth plague of Egypt was locusts. Before the plague, God informed Moses that from that
point on He would "harden Pharaoh's heart," (as promised earlier in 4:21) so that Pharaoh would not give in, and the remaining
miracles (the final plagues and the splitting of the sea) would play out.
As with previous plagues, Moses came to Pharaoh and warned him of the impending plague of locusts. Pharaoh's officials begged
him to let the Israelite go rather than suffer the devastating effects of a locust-swarm, but he was still unwilling to give in.
He proposed a compromise: the Israelite men would be allowed to go, while women, children and livestock would remain in Egypt.
Moses repeated God's demand that every last person and animal should go, but Pharaoh refused.
God then had Moses stretch his staff over Egypt, and a wind picked up from the east. The wind continued until the following
day, when it brought a locust swarm. The swarm covered the sky, casting a shadow over Egypt. It consumed all the remaining
Egyptian crops, leaving no tree or plant standing. Pharaoh again asked Moses to remove this plague and promised to allow all the
Israelites to worship God in the desert. As promised, God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not allow the Israelites to
leave.
Darkness (10:21 - 10:29) חוֹשֶׁךְ
God instructed Moses to stretch his hand over Egypt, and this brought a plague of complete and utter darkness, which lasted for three days. This was an unnatural darkness, and was tangible. However, there was
light where the Israelites lived. After the plague subsided, Pharaoh summoned Moses, and again tried to bargain with him: he
offered to let all the Israelites go out to the wilderness, but required them to leave their livestock in Egypt. Moses refused
this condition, and implied that before long, Pharaoh himself would offer to provide the sacrifices, as long as the Israelites
would leave. This outraged Pharaoh, and he threatened Moses with death.
Death of Firstborn (11:1 - 12:36) מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת
The tenth and final plague of Egypt was the death of all Egyptian first born males —
no one escaped, from the lowest servant to Pharaoh's own first-born son, including first-born of livestock. This was the hardest
and cruelest blow upon Egypt and the plague that finally convinced Pharaoh to submit, and let the Israelites go.
God told Moses that this plague would cause Pharaoh to send the Israelites away, and ordered him to prepare the people to
leave. He also commanded Moses to teach the ritual of Pesah - the sacrifice of a lamb
for God, and the eating of Matzot ("Poor-man's Bread" לחם עוני). God told Moses to order
the Israelites to mark their doorpost with the lamb's blood, in order that the plague of death would pass over them.
At midnight, God came through Egypt to take the life of all the Egyptian
first-born, including Pharaoh's own son. That night, there was a great cry in Egypt, such as had never been heard before, or ever
will be heard again. However, no Israelite first-born was killed, as God "passed over" the Israelite houses.
After this, Pharaoh, furious and saddened, ordered the Israelites to go away, taking whatever they wanted. The Israelites
didn't hesitate; and at the end of that night Moses led them out of Egypt with "arms upraised." [2]
Context
Although the main reason for the plagues appears to be Pharaoh's repeated refusal to release the Israelites from slavery,
according to the Torah, God deliberately made Pharaoh unwilling to release the people, so that God could manifest his great power and cause it to be declared among the
nations (Ex 9:14, 16), so that other peoples would discuss it for generations afterward (Jos 2:9-11; 9:9; Isa 4:8; 6:6).
In this view, the plagues were punishment for the Egyptians' long abuse of the Israelites, as well as proof that the gods of
Egypt were powerless. (Ex 12:12; Nu 33:4).
If God triumphed over the gods of Egypt, a world power at that time, then the people of God would be strengthened in their
faith, although they are a small people, and would not be tempted to follow the deities that God put to shame. Although some have
advanced theories as to which of the Egyptian gods would have been discredited by which plague, this is only scantily supported
by Midrashic sources, and these attempts have generally produced widely divergent results.
Textual issues
Traditional views
One of the noticeable features of the tales is that there appears to be an underlying pattern, the third, sixth and ninth
plagues come without warning, and many Biblical commentators see there as being three sets of three plagues each. Attempts to
draw parallels between each have had limited success, and are somewhat disputed. Some point to Rabbi Yehuda (quoted in the
Haggadah of Pesach) who implied this idea by grouping the first three, middle three
and last four together with the mnemonics DE.ZA.KH. A.DA.SH. BA.A.HA.V.
Another significant feature is that some plagues, but not others, are instigated by Aaron, rather than Moses. Many critical
religious commentaries resolve this situation by saying that due to the principle of Ha-karat ha-tov, Moses was obliged to
appreciate the help he received earlier from the Nile, as a baby (Exodus 2:1-10), and the dust, when he murdered a guard in his
youth, (Exodus 2:11-12) and was therefore unable to smite either of these.
Secular views
According to the documentary hypothesis, the plagues of boils, and of lice,
are merely the Priestly source's version of JE's plagues of
pestilence, and of flies. The Torah is thus seen as only gaining 10 plagues when both these
versions were merged together, and thus treated as separate plagues. Similar merging also allegedly explains the pattern where
the third, sixth and ninth plague, come without warning, as originating from different sources to the one in which warning is
provided. Likewise, in this hypothesis, one source presents Aaron as carrying out the plague, one presents Moses as their origin,
and one presents God as the explicit origin, and since the plagues they each describe do not completely overlap, this provides an
explanation for why Moses carries out some plagues, but Aaron carries out others. The hypothesis also breaks the account of the
plagues down further.
In an historical context, the greatest candidate for the Israelite presence in Egypt is that of the Hyksos. However, rather than being slaves who escaped, the Hyksos were rulers who were chased out of Egypt. The
extreme resistance, in the story, of the unnamed Pharaoh to releasing them therefore, according to such an historical-critical
view, serves to provide an explanation of why an Egyptian Pharaoh so angrily chased after the Israelites.
Versions of the Jahwist and Elohist
Within the understanding of the documentary hypothesis, in the Jahwist version of the tale,
Moses asks Pharaoh for the release of the people, but Pharaoh refuses, claiming not to know who Yahweh is. Consequently God sends the first plague, and Pharaoh recants, begging Moses for assistance, and
immediately allowing the people to go, albeit under certain conditions. The Jahwist continues to describe Moses as insisting on
the conditions, but nevertheless begging God to end the plague, which happens, but Pharaoh goes back on his word, and so God
sends another plague. This pattern repeats, the Pharaoh gradually acceding to more and more conditions, until, after the death of
the firstborn, Pharaoh finally accedes to all of them, even allowing the Israelites to take the ornaments of the Egyptians,
begging to be blessed by Yahweh. Nevertheless, true to form, according to the Jahwist, Pharaoh goes back on his word, and chases
after the released Israelites in order to recapture them.
By contrast, although the Elohist presents a similar set of plagues, the story is much less
naturalistic. The Elohist has Moses threatening Pharaoh, and then, via his rod, carrying out each plague, until eventually he
threatens to kill all the firstborn of Egypt, even giving a ritual to the Israelites so that they can cause this death to pass
over their houses. At this point, the fear of Moses amongst the Egyptians reaches such a point that they are described as being
insistent that the Israelites should get out of Egypt as soon as possible, before the final plague, apparently not carried out,
is visited upon them. The Israelites then leave with a high hand, but are soon chased away by Pharaoh's army.
The Elohist also splits up some of the Jahwist's plagues, making them more elaborate,
- Making the plague of the river, which in the Jahwist, involves the smiting of the river, leading to the death of the
fish, and subsequent swarms of frogs seven days later, into two plagues, one involving the river turning into blood, and a
separate involving swarms of frogs
- Making the plague of hail, which in the Jahwist, is a pestilence attacking everything in the fields, crops and cattle, into
two plagues, one involving the cattle being attacked by a pestilence, and the other involving hail and fire against the
crops.
- Making the plague of locusts, which, in the Jahwist, is so great that it covers the land, into a plague of locusts, and a
later plague of darkness.
While the Jahwist's presentation of the plagues is much more naturalistic, the plagues just happening, and Moses just
praying that they end, it is the Elohist description of the Egyptians' motive in chasing after the Israelites that accords better
with an identification of the Israelites as the Hyksos. Generally, in critical scholarship, both
these versions are seen as being based on a shared tradition, rather than one taking precedence over the other, with the Elohist
seeking to spin Moses as having supernatural powers and the Israelites as being chased because they are feared, rather than hated
like the Hyksos.
Versions of the Priestly source and JE
When combined into JE, the story becomes one in which Moses threatened the plague, then made a
sign at which God carries the plague out, and then is from time to time asked by Pharaoh for forgiveness, at which point the
plague is undone. While the Elohist produced 8 plagues, and thus so did JE, the Jahwists conception, of there being 5 plagues,
appears to have been a tradition preserved at least until the Priestly source, who, in
writing their own version of JE, also chose 5 plagues, cutting out the plagues of locusts, darkness, and hail.
The Priestly source, however, completely changes the framing of the plagues. Instead of threats to Pharaoh, or punishment for
which Pharaoh begs forgiveness, the plagues are presented merely as a trial to prove Yahweh's authority. Each plague is followed
by the magicians attempting to duplicate the plague, succeeding on the first two, leading to Pharaoh hardening his heart.
The second pair of plagues are also made more immediate and relevant to the magicians, these plagues are of lice rather than
flies, and of boils rather than an unspecified pestilence, leading to the magicians being unable to perform these activities. The
final plague, the death of firstborn, is also altered to appear as a punishment against the Egyptians.
The Priestly source, keen to assert God as only acting via the Aaronid priesthood, also describes Aaron as being the one
instigating the plagues, starting, "And The LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron", whereas it is always Moses who is involved in
either carrying out, or stopping, the plagues in JE.
Historicity
The vast majority of scientists and secular thinkers believe the plague stories are simply mythical or allegorical, or
inspired by passed-down accounts of disconnected natural disasters. Some, however, have speculated on possible natural
inspirations behind the story of the succession of plagues.
Archaeology
There is archaeological material that archaeologists, such as William F. Albright, have considered historical evidence of the Ten Plagues; for example, an ancient
water-trough found in El Arish bears hieroglyphic
markings detailing a period of darkness.
The Egyptian Ipuwer papyrus describes a series of calamities befalling Egypt,
including a river turned to blood, men behaving as wild ibises, and the land generally turned
upside down. However, this is usually thought to describe a general and long term ecological disaster lasting for a period of
decades, such as that which destroyed the Old Kingdom. The document is usually dated to the
end of the Middle Kingdom, or more rarely, to its beginning, fitting the Old
Kingdom destruction, possibly the same time as the Exodus.
Immanuel Velikovsky decided that the Egyptian papyrus did, in fact, describe the
events of Exodus, along with the major natural catastrophes that he thought preceded it; in his
opinion, backed up by many scholars, it was the conventional chronologies of Egypt
that were wrong by several hundred years.[1]
Natural explanations
As noted above, some science writers and Bible researchers have suggested that the plagues were passed-down accounts of
ordinary natural disasters, and not supernatural miracles. Natural explanations have been suggested for most of the
phenomena:
- (plague 1—water turned into blood, fish died)
- The redness in the Nile could have actually been pollution caused by volcanic activity,
specifically that of Santorini, which erupted around 1500 B.C. and whose ash is found in the
Nile region. The silt could could make the Nile turn blood red, and would also render it
undrinkable. Heavy rains in the red-soiled area of Lake Victoria could have caused reddened water to wash downstream.
- Alternatively, a red toxic algal bloom (red tide) could have produced large quantities of
toxins that would kill fish.
- Earthquakes could have caused a limnic eruption the same way it happened at Lake
Nyos.
- (plague 2—frogs) Any blight on the water that killed fish also would have caused frogs to leave the river and, probably,
die.
- (plagues 3 and 4—biting insects and flies) The lack of frogs in the river would have let insect populations, normally kept in
check by the frogs, increase massively.
- (plagues 5 and 6— livestock disease and boils) There are biting flies in the region which transmit livestock diseases; a
sudden increase in their number could spark epidemics.
- (plague 7—hail) Volcanic activity not only brings with it ash, but brimstone, and also
alters the weather system, occasionally producing hail. Hail could also have occurred as a
completely independent natural weather event.
- (plague 8—locusts) The weight of hail will destroy most crops, leaving several insects and other animals without a normal
food source. The remaining crops therefore would become targeted heavily, and thus be destroyed by swarms of locusts which would
otherwise be distributed rather thinly. Or the locusts could have increased due to a lack of predators. Even without these
explanations, swarms of locusts are not uncommon today.
- (plague 9—darkness) There could be several causes for unusual darkness: a solar
eclipse, a sandstorm, volcanic ash, or simply swarms of locusts large enough to block
out the sun.
- (plague 10—death of the firstborn)
- If the last plague indeed selectively tended to affect the firstborn, it could be due to food polluted during the time of
darkness, either by locusts or by the black mold Cladosporium. When people emerged after
the darkness, the firstborn would be given priority, as was usual, and would consequently be more likely to be affected by any
toxin or disease carried by the food.
- The word we know as "firstborn" may have meant the higher social class rather than literally the eldest sons, but the same
argument applies.[3]
- In the 2006 documentary Exodus Decoded,
Jewish Canadian filmmaker Simcha
Jacobovici hypothesised the selectiveness of the tenth plague was under the circumstances similar to the 1986 disaster of Lake Nyos that is related to geological activities that caused
the previous plagues in a related chain of events. The hypothesis was that the plagues took place shortly after the eruption of
Thera (now known as Santorini), which is thought to have happened some time between 1450 BCE
and 1650 BCE. The eruption sets off a chain of events resulting in the plagues and eventually the killing of the first born.
Jacobovici suggests that the first borns in ancient Egypt had the privilege to sleep close to the floor while other children
slept on higher ground or even on roofs. Like in Lake Nyos, when carbon dioxide or other toxic gases escape the surface tension of a nearby waterbody either due to geological activity or over saturation, the gas
being heavier than air, "flooded" the nearby area displacing oxygen and killing those who were in its path. Jewish households
escaped the fate because they were told to observe their first Passover rituals.
All these explanations do not account for the selectiveness of the plagues: according to the Hebrew Bible the plagues affected only the Egyptians, while the Hebrews remained untouched. Typically,
modern writers, and particularly skeptics, account for such details of the account as being pious exaggerations, or literary
devices, intended to encourage faith.
A volcanic eruption which happened in antiquity and could have caused some of the plagues if it occurred at the right time is
the eruption of the Thera volcano 650 miles to the northwest of Egypt. Controversially dated
to about 1628 BC, this eruption is one of the largest on record, rivaling that of Tambora,
which resulted in 1816's Year Without a Summer. The enormous global impact of this
eruption has been recorded in an ash layer deposit found in the Nile delta, tree ring frost scars in the bristlecone pines of the western United States, and a coating of ash in the Greenland ice caps, all
dated to the same time and with the same chemical fingerprint as the ash from Thera.
However, all estimates of the date of this eruption are hundreds of years before the Exodus is believed to have taken place;
thus the eruption can only have caused some of the plagues if one or other of the dates is wrong, or if the plagues did not
actually immediately precede the Exodus.
Following the assumption that at least some of the details are accurately reported, many modern Jews believe that some of the plagues were indeed natural disasters, but argue for the fact that, since they
followed one another with such uncommon rapidity, "God's hand was behind them". Indeed, several Biblical commentators (Nachmanides and, more recently, Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky) have pointed out that, for the plagues to be a real test
of faith, they had to contain an element leading to religious doubt.
Contradictions
The Fifth plague (pestilence, Exodus 9) wiped out the Egyptian livestock, including horses. Yet, Exodus 14 talks about the
Pharaoh pursuing the Jews with chariots and horsemen. However, the Eighth plague (hail) also mentions the smiting of the
Egyptians' animals; traditionally, it is presumed that Egyptians purchased the animals from the Jews after the plague of
pestilence. The plague of hail only wiped out the animals of those Egyptians who ignored Moses' warning to bring them into their
houses. They then provided their surviving livestock to Pharaoh's army.
Morality
The last plague has been depicted by critics as a cruel and unjustifiable punishment against the Egyptians, and is criticized
for promoting an unethical schadenfreude ("pleasure taken from someone else's
misfortune"). A common and widely accepted Jewish Midrash explains the dreadful plague by
expanding upon Exodus 10:28, where Pharaoh threatens to kill Moses:
- When Moses went to Pharaoh to demand of him that he let the people go, the whole event is happening in front of
Pharaoh's first born son who teases and mocks his father for allowing the Hebrew shepherd to
humiliate him. Enraged by the insult and mad with pride, Pharaoh resolved to have
revenge for the plagues, and told Moses that he shall deal with the Hebrews in such a manner that a great cry will be heard in
Egypt, such that has never been heard before. This was an allusion to the crimes of his father, who ordered the drowning of
the male children of the Hebrews. Therefore, Pharaoh brought this harsh punishment upon his own people. His cruel plan was turned
back upon him, so that what Pharaoh wanted to do to the Hebrews, God made to happen to him.
This Midrash justifies the last plague with two main arguments:
- Retribution in kind מידה כנגד מידה (Mida ke-neged mida): in the Bible the
punishment fits to the crime, not only in severity, but also in symbolism. This is for a pedagogic reason: so that everyone, including the sinner himself, shall know why he has been punished by
God.
- Self defence הקם להרגך, השכם להורגו (Ha-kam le-horgecha hashkem le-horgo): Pharaoh planned to slaughter all
Hebrew children. By inflicting upon Pharaoh the same thing he planned for the Hebrews, his plan was thwarted.
However, under this rationale, God is basically committing the same evil that Pharaoh intended to commit. By sending a plague
that will kill innocent Egyptian children God is performing the same "crime" for which Pharaoh deserved punishment, that of
wanting to kill innocent people. After all, what did the Egyptian children have to do with Pharaoh's murderous desire? Self
defense would have only required killing Pharaoh himself. Furthermore, since Pharaoh had not yet done the crime, God's act cannot
be seen as retribution.
Some scholars, however, disagree with the interpretation of this plague which emphasizes children, and focus rather on the
"first-born" aspect of the plague. As was typical in cultures of the time (and is seen many times in the Old Testament), the
custom was for the first-born son to be the major inheritor, from the lowest strata of society to the throne of Pharaoh itself;
and thus the first-born sons of Egypt would embody the leadership of the families of the nation. In addition, according to this
interpretation, the priests of Egypt were largely first-born sons. Thus, in this view, the first-born sons of Egypt were in fact
the decision makers, and communally responsible for the deeds of the nation, good or evil. [3]
Popular culture
- The 1956 film The Ten
Commandments depicts the plagues of Blood, Hail, Darkness, and Death of the Firstborn, and alludes to Frogs, Boils and
Flies, but omits those of Lice, Death of Cattle, and Locusts. The film also omits the funnel-cloud they followed out of Egypt,
and it creates a funnel-cloud of fire before nightfall whereas Genesis says it had been fire all night long out of Egypt, and now
as they passed through the Red Sea on this second night it was fire again illuminating forward upon the Israelites as it pushed
them forward, but this time as dark cloud to the west for the Egyptians who looked up at it as they followed not realizing they
were on sea bed. In the morning, the dawn light overpowered the look of fire, restoring it to only a cloud. William Whiston
(translator of Josephus) claimed a comet caused this. And we must also note the rise and set of the full moon in the clear sky
over the Israelites as a source of light.
- The Ten Plagues of Egypt were dramatized by the heavy metal group Metallica in their song "Creeping Death", on their 1984 release
Ride the Lightning. Late bassist Cliff
Burton came up with the title of the song while watching the 1956 Biblical epic The Ten Commandments, specifically when the Angel of Death moved among Egyptians, killing the firstborn in each family. The plagues were
also dramatized (albeit diverging somewhat from the canonical list) as part of a modern horror film in The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971).
- All ten plagues are featured in the animated film The Prince of Egypt,
which retells the story of Moses from birth up until the Israelites are on the far side of the Red
Sea.
- In the adventure film The Mummy
(1999) the mummy of the pharaoh's high priest, Imhotep (related only in name to the historical
Imhotep) brought with him the plagues of Egypt after he was revived from the dead. The first,
fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth plagues were all depicted.
- In the 1999 film Magnolia it rains frogs; the
film quotes the Bible: "If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with
frogs,"
- In , a couple of plagues are seen in the movie. They include:
frogs, water to blood, locusts, and hail.
- The X-Files episode "The Sixth Extinction" depicts two of the plagues (sea of
blood, and locusts) appearing as a foreboding sign of the impending apocalypse.
- In the Mel Brooks's western comedy film Blazing
Saddles, there is a scene where the character Taggart suggests various ways to scare off the citizens of the town of
Rock Ridge to the character Hedley Lamarr. At one point Taggert suggests that they kill every first born male child in Rock
Ridge, to which Lamarr replies by saying, "Nah, too Jewish."
- The song 'Pray For Plagues' by Bring Me The Horizon is about the plague that
was brought upon Egypt.
See also
References
- ^ possibly Ramesses II, making the
pharaoh of the Oppression Horemheb
- ^ Exodus 14:8
- ^ a b
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
