CLAIM: Critics argue that the 10 plagues are mythical, because they seem so arbitrary. Did God have a reason for each of these plagues?
RESPONSE: These plagues were a judgment on the deities of Egypt. God said that he brought judgment “against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments” (Ex. 12:12). The book of Numbers tells us, “The Lord had also executed judgments on their gods” (Num. 33:4). Elsewhere, we read that God redeemed the nation of Israel “from Egypt… and their gods” (2 Sam. 7:23).
The use of a serpent was a way to show God’s power over Pharaoh. Livingston writes, “The cobra or ‘urae’ was a symbol of ruling power. The cobra motif is frequently found in Egyptian ‘art.’ On the forehead of pharaoh’s crown there was a cobra ready to strike. On the throne of King Tut is a coiled cobra ready to strike. So, to overcome the cobra symbol is to overcome the power of pharaoh.”[1]
1. Turned Nile into blood (Ex. 7:19)
The judgment of the Nile was a judgment against the god Hapi. Livingston writes, “This plague was against the god Hapi, spirit of the Nile in flood and ‘giver of life to all men.’ The annual inundation was called ‘the arrival of Hapi.’”[2] Livingston notes that the Egyptians would make sacrifices to the Nile when it would flood each year and provide irrigation. God also judged the Nile because the Pharaoh had used the Nile to drown the Hebrew boys (Ex. 1:22).
2. Frogs (Ex. 8:5)
The judgment of frogs was a judgment against the frog-headed goddess Hekt (Heket). She led an ancient fertility cult: “But she could not control the fertility of a these frogs!”[3]
3. Gnats (Ex. 8:16)
The judgment of mosquitoes was a judgment against the god Geb. This god wasn’t a part of the pantheon in Egypt, but it was a deity. Geb was the god of the Earth. Aaron struck his staff against the Earth, and this was an affront against Geb’s jurisdiction. The Egyptian magicians could not replicate this plague, attributing it to the act of God (Ex. 8:19).
4. Flies (Ex. 8:21)
The judgment of flies was a judgment against the scarab-headed god Khephera. He was “regarded as a manifestation of Atum or Ra. It was supposed to be god of the resurrection, perhaps because the dung ball it rolled around, and in which it laid its egg, produced a ‘new creation.’ Priests wore scarabs as charms.”[4]
5. Bulls (Ex. 9:4)
The judgment of livestock was a judgment against the love-goddess Hathor. Her name meant “House of Horus,” and she was worshipped by Pharaoh.[5]
6. Boils (Ex. 9:9)
The judgment of the boils was a judgment against the goddess of medicine and peace Isis. Isis was one of the oldest goddesses of ancient Egypt, and the mother of the Pharaoh.
7. Hail (Ex. 9:18)
The judgment of the hail was a judgment against the goddess Nut. This sky-goddess was “the mother of the sun-god Ra, whom she swallowed in the evening and gave birth to again in the morning.” Moreover, “she was especially culpable in this plague in that she was supposed to protect the land from destructions which came down from heaven.”[6]
8. Locusts (Ex. 10:1)
The judgment of the locusts was a judgment against the locust-head god Senehem. This could be a judgment against Senehem—the locust-headed god.[7] This could also be a judgment on the god Osiris—the god of the underworld.
9. Darkness (Ex. 10:21)
The judgment of the darkness was a judgment against the sun-god Amon-Ra. Livingston writes, “The sun-god Amon-Ra was the principle deity of the pantheon. He made all growth possible. Pharaoh called himself ‘son of the sun.’”[8] The Egyptians wrote a “Hymn to Ra” that stated, “Beautiful is your appearing in the horizon of heaven, you living sun, the first who lived. You rise in the eastern horizon, and fill every land with your beauty. You are beautiful and great and glisten, and you are high above every land. Your rays, they encompass the lands, so far as all that you have created. You are Ra, and you reach to their end and subdue them for your dear son [the Pharaoh]. You are afar, yet are your rays upon the earth.”[9] Yet God effortlessly created the Sun with a single word (Gen. 1:16), and he turned this off with the snap of his fingers!
10. First Born Son (Ex. 11:1)
The judgment of death was a judgment against Anubis (the god of the dead) and Osiris (the giver of life). This is final statement from God, and the most powerful.
[1] Livingston, David P. “The Plagues And The Exodus.” The Bible and Spade, 4:1. (Winter 1991).
[2] Livingston, David P. “The Plagues And The Exodus.” The Bible and Spade, 4:1. (Winter 1991).
[3] Livingston, David P. “The Plagues And The Exodus.” The Bible and Spade, 4:1. (Winter 1991).
[4] Livingston, David P. “The Plagues And The Exodus.” The Bible and Spade, 4:1. (Winter 1991).
[5] Livingston, David P. “The Plagues And The Exodus.” The Bible and Spade, 4:1. (Winter 1991).
[6] Livingston, David P. “The Plagues And The Exodus.” The Bible and Spade, 4:1. (Winter 1991).
[7] Livingston, David P. “The Plagues And The Exodus.” The Bible and Spade, 4:1. (Winter 1991).
[8] Livingston, David P. “The Plagues And The Exodus.” The Bible and Spade, 4:1. (Winter 1991).
[9] We took the liberty of updating the archaic English. Cited in Adolph Erman, The Ancient Egyptians, 289.