אֵלּוּ עֶשֶׂר מַכּוֹת שֶׁהֵבִיא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עַל־הַמִּצְרִים בְּמִצְרַיִם, וְאֵלוּ הֵן:
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דָּם
צְפַרְדֵּעַ
כִּנִּים
עָרוֹב
דֶּבֶר
שְׁחִין
בָּרָד
אַרְבֶּה
חשֶׁךְ
מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת
These are [the] ten plagues that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought on the Egyptians in Egypt and they are:
-----
Blood
Frogs
Lice
[The] Mixture [of Wild Animals]
Pestilence
Boils
Hail
Locusts
Darkness
Slaying of [the] Firstborn
רַבִּי יְהוּדָה הָיָה נוֹתֵן בָּהֶם סִמָּנִים:
דְּצַ"ךְ
עַדַ"שׁ
בְּאַחַ"ב.
Rabbi Yehuda was accustomed to giving [the plagues] mnemonics: Detsakh [the Hebrew initials of the first three plagues], Adash [the Hebrew initials of the second three plagues], Beachav [the Hebrew initials of the last four plagues].
~ What is strange about the practice of Rabbi Yehuda?
~ What seems to be the reason for the plagues, in these texts?
~ Do you think it worked?
(18) But on that day I will set apart the region of Goshen, where My people dwell, so that no mixture [of insects] shall be there, that you may know that I the LORD am in the midst of the land.
~ What are the purposes of the plagues in these texts?
~ What makes sense about how Rabbi Yehuda divided the plagues, looking at the first three texts?
(כו) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר ה' אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה נְטֵ֥ה אֶת־יָדְךָ֖ עַל־הַיָּ֑ם וְיָשֻׁ֤בוּ הַמַּ֙יִם֙ עַל־מִצְרַ֔יִם עַל־רִכְבּ֖וֹ וְעַל־פָּרָשָֽׁיו׃ (כז) וַיֵּט֩ מֹשֶׁ֨ה אֶת־יָד֜וֹ עַל־הַיָּ֗ם וַיָּ֨שׇׁב הַיָּ֜ם לִפְנ֥וֹת בֹּ֙קֶר֙ לְאֵ֣יתָנ֔וֹ וּמִצְרַ֖יִם נָסִ֣ים לִקְרָאת֑וֹ וַיְנַעֵ֧ר ה' אֶת־מִצְרַ֖יִם בְּת֥וֹךְ הַיָּֽם׃
~ Who actually learned the lesson?
The structure of the plagues narrative:
Plague |
By whom |
With what |
Warning |
Explanation |
Preparation |
Blood / Dam |
Aharon |
Staff |
Yes |
Yes |
“station yourself… morning” |
Frogs / Tzfardea |
Aharon |
Staff |
Yes |
No |
Go to Pharaoh |
Lice / Kinim |
Aharon |
Staff |
No |
No |
|
Mixture/Arov |
God |
Yes |
Yes |
“station yourself… morning” |
|
Disease / Dever |
God |
Yes |
No |
Go to Pharaoh |
|
Boils / Shechin |
Moshe |
Soot |
No |
No |
|
Hail / Barad |
Moshe |
Hand |
Yes |
Yes |
“station yourself… morning” |
Locusts / Arbeh |
Moshe |
Hand |
Yes |
Yes |
Go to Pharaoh |
Darkness/Hoshech |
Moshe |
Hand |
No |
No |
|
Firstborn/Makat Bechorot |
God |
Yes |
No |
The structures, pointed out by different sages throughout Jewish history, indicate that the possibility that there was a kernel of reality that got embellished through time.
(1) A maskil of Asaph.
Give ear, my people, to my teaching,
turn your ear to what I say. (2) I will expound a theme,
hold forth on the lessons of the past, (3) things we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us. (4) We will not withhold them from their children,
telling the coming generation
the praises of the LORD and His might,
and the wonders He performed. (5) He established a decree in Jacob,
ordained a teaching in Israel,
charging our fathers
to make them known to their children, (6) that a future generation might know
—children yet to be born—
and in turn tell their children (7) that they might put their confidence in God,
and not forget God’s great deeds,
but observe His commandments, (8) and not be like their fathers,
a wayward and defiant generation,
a generation whose heart was inconstant,
whose spirit was not true to God.
(9) Like the Ephraimite bowmen
who played false in the day of battle, (10) they did not keep God’s covenant,
they refused to follow His instruction; (11) they forgot His deeds
and the wonders that He showed them. (12) He performed marvels in the sight of their fathers,
in the land of Egypt, the plain of Zoan. (13) He split the sea and took them through it;
He made the waters stand like a wall. (14) He led them with a cloud by day,
and throughout the night by the light of fire. (15) He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as if from the great deep. (16) He brought forth streams from a rock
and made them flow down like a river.
(17) But they went on sinning against Him,
defying the Most High in the parched land. (18) To test God was in their mind
when they demanded food for themselves. (19) They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a feast in the wilderness? (20) True, He struck the rock and waters flowed,
streams gushed forth;
but can He provide bread?
Can He supply His people with meat?” (21) The LORD heard and He raged;
fire broke out against Jacob,
anger flared up at Israel, (22) because they did not put their trust in God,
did not rely on His deliverance. (23) So He commanded the skies above,
He opened the doors of heaven (24) and rained manna upon them for food,
giving them heavenly grain. (25) Each man ate a hero’s meal;
He sent them provision in plenty. (26) He set the east wind moving in heaven,
and drove the south wind by His might. (27) He rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sands of the sea, (28) making them come down inside His camp,
around His dwelling-place. (29) They ate till they were sated;
He gave them what they craved. (30) They had not yet wearied of what they craved,
the food was still in their mouths (31) when God’s anger flared up at them.
He slew their sturdiest,
struck down the youth of Israel. (32) Nonetheless, they went on sinning
and had no faith in His wonders. (33) He made their days end in futility,
their years in sudden death. (34) When He struck them, they turned to Him
and sought God once again. (35) They remembered that God was their rock,
God Most High, their Redeemer. (36) Yet they deceived Him with their speech,
lied to Him with their words; (37) their hearts were inconstant toward Him;
they were untrue to His covenant. (38) But He, being merciful, forgave iniquity
and would not destroy;
He restrained His wrath time and again
and did not give full vent to His fury; (39) for He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breath that does not return.
(40) How often did they defy Him in the wilderness,
did they grieve Him in the wasteland! (41) Again and again they tested God,
vexed the Holy One of Israel. (42) They did not remember His strength,
or the day He redeemed them from the foe; (43) how He displayed His signs in Egypt,
His wonders in the plain of Zoan. (44) He turned their rivers into blood;
He made their waters undrinkable. (45) He inflicted upon them mixture [of insects] to devour them,
frogs to destroy them. (46) He gave their crops over to grubs,
their produce to locusts. (47) He killed their vines with hail,
their sycamores with frost.-c (48) He gave their beasts over to hail,
their cattle to lightning bolts. (49) He inflicted His burning anger upon them,
wrath, indignation, trouble,
a band of deadly messengers. (50) He cleared a path for His anger;
He did not stop short of slaying them,
but gave them over to pestilence. (51) He struck every first-born in Egypt,
the first fruits of their vigor in the tents of Ham. (52) He set His people moving like sheep,
drove them like a flock in the wilderness. (53) He led them in safety; they were unafraid;
as for their enemies, the sea covered them. (54) He brought them to His holy realm,
the mountain His right hand had acquired. (55) He expelled nations before them,
settled the tribes of Israel in their tents,
allotting them their portion by the line.-e
(56) Yet they defiantly tested God Most High,
and did not observe His decrees. (57) They fell away, disloyal like their fathers;
they played false like a treacherous bow. (58) They vexed Him with their high places;
they incensed Him with their idols. (59) God heard it and was enraged;
He utterly rejected Israel. (60) He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent He had set among men. (61) He let His might go into captivity,
His glory into the hands of the foe. (62) He gave His people over to the sword;
He was enraged at His very own. (63) Fire consumed their young men,
and their maidens remained unwed.-g (64) Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows could not weep.
(65) The Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a warrior shaking off-c wine. (66) He beat back His foes,
dealing them lasting disgrace. (67) He rejected the clan of Joseph;
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim. (68) He did choose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which He loved. (69) He built His Sanctuary like the heavens,
like the earth that He established forever. (70) He chose David, His servant,
and took him from the sheepfolds. (71) He brought him from minding the nursing ewes
to tend His people Jacob, Israel, His very own. (72) He tended them with blameless heart;
with skillful hands he led them.
(1) Praise the LORD;
call on His name;
proclaim His deeds among the peoples. (2) Sing praises to Him;
speak of all His wondrous acts. (3) Exult in His holy name;
let all who seek the LORD rejoice. (4) Turn to the LORD, to His might;
seek His presence constantly. (5) Remember the wonders He has done,
His portents and the judgments He has pronounced, (6) O offspring of Abraham, His servant,
O descendants of Jacob, His chosen ones. (7) He is the LORD our God;
His judgments are throughout the earth. (8) He is ever mindful of His covenant,
the promise He gave for a thousand generations, (9) that He made with Abraham,
swore to Isaac, (10) and confirmed in a decree for Jacob,
for Israel, as an eternal covenant, (11) saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as your allotted heritage.”
(12) They were then few in number,
a mere handful, sojourning there, (13) wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another. (14) He allowed no one to oppress them;
He reproved kings on their account, (15) “Do not touch My anointed ones;
do not harm My prophets.”
(16) He called down a famine on the land,
destroyed every staff of bread. (17) He sent ahead of them a man,
Joseph, sold into slavery. (18) His feet were subjected to fetters;
an iron collar was put on his neck. (19) Until his prediction came true
the decree of the LORD purged him. (20) The king sent to have him freed;
the ruler of nations released him. (21) He made him the lord of his household,
empowered him over all his possessions, (22) to discipline his princes at will,
to teach his elders wisdom. (23) Then Israel came to Egypt;
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
(24) He made His people very fruitful,
more numerous than their foes. (25) He changed their heart-b to hate His people,
to plot against His servants. (26) He sent His servant Moses,
and Aaron, whom He had chosen. (27) They performed His signs among them,
His wonders, against the land of Ham. (28) He sent darkness; it was very dark;
did they not defy His word?-c (29) He turned their waters into blood
and killed their fish. (30) Their land teemed with frogs,
even the rooms of their king. (31) He spoke, and Arov came; lice, throughout their country. (32) He gave them hail for rain,
and flaming fire in their land. (33) He struck their vines and fig trees,
broke down the trees of their country. (34) Locusts came at His command,
grasshoppers without number. (35) They devoured every green thing in the land;
they consumed the produce of the soil. (36) He struck down every first-born in the land,
the first fruit of their vigor. (37) He led Israel out with silver and gold;
none among their tribes faltered. (38) Egypt rejoiced when they left,
for dread of Israel had fallen upon them.
(39) He spread a cloud for a cover,
and fire to light up the night. (40) They asked and He brought them quail,
and satisfied them with food from heaven. (41) He opened a rock so that water gushed forth;
it flowed as a stream in the parched land. (42) Mindful of His sacred promise
to His servant Abraham, (43) He led His people out in gladness,
His chosen ones with joyous song. (44) He gave them the lands of nations;
they inherited the wealth of peoples, (45) that they might keep His laws
and observe His teachings.
Hallelujah.
Two different ways to break the Psalms
Psalm 78 (1) blood |
Psalm 105 (1) darkness |
Psalm 78 (1) blood (6) hail destroying animals |
Psalm 105 (1) darkness (5) lice |
~ Are those different traditions?
~ What other explanations can you think of?
~ Is it so important to know precisely what happened?
First answer: The order of plagues is specific due to natural consequences
Plagues 1-6
The naturalistic account is connected initially with the violent rainstorms that occur in the mountains of Ethiopia, to the south of Egypt.
1. The first plague, referred to as dam, blood, was caused when red clay swept down into the Nile from the Ethiopian highlands coloring the river and rendering its water undrinkable.
2. The mud affected the aeration of the water that lead to the death of fish. Bodies of dead fish clogged the swamps inhabited by frogs. The rotting fish crowded the frogs out from the swamps. They left the Nile and sought cool areas in people's houses: the second plague. But, the movement of frogs occurred only after they had become infected by some communicable disease such as anthrax.
3-4. Since the frogs were already infected with the disease, they died in their new habitats. As a consequence, lice, the third plague, and flies, the fourth plague, began to multiply, feeding off the dead frogs.
5. This gave rise to a pestilence that attacked animals, the fifth plague, because the cattle were feeding on grass that by then had also become infected.
6. In people, the symptom of the same disease was boils, the sixth plague.
Plagues 7-9
A second sequence of plagues, according to this explanation, is related to atmospheric and climatic conditions in Egypt.
7. Although not common, hailstorms do occur rarely in Upper Egypt and occasionally in Lower Egypt during late spring and early fall.
8. The hailstorm was followed by the eighth plague, locusts, a more common occurrence.
9. The ninth plague, darkness, was a Libyan dust storm.
Plague 10
10. The final plague, the death of the first-born, although not strictly commensurate with the other plagues, can be (poorly) explained in ecological terms as a reflection of the infant mortality rate in ancient Egypt.
(Zevit, Z. - https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-ten-plagues-and-egyptian-ecology, based on Greta Hort, “The Plagues of Egypt,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 69 (1957), pp. 84–103; 70 (1958), pp. 48–59; and on Pierre Montet, L’Egypte et la Bible (Neuchatel: Paris, 1959), pp. 97–98.)
~ Dr. Zevit does criticize this explanation. How do you imagine it falls short?
~ If this explanation is true, where is the miracle?
Second answer: undoing creation - the narrative makes sense if you look to the Jewish internal cultural referential
(כא) וַיִּבְרָ֣א אֱלֹקִ֔ים אֶת־הַתַּנִּינִ֖ם הַגְּדֹלִ֑ים וְאֵ֣ת כׇּל־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַֽחַיָּ֣ה ׀ הָֽרֹמֶ֡שֶׂת אֲשֶׁר֩ שָׁרְצ֨וּ הַמַּ֜יִם לְמִֽינֵהֶ֗ם וְאֵ֨ת כׇּל־ע֤וֹף כָּנָף֙ לְמִינֵ֔הוּ וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹקִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃
(כח) וְשָׁרַ֣ץ הַיְאֹר֮ צְפַרְדְּעִים֒ וְעָלוּ֙ וּבָ֣אוּ בְּבֵיתֶ֔ךָ וּבַחֲדַ֥ר מִשְׁכָּבְךָ֖ וְעַל־מִטָּתֶ֑ךָ וּבְבֵ֤ית עֲבָדֶ֙יךָ֙ וּבְעַמֶּ֔ךָ וּבְתַנּוּרֶ֖יךָ וּבְמִשְׁאֲרוֹתֶֽיךָ׃
(17) For if you do not let My people go, I will let loose the mixture against you and your courtiers and your people and your houses; the houses of the Egyptians, and the very ground they stand on, shall be filled with the mixture. (18) But on that day I will set apart the region of Goshen, where My people dwell, so that no mixture shall be there, that you may know that I the LORD am in the midst of the land. (19) And I will make a distinction between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall come to pass.’” (20) And the LORD did so. Heavy mixture invaded Pharaoh’s palace and the houses of his courtiers; throughout the country of Egypt the land was ruined because of the mixture.
(א) בַּעֲשָׂרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם. וּמַה תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר, וַהֲלֹא בְמַאֲמָר אֶחָד יָכוֹל לְהִבָּרְאוֹת, אֶלָּא לְהִפָּרַע מִן הָרְשָׁעִים שֶׁמְּאַבְּדִין אֶת הָעוֹלָם שֶׁנִּבְרָא בַעֲשָׂרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת, וְלִתֵּן שָׂכָר טוֹב לַצַּדִּיקִים שֶׁמְּקַיְּמִין אֶת הָעוֹלָם שֶׁנִּבְרָא בַעֲשָׂרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת: ...
(ד) עֲשָׂרָה נִסִּים נַעֲשׂוּ לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בְמִצְרַיִם וַעֲשָׂרָה עַל הַיָּם. עֶשֶׂר מַכּוֹת הֵבִיא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עַל הַמִּצְרִיִּים בְּמִצְרַיִם וְעֶשֶׂר עַל הַיָּם. עֲשָׂרָה נִסְיוֹנוֹת נִסּוּ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ אֶת הַמָּקוֹם בָּרוּךְ הוּא בַמִּדְבָּר, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (במדבר יד) וַיְנַסּוּ אֹתִי זֶה עֶשֶׂר פְּעָמִים וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ בְּקוֹלִי:
(1) With ten utterances the world was created. And what does this teach, for surely it could have been created with one utterance? But this was so in order to punish the wicked who destroy the world that was created with ten utterances, And to give a good reward to the righteous who maintain the world that was created with ten utterances.
...
(4) Ten miracles were wrought for our ancestors in Egypt, and ten at the sea. Ten plagues did the Holy one, blessed be He, bring upon the Egyptians in Egypt and ten at the sea. [With] ten trials did our ancestors try God, blessed be He, as it is said, “and they have tried Me these ten times and they have not listened to my voice” (Numbers 14:22).
~ How do you like this explanation?
~ Is it important whether the plagues happened exactly as told?
Third possibility: the plagues are attacks on the Egyptian pantheon, the narrative makes more sense if we understand its Egyptian cultural context
This act is not a random act of transformation, but rather one known from ancient Egyptian literature. It is best represented in “The Wax Crocodile” story (c. 1800 b.c.e.), in which the chief lector-priest Webaoner, by means of the proper magical spell, transforms a crocodile made of wax into a living crocodile, and then back again. This tale is but one of many such stories from ancient Egypt, which the consumers of this literature apparently enjoyed.
[Gary Rendsburg - “Reading the Plagues in their Ancient Egyptian Context.” https://www.thetorah.com/article/reading-the-plagues-in-their-ancient-egyptian-context]
Plague |
Egyptian god |
Why |
Blood / Dam |
the god Khnum |
creator of water and life |
Hapi |
the Nile god |
|
Osiris |
bloodstream was the Nile |
|
Frogs / Tzfardea |
Heket |
a goddess of childbirth who was represented as a frog |
Lice / Kinim |
||
Mixture/Arov |
||
Disease / Dever |
Hathor |
the mother and sky goddess, represented in the form of a cow |
Apis |
symbol of fertility represented as a bull |
|
Boils / Shechin |
||
Hail / Barad Locusts / Arbeh |
Seth |
manifests himself in wind and storms |
Isis |
goddess of life, who grinds, spins flax and weaves cloth |
|
Min |
god of fertility and vegetation and as a protector of crops, had celebration at the beginning of the harvest of flax and barley and before wheat and spelt |
|
Darkness/Hoshech |
Amon-Re, Aten, Atum, Horus, Ra |
All deities associated with the sun |
Firstborn/Makat Bechorot |
Osiris |
Judge of the dead |
There are more than 1,500 Egyptian deities. These were developed in the span of about 30 centuries from its unification around 3100 B.C.E. to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. E.
One weakness in interpreting the plagues solely as a religious polemic against Egyptian gods, however, is that some of the plagues are unaccounted for; and not all of the plagues can be conveniently matched up with Egyptian gods or texts. Specifically, divine candidates are lacking for the third, fourth and sixth plagues—lice, flies and boils. Even if scratching through Egyptian sources might produce some minor candidates that could fill these lacunae, there is another difficulty with the religious polemic interpretation. The Egyptian material on which this interpretation rests comes from different times and different places. The extant data do not enable us to claim that the perception of the pantheon presented above was historically probable in the Western Delta during the 14th–12th centuries B.C.E. when and where Israelites became familiar with it. Nevertheless, despite these difficulties, the Egyptian material describing links between Egyptian deities and natural phenomena does provide us with some insights into the way the plagues were intended to be understood.
(Z. Zevit, Exodus in the Bible and the Egyptian Plagues, BAR, https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/exodus/exodus-in-the-bible-and-the-egyptian-plagues/)
The significance of this is heightened for the reader when he or she realizes that the Egyptian priests shaved their entire bodies every day, to ensure perfect and hence pure skin, or else they would be considered impure and disqualified from temple worship.[10] Priests with boils means no offerings in the temples; no offerings in the temples means distress for the gods; distress of the gods means chaos and collapse in Egypt – yes, all that from what appears at first blush to be an aside comment by the biblical author (Exod 9:11). [Gary Rendsburg - “Reading the Plagues in their Ancient Egyptian Context.” https://www.thetorah.com/article/reading-the-plagues-in-their-ancient-egyptian-context]
Did Pharaoh believe he was a god? Yes. And THAT is the problem.
There are two important bases for the Egyptian religion. First, there are two forces in the world: ma’at, the Egyptian concept and personification of truth, justice, social order and harmony, and isfet, (disorder, injustice, lie). Political success and natural fertility are dependent on Pharaoh and his permanent communication with the divine world. Pharaoh, himself a god, was regarded as the son of the supreme deity and given the name, “son of Ra,” and thus incorporated the link between heaven and earth.
According to one text (of canonical normativity), the sun and creator god, Ra:
has placed the king on earth
for ever and ever,
in order that he may judge mankind and satisfy the gods;
establish Ma’at and annihilate Isfet
giving offerings to the gods and funerary offerings to the dead.[2]
Pharaoh’s role, therefore, is to dispel isfet in order to give room to ma’at.
Second, the ancient Egyptians assumed that the world is permanently threatened by collapse and its continuance is dependent on ritual action. Thus, we read in another text:
If the loaves are few on their altars,
the same will happen in the whole land
and few will be the food for the living.
If the libations are discontinued,
the inundation will fail in its source
<…> and famine will reign in the country.
If the ceremonies for Osiris are neglected <…>
the country will be deprived of its laws.
<…> the foreign countries will rebel against Egypt
and civil war and revolution will rise in the whole country.
~ How does God talk to people in the Torah? How dependent are we in a figure to connect Jews with God?
~ What happens if we don't offer sacrifices or pray, in terms of the world?
According to Prof. Jan Assmann, that is the basic polemic of the story of the plagues.
https://www.thetorah.com/article/pharaohs-divine-role-in-maintaining-maat-order