The Ten Plagues of Egypt

This chapter is based on Exodus 5 to 10. 

Instructed by angels, Aaron went to meet his brother in the loneliness of the desert near Horeb. Here Moses told Aaron “all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him” (Exodus 4:28). Together they journeyed to Egypt to gather together the elders of Israel. “The people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped” (Exodus 4:31). 1TC 167.2

With a message for the king, the two brothers entered the palace of the Pharaohs as ambassadors from the King of kings: “Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” 1TC 167.3

“Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” demanded the monarch; “I do not know the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” 1TC 168.1

Their answer was, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” 1TC 168.2

The king’s anger was kindled. “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work?” he said. “Get back to your labor.” Already the kingdom had suffered loss through the interference of these strangers. At the thought of this he added, “Look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor!” 1TC 168.3

To some extent, during their slavery the Israelites had lost the knowledge of God’s law, and they had generally disregarded the Sabbath. The demands of their taskmasters made keeping it seem impossible, but Moses had shown his people that obedience to God was the condition of their deliverance. The efforts made to restore Sabbath observance had come to the notice of their oppressors. (See Appendix, Note 1.) 1TC 168.4

The king, thoroughly upset, suspected the Israelites of a plot to revolt from his service. He would make sure that no time was left to them for dangerous scheming. He immediately took steps to make their service harder and crush their independent spirit. The most common building material was sun-dried brick, and great numbers of the slaves were involved with making bricks. Because they mixed cut straw with the clay to hold it together, large quantities of straw were required. The king now ordered that no more straw be supplied; the workers must find it for themselves, but the same amount of bricks must be made. 1TC 168.5

The Egyptian taskmasters appointed Hebrew officers to oversee the work. When the requirement of the king was put in force, the people scattered to gather stubble instead of straw, but they found it impossible to produce the usual amount of brick. Because of this failure the Hebrew officers were cruelly beaten. 1TC 168.6

These officers went to the king to about this unfair situation. Pharaoh met their complaint with a taunt: “You are idle! Idle! Therefore you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’” He ordered them back to their work—their burdens were not to be lightened at all. Returning, they met Moses and Aaron, and cried out to them, “Let the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” 1TC 168.7

Moses was distressed. The sufferings of the people had been increased. All over the land a cry of despair went up from young and old. All united in blaming him for the disastrous change in their condition. In bitterness of soul he went before God. “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.” 1TC 169.1

The answer was, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” 1TC 169.2

The elders of Israel tried to encourage the sinking faith of their brethren by repeating the promises made to their fathers and the prophetic words of Joseph predicting in advance their deliverance from Egypt. Some listened and believed, but others refused to hope. The Egyptians, having been told of what was being said among their slaves, mocked their expectations and scornfully denied the power of their God. They taunted, “If your God is just and merciful and possesses power greater than that of the Egyptian gods, why doesn’t He make you a free people?” They worshiped deities that the Israelites called false gods, yet they were a rich and powerful nation. Their gods had blessed them with prosperity and had given them the Israelites as servants. Pharaoh himself boasted that the God of the Hebrews could not deliver them from his power. 1TC 169.3

Words like these destroyed the hopes of many of the Israelites. True, they were slaves, their children had been slaughtered, and their own lives were a burden; yet they were worshiping the God of heaven. Surely He would not leave them like this in bondage to idolaters. But those who were true to God understood that it was because of Israel’s departure from Him, because of their inclina tion to marry with heathen nations and then be led into idolatry, that the Lord had permitted them to become slaves. They confidently assured the others that He would soon break their bondage. 1TC 169.4

But the Hebrews were not yet prepared for deliverance. They had little faith in God. Many were content to remain in slavery rather than face the difficulties of moving to a strange land; and the habits of some had become so much like those of the Egyptians that they preferred to stay in Egypt. So the Lord overruled events to develop the tyrannical spirit of the Egyptian king more fully and also to reveal Himself to His people. Moses’ work would have been much less difficult if many of the Israelites had not become so corrupted that they were unwilling to leave Egypt. The Bible says, “They did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.” 1TC 170.1

Again the divine message came to Moses, “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.” In discouragement he replied, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me?” He was told to take Aaron with him and go before Pharaoh and again demand that he “send the children of Israel out of his land.” 1TC 170.2

Pharaoh Could Yet Save Egypt

Moses was informed that the monarch would not give in until God would bring judgments on Egypt and bring out Israel by the dramatic display of His power. Before each plague came, Moses was to describe what type of plague it would be and what its consequences would be so that the king might save himself from it if he chose. Every punishment that was rejected would be followed by one more severe, until his proud heart would be humbled and he would acknowledge the Maker of heaven and earth as the true and living God. The Lord would punish the people of Egypt for their idolatry and silence their boasting so that other nations might tremble at His mighty acts and His people be led to turn from idolatry and offer Him pure worship. 1TC 170.3

Again Moses and Aaron entered the lordly halls of the king of Egypt. There stood the two representatives of the enslaved race, surrounded by tall columns, glittering adornments, amid the rich paintings and sculptured images of heathen gods. The king demanded a miracle as evidence of their divine commission. Aaron now took the rod and threw it down before Pharaoh, and it became a serpent. The monarch then sent for his “wise men and the sorcerers,” and “every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.” The king, more determined than before, declared that his magicians were equal in power with Moses and Aaron. He accused the servants of the Lord as being impostors, yet was kept back by divine power from hurting them. 1TC 170.4

Satan’s Counterfeits

The magicians did not really cause their rods to become serpents, but by magic, helped by the great deceiver, they were able to produce this appearance. The prince of evil possesses all the wisdom and might of a fallen angel, but he has no power to create or to give life—this is God’s right alone. Satan produced a counterfeit. 1TC 171.1

To human sight the rods had changed to serpents. This is what Pharaoh and his court believed them to be. Though the Lord caused the real serpent to swallow up the false ones, Pharaoh did not regard this as a work of God’s power, but as the result of a kind of superior magic. 1TC 171.2

Pharaoh was seeking some excuse to disregard the miracles that God had performed through Moses, and Satan gave him just what he wanted. He made it appear that Moses and Aaron were only magicians and sorcerers and that the message they brought could not claim respect as coming from a superior being. Thus Satan’s counterfeit caused Pharaoh to harden his heart against conviction. Satan also hoped to shake the faith of Moses and Aaron. 1TC 171.3

The prince of evil knew very well that Moses was an early symbol of Christ, who was to break the power of sin over the human family. He knew that when Christ would appear, mighty miracles would give evidence to the world that God had sent Him. By counterfeiting the work of God through Moses, Satan hoped not only to prevent the deliverance of Israel but through future ages to destroy faith in the miracles of Christ by making them appear to be only the result of human power. 1TC 171.4

The Plagues Strike Egypt

Moses and Aaron were directed to go to the riverside the next morning. Because the overflowing of the Nile was the source of food and wealth for all Egypt, the river was worshiped as a god, and the monarch came to its banks daily for his personal devotions. The two brothers again repeated the message to him and then stretched out the rod and struck the water. The sacred stream turned to blood, the fish died, and the river smelled bad. The water in the houses and the supply in the cisterns was also changed to blood. But “the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments,” and “Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this.” For seven days the plague continued, but without changing Pharaoh’s mind. 1TC 172.1

Again Aaron stretched out the rod, and frogs came up from the river. They overran the houses, occupied the bedrooms, and even got into the ovens and kneading troughs. The Egyptians regarded the frog as sacred, and they would not destroy it; but the slimy pests now swarmed even in the palace of the Pharaohs, and the king was impatient to have them removed. The magicians had seemed to produce frogs, but they could not remove them. 1TC 172.2

When he saw this, Pharaoh was somewhat humbled. He sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “Entreat the Lord that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.” They asked him to choose a time when they should pray for the plague to be removed. He chose the next day, secretly hoping that the frogs might disappear on their own and thus save him from the bitter humiliation of submitting to the God of Israel. The plague, however, continued until the specified time, when across all of Egypt the frogs died. But their smelly, decomposing bodies remained and polluted the atmosphere. 1TC 172.3

The Lord could have caused them to return to dust in a moment, but He did not do this, so that the king and his people could not declare it to be the result of enchantment like the work of the magicians. The frogs died and were then gathered together in piles, evidence that this work was not accomplished by magic but was a judgment from the God of heaven. 1TC 173.1

“When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart.” At the command of God, Aaron stretched out his hand with the rod, and the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh called for the magicians to do the same, but they could not, admitting that “This is the finger of God.” But the king was still unmoved. 1TC 173.2

Another judgment followed. Flies filled the houses, so that “the land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies.” These flies were large and poisonous, and their bite was extremely painful. As told ahead of time, this plague did not extend to the land of Goshen. 1TC 173.3

Pharaoh Hardens His Heart

Pharaoh now offered the Israelites permission to sacrifice in Egypt, but they refused. “It is not right to do so,” said Moses. “If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not stone us?” The animals that the Hebrews would be required to sacrifice were among those the Egyptians regarded as sacred—to kill one even accidentally was a crime punishable with death. 1TC 173.4

Moses again proposed to go three days’ journey into the wilderness. The monarch agreed and begged the servants of God to ask God to remove the plague. They promised to do this but warned him against dealing deceitfully with them. The plague was stopped, but the king’s heart had become hardened by persistent rebellion, and he still refused to yield. 1TC 173.5

A more terrible blow followed—a plague of disease came upon all the Egyptian cattle. Both the sacred animals and the beasts of burden—cows and oxen and sheep, horses and camels and donkeys—were destroyed. It had been clearly stated that the Hebrews were to be exempt; and Pharaoh, on sending messengers to the home of the Israelites, confirmed the truth of this. “Of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died.” Still the king refused to yield. 1TC 173.6

Moses was next directed to take ashes from a furnace and “scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh.” The fine particles spread over the land of Egypt, and wherever they settled, they produced boils that broke out “in sores on man and beast.” The priests and magicians had encouraged Pharaoh in his stubbornness, but now a judgment had reached even them. Struck with a repulsive and painful disease, they were no longer able to fight against the God of Israel. The magicians were not even able to protect their own bodies. 1TC 174.1

Still the heart of Pharaoh grew harder. And now the Lord sent a message to him, “At this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. ... But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you.” God’s providence had overruled events to place him on the throne at the very time appointed for Israel’s deliverance. 1TC 174.2

Although this proud tyrant had forfeited the mercy of God, his life had been preserved so that through his stubbornness the Lord could reveal His wonders in Egypt. God’s people were permitted to experience the grinding cruelty of the Egyptians so that they would not be deceived concerning the degrading influence of idolatry. In His dealing with Pharaoh, the Lord showed His hatred of idolatry and His determination to punish cruelty and oppression. 1TC 174.3

God had declared concerning Pharaoh, “I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go” (Exodus 4:21). No supernatural power hardened the heart of the king, but the seeds of rebellion that he sowed when he rejected the first miracle produced their harvest. As he dared to continue from one degree of stubbornness to another, his heart became more and more hardened, until he was called to look upon the cold, dead faces of the firstborn. 1TC 174.4

How Stubbornness Develops

God speaks to us through His servants, rebuking sin. If a person refuses to be corrected, divine power does not step in to prevent the results of one’s own action. Such people are hardening the heart against the influence of the Holy Spirit. 1TC 175.1

Anyone who has once yielded to temptation will yield more easily the second time. Every time this is repeated it lessens the power to resist, blinds the eyes, and stifles conviction. God does not work a miracle to prevent the harvest. “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). This is the way that many people start listening with cold indifference to the truths that once warmed their hearts. They sowed neglect and resistance to the truth, and this is the harvest they reap. 1TC 175.2

Some people quiet a guilty conscience with the thought, “I can change my evil course whenever I choose.” They think that after putting their influence on the side of the great rebel, they will change leaders when danger surrounds them. But this is not easily done. A life of sinful indulgence has so molded the character that they cannot then receive the image of Jesus. If no light had shone on their pathway, mercy might intervene. But after light has been despised for a long time, it will finally be taken away. 1TC 175.3

Next a plague of hail was threatened upon Pharaoh. “Therefore send now and gather your livestock ... for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home, and they shall die.” No one had ever seen such a storm as this would be. The report spread rapidly, and everyone who believed the word of the Lord gathered in their cattle, while those who despised the warning left them in the field. So in the midst of judgment the mercy of God was displayed, and it was shown how many had been led to respect God. 1TC 175.4

The storm came—thunder and hail, and fire mingled with it, “so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.” Ruin and desolation marked the path of the destroying angel. The land of Goshen alone was spared. 1TC 175.5

Pharaoh at Last Relents

All Egypt trembled under the divine judgment. Pharaoh quickly sent for the two brothers: “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the Lord, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” 1TC 176.1

Moses knew that the struggle was not over. Pharaoh’s confessions and promises were not the result of any radical change in his mind but were forced from him by terror and anguish. Moses promised, however, to grant his request, because he wanted to give him no reason for further stubbornness. The prophet went out, ignoring the fury of the storm, and Pharaoh and all his attendants were witnesses to the power of Jehovah to preserve His messenger. Moses “spread out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth.” But no sooner had the king recovered from his fears than his heart returned to its rebellion. 1TC 176.2

Then the Lord set out to give unmistakable evidence of the difference He placed between Israel and the Egyptians. He would cause all nations to know that the Hebrews were under the protection of the God of heaven. Moses warned the monarch that a plague of locusts would be sent, which would cover the earth and eat up every green thing that remained. They would fill the houses, even the palace itself. He said that this would be a disaster such as “neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.” 1TC 176.3

The counselors of Pharaoh were horrified. The nation had suffered great loss in the death of the cattle. Many of the people had been killed by the hail. The forests were broken down and the crops destroyed. The Egyptians were quickly losing all that they had gained by the work of the Hebrews. The whole land was threatened with starvation. Princes and officials crowded around the king and demanded, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?” 1TC 176.4

Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron again and said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?” 1TC 177.1

Pharaoh Again Hardens His Heart

The answer was, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds will we go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.” 1TC 177.2

The king was filled with rage. He cried, “‘Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired.’ And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.” Pharaoh pretended to have deep interest in their welfare and a tender care for their little ones, but his real intent was to keep the women and children as a way to guarantee the return of the men. 1TC 177.3

Moses now stretched his rod over the land, and an east wind brought locusts. “They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them.” They filled the air till the sky was darkened, and they devoured every green thing remaining. 1TC 177.4

Pharaoh quickly sent for the prophet and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ... Entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.” They did so, and a strong west wind carried away the locusts toward the Red Sea, but the king still kept on in his stubborn determination. 1TC 177.5

The people of Egypt were ready to despair, and they were filled with fear for the future. The nation had worshiped Pharaoh as a representative of their god; but many were now convinced that he was battling against One who made all the powers of nature the agents of His will. The Hebrew slaves were becoming confident of deliverance. Throughout Egypt there was a secret fear that the slaves would rise and take revenge for their wrongs. People everywhere were asking, “What will come next?” 1TC 177.6

Suddenly a darkness settled on the land, so thick and black that it seemed to be a “darkness which may even be felt.” Breathing was difficult. “They did not see one another; nor did any one rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.” The sun and moon were objects of worship to the Egyptians. This mysterious darkness struck the people and their gods alike. (See Appendix, Note 2.) Dreadful as it was, this judgment was an evidence of God’s compassion and unwillingness to destroy. He would give the people time for reflection and repentance before bringing upon them the last and most terrible of the plagues. 1TC 177.7

At the end of the third day of darkness Pharaoh summoned Moses and agreed to allow the people to leave, provided the flocks and herds were permitted to remain. “Not a hoof shall be left behind,” Moses replied firmly. The king’s anger burst forth uncontrollably. “Get away from me!” he cried. “Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die.” 1TC 178.1

Moses answered, “You have spoken well. I will never see your face again.” 1TC 178.2

“The man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.” The king did not dare harm him, for the people looked upon him as the only one who possessed power to remove the plagues. They wanted the Israelites to be permitted to leave Egypt—it was the king and the priests who opposed the demands of Moses to the very end. 1TC 178.3