Biblical Plagues on Egypt

1
Biblical Plagues on Egypt

• Bible as Literature Colloq
• Sarah Brower
• 31 January 2003

2
Enslavement of Hebrews

• The number of Hebrews grew too large, and to
  ensure they would not revolt against him, Pharaoh
  enslaved the Hebrews for over 400 yrs.
• Moses, sent by God, went to Pharaoh and pleaded
  to let his people go.
• After ten plagues, the Hebrews were finally
  allowed to leave Egypt as a free nation.

3
Ten Plagues on Egypt

• Water into Blood
• Frogs
• Lice
• Flies
• Plague on Cattle

• Boils
• Hail
• Locusts
• Darkness
• Death of first born

4
First set of Plagues

• Turning water into Blood?Exodus 7 14-25
• Frogs?Exodus 8 1-15
• Lice? Exodus 8 16-19
• This set of plagues interfered with the COMFORT
  of Egyptians ( Web 1).

5
Second set of Plagues

• Flies?Exodus8 20-32
• Plague on Cattle ? Exodus 9 1-7
• Boils?Exodus 9 8-12
• This set was to interfere with Egyptians and
  their POSSESSIONS.

6
Third set of Plagues

• Hail? Exodus 9 13-35
• Locusts? Exodus 10 1-20
• Darkness? Exodus 10 21-29
• This set was to bring on DESOLATION and DEATH
  onto the people. (Web 1)

7
Final Plague

• Death of firstborn ? Exodus 11 1-1236
• The final blow that sent Pharaoh over the edge,
  and allowed the Hebrew nation to be free.

8
Many plagues were directly used toward an
Egyptian deity

• Bloody Nile? Nile Gods, Osiris, Hapi
• Frogs?God of Resurrection, Heqt
• Cattle Plague?Hathor, Apis, Mnevis

9
Egyptian deity cont

• Boils?God of Medicine, Imhotep
• Hail?Nut-sky goddess, Isis, Seth
• Locusts?Isis-goddess of Life, Seth
• Darkness?Sun gods Re, Aten, Atum, Horus

10
Fun Facts

• For every set of plagues, the first two were
  announced to Pharaoh, and the last in the set was
  done without Pharaoh knowing
• Egyptian magicians were only able to imitate the
  first two plaguesthe others were out of their
  league.

11
Fun Facts

• Plagues were used to show Gods power wrath
• Warning to others of what God could do
• 10 full responsibility
• Tested faith of Hebrews
• Only first set of plagues were bestowed on
  Hebrews and Egyptians, after that, only Egyptians
  got the plagues.

12
Scientific Explanation

• Red water caused by an algae bloom, which killed
  all the fish allowing the frog spawn to grow
  without predators.
• They leave infested water, and once they die,
  lice will increase to their predator which is
  gone.
• With all the frogs and lice running around, this
  was heaven to the fly population
• The cattle death was caused by two microbes which
  only affected animals

13
Scientific Explanation

• Boils would have been caused by all the flies,
  lice and other microbes loose at this time
• Hailstorm would have occurred naturally
• Locusts were known to habitat this area, and
  would have eaten everything in sight
• Darkness could have been caused by a sandstorm,
  and possible volcano eruption.
• Death of firstborn may have been caused by a
  microbe, which prospered in the wet conditions

14

• However the plagues can be explained, whether
  biblically or by science, they allowed the
  Hebrews to be free of their enslavement to Egypt.

15
References

• Web 1 Arthur Walkington Pinks Archive. 27
  September 2002. Baptist Trumpeter Publications.
  26 January 2003 http//www.pbministries.org/books
  /pink/Gleanings_Exodus/ exodus_11.htm
• Web 2 Biblical Plagues. 26 January 2003.
  lthttp//www.aaronc.com/chronpg/chronbib/plagues.h
  tmlgt
• Web 3 Meakin, John. Plagued by Doubt. Vision.
  26 January 2003. http//www.vision.org/jrnl/0104/
  plagdoubt.html
• Web 4 The Ten Plagues on Egypt-What were they?
  1999. Crystal Clear P.C. 26 January 2003.
  http//www.ccpc.net/ephraim/10_Plagues.html