More Plagues

 Exodus 8-9

            Two more chapters, six more plagues. Again, one could explain them as natural phenomena. A polluted Nile becomes inhospitable to the wildlife living in it and the frogs come up on the shore. Dead, rotting frogs give birth to not one but two rounds of insect infestations. Flies are a major vector for anthrax, explaining the disease on livestock; and anthrax in humans can produce boils, especially at the infection site. Thunderstorms happen.

            In each case, the natural explanation fails because of the timing and intensity of the plagues. They appear when the Lord tells Moses they will appear, and the end  when Moses asks the Lord to end them. In addition, they are intense beyond all human experience: the frogs are everywhere, in beds and in kitchens. All the livestock die. On the one hand, we can understand how Pharaoh might write these things of as coincidence, bad luck; on the other, we, as readers, know that he is dealing with a power he clearly does not understand.

            As I mentioned yesterday, Pharaoh hardens his heart first—seven times by my counting—before the Lord finally consigns him to his stubbornness. There are, however, several new elements in this confrontation: in 9:14-16. First, the plagues are meant to convince the Egyptians, from Pharaoh on down, who they are dealing with. They are meant to know that there is no god like the God of Israel. Second, strange as this may seem, God’s mercy is introduced in His warning that He could have wiped them off the face of the earth immediately and irrevocably. But, in mercy, He did not; He would rather the Egyptians know Him and honor Him. Finally, the Lord says that through the plagues He is glorified. Specifically, He says that He is showing His power and increasing His fame in the earth. (In Joshua 2, when the Israelites are entering the promised land, the Lord’s reputation goes before them.)