Two men stood eyeball to eyeball in the largest throne room in the world. One was a god-emperor who ruled his empire with might and received the adoration of his people. The other was an octogenarian ex-pastor who carried a staff of wood. He was the first to speak the words that would live on in history: "Let my people go."
The god-emperor responded with mockery. "Who is the Lord that I should obey him? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go." Thus began the contest between an obstinate king and One not known to many of these people before, and over the next several days, the mightiest empire on earth would be severely tested.
Moses and Aaron stand before Pharaoh, demanding the release of the Israelites in God's name. Pharaoh's refusal sets off a series of divine judgments on Egypt.
The Conflict Begins
Moses and his brother Aaron went to the king of Egypt with the message from God that His slaves should be released. Not only did he refuse their request, Pharaoh exacted punishment on his people for even listening to Moses's demand that he release Israel. The Israelites were to continue their labor with the same number of bricks, but the straw that used to make the bricks would now be gathered by the people themselves. The people were unhappy and Moses was blamed, but he didn't stay down long.
This isn't really a conflict between Pharaoh and Moses, although they both have roles to play. What's really happening is a debate between which of two gods has greater power: the God of Israel, or the gods of Egypt. Read the account and you can almost hear the scriptural war being waged. Each plague represents an Egyptian God or goddess, and the text is filled with subtle (and a few not so subtle) hints that the God of Israel has greater power. This is especially obvious with the river turning to blood, which is the water source of the Egyptians, but it's just the beginning.
The River Becomes Blood
The river is first, and it is the most vital resource of the Egyptians. It has always been considered sacred, as the primary water source for the people. Moses takes his staff and hits the water, and it turns to blood. The fish die, the river is poisoned, and the Egyptians can't use it for anything. The lifeblood of the people has turned to a useless, smelly stream.
The priests of Pharaoh are able to imitate the miracle, but somehow Pharaoh's heart is hardened and he refuses to listen to either Moses or Aaron. In fact, that's a big part of this whole conflict between Moses and Pharaoh. A miracle will happen, Pharaoh will momentarily get worried that maybe he's right to be so arrogant and stubborn, and then everything goes back to normal and he repeats his refusal to let Israel go. In the text it says over and over that his heart is hardened, and many readers have wondered exactly what that means, since the text implies that it happened both by his own choice and by the action of God, as if his condition is changed somehow and he can no longer be stopped.
Frogs, Gnats, and Flies
It doesn't stop there, and the next orders of Pharaoh are to have the river turned to blood again. This one is a little different, perhaps, in that the frogs are everywhere; the text says they fill the palace, homes, rooms, beds, ovens, and dough. The whole land is overrun with the creatures. Pharaoh asks Moses to pray to God and have them gone, and the second he gets them gone he reneges on their promise to let the Israelites go, because the frogs are only gone for a moment.
Next it's gnats or lice, or maybe bugs so small that the magicians can't even tell what they are. They swarm over everything and everyone; the text says the animals are covered with them, as well. This is the first time the magicians can't duplicate the miracle so they admit to Pharaoh that it's the finger of God. He should have listened to them, perhaps, because he doesn't listen to Moses either. The next thing is that the swarms of flies descend upon the land, but this time, it spares the area near Goshen where the Israelites live. It shows him that not only can God hurt Egypt, but spare those that believe in Him.
Frogs fill the palace, homes, beds, and ovens of Egypt in the second plague. Pharaoh begs Moses to end it, then immediately breaks his promise to release the Israelites.
Disease, Boils, and Hail
It gets worse from there. Disease strikes the animals in the fields, but not the Israelites'. Moses takes some soot and throws it up in the air, and the animals and people are suddenly covered with unspeakable boils. The magicians can't even deal with that and have to admit they can't stand before Moses. They also are covered with the same disease.
The next thing is a plague of hail that is larger and more damaging than anything the Egyptians have ever seen, striking the land and the trees and killing everything in the fields. It is said that some of the servants of Pharaoh saw the hand of God in it and brought their people and animals inside, and the text points out that those who heeded the warnings were spared. Again, the area of Goshen was spared, and it marked for the Egyptians that God was about to deliver the Israelites.
Hail mixed with fire rains down on Egypt, destroying crops and livestock in the fields. Pharaoh's servants who believed the warning brought their animals inside and were spared.
Locusts and Darkness
Now it's locusts, and the swarms of them blot out the sun. Every green thing left is destroyed, and the fields and forests are turned to dust. Pharaoh's servants are losing it, asking him when he will let Moses go so that the plague will end, but he continues being stubborn. All he wanted was to bargain with Moses so that the Israelites would leave his people alone, but it was useless. The next plague strikes the land as well, and the night is completely dark for three days. The text says it was a darkness that could almost be felt, and that no one could see anyone else. For the most part, it's over Egypt and not Israel, which marks it as a plague from God and not one of natural causes. The Egyptians and Israelites were both in the land, which probably means they all saw the same thing, but the text says the Israelites have light. Pharaoh is angry and tells Moses to get off of his land, and he says he will leave, but not before warning Pharaoh that next time he won't be so lucky.
The Night of the Firstborn
There is one more plague, and it is the most severe. God warned them that the destroyer would come at midnight, and not one person or child would be spared. From the firstborn of Pharaoh to the son of the lowliest slave to the animals in the fields, not one would live through that night. Not one house would be without its dead, and the text says the sound would be heard throughout the land.
God had a special way for His people to be spared, and it was a night that every Jew remembers to this day. Every family was to take a lamb, unblemished, and kill it at dusk. They were to put the blood on the doorframe of the house on all four sides, or perhaps the lintel and sides (some debate exists), and all of the people were to partake of the roasted meat with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, all clothed and ready to leave. When the destroyer came, it would pass over the homes with the blood on the doors, and those in the house would be spared. Every year since, the Jews have commemorated this night as Passover. On the night the firstborn died, the Israelites went free.
The God versus the God-Empire
It's interesting to note that the plagues seem to indicate that Egypt has a pantheon of gods rather than just one, because each one seems to target one specific god or goddess. The river was sacred to one, the frogs another, the livestock to another, and the three-day darkness was over the domain of the sun god Ra - possibly the most powerful of the bunch. It's also stated explicitly in one of the plagues that "God will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt." This battle wasn't between two individuals so much as it was a fight for reputation with both men playing roles in it. It's all a part of the overall theme of God's might that seems to be wove throughout Exodus, and by the end of the final plague the message was clear to all: the god-emperor of Egypt wasn't as mighty as the invisible God of Israel.
Freedom, and the Price of Pride
The Israelites leave in haste, and the Egyptians seem to be more than happy to see them go. In fact, the Egyptians were the ones throwing gifts at the Jews, trying to get them to take whatever they had before they left for good. It was a complete turnaround in fortune for the Israelites, who had entered Egypt as honored guests and left as slaves before departing Egypt as free people, rich with the wealth of the people who ruled them. The people had lived in Egypt for hundreds of years, and for one night, their future was changed forever.
Pharaoh is the kind of character that we've seen before in the Bible, and perhaps we'll see again. He was stubborn to the very end and the Israelites were left to suffer at his hands for far too long. He didn't learn the lesson, even after everything that happened, that there were forces beyond his control. However, the lesson the text teaches the readers is that even the mightiest powers and most self-assured leaders in history couldn't stand before the determined will of God. In the end, even the god-emperor bowed to the will of the Living God, and the people went.
