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Exodus 11:1-12:28: How to Survive the Greatest Disaster of All Time

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Moses clashed with Pharaoh through three rounds of increasingly devastating plagues, through which Yahweh revealed himself as the Judge, the Divider of Peoples, and the Destroyer of Worlds. Pharaoh’s heart has only gotten harder, and he still refuses to let the people go. Therefore, the time has finally come. “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here” (Ex 11:1). Because this final plague’s narrative is lengthy, I’ll divide it into two parts. This week, we’ll look at the plague’s prediction and instructions. Next week, we’ll study the plague’s execution and fallout.

Observation of Exodus 11:1-12:28

Most repeated words: day (16 times), Lord (15x), eat (14), Egypt (14), land (12), house/household (11), all (10), Israel (10), people (9).

  • The timing of this one will be very important. They must get the “day” exactly right.
  • Another important theme is that of “eating” in the “house.”

As I observe repeated words, I notice some of them come in clusters

  • “People” and “all” occur mostly, though not exclusively, in the first section (Ex 11:1-10).
  • “House” is scattered all through Ex 12:1-28, but not Ex 11:1-10.
  • “Day” occurs almost exclusively in the paragraph of Ex 12:14-20.
  • “Eat” occurs only in Ex 12:4-20.
  • “Pharaoh” shows up only in Ex 11:1-10, but every other proper name (Lord, Egypt, and Israel) is scattered through the full passage.

Noticing these clusters, we can compile a rough thematic outline:

  1. Pharaoh’s stubbornness will have drastic consequences—widespread death and an unprecedented outcry—for all the people – Ex 11:1-10
  2. Only those who “eat” in the “house” can hope to escape – Ex 12:1-13
  3. Because this “day” is so important, it must become a memorial day to all future generations – Ex 12:14-20
  4. What to expect when the plague hits – Ex 12:21-28

Interpretation of Exodus 11:1-12:28

Some possible questions:

  1. Why will God take such drastic action by killing every firstborn in the land of Egypt?
  2. What are the Israelites to eat in their houses, and why?
  3. What should they expect when the plague hits?
  4. So what is God trying to communicate through memorializing this disaster?

My answers (numbers correspond to the questions):

  1. Ex 11:1 says that this last plague will result in Pharaoh driving them away completely. We should remember how the previous Pharaoh oppressed the Israelites by murdering their sons (Ex 1:15-16). And because Pharaoh mistreated God’s son, God promised to kill his sons (Ex 4:22-23). The Lord has set up this event as an act of perfect justice toward an evil dictator. God is about to win this fight, and win big. This is not like a boxing match where you merely knock out your opponent. This is like winning in such a way as to make sure your opponent can never box again—and that he quivers in cowardice if he sees your face again.
  2. While Ex 12:8 includes unleavened bread and bitter herbs, the section of Ex 12:1-13 overwhelmingly focuses on the lamb. In particular, what they are to do with the lamb’s flesh (Ex 12:1-6, 8-11) and blood (Ex 12:7, 12-13). However, for future celebrations, the chief menu selection is unleavened bread (Ex 12:14-20). These details spawn a few more questions.
    1. Why must they eat a lamb on that night? “I will pass through the land…and I will strike all the firstborn…When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you” (Ex 12:12-13). God will pass through some, and he will pass over others. The difference is the lamb. So: either the sons die, or the lamb dies. The slaughtered lamb becomes a clear substitute for the sons.

      Carl (2008), Creative Commons

    2. Why must they eat unleavened bread for future celebrations? The text doesn’t directly or explicitly answer this question. But we get some help by learning what exactly “unleavened bread” is. We usually think it’s bread without yeast, but that’s not technically true. From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: “The ancient Hebrews always kneaded with their bread a piece of fermented dough reserved from a previous baking (cf. Mt. 13:33).”1  “Leaven” refers not only to the presence of yeast, but to the use of a starter lump of dough from a previous batch (which would, typically, have had yeast in it). Therefore, clearing out everything leavened, and eating only unleavened bread for 7 days, refers to getting a fresh start, a new beginning, even a symbolic new birth. This helps us to understand why God wants this day to be their New Year’s Day (Ex 12:2). This feast celebrates their birth as a nation, and it represents the new life God wants for his people.
  3. The last paragraph (Ex 12:21-28) summarizes and explains what to expect. It repeats what they should do with the lamb’s blood (Ex 12:21-22). It repeats how God will “pass through” some and “pass over” others (Ex 12:23). Those who want to live should hope for Passover and not Passthrough.
  4. The final verses expect that generations yet to be born will have questions. What should we communicate when they ask what all this means? “It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses” (Ex 12:27). This feast of Unleavened Bread celebrates the fact that Yahweh judges all the earth, that he divides people into those who are his (those who have a substitute lamb) and those who are not, and that he justly destroys all who fall on the wrong side of the divide.

Train of thought:

  • You must survive one last plague.
  • To survive, you must have a substitute and a new beginning.
  • Those without a substitute and a new beginning will be swept away in the last plague; those with a substitute and a new beginning will survive.

Main point: When Yahweh finally strikes his enemies, he will provide a way for his people to be spared.

Connection to Christ: Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed once for all. Eat his flesh and drink his blood, and you, too, can avoid the wrath to come.

My Application of Exodus 11:1-12:28

Who can withstand God’s power and fury at our acts of indifference and rebellion toward him? We, too, must survive one last plague against all the earth.

I cannot escape this plague without the death of a substitute. I need Jesus; I must never let go of him. Whenever I partake of the Lord’s Supper, I proclaim his death until he comes. “Here, Lord, is the blood that was shed for me. Please see it, and pass over me!”

I cannot escape this plague without a new beginning, a new birth. The old must go; the new must come. God doesn’t rescue me just so I can stay the same. He rescues me in order to make me a new person, to conform me to the image of his son. No part of my life is sacred, and I must be willing to clean out the old desires and replace them with godly desires.

The Passover has not been done away with in the New Covenant. Of course, it looks completely different now, but the point is the same. In particular, we don’t keep an annual 7-day ritual anymore. But we keep the Passover when we grow in grace and exercise effective church discipline (1 Cor 5:6-8). Without these things, we will not escape the wrath to come.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.
1Harrison, R. K. (1979–1988). Leaven. In G. W. Bromiley (Ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Vol. 3, p. 97). Wm. B. Eerdmans.

Exodus Plague Cycle #3: Yahweh the Destroyer of Worlds

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Moses has undergone training to be qualified as God’s mediator. He’s prepped and ready for the big fight with Pharaoh. The plagues make up the first three rounds, followed by a fourth round (Passover), and then a fifth (Red Sea). What does God want to teach us in round #3? In short, welcome to hell.

Observation of Exodus 9:13-10:29

Most repeated words: LORD (a whopping 35 times), land (20x), all (19), go (19), hail (19), Moses (19), Pharaoh (18), said (17), Egypt (16).

  • All 35 occurrences of “LORD” are in all caps in the ESV, meaning they translate God’s personal name, Yahweh. In Ex 5:2, Pharaoh wants to know who is the LORD. This third cycle of plagues delivers a clear answer.

It’s also noteworthy that the plagues in this third cycle have the longest narratives of all the plagues. It’s as though the action slows down to make sure we don’t miss the point. And as with the rest of the plagues, our best clues come from the many purpose statements.

  • “Let my people go, that they may serve me” (Ex 9:13; 10:3, 7).
  • “This time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth” (Ex 9:14).
  • “For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (Ex 9:15-16).
  • “You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go” (Ex 9:17).
  • “There will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God” (Ex 9:29-30).
  • “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord” (Ex 10:1-2).
  • “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?” (Ex 10:3).
  • “For we must hold a feast to the Lord” (Ex 10:9).

Also, notice how the devastation from these plagues is more widespread than that in previous cycles:

  • “all my plagues…all the earth…all that you have…in all the land of Egypt…all your servants…all that day…all…all…all”—19 times.
  • “Such [hail] as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now” (Ex 9:18, 24).
  • “Every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them” (Ex 9:19, 25).
  • “The flax and the barley were struck down” (Ex 9:31).
  • “[The locusts] shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day” (Ex 10:5-6).
  • “Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” (Ex 10:7).
  • “The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt” (Ex 10:14-15).
  • “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt” (Ex 10:21).

A V (2012), Creative Commons

Structure:

  1. First plague: Fiery hail from heaven sent to dominate the one who exalts himself.
  2. Second plague: Swarms of locusts sent to devastate the one who refuses to humble himself.
  3. Third plague: Creation finally unravels into prehistoric darkness (compare with Gen 1:2), leading Pharaoh to threaten death if Moses dares to see his face.

Interpretation of Exodus 9:13-10:29

Some possible questions:

  1. Why did God send so many plagues? Weren’t the first 6 enough?
  2. Why do these three plagues bring more widespread destruction than the others?
  3. So what does the Lord want to teach Pharaoh, Egypt, Israel, and us?

My answers (numbers correspond to the questions):

  1. I argued in a previous post that the structure of the plagues (3 groups of 3 plagues each) sets us up for 3 major lessons about the Lord. The first cycle focuses on demonstrating that the Lord is the agent of the plagues; Yahweh is the judge of all humanity. The second cycle continues that theme but also focuses on the division between God’s people and God’s enemies; Yahweh is the divider of peoples. This third cycle continues both of those themes but adds a new emphasis: the completeness of the devastation.
  2. Every man, woman, and child must understand who this God is. He destroys everything so his fame can spread through the whole earth (Ex 9:14). He raises up Pharaoh and repeatedly hardens his heart, so things can get this bad, and so God can demonstrate his power in all the earth (Ex 9:15-16). The witnesses of these events must recount them to their children, who will recount them to their children, who will recount them to their children, until the end of the world (Ex 10:1-2). All must learn how harshly God will deal with those who exalt themselves against him.

It should not surprise us that imagery from this passage saturates the rest of the Bible.

  • A “swarm of locusts” becomes an image for every sort of destruction and devastation—Deut 28:38, Judg 6:5, 7:12, Ps 78:46, 105:34, Jer 51:27, Joel 1:4, Rev 9:3, etc.
  • “Raining fire from heaven” takes on a tone of retribution against the wicked—2 Kgs 1:10, Job 1:16, Ps 18:13, Joel 2:30, Lk 9:54, 2 Pet 3:7, Rev 20:9, etc.
  • “Darkness” paints a picture of confusion, terror, sorrow, and great weeping—1 Sam 2:9, Job 3:5-6, 19:8, Ps 35:6, Is 8:22, Joel 2:2, Matt 8:12, 25:30, Rev 16:10, etc.

When Jesus spoke about the terrors of hell, common choices of metaphor were “unquenchable fire” (Matt 7:19, 13:40; Mark 9:43) and “outer darkness” (Matt 8:12, 22:13, 25:30).

Train of thought:

  1. Plague #1: Yahweh dominates those who exalt themselves.
  2. Plague #2: Yahweh devastates those who refuse to humble themselves.
  3. Plague #3: Yahweh deteriorates creation’s goodness

Main point: Yahweh glorifies his name in all the earth by executing ultimate judgment on evil.

Connection to Christ: We must proclaim the good news to men and women of every nation, lest they be swept away at the blazing fury of the risen Christ, whose robe is dipped in the blood of his enemies, while he strikes them down and offers their flesh to the birds of the air (Rev 19:11-18, Is 63:1-6). We have hope that the Lord Jesus will eventually do away with all evil (Rev 20:10), and justice and righteousness will reign (2 Pet 3:13).

My Application of Exodus 9:13-10:29

Who am I to stand before this terrible, glorious God? And yet I have a role to play in warning many to flee the wrath to come. I must not remain silent.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

Exodus Plague Cycle #2: Yahweh the Divider of Peoples

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Moses has undergone training to be qualified as God’s mediator. He’s prepped and ready for the big fight with Pharaoh. The plagues make up the first three rounds, followed by a fourth round (Passover), and then a fifth (Red Sea). What does God want to teach us in round #2?

Observation of Exodus 8:20-9:12

Most repeated words: Lord (21 times), Pharaoh (15x), people (14), go/going (13), not (13), Moses (12), let/letting (10), flies (8).

But as with the first plague cycle, the key themes arise not from the repeated words but from the purpose statements:

  • “Let my people go, that they may serve me” (Ex 8:20, 9:1).
  • “I will set apart the land of Goshen…so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am Yahweh in the midst of the earth” (Ex 8:22).
  • “I will put a division between my people and your people” (Ex 8:23).
  • “It would not be right…for the offerings we shall sacrifice to Yahweh our God are an abomination to the Egyptians” (Ex 8:26).
  • “But Yahweh will make a distinction…so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die” (Ex 9:4).

Structure:

  1. First plague: Swarms of flies fill the Egyptian houses but not the land of Goshen (where Israel dwells), causing Pharaoh to try allowing Israel to offer a sacrifice in Egypt. But that is not acceptable to Moses, and Pharaoh hardens his heart.
  2. Second plague: Egyptian livestock dies, but Israelite livestock does not die. Pharaoh investigates to make sure this distinction does in fact exist (Ex 9:7).
  3. Third plague: Moses throws soot from the kiln into the air, and it becomes boils on man and beast in Egypt. Magicians can no longer stand before Moses, and (for the first time in the plague narrative) God hardens Pharaoh’s heart as he promised he would do (Ex 9:11-12).

Rick Hobson (2002), Creative Commons

Interpretation of Exodus 8:20-9:12

Some possible questions:

  1. Why is the distinction between Israel and Egypt mentioned here? Does that mean the Israelites had suffered the first cycle of plagues?
  2. Why is it unacceptable to Moses to worship Yahweh in the land of Egypt?
  3. What is significant about the magicians’ inability to stand before Moses?

My answers (numbers correspond to the questions):

  1. The division, or distinction, between Egypt and Israel saturates this cycle. The narrative introduces it as a new idea, giving it great attention in Ex 8:22-23 as the entire point of the plague of flies. Pharaoh goes out of his way to investigate the distinction in Ex 9:7, and his findings lead him to harden his heart further. It is possible that the Israelites suffered from the first cycle of plagues, since the distinction was not mentioned there. It’s also possible that we should read the distinction back into that first cycle, and that the narrator merely wanted to highlight it here in the second cycle. Either way, it is clear that Yahweh’s distinction between “my people” and “your people” (Ex 8:23) is crucial to the meaning of this second cycle of plague narratives.
  2. Ex 8:26 highlights the theme of division between Israel and Egypt. They are distinct not only in how God treats them but also in how they treat God. If the Israelites do what would be acceptable to Yahweh, the Egyptians would loathe them and lynch them. There are fundamental differences in the worship of these two people groups.
  3. Again, Ex 9:11 continues the theme of division between Egypt and Israel. the climax of the third cycle comes when the magicians are no longer able even to stand before Moses. The lowly fugitive, the abominable shepherd, the little man with big ideas, is rising. The powerful cabinet ministers of the mighty king of Egypt are declining. Yahweh is raising one up and throwing the others down. Herein lies the division between his people and not-his-people.

Train of thought:

  1. Plague #1: The division vindicates the worship of God’s people.
  2. Plague #2: The division vindicates the possessions of God’s people.
  3. Plague #3: The division elevates the position of God’s people.

Main point: Yahweh is the divider of peoples, vindicating and elevating those who are his and casting down those who are not.

Connection to Christ: When face-to-face with Yahweh the Judge, Abraham’s chief concern was “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? … Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Gen 18:23-25). The Apostle Peter expressed the same concern in his second letter (2 Pet 2:4-10):

  • If God did not spare sinning angels, but cast them into hell…
  • If he didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah…
  • If he turned Sodom and Gomorrah to ash, but rescued righteous Lot…
  • Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.

Therefore, as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18), we can count the patience of the Lord as salvation (2 Pet 3:15) and await his promise of a new heaven and new earth, where righteousness dwells (2 Pet 3:13). God will always separate those who trust in Jesus out from those who receive the blasting judgment of his just fury.

My Application of Exodus 8:20-9:12

I will suffer terrible things in this life, along with those who scoff at the glory of the Lord. We will all endure hardship, flood, hurricane, destitution, hunger, oppression, and violence. But I will never be swept away in the final judgment as long as I worship Jesus as the only Lord and Savior. Such worship is an abomination to those around me, and they may crucify me for it. But it is my life. He is worth everything, and he always takes care of his own.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

Exodus Plague Cycle #1: Yahweh our Judge

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Moses has undergone training to be qualified as God’s mediator. He’s prepped and ready for the big fight with Pharaoh. The plagues make up the first three rounds, followed by a fourth round (Passover), and then a fifth (Red Sea). What does God want to teach us in round #1?

Observation of Exodus 7:14-8:19

Most repeated words: Lord (19 times), Nile (16x), Pharaoh (13), said (13), frogs (12), Moses (12), water (12), all (10), Egypt (10).

  • This is somewhat unusual, but the repeated words don’t immediately highlight major themes for me. I need to look elsewhere.

Purpose or result statements: the plague narratives are packed with them.

  • “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness” (Ex 7:16).
  • “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood” (Ex 7:17).
  • “…and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile” (Ex 7:18).
  • “Let my people go, that they may serve me” (Ex 8:1).
  • “Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God” (Ex 8:10).

Structure:

  1. First plague: Nile waters turn to blood, making the Egyptians weary (Ex 7:18) so they have to work harder for stuff to drink (Ex 7:24).
  2. Second plague: Nile swarms with frogs and Moses asks God to take them away, so Pharaoh would know there no one like Yahweh our God (Ex 8:10).
  3. Third plague: When the Egyptian magicians cannot replicate the dust becoming gnats, they declare this to be the finger of God (Ex 8:19).

At the end of all three plagues, we’re told that Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and that he would not listen, as Yahweh had said (Ex 7:22, 8:15, 8:19).

Interpretation of Exodus 7:14-8:19

Some possible questions:

  1. Why are there so many purpose or result statements?
  2. Why do these first 3 plagues have these results?
  3. Why do all three plagues end with nearly identical statements about Pharaoh’s heart (which, looking ahead, are not repeated identically after the rest of the plagues)?

My answers (numbers correspond to the questions):

  1. The narrator communicates his message not so much through what happens as through why it happens. For this reason, I wonder if it’s misguided to try to identify which specific Egyptian god or goddess is under assault in each plague. Of course, we can’t miss the obvious connections to some of the most revered Egyptians gods in the first (Nile) and last (Ra, the sun-god) plagues. And, yes, God does say that on Passover night he will execute judgments on all the gods of Egypt (Ex 12:12). However, we should be careful to note that, other than in Ex 12:12, the text nowhere draws attention to specific Egyptian deities. Instead, the text draws attention to why each plague happens, and to what result God desires from it. In addition, we must get the purpose behind the Exodus. God does not want to move people from slavery to (unqualified) freedom, but from service to Pharaoh to service to God. Let my people go, that they may serve me.
  2. The first plague makes the lives of the Egyptians harder with hard service; this is a just payment for how they’ve treated the Hebrews (Ex 1:11, 13-14). In Ex 5:2, Pharaoh wanted to know who Yahweh was, such that Pharaoh should obey his orders to release these people. The second plague begins to give Pharaoh a clear answer to his question (Ex 8:10). The third plague brings the magicians to the end of their power, causing them to declare the work of God.
  3. As highlighted in the prologue (Ex 7:13), God’s word must be vindicated. God has remembered his covenant (Ex 2:24-25). God told Abram he would bring judgment on Egypt and deliver his people with great possessions (Gen 15:14). God told Moses he would have to strike Egypt with a mighty hand to secure plunder for his people (Ex 3:19-22). God assured Moses that many miracles would not be enough; God would have to strike Pharaoh’s firstborn (Ex 4:21-23). God also said he’d have to harden Pharaoh’s heart to multiply his signs and wonders so Egypt would know he is Yahweh (Ex 7:3-5). In other words, God’s word is at stake. This is why we are told repeatedly that Pharaoh hardened his heart, as Yahweh had said.

Train of thought:

  1. Plague #1: The arrival of the plague proves that Yahweh alone is God.
  2. Plague #2: The removal of the plague proves that there is no one like Yahweh.
  3. Plague #3: Even the enemy sorcerers conclude there’s something special about this God.

Main Point: Yahweh is the only judge of all the earth, who both executes and removes judgments.

ssalonso (2009), Creative Commons

Connection to Christ: Because of his death and resurrection, God the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son, Jesus Christ. We now know that this God who executes and removes judgment, this Yahweh, is none other than Jesus (John 5:22-29).

But what differentiates between those who have judgment executed on them and those who have judgment removed from them? We’ll have to wait for the second cycle of plagues to find out.

Application of Exodus 7:14-8:19

If Yahweh is the only judge, all that matters is that I be right with him. I can trust his word of deliverance, even when I feel like I’m living in a pit of judgment. I can’t find life and peace from my employer, parents, teachers, neighbors, or society. Only in Jesus.

And if Yahweh is the only judge, that means I don’t have to be the judge. I don’t have to punish others for their sins, even when committed against me. I don’t have to expose every act of wrongdoing. And I can turn aside from vengeance, letting the Lord have his way with people (Rom 12:19-21). For example, I’m not failing my children if I don’t assail them for every misstep.

And yet, the only judge of all the earth has chosen to share his throne with his exalted people, after a fashion (Luke 22:28-30, Rev 20:4). As Moses represented the heavenly Judge before Pharaoh, so, too, must churches represent their Judge by holding to the Lord’s standards of righteousness and truth (1 Cor 5:9-13). There remains real authority, in its proper social context, to execute and remove “judgment” by teaching, receiving, disciplining, or even excommunicating (Matt 16:18-19, 18:15-20).

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

How to Understand the Exodus Plague Narratives

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Exodus 5:22-7:7 is like the pre-bout buildup to a championship prize-fight. Moses has his doubts, but his trainer, God, is right at his side. This trainer massages Moses’ shoulders, squirts water into his mouth, and gets in his face with one pep talk after another. By passage’s end, Moses has his gloves tied, his robe draped, and his shoes tightened. He’s hopping from foot to foot, pumped and ready to rumble. He trots down the aisle up to the ring, he enters between the ropes, and the announcer proclaims his presence to the watching world.

The fight of the century is about to take place: Moses v. Pharaoh. Really, it’s Yahweh v. the Egyptian pantheon. Beginning with Ex 7:8, we’re made privy to every round of this legendary collision, and we don’t even have to rent it on pay-per-view.

Peter Gordon (2011), Creative Commons

Peter Gordon (2011), Creative Commons

Common Approaches to the Plague Narratives

Even the most casual reader of the plague narratives in Exodus can’t avoid a basic interpretive question: Why are these narratives so long? And if we treat Passover as a separate section, we’ve got almost 4 chapters of text to ‘rassle. In the ESV, the 9 plagues on Egypt go on for more than 3,200 words. How should we understand and study such an epic narrative?

Some readers take the children’s story Bible approach: Abridge the thing down to a manageable size and land on only the fundamental truths. God is powerful. Egypt got hit hard. Pharaoh would not relent. There is value in this approach, as long as we don’t fall into the trap of ignoring the details. Every detail is inspired by God and there for a reason!

Other readers take the statistician’s approach: Map out the plagues in a large table or spreadsheet, showing all the fine comparisons and contrasts among the 9 plagues. When is Aaron’s staff used vs. Moses’ staff? When does Pharaoh harden his heart vs. God hardening it? How much is Pharaoh willing to grant the Israelites after each plague? Which plagues can the Egyptian magicians duplicate? There is value in this approach, as long as we don’t fall into the trap of ignoring the big picture. Not every detail has deeply symbolic or spiritual meaning; the story as a whole was intended to have a certain emotional impact. Let’s not lose that impact to a statistical analysis.

How I Approach the Plague Narratives

Without demeaning either of the two approaches mentioned above—both have value and provide complementary insights—I’ve found a third approach to better highlight the author’s main ideas and do justice to why the story is given this much space. That approach is to follow the 3 cycles.

The narrator masterfully employs setting to help his readers receive his message. Observe:

  • In plagues 1, 4, and 7, God commands Moses to confront Pharaoh early in the morning (Ex 7:15, 8:20, 9:13).
  • In plagues 2, 5, and 8, God commands Moses simply to “Go in to Pharaoh…” (Ex 8:1, 9:1, 10:1).
  • In plagues 3, 6, and 9, there is no confrontation with Pharaoh. God commands Moses to perform some symbolic gesture and bring the plague unheralded. And these three plagues all have a reasonably short narrative (Ex 8:16-19, 9:8-12, 10:21-29).

What is the point of these observations? The narrative organizes the plagues into three 3 cycles of 3 plagues each. Plagues 1-3 have 3 different settings. Plagues 4-6 repeat the 3 settings in the same order. Plagues 7-9 repeat the settings once more.

This structure is reinforced by the fact that each cycle has a unique and climactic ending:

  • Cycle #1 ends with the Egyptian magicians being unable to replicate the plague and admitting it must be the finger of God (Ex 8:18-19).
  • Cycle #2 ends with the Egyptian magicians being unable to stand before Moses (Ex 9:11-12).
  • Cycle #3 ends with Moses being driven from Pharaoh’s presence (Ex 10:28-29).

This structure has a simple beauty about it, while also serving an interpretive purpose. With each new “Rise up early in the morning,” we hear a fresh start, a new round in the boxing match. And each cycle/round serves as a discrete unit with a particular point to make.

So over the next 3 Exodus posts, I will address the plague narratives in their three cycles. For each cycle, I will ask, what is the author’s main point in this cycle? This approach enables us to hear all the details and consider how they contribute to the unique main point of each cycle. And this approach also helps us not to drown in the details without collating them into a bigger picture.

Preliminary Round

But what should we make of the scene with the staffs and serpents in Ex 7:8-13? This episode stands outside the three cycles by introducing them.

This scene introduces the key players: Moses, Aaron, and Yahweh on one side; Pharaoh, his magicians, and their secret arts on the other.

This scene introduces the key conflict: “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle…'” Pharaoh will get his wish, and in a big way. If he won’t release these slaves without proof of the requesting party’s power, he’ll sure get it.

This scene foreshadows the inevitable outcome: “But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs” (Ex 7:12). Pharaoh and his champions will not win this fight.

This scene also introduces the theme of the vindication of God’s word: “Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said” (Ex 7:13). Let God be proved true, and every man a liar. God’s glory is at stake in the economic status of his people Israel. His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must be fulfilled. Therefore God’s glory and faithfulness must be vindicated. Game on, Pharaoh. Ding. Ding.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.