The ensuing trial, which constituted the second plague, covered the land, the houses, furniture, utensils, and the people themselves, with myriads of loathsome frogs, one of the sacred animals of their idol system, and of the progeny of their sacred river, consecrated to the sun, and, by reason of its inflations, deemed an emblem of inspiration. They were thus confounded by the insupportable multitude and offensiveness of one of the objects of their idol worship, sent forth by another, as if purposely to punish them. After the usual announcements and directions, “Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt: and the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.” Their enchantments in this case seem to have had no favorable effect. The frogs brought up by them must have aggravated the already intolerable evil. Pharaoh begged Moses to entreat Jehovah to remove the plague, and promised in that case to let the people go. Moses consented, so that Pharaoh, by the counter miracle, “might know that there is none like unto Jehovah, the Elohe of the Hebrews.”
The third plague, more tormenting to the persons of the Egyptians than the preceding, baffled and silenced the magicians. “Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man and in beast; and the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of Elohim.” But his heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them.
In the preceding instances, Pharaoh and the magicians had been forewarned as to what kind of evil was to be inflicted, and had time to prepare their enchantments. When (the sun excepted) the chief of all the natural objects of their idolatry was to be changed into blood, so as to destroy the fish, and put a stop to all the benefits for which they deified it, the miracle was in itself calculated to be perfectly conclusive, and Moses was directed to say to Pharaoh, “In this thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.” And when the progeny of their sacred river were to be brought up in such masses as to cover the whole land and all the objects in it, so that they could not move without destroying those deified creatures, they were specially forewarned, and had time to arrange and work their enchantments with as much success as in our own day attends the workers of Popish miracles.
But in this last instance they had no previous notice. It was an experiment, doubtless, that they had never tried, they could do nothing without enchantments; they had no jugglery prepared for such a case; they were baffled, disgraced, and thrust aside: and in what follows, the utter and desperate malignity of sin is shown in such obstinacy, hardihood, and perseverance on the part of Pharaoh and his people, as has a parallel only in Satan and his angels. Occasionally, indeed, under the most appalling terrors of mind and sufferings of body, conscious that Jehovah had absolute power over all creatures and all elements, and that new and unknown horrors awaited them, some momentary concessions were extorted from their physical fears and agonies.
On the infliction of the plague of flies, (another of the deified or idolized representatives of Baal,) Pharaoh, to convince him that Jehovah was the same as the Elohe of the Hebrews, and that his supremacy and power were universal over all the earth, was told that while this plague should fall upon him, and upon his servants and people, and into their houses, and upon the ground, it should not touch the Hebrews. “I will sever the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the earth.” In this, as in the case of the frogs, and equally, it is presumed, in the case of the lice, they were necessitated to destroy multitudes of idolized creatures, representative of Baal, and thus by their own acts, as well as by their sufferings, to show that he was not able to protect his representatives, or those who worshipped him through them. Pharaoh hypocritically relented till, on the entreaty of Moses, Jehovah removed this plague.
In the inflictions which followed, each was more appalling and terrific than those which preceded. They were introduced by special announcements of their object, their intensity, and their effects; a set time was specified for their occurrence, and in each case the land of Goshen was exempted. They were such as most unequivocally to demonstrate the almighty power of Jehovah, the reason of their being visited upon the Egyptians, the nature and bearings of the controversy, and the antagonist position and character of the parties. Jehovah, displaying his prerogatives and his righteousness in the visible effects of his power, “executed judgment against all the gods of Egypt.” By the fifth plague, the idolized animals, models of the molten calves, with all the cattle of Egypt, were destroyed. By the sixth, the sacred persons, the priests, magicians, sorcerers, with all the people, high and low, were tormented with boils and blains, so that “the magicians could not stand before Moses, because of the boils.” This being ineffectual, the grounds of the controversy were again particularized, and more terrible inflictions threatened. “I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.” Then Jehovah “sent thunder, and hail, and fire; and the fire [or lightning] ran upon the ground; and the hail smote man and beast, and herbs and trees; only in the land of Goshen there was no hail.”
The air, which was the medium of the pestilential boils, and was an element of this terrific storm, unprecedented in Egypt or elsewhere, was, equally with the other elements, water and fire, idolized as an instrument, medium, or vehicle of Baal; fire being arrogated as his attribute or element, and the sun as his shekina: and being so regarded by the Egyptians, it was shown in the most awful and appalling manner that Jehovah exercised the most absolute control over them. Pharaoh, under the impulse of amazement and terror, sent for Moses and Aaron, and said: “I have sinned this time: Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat Jehovah (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail, and I will let you go.” Moses replied, promising to do this, and that the storm should cease, that Pharaoh “might know how that the earth is Jehovah’s;” that is, that he might be convinced and know that the earth, the elements, and all creatures were Jehovah’s, and not Baal’s, and that he might renounce Baal, and acknowledge Jehovah. But “when Pharaoh saw that the rain, and the hail, and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.” No demonstration was or would be sufficient to end the controversy, so long as the relentless Adversary behind the scenes could, through their base propensities and depraved wills, delude and instigate his Egyptian vassals. The lesson to be taught to the Israelites and others, concerned not those hardened mortals only, but their subtle deceiver, and they, as subjects and instruments of his.
When the plague of locusts was threatened, Pharaoh’s servants remonstrated with him, and urged him to let the people go; and he sent for Moses and Aaron, and proposed that the men should go, and leave their families and flocks behind. This being totally refused, they were fearfully scourged by another of their idolized insects, in the destruction of every herb and plant, and all that the hail had left. This extorted from Pharaoh another confession: “I have sinned against Jehovah your Elohe, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat Jehovah your Elohe that he may take away from me this death only.”
Next the plague of dense total darkness for three days was sent upon all the Egyptians, so that “they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place.” Thus the chief visible object of their idolatrous homage, the imputed residence and shekina of Baal, was excluded from their view, and all acts of idolatry and access to images precluded. Pharaoh now showed a degree of angry desperation; and after offering to let the people go without their flocks, and those terms being rejected, he drove Moses from his presence, and threatened his life if he saw him again.
There remained yet one more plague, the instant destruction of all the first-born of Egypt at the dead of night, which so terrified the whole population with dread of immediate and utter extermination, that with one voice they urged the departure without delay of all the Israelites, with all their flocks and goods, and with whatever gifts and supplies they wished. “And they took their journey; and Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day and night.”