In Exodus 7-12, Moses, through the power of God, releases ten plagues of different sorts on the land of Egypt, which included turning all the water to blood, plagues of insects, boils, and hail. Finally, the death of every firstborn son included the death of Pharaoh’s eldest, who would someday inherit the kingdom of Egypt.
We will see that they were delivered not just to let Pharaoh know who God was but also to let the Israelites know who God was. Because they had been enslaved for four hundred and thirty years, they didn’t know God; they had become used to being enslaved and used to being around the idol gods of Egypt. And so not only did God have to convince Pharaoh who He was, but He also had to convince the Israelites who He was.
Some people question whether the miracles recorded were actually miracles. Note the following thoughts.
1. In each case, they were accurately foretold, as to the time and place of occurrence.
2. The intensity of such things as the frogs and lice was beyond all possibility of what could have been expected naturally.
3. Both their occurrence and their ending were demonstrated to be under the control and subject to the Word of God through Moses.
4. There was discrimination, some of the plagues afflicting the Egyptians and yet at the same time sparing the Israelites.
5. There was orderliness in their appearance, each event more severe than the one that preceded it, concluding with the most devastating of all, the death of the firstborn.
6. Also, there was a progression in relation to the reaction of Pharaoh’s servants. At first, they could do anything that Moses did, but at last, they admitted their failure and affirmed that ‘This is the finger of God!’
7. Over and beyond all this, there was a moral purpose in the plagues; they were not mere freaks of nature.
Now, remember that the ten plagues were actually ten disasters sent upon Egypt by God to convince Pharaoh to free the Israelite slaves from the bondage and oppression they had endured in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. When God sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, He promised to show His wonders as confirmation of Moses’ authority, Exodus 3:20.
This confirmation was to serve at least two purposes: firstly, to show the Israelites that the God of their fathers was alive and worthy of their worship and secondly, to show the Egyptians that their gods were nothing.
The Egyptians worshipped a wide variety of nature gods and attributed to their powers the natural phenomena they saw in the world around them. There was a god of the sun, of the river, of childbirth, of crops, etc. Events like the annual flooding of the Nile, which fertilised their croplands, were evidence of their god’s powers and goodwill.
When Moses approached Pharaoh, demanding that he let the people go, Pharaoh responded by saying, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go,” Exodus 5:2. And so from that point onwards, the challenge was on to show whose God was more powerful.
As Pharaoh continues to harden his heart and refuses to let God’s people go, Exodus 5:1 / Exodus 7:2 / Exodus 7:7 / Exodus 7:16 / Exodus 8:1 / Exodus 8:20, God continues to bring judgment against Egypt. Moses is to go to Pharaoh and tell him, the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says, Let His people go, so that they may worship Him, Exodus 9:1.
If Pharaoh refuses to let God’s people go and continues to hold them back, then God’s hand is going to bring a terrible plague on Pharaoh’s livestock in the field, on his horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep and goats, Exodus 9:2-3. Here we find the fifth plague, the death of livestock, Exodus 9:2. This was a judgment on the goddess ‘Hathor’ and the god ‘Apis’, who were both depicted as cattle.
Unger, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Like all the plagues, this one also struck squarely at the pagan deities of Egypt. This one was Ptah (Apis), the god of Memphis, represented as a bull, as well as other gods represented by the goat, the ram, the cow, and other animals.’
God was steadily destroying the economy of Egypt while showing His ability to love, protect and provide for those who obeyed Him. As we go through these plagues, we see that God was slowly demonstrating not only to Pharaoh but to His people that He controls everything.
God was going to make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites would die, Exodus 9:4. God also set the time for this to happen; He would do it tomorrow, Exodus 9:5.
As with the previous plague, God protected His people from the plague, while the cattle of the Egyptians all died, Exodus 9:6 / Psalm 78:48. There is no way the Israelites could avoid witnessing the power of God as their livestock lived in Goshen but in Egypt, they all died, Exodus 9:6. If you were an Israelite living during this time, wouldn’t you be thinking to yourself, what on earth is going on here?
Remember, they have never witnessed anything like this before.
We don’t know what disease this was that the livestock suffered; the point is, it was only the Egyptian’s livestock, not the Israelites. This should have been a clear declaration to Pharaoh that God was protecting the Israelites.
Notice that Pharaoh did some investigating into the matter, but his heart remained hard, and he wouldn’t allow God’s people to go, Exodus 9:7. In the seventh plague, Exodus 9:20-21, we read that the livestock was further afflicted.
Rawlinson, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The plague affected him less than the others had done, rather than more. He was so rich that an affliction which touched nothing but property seemed a trivial matter. What did he care for the sufferings of the poor beasts, or the ruin of those who depended upon the breeding and feeding of cattle?’