Reference: Plague
American
See PESTILENCE.
Easton
a "stroke" of affliction, or disease. Sent as a divine chastisement (Nu 11:33; 14:37; 16:46-49; 2Sa 24:21). Painful afflictions or diseases, (Le 13:3,5,30; 1Ki 8:37), or severe calamity (Mr 5:29; Lu 7:21), or the judgment of God, so called (Ex 9:14). Plagues of Egypt were ten in number.
(1.) The river Nile was turned into blood, and the fish died, and the river stank, so that the Egyptians loathed to drink of the river (Ex 7:14-25).
(2.) The plague of frogs (Ex 8:1-15).
(3.) The plague of lice (Heb kinnim, properly gnats or mosquitoes; comp. Ps 78:45; 105:31), "out of the dust of the land" (Ex 8:16-19).
(4.) The plague of flies (Heb arob, rendered by the LXX. dog-fly), Ex 8:21-24.
(5.) The murrain (Ex 9:1-7), or epidemic pestilence which carried off vast numbers of cattle in the field. Warning was given of its coming.
(6.) The sixth plague, of "boils and blains," like the third, was sent without warning (Ex 9:8-12). It is called (De 28:27) "the botch of Egypt," A.V.; but in R.V., "the boil of Egypt." "The magicians could not stand before Moses" because of it.
(7.) The plague of hail, with fire and thunder (Ex 9:13-33). Warning was given of its coming. (Comp. Ps 18:13; 105:32-33).
(8.) The plague of locusts, which covered the whole face of the earth, so that the land was darkened with them (Ex 10:12-15). The Hebrew name of this insect, arbeh, points to the "multitudinous" character of this visitation. Warning was given before this plague came.
(9.) After a short interval the plague of darkness succeeded that of the locusts; and it came without any special warning (Ex 10:21-29). The darkness covered "all the land of Egypt" to such an extent that "they saw not one another." It did not, however, extend to the land of Goshen.
(10.) The last and most fearful of these plagues was the death of the first-born of man and of beast (Ex 11:4-5; 12:29-30). The exact time of the visitation was announced, "about midnight", which would add to the horror of the infliction. Its extent also is specified, from the first-born of the king to the first-born of the humblest slave, and all the first-born of beasts. But from this plague the Hebrews were completely exempted. The Lord "put a difference" between them and the Egyptians. (See Passover.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'The heart of Pharaoh hath been hard, he hath refused to send the people away; go unto Pharaoh in the morning, lo, he is going out to the water, and thou hast stood to meet him by the edge of the River, and the rod which was turned to a serpent thou dost take in thy hand, read more. and thou hast said unto him: Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying, Send My people away, and they serve Me in the wilderness; and lo, thou hast not hearkened hitherto. Thus said Jehovah: By this thou knowest that I am Jehovah; lo, I am smiting with the rod which is in my hand, on the waters which are in the River, and they have been turned to blood, and the fish that are in the River die, and the River hath stank, and the Egyptians have been wearied of drinking waters from the River.' And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thy hand against the waters of Egypt, against their streams, against their rivers, and against their ponds, and against all their collections of waters; and they are blood -- and there hath been blood in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in those of stone.' And Moses and Aaron do so, as Jehovah hath commanded, and he lifteth up his hand with the rod, and smiteth the waters which are in the River, before the eyes of Pharaoh, and before the eyes of his servants, and all the waters which are in the River are turned to blood, and the fish which is in the River hath died, and the River stinketh, and the Egyptians have not been able to drink water from the River; and the blood is in all the land of Egypt. And the scribes of Egypt do so with their flashings, and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken, and Pharaoh turneth and goeth in unto his house, and hath not set his heart even to this; and all the Egyptians seek water round about the river to drink, for they have not been able to drink of the waters of the River. And seven days are completed after Jehovah's smiting the River,
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Go in unto Pharaoh: and thou hast said unto him, Thus said Jehovah, Send My people away, and they serve Me; and if thou art refusing to send away, lo, I am smiting all thy border with frogs; read more. and the River hath teemed with frogs, and they have gone up and gone into thy house, and into the inner-chamber of thy bed, and on thy couch, and into the house of thy servants, and among thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs; yea, on thee, and on thy people, and on all thy servants do the frogs go up.' And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy hand, with thy rod, against the streams, against the rivers, and against the ponds, and cause the frogs to come up against the land of Egypt.' And Aaron stretcheth out his hand against the waters of Egypt, and the frog cometh up, and covereth the land of Egypt; and the scribes do so with their flashings, and cause the frogs to come up against the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh calleth for Moses and for Aaron, and saith, 'Make supplication unto Jehovah, that he turn aside the frogs from me, and from my people, and I send the people away, and they sacrifice to Jehovah.' And Moses saith to Pharaoh, 'Beautify thyself over me; when do I make supplication for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to cut off the frogs from thee and from thy houses -- only in the River they do remain?' and he saith, 'To-morrow.' And he saith, According to thy word it is, so that thou knowest that there is none like Jehovah our God, and the frogs have turned aside from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; only in the River they do remain.' And Moses -- Aaron also -- goeth out from Pharaoh, and Moses crieth unto Jehovah, concerning the matter of the frogs which He hath set on Pharaoh; and Jehovah doth according to the word of Moses, and the frogs die out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields, and they heap them up together, and the land stinketh. And Pharaoh seeth that there hath been a respite, and he hath hardened his heart, and hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken. And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, and it hath become gnats in all the land of Egypt.' And they do so, and Aaron stretcheth out his hand with his rod, and smiteth the dust of the land, and the gnats are on man and on beast; all the dust of the land hath been gnats in all the land of Egypt. And the scribes do so with their flashings, to bring out the gnats, and they have not been able, and the gnats are on man and on beast; and the scribes say unto Pharaoh, 'It is the finger of God;' and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken.
for, if thou art not sending My people away, lo, I am sending against thee, and against thy servants, and against thy people, and against thy houses, the beetle, and the houses of the Egyptians have been full of the beetle, and also the ground on which they are. And I have separated in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people are staying, that the beetle is not there, so that thou knowest that I am Jehovah in the midst of the land, read more. and I have put a division between My people and thy people: to-morrow is this sign.' And Jehovah doth so, and the grievous beetle entereth the house of Pharaoh, and the house of his servants, and in all the land of Egypt the land is corrupted from the presence of the beetle.
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Go in unto Pharaoh, and thou hast spoken unto him, Thus said Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, Send My people away, and they serve me, for, if thou art refusing to send away, and art still keeping hold upon them, read more. lo, the hand of Jehovah is on thy cattle which are in the field, on horses, on asses, on camels, on herd, and on flock -- a pestilence very grievous. 'And Jehovah hath separated between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, and there doth not die a thing of all the sons of Israel's; and Jehovah setteth an appointed time, saying, To-morrow doth Jehovah do this thing in the land.' And Jehovah doth this thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt die, and of the cattle of the sons of Israel not one hath died; and Pharaoh sendeth, and lo, not even one of the cattle of Israel hath died, and the heart of Pharaoh is hard, and he hath not sent the people away. And Jehovah saith unto Moses and unto Aaron, 'Take to you the fulness of your hands of soot of a furnace, and Moses hath sprinkled it towards the heavens, before the eyes of Pharaoh, and it hath become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and it hath become on man and on cattle a boil breaking forth with blains, in all the land of Egypt.' And they take the soot of the furnace, and stand before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkleth it towards the heavens, and it is a boil with blains, breaking forth, on man and on beast; and the scribes have not been able to stand before Moses, because of the boil, for the boil hath been on the scribes, and on all the Egyptians. And Jehovah strengtheneth the heart of Pharaoh, and he hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken unto Moses. And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Rise early in the morning, and station thyself before Pharaoh, and thou hast said unto him, Thus said Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, Send My people away, and they serve Me, for, at this time I am sending all My plagues unto thy heart, and on thy servants, and on thy people, so that thou knowest that there is none like Me in all the earth,
for, at this time I am sending all My plagues unto thy heart, and on thy servants, and on thy people, so that thou knowest that there is none like Me in all the earth, for now I have put forth My hand, and I smite thee, and thy people, with pestilence, and thou art hidden from the earth. read more. 'And yet for this I have caused thee to stand, so as to show thee My power, and for the sake of declaring My Name in all the earth; still thou art exalting thyself against My people -- so as not to send them away; lo, I am raining about this time to-morrow hail very grievous, such as hath not been in Egypt, even from the day of its being founded, even until now. And, now, send, strengthen thy cattle and all that thou hast in the field; every man and beast which is found in the field, and is not gathered into the house -- come down on them hath the hail, and they have died.' He who is fearing the word of Jehovah among the servants of Pharaoh hath caused his servants and his cattle to flee unto the houses; and he who hath not set his heart unto the word of Jehovah leaveth his servants and his cattle in the field. And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Stretch forth thy hand towards the heavens, and there is hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, and on beast, and on every herb of the field in the land of Egypt.' And Moses stretcheth out his rod towards the heavens, and Jehovah hath given voices and hail, and fire goeth towards the earth, and Jehovah raineth hail on the land of Egypt, and there is hail, and fire catching itself in the midst of the hail, very grievous, such as hath not been in all the land of Egypt since it hath become a nation. And the hail smiteth in all the land of Egypt all that is in the field, from man even unto beast, and every herb of the field hath the hail smitten, and every tree of the field it hath broken; only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel are, there hath been no hail. And Pharaoh sendeth, and calleth for Moses and for Aaron, and saith unto them, 'I have sinned this time, Jehovah is the Righteous, and I and my people are the Wicked, make ye supplication unto Jehovah, and plead that there be no voices of God and hail, and I send you away, and ye add not to remain.' And Moses saith unto him, 'At my going out of the city, I spread my palms unto Jehovah -- the voices cease, and the hail is not any more, so that thou knowest that the earth is Jehovah's; but thou and thy servants -- I have known that ye are not yet afraid of the face of Jehovah God.' And the flax and the barley have been smitten, for the barley is budding, and the flax forming flowers, and the wheat and the rye have not been smitten, for they are late. And Moses goeth out from Pharaoh, from the city, and spreadeth his hands unto Jehovah, and the voices and the hail cease, and rain hath not been poured out to the earth;
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Stretch out thy hand against the land of Egypt for the locust, and it goeth up against the land of Egypt, and doth eat every herb of the land -- all that the hail hath left.' And Moses stretcheth out his rod against the land of Egypt, and Jehovah hath led an east wind over the land all that day, and all the night; the morning hath been, and the east wind hath lifted up the locust. read more. And the locust goeth up against all the land of Egypt, and resteth in all the border of Egypt -- very grievous: before it there hath not been such a locust as it, and after it there is none such; and it covereth the eye of all the land, and the land is darkened; and it eateth every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail hath left, and there hath not been left any green thing in the trees, or in the herb of the field, in all the land of Egypt.'
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Stretch out thy hand towards the heavens, and there is darkness over the land of Egypt, and the darkness is felt.' And Moses stretcheth out his hand towards the heavens, and there is darkness -- thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days; read more. they have not seen one another, and none hath risen from his place three days; and to all the sons of Israel there hath been light in their dwellings.' And Pharaoh calleth unto Moses and saith, 'Go ye, serve Jehovah, only your flock and your herd are stayed, your infants also go with you;' and Moses saith, 'Thou also dost give in our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, and we have prepared for Jehovah our God; and also our cattle doth go with us, there is not left a hoof, for from it we do take to serve Jehovah our God; and we -- we know not how we do serve Jehovah till our going thither.' And Jehovah strengtheneth the heart of Pharaoh, and he hath not been willing to send them away; and Pharaoh saith to him, 'Go from me, take heed to thyself, add not to see my face, for in the day thou seest my face thou diest;' and Moses saith, 'Rightly hast thou spoken, I add not any more to see thy face.'
And Moses saith, 'Thus said Jehovah, About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and every first-born in the land of Egypt hath died, from the first-born of Pharaoh who is sitting on his throne, unto the first-born of the maid-servant who is behind the millstones, and all the first-born of beasts;
And it cometh to pass, at midnight, that Jehovah hath smitten every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who is sitting on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive who is in the prison-house, and every first-born of beasts. And Pharaoh riseth by night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there is a great cry in Egypt, for there is not a house where there is not one dead,
and the priest hath seen the plague in the skin of the flesh, and the hair in the plague hath turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the skin of his flesh -- it is a plague of leprosy, and the priest hath seen him, and hath pronounced him unclean.
'And the priest hath seen him on the seventh day, and lo, the plague hath stood in his eyes, the plague hath not spread in the skin, and the priest hath shut him up a second seven days.
then hath the priest seen the plague, and lo, its appearance is deeper than the skin, and in it a thin shining hair, and the priest hath pronounced him unclean; it is a scall -- it is a leprosy of the head or of the beard.
The flesh is yet between their teeth -- it is not yet cut off -- and the anger of Jehovah hath burned among the people, and Jehovah smiteth among the people -- a very great smiting;
even the men bringing out an evil account of the land die by the plague before Jehovah;
and Moses saith unto Aaron, 'Take the censer, and put on it fire from off the altar, and place perfume, and go, hasten unto the company, and make atonement for them, for the wrath hath gone out from the presence of Jehovah -- the plague hath begun.' And Aaron taketh as Moses hath spoken, and runneth unto the midst of the assembly, and lo, the plague hath begun among the people; and he giveth the perfume, and maketh atonement for the people, read more. and standeth between the dead and the living, and the plague is restrained; and those who die by the plague are fourteen thousand and seven hundred, apart from those who die for the matter of Korah;
'Jehovah doth smite thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and with emerods, and with scurvy, and with itch, of which thou art not able to be healed.
And thunder in the heavens doth Jehovah, And the Most High giveth forth His voice, Hail and coals of fire.
He sendeth among them the beetle, and it consumeth them, And the frog, and it destroyeth them,
He hath said, and the beetle cometh, Lice into all their border. He hath made their showers hail, A flaming fire is in their land. read more. And He smiteth their vine and their fig, And shivereth the trees of their border.
and immediately was the fountain of her blood dried up, and she knew in the body that she hath been healed of the plague.
And in that hour he cured many from sicknesses, and plagues, and evil spirits, and to many blind he granted sight.
Fausets
deber, "destruction." Any sudden, severe, and dangerous disease. Maweth," death," i.e. deadly disease; so "the black death" of the middle ages. Nega', "a stroke" from God, as leprosy (Leviticus 13). Mageephah, qeteb, "pestilence" (Ps 91:6), "that walketh in darkness," i.e. mysterious, sudden, severe, especially in the night, in the absence of the light and heat of the sun. Rosheph, "flame," i.e. burning fever; compare Hab 3:5 margin (See EGYPT and EXODUS on the ten plagues.)
A close connection exists between the ordinary physical visitations of Egypt and those whereby Pharaoh was constrained to let Israel go. It attests the sacred author's accurate acquaintance with the phenomena of the land which was the scene of his history. "The supernatural presents in Scripture generally no violent opposition to the natural, but rather unites in a friendly alliance with it" (Hengstenberg). A special reason why in this case the natural background of the miracles should appear was in order to show that Jehovah was God of Egypt as much as of Israel, and rules "in the midst of the earth" (Ex 8:22)
By exhibiting Jehovah through Moses at will bringing on with unusual intensity, and withdrawing in answer to intercession at once and completely, the well known Egyptian periodical scourges which their superstition attributed to false gods, Jehovah was proved more effectively to be supreme than He could have been by inflicting some new and strange visitation. The plagues were upon Egypt's idols, the Nile water, the air, the frog, the cow, the beetle, etc., as Jehovah saith (Ex 12:12), "against all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment" (Ex 18:11; 15:11; Nu 33:4). Ten is significant of completeness, the full flood of God's wrath upon the God-opposed world power. The magicians initiate no plague; in producing the same plague by their enchantments (which seem real, as demoniacal powers have exerted themselves in each crisis of the kingdom of God) as Moses by God's word, they only increase the visitation upon themselves. The plagues as they progress prove:
(1) Jehovah's infinite power over Egypt's deified powers of nature. The first stroke affects the very source of the nation's life, the Nile; then the soil (the dust producing the plague); then the irrigating canals breeding flies.
(2) The difference marked between Israel and Egypt; the cattle, the crops, the furnaces (wherein Israel was worn with bondage) represent all the industrial resources of the nation. The stroke on the firstborn was the crowning one, altogether supernatural, whereas the others were intensifications of existing scourges. The firstborn, usually selected for worship, is now the object of the stroke. The difference marked all along from the third plague was most marked in that on the firstborn (Ex 11:7). The plague was national, the firstborn representing Egypt: Isa 43:3, "I gave Egypt for thy ransom."
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And I have separated in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people are staying, that the beetle is not there, so that thou knowest that I am Jehovah in the midst of the land,
'And against all the sons of Israel a dog sharpeneth not its tongue, from man even unto beast, so that ye know that Jehovah doth make a separation between the Egyptians and Israel;
and I have passed over through the land of Egypt during this night, and have smitten every first-born in the land of Egypt, from man even unto beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I do judgments; I am Jehovah.
Who is like Thee among the gods, O Jehovah? Who is like Thee -- honourable in holiness -- Fearful in praises -- doing wonders?
now I have known that Jehovah is greater than all the gods, for in the thing they have acted proudly -- He is above them!'
and the Egyptians are burying those whom Jehovah hath smitten among them, every first-born, and on their gods hath Jehovah done judgments --
Of pestilence in thick darkness that walketh, Of destruction that destroyeth at noon,
For I -- Jehovah thy God, The Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour, I have appointed Egypt thine atonement, Cush and Seba in thy stead.
Before Him goeth pestilence, And a burning flame goeth forth at His feet.