When Moses and Aaron confronted Pharaoh, his court magicians tried to refute their demand to release the Hebrews by mimicking their miraculous acts. This proved to be within the magiciansā abilities when they faced the rod-born serpent, the Nile turning to blood, and the frogs. But ironically, creating tiny lice proved to be beyond their ability to recreate. When faced with their failure, the magicians declared the plague of lice to be āthe finger of Godā (Exodus 8:15).
The plague of lice had theological implications for the Egyptians, as it was the first time that Pharaohās magicians recognized the “finger of Hashem.”
This reference is expanded in the Passover Hagaddah by Rabbi Yossi Hagalili who extrapolates that since this one plague is the āfinger of God,ā and since Israel saw the āhand of Godā at the splitting of the sea, there must surely have been five times as many plagues that struck the Egyptians at the Sea of Reeds (i.e. ten plagues in Egypt and an additional 50 at the sea, for a total of 60 plagues).Ā
This anthropomorphic reference takes on different proportions when the “finger of Godā was used to inscribe the Ten Commandments onto the stone tablets (Exodus 31:18, Deuteronomy 9:10).
Godās fingers appear yet again in Danielās vision of Belshazzar’s Feast (Daniel 5) when āfingers appearedā to write the divine message on the plaster wall.
Similarly, the prophet Ezekiel (2:9ā10) received his prophecy by hand.
Conceptualizing Godās hand is referred to in other parts of the Bible as a description of Godās role as the creator. In Psalms (8:4), King David describes the heavens as āthe work of your fingers.ā
Isaiah repeats this, specifying that it was Godās āright handā that established the heavens (48:13). But this message becomes even more personal, comparing Godās creation of Man to the actions of a potter (Isaiah 64:7):
It is precisely this aspect of man as Godās handiwork that King David sees as granting the possibility of redemption (Psalms 138:8):
