Ten Plagues
Locusts: Past, Present, and Future
The eighth plague brought an unprecedented swarm of locusts into Egypt, a swarm that devoured every shred of grain and foliage that remained after the hail. The plague was so devastating that Pharaoh relented, openly repenting and begging...
How Many Israelites Died When the Lights Went Out in Egypt?
Exodus (12:37) is quite explicit in stating that 600,000 Hebrew men, more specifically men between the ages of 20-60, left Egypt. In his Aramaic translation of the Torah, Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel assumes that each man had an average of...
How is the Plagues of the Firstborn Different from all the Other Plagues?
The final plague that struck Egypt was exceptional in several respects. It hit both man and animal and, for the first time, a plague killed people outright. Unlike the other plagues which left the Jews untouched, the Jews were required...
Does God Have a Finger?
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 magicians’ abilities when they faced the rod-born serpent,...
Free Will and Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart
God sent Moses to demand that Pharaoh release the Hebrews from bondage, threatening that should the Egyptian king refuse, the country would suffer. So it seems incredibly unjust that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 9:12),...
How Many Plagues Were There?
Every schoolchild knows that Egypt was struck by ten plagues before the Hebrews were set free. But a different count is given in Psalms and several different options for enumerating the plagues are given during the Seder on Passover. ...
