BY: Chaim Gevaryahu
What was the purpose of the ten plagues? Within the larger narrative of Sefer Shemot, the purpose of the plagues seams clear. They serve as a means to convince Pharaoh and the Egyptians to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt. This explains their purpose in a broader sense, but not their order, division, or function.
In several verses at the beginning of Shemot, the main purpose appears to be that very same goal. When G-d speaks to Moshe from the burning bush, He says, “And I will put forth My hand, and smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in the midst thereof. And after that he (Pharaoh) will let you go“.[1]
In Parshat Va’erah, just before going to confront Pharaoh, God tells Moshe and Aaron: “I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth My hosts, My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, by great judgments.”[2]
The first nine plagues are often grouped into 3 categories. This division is also found in the mnemonic of Rabbi Yehudah in the Passover Hagaddah, Detzakh Adash Be’achav.[3] These three groups of plagues share within them certain features. As the medieval commentator Nachmanides pointed out, “In the case of certain plagues, G-d said to Moses, Rise up in early in the morning…lo he cometh forth to the water”[4] The first plague in each group (blood, gnats, and hail) is commanded with the phrase “in the morning” and the word “stand”. "Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink to meet him,"[5] “Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh,"[6] and " Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him..."[7]
Similarly, the second and third plagues within each group also share common features. The pessukim commanding the plagues of frogs, pestilence, and locusts all are formulated “and God said to Moshe, Come to Pharaoh….’and if you refuse to send them’”.[8] The final plagues in each group, lice, boils, and darkness, all are wrought on the Egyptians without any prior warning. This trifold division appears clearly from a reading of the parallels in the text.
Several commentators note a progression amongst what is afflicted in the three groups. The first three plagues affected the land and water, the second set of three affected the living creatures, and the final set of three affected the atmosphere.[9]
One interesting approach to explain this division of the plagues and their purpose was brought by the 19th Century German exegete, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. Rabbi Hirsh explains that, “On closer inspection we find that these groups are in intimate relation to the three phases which formed the pith of the Egyptian Galut. Gerut, Avdut, and Inui (being a stranger, slavery, and oppression).[10] He goes on to explain that the first plagues of the three sets made the Egyptians feel like strangers in their own land, the second of each set made them feel lowly like slaves, and the final of each set oppressed them. Together these plagues gave the Egyptians a taste of their own medicine.
Rabbi Amnon Bazak of Yeshivat Har Etzion points out that each set of plagues has its own particular goals articulated in the text.[11] The first set were prefaced by the verse which said, “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,”[12] the second by the admonition that the Egyptians should “know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth,”[13] and the final group by “know that there is none like Me in all the earth.”[14]
These seemingly educational reasons for each grouping also fit the contents of those groups. The first set of plagues place the God of Israel against the sorcerers of Egypt. The sorcerers are able to succeed with varying degrees of success to replicate the plagues of blood and frogs, but by the plague of lice they are incapable, and God’s power is proven. The second set of plagues is set apart by striking close to home. The plagues of gnats and cattle disease both affect only the Egyptians and not the Israelites and the plague of boils attacks the Egyptian’s very skin. The power of God is seen in the whole land. In the third set of plagues, the uniqueness of God’s power is seen in repeated statements that describe how nothing like these plagues had ever been seen in the land. These descriptions of uniqueness escalate in their scope in each plague.
The threefold division of the first nine plagues, and the terror of the tenth, led to the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. This does not, however, seem to tell the entire story. Underlying the plagues can be found a message to the Egyptians, be it a measure-for-measure punishment for their enslavement of the Jews, or a lesson in theology.
[1] Exodus 3:20. All English translations are from the JPS translation 1917 taken from www.mechon-mamre.org
[3] Passover Hagaddah, Maggid
[4] Naḥmanides, and Charles Ber Chavel. Commentary on the Torah. New York: Shilo Pub. House, 1971, Exodus 8:15 (page 90)
[6] Exodus 8:16
[7] Exodus 9:13
[9] See for example Sforno on Exodus 8:12 or Nachmanides on Exodus 8:15
[10] Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Commentary on the Pentateuch on Exodus 7:15 Judaica Press 1971 Isaac Levy.
[11] Rabbi Amnon Bazak, The Purpose of the Ten Plagues at http://www.vbm-torah.org/parsha.61/14vaera.htm
[12] Exodus 7:5
[13] Exodus 8:18
[14] Exodus 9:14
