Distressing Wonders
Distressing Wonders
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The Pharaoh’s Sign
Yahweh told Moses and Aaron, “The pharaoh will tell you to prove yourselves with a sign. Say to Aaron, ‘Throw your staff down in front of the pharaoh!’ Then it will turn into a cobra.”
After renewing Moses and Aaron’s call, Yahweh prepared them to restart the confrontation with the pharaoh. The pharaoh would demand Moses and Aaron prove they represented a deity by performing a sign. When Yahweh first commanded Moses to return to Egypt, Moses had thrown down his staff, and it turned into a nahash (“snake”).1 This time, Aaron would throw down his staff in front of the pharaoh, and it would turn into a tannin.
The Hebrew word tannin refers to any number of large, often dangerous, aquatic and semiaquatic creatures. It’s used in Genesis 1:21, when God created the “beasts of the sea.” In Deuteronomy 32:33 and Psalm 91:13, it refers to a cobra or other venomous snake. In Ezekiel 29:3 and 32:2, it seems to refer to a crocodile. Because of the Egyptian setting, some scholars suggest Aaron’s staff turned into a crocodile. However, in verse 12 the transformed staff “swallowed” the staffs of the Egyptian magicians. This aptly describes a snake, but not a crocodile.
More likely, Aaron’s staff turned into an Egyptian cobra. This long, deadly snake likes to live near water, including along the Nile, and it can swim.2 In Egyptian mythology, the Egyptian cobra represented Wadjet, the goddess of Lower Egypt and the pharaoh’s protector. An upright cobra, called a uraeus, symbolized authority. The pharaoh wore a uraeus on his headdress as a symbol of his authority and of Wadjet’s protection.3 Yahweh couldn’t have chosen a more fitting sign to show his own authority and his ability to protect his people.
The Egyptian Magicians
So Moses and Aaron went to the pharaoh and did just as Yahweh commanded. Aaron threw down his staff in front of the pharaoh and his servants. Then it turned into a cobra. In response, the pharaoh summoned the skilled men and sorcerers. Through their secrets, the Egyptian magicians also did the same thing. Each one threw down his staff, and they turned into cobras. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.
Still, the pharaoh remained obstinate. He didn’t listen to them, just as Yahweh said.
Image by Lip Kee from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Moses and Aaron obeyed Yahweh’s commands exactly. When Aaron threw his staff down, it turned into a cobra, just as Yahweh had said. This sign served as a warning to the pharaoh and his servants, a prelude to the ten wonders to come. Yahweh first demonstrated his power and authority in a harmless way to give the Egyptians a fair chance to obey willingly.
This sign didn’t impress the pharaoh. He summoned his own magicians, priests trained in occult practices meant to coerce the gods to act on behalf of humanity. Doubtless, the pharaoh had seen them perform similar tricks many times before. The Egyptian magicians succeeded in mimicking the sign, turning their own staffs into cobras. The Bible never explains how they did so. They may have used some sleight of hand, but the Bible also never denies the reality of the occult.
However they did it, their success represents the very real power and authority of Egypt. Moses and Aaron seemed overmatched with their one cobra pitted against multiple cobras. But then Yahweh used this to win a greater symbolic victory when Aaron’s staff swallowed the magicians’ staffs. Even mighty Egypt had to submit to the Yahweh’s authority. Yet despite this clear sign of Yahweh’s ultimate victory, the pharaoh remained obstinate.
The Ten Wonders
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The ten miracles of Egypt serve as the supreme revelation of Yahweh as the God who is. The Bible calls only a few of these miracles “plagues.” As a group, they’re called wonders.4 Yahweh multiplied his wonders to prove his existence to the Israelites and the Egyptians. He soundly defeated the Egyptian gods, who proved incapable of protecting their worshipers from the afflictions Yahweh decreed—because they don’t exist.5
The first nine wonders formed three groups of three that gradually intensified. Each group began with the reason Yahweh would send the wonders.6 The first group of three distressing wonders caused temporary suffering among the Egyptians but didn’t harm them. Yahweh sent these wonders so the Egyptians would “know I am Yahweh.”7
The second group of three destructive wonders ravaged the land of Egypt and physically afflicted the Egyptians themselves. Yahweh sent these wonders so the Egyptians would “know I, Yahweh, am in the midst of this land.”8
The final group of three deadly wonders ravaged Egypt’s crops, leading to famine, and killed some of the people. Finally, Yahweh defeated the highest of the Egyptian gods, the sun-god Re. Yahweh sent these wonders so the Egyptians would “know there is no one like me anywhere in the world.”9
After the pharaoh had ignored all these signs of Yahweh’s power, he still refused to free the Israelites. Only then did Yahweh enact the tenth wonder, the one that would force the pharaoh to finally obey.
Striking the Nile
Yahweh told Moses, “The pharaoh remains obstinate. He refuses to send the people away. Go to the pharaoh in the morning when he’s going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile waiting to meet him while holding the staff that turned into a snake.
“Say to him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to tell you, “Send my people away so they may serve me in the wilderness.” Yet you still haven’t obeyed! Now this is what Yahweh says: “This is how you’ll know I am Yahweh: Look! With the staff I’m holding, I’m about to strike the water in the Nile. It will turn to blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile will stink. The Egyptians will long to drink water from the Nile.”’”
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch your staff out over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, canals, pools, and every reservoir. It will turn to blood, and blood will be everywhere in the land of Egypt, even on the trees and stones.’”
Image by Moody Publishers from Free Bible Images
Because of the pharaoh’s continued refusal to obey, Yahweh sent Moses back to announce the first of the wonders. He would take Aaron and stand by the Nile early in the morning to wait for the pharaoh to come out to the water. Through Moses, Yahweh would strike the Nile with his staff and turn its water into blood. This would kill the fish and make the water undrinkable.
After striking the Nile, Moses would tell Aaron to stretch his staff out over other bodies of water in Egypt to turn them to blood as well. This affected all the water that had its source in the Nile, the vast majority of the fresh water in Egypt. All the rivers and canals flowed out of the Nile, and the pools and reservoirs filled when the Nile flooded.10 With little drinkable water left, the Egyptians would long for the Nile’s precious resource.
Yahweh would transform the Nile so the pharaoh would know “I am Yahweh.” This directly answered the pharaoh’s question in Exodus 5:2: “Who is Yahweh that I need to obey him?” Yahweh responded by showing that he controlled the very lifeblood of Egypt, the river they relied on and worshiped. Without the Nile, all of Egypt would be a vast uninhabitable desert. Instead of worshiping the river, the Egyptians should have worshiped the Creator who gave them this life-sustaining gift.
Blood
Moses and Aaron did just as Yahweh commanded. He raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile in the sight of the pharaoh and his servants. All the water in the Nile turned to blood. The fish in the Nile died, and it stank. The Egyptians couldn’t drink water from the Nile, and blood was everywhere in the land of Egypt.
But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing through their secrets. So the pharaoh remained obstinate. He didn’t listen to them, just as Yahweh said. The pharaoh returned to his home and paid it no mind.
All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they couldn’t drink any of the Nile’s water.
The transformation of the Nile into blood served as an appropriate first wonder because it reminded the Egyptians of their sins against the Israelites. Only eighty years before, a previous pharaoh had slaughtered all newborn Israelite boys, except Moses, by throwing them into the Nile11 The Egyptians had defiled the Nile with the blood of innocent children. Now blood from the Nile covered the land.
Once again, the Egyptian magicians replicated the wonder. During the first three wonders, the magicians, who served as the pharaoh’s prophets, battled with Aaron, who served as Moses’s prophet.12 But while the magicians could turn water into blood, they couldn’t turn the bloody Nile back into water. They managed only to defile some of the little clean water the Egyptians had left. Despite this, the pharaoh wouldn’t listen. He had plenty of servants to find him water.
While the pharaoh “paid it no mind,” his people suffered from the lack of water. They had to quickly dig wells to search for uncontaminated groundwater. The proud pharaoh couldn’t have cared less about how his actions affected them.
Frogs
Then seven days passed after Yahweh struck the Nile. Yahweh told Moses, “Go to the pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what Yahweh says: “Send my people away so they may serve me. If you still refuse to send them, I’m about to afflict your entire territory with frogs. The Nile will teem with frogs that will come out into your house and bedroom and onto your bed. They’ll come out into your servants’ houses, onto your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. The frogs will come upon you, your people, and all your servants.”’”
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch your staff out over the rivers, canals, and pools. The frogs will come upon the land of Egypt.’”
So Aaron stretched his hand out over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came out and covered the land of Egypt. But the magicians did the same thing through their secrets. They brought frogs out into the land of Egypt.
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Seven days after Yahweh struck the Nile, most of the blood had probably flowed downstream and dissipated into the Mediterranean. Yahweh again sent Moses to command the pharaoh to send the Israelites away. If the pharaoh refused, Yahweh would send frogs to cover all of Egypt. The pharaoh wouldn’t be able to ignore this wonder. Yahweh emphasized the frogs would enter his house, his bedroom, and even his bed.
Moses commanded Aaron to stretch his staff out over the waters of Egypt once again. The bloody water couldn’t sustain life for seven days, but now it suddenly teemed with too many frogs for the Nile to hold. They came out of the water and entered the homes of the Egyptians. They entered their hot, dry ovens, the last place a frog would want to go. They jumped in their kneading bowls, ruining the rising bread dough. Though the frogs themselves posed no threat, their incessant presence in and on everything made life miserable.
The Egyptian magicians succeeded in creating even more frogs, but they couldn’t get rid of the ones that already covered the land. They also couldn’t kill any of the frogs because they represented Heqet, the Egyptian goddess of fertility.13 But Heqet couldn’t control the fertility of her own sacred animal. By multiplying the frogs in the dead Nile, Yahweh showed he controls the fruitfulness of all life.
Pleading with Yahweh
Then the pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “Plead with Yahweh to turn aside the frogs from me and my people. Then I’ll send the people away so they can offer sacrifices to Yahweh.”
Moses replied to the pharaoh, “Accept the honor of choosing when I will plead for you and your servants and your people so the frogs will be cut off from you and your houses. They will remain only in the Nile.”
“Tomorrow,” the pharaoh replied.
“It will be as you say so you’ll know there is no one like Yahweh, our God. The frogs will turn aside from you, your houses, your servants, and your people. They will remain only in the Nile.”
So Moses and Aaron left the pharaoh, and Moses cried out to Yahweh about the frogs he had sent against the pharaoh. Yahweh did just as Moses said. The frogs died in the houses, courtyards, and fields. The people piled them up into countless heaps, and the land stank.
But when the pharaoh realized relief had come, he made himself obstinate. He didn’t listen to them, just as Yahweh said.
Image by Naasom Azevedo from Freely Photos
Though the magicians again replicated the wonder, this time it did not satisfy the pharaoh. The frogs had inconvenienced him, and he wanted them gone. Since his own miracle workers couldn’t get rid of them, the pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. For the first time, he acknowledged Yahweh’s power, even calling him by name.
The pharaoh offered Moses and Aaron a deal. He told them to plead for Yahweh to “turn aside” the frogs. He wanted the frogs to go somewhere else. This would bring relief to the Egyptians without dishonoring the goddess Heqet. If Yahweh did this, the pharaoh would allow the Israelites to go offer sacrifices to Yahweh. However, Yahweh didn’t command a simple religious festival with sacrifices. He commanded the Israelites’ service. The pharaoh wouldn’t agree to give up their service to him. Nonetheless, Moses agreed to pray. He even gave the pharaoh the “honor” of choosing when the frogs would leave.
The pharaoh chose the next day, likely as a test since Moses would have expected him to pick some time the same day. Unphased, Moses agreed that the next day the frogs would turn aside and only the frogs in the Nile would remain. Yahweh answered Moses’s prayer, but he refused to show any deference to an Egyptian goddess by simply sending the frogs away. Instead he killed them. Every frog that had left the Nile died, and the Egyptians cleaned out their homes and fields and piled up the rotting corpses.
This affront to an Egyptian goddess may have attributed to the pharaoh breaking his promise. For the first time, the pharaoh made himself obstinate. Stubborn pride became willful disobedience, and the pharaoh refused to listen.
Gnats
Yahweh told Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch your staff out and strike the dust of the land. It will turn into gnats throughout the land of Egypt.’”
They did so. Aaron stretched his hand out while holding his staff and struck the dust of the land. It turned into gnats on people and animals. All the dust in the land turned into gnats everywhere in the land of Egypt. The magicians did the same thing trying to bring forth gnats through their secrets, but they couldn’t.
The gnats were on people and animals. The magicians told the pharaoh, “This is the power of a god!” But the pharaoh remained obstinate. He didn’t listen to them, just as Yahweh said.
The third wonder came with no warning, a characteristic of the last wonder in all three groups. Yahweh commanded Moses to speak to Aaron, but not to the pharaoh. For the last time, Aaron acted to signal the start of the wonder. He stretched his staff out and struck the dust on the ground. Then the dust throughout Egypt turned into tiny irritating bugs constantly buzzing around and biting people and animals.
The first two wonders proved Yahweh’s control of water and the Nile, exposing the impotence of Egyptian gods such as Hapi, Satis, and Sobek. The second two wonders proved Yahweh’s control of land, exposing gods such as Geb and Tatenen.14 The Egyptians believed the gods each controlled a limited, specialized area. Yahweh controls it all. He used the third of the distressing wonders to emphasize this point. Far more irritating than the frogs, the gnats warned of worse to come.
Although Moses didn’t warn the Egyptians, they did witness Aaron strike the ground. They knew the source of the gnats, so the magicians tried to replicate the wonder once again. But no matter how hard they tried, combining their secrets with striking the ground would not produce gnats. Defeated, they admitted to the pharaoh that Aaron’s power must come from a god. At the same time, they tacitly admitted their power did not. While the pharaoh remained obstinate, other Egyptians started to recognize Yahweh’s authority.15
- See The Signs.
- The Snake Guide, “Egyptian Cobra (Naja haje),” by Katherine Brekker, last modified April 25, 2024, https://thesnakeguide.com/egyptian-cobra/.
- Symbol Scholar, “What Is Uraeus in Ancient Egypt?,” by Vanessa, last modified February 9, 2023, https://symbolscholar.com/what-is-uraeus-in-ancient-egypt/.
- Exodus 3:20; 7:3; 11:9–10; Deuteronomy 6:22; 7:19; 29:2–3; Nehemiah 9:9–10; Psalms 78:12; 135:8–9; Jeremiah 32:20–21.
- Exodus 12:12.
- Kaiser, “Exodus,” 399.
- Exodus 7:17.
- Exodus 8:22.
- Exodus 9:14.
- The Nile has several tributaries, including the Blue Nile and White Nile, but they all join the river before it enters Egypt. There are no other true rivers in Egypt, only wadis, which dry up during the dry season. See WorldAtlas, “The Longest Rivers in Egypt,” by Ferdinand Bada, July 26, 2018, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-longest-rivers-in-egypt.html.
- See Infanticide.
- See Moses’s Prophet.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, s.v. “Heqet,” last modified October 20, 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Heqet.
- World History Encyclopedia, s.v. “Egyptian Gods: The Complete List,” by Joshua J. Mark, April 14 2016, https://www.worldhistory.org/article/885/egyptian-gods---the-complete-list/.
- See Exodus 7:5.