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In Exodus 7:14-12:51, God sends 10 plagues to Egypt.

Some resources I've found online say that these plagues were jabs at the ineffectiveness of the Egyptian gods. Basically, it was a contest of Jehovah vs. the Egyptian gods.

http://www.biblecharts.org/oldtestament/thetenplagues.pdf http://www.stat.rice.edu/~dobelman/Dinotech/10_Eqyptian_gods_10_Plagues.pdf https://owlcation.com/humanities/Ten-Plagues-For-Ten-Gods

With or without those sources, is it correct or even accurate to say that? The original text itself does not seem to hint at this at all. This exegesis seems to have been inferred years after these events happened.

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    Not sure if you noticed, but @oldhermit has answered your question pretty efficiently using only the text. Are you looking for more explanation?
    – el_maiz
    Commented Apr 28, 2020 at 0:46
  • I just saw it now.
    – Philip
    Commented Apr 28, 2020 at 2:20

1 Answer 1

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Exodus 12:12-13

"For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against ALL the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."

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  • Thanks for the answer, @oldhermit! But wasn't that said in preparation for the Passover and, therefore, applicable only during that present time, not before? Also, I meant the 10 plagues as a whole, not the 10th plague.
    – Philip
    Commented Apr 28, 2020 at 2:19
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    That is true but the Lord is quite clear that this judgment was against ALL the gods of Egypt. Each plague similarly targeted the gods of Egypt.
    – oldhermit
    Commented Apr 28, 2020 at 2:26
  • In support of the interpretation that the "judgment" includes the ten plagues as a whole and not just to the tenth, consider two other factors: (1) The Hebrew word for "judgment" is plural, שְׁפָטִים (shefatim), literally "judgments". (2) The word occurs twice previously—Ex 6:6 and 7:4—and in both occurrences it precedes all the plagues. Perhaps the statement is made here because the tenth plague finalizes the judgments against the Egyptian deities by bringing the Israelites out of Egypt and thus demonstrates that Israel's deity is Yhwh (cf. 7:5).
    – Ryan Stephen
    Commented Apr 30, 2020 at 22:30
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    You need to provide your interpretation, not just quoting verses. This verse doesn't indicate that each plague was a counter to a particular Egyptian God as the question asks about.
    – curiousdannii ♦
    Commented Jan 13, 2021 at 13:42

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