The Plagues of Israel to Release the Hebrews

798 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Relations With Deities

In this essay, I will be talking about the plagues God sent against the Egyptian for the Hebrew to be release from their hands. There was not a struggle between God and the Egyptian power, but of God and the Egyptian Gods to show who the true God was. In Exodus 9:13-14, Yahweh told Moses to tell the Pharaoh of Egypt, “Yahweh, God of the Hebrews, says this: Let my people go and worship me. For this time, I am going to inflict all my plagues on you, on your officials and your subjects, so that you will know there is no one like me in the whole world. ‘The ten plagues made Yahweh evident among the Israelites and also to the stubborn Pharaoh and his Egyptian subjects. The plagues also demonstrated Yahweh powered and how much trouble he went through to free them.
The first plague turned the Nile into blood. Doing this all the fish died from the blood, and the river started to stink. The Egyptian would loathe drinking from the river. Every water source they had turned to blood, every stream, river, pond, pools of water, buckets of wood, and pitchers of stone. The Nile turned to blood was judgment against the Egyptian God, Apis, who was the gold of the Nile. The Egyptian magicians could also convert water to blood. His magicians could not reconvert the blood into water, and the Egyptian people had to dig for water for seven days.
The Second plague, bringing Frogs from the Nile, was a judgment against the Egyptian God Heket, which was the frog headed goddess of birth. To the Egyptians Frogs were to be sacred and to not to be killed. Yahweh had frogs invade every part of the homes of the Egyptians. When the frogs died, they would stink. The Egyptian magicians could also summon frogs, but they could not dismiss the frogs. At this point, ...

... middle of paper ...

...last plague. He sent the death angel throughout the land of Egypt, who would kill the firstborn male of every family. If there was lamb blood smeared on the doorway, then the angel would Passover that house. This was the plague, which Pharaoh decided to let the Israelites go. The results of all these plagues left the impression upon the people of Israel that God had power, protection, and plans for them. Once the Israelite left, Pharaoh hardened his heart again, and sent people after the Israelites. God opened the Red Sea for the Israelites, but Pharaoh Army tried to follow, but they swallowed up by the red sea.
The mighty act of lord had two interpretations, the first one that were, that they were attacks against the deities of Egypt and the second one being that they were meant to teach Israel that the God of Creation was the God who had delivered them from Egypt.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Gilgamesh Epic, Nile-Documents, And Hymn

    1771 Words  | 4 Pages

    Conscious of the geographical region, Egyptians settled around the Nile, as the Nile provided substance (agriculture, irrigation, trading routes, etc.). The Egyptians noticed that the Nile would flood regularly, and exploited this natural flooding by building an irrigation system to support their agriculture, as well as their society. “Hymn to the Nile” depicts this prosperous age of agriculture, “Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the temples.” ("Ancient History Sourcebook: Hymn to the Nile, c. 2100 BCE."). However, the Nile might have contributed to the eventual collapse of ancient Old Kingdom Egyptian civilization. The Nile partially destroyed the society that it had once nurtured. A series of low or high floods over the course of a few years immensely impacted their agriculture, which in turn created epidemics of famine and civil unrest. The Egyptian civilization eventually prospered once more, only centuries later and with new social

    Read More

  • Analyzing Roosevelt's Inaugural Address: Conquering Fear

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    The devastating plagues were imposed on specific nations of group of people who displeased God. He asserted that the present economic condition is not some sort of wrath of God. They need to help themselves and their ability to recover from this situation does not need an act of God, but this is their own act and determination that will get them out of this situation. He also pointed out that the money chargers are not kind and honest in their practices; the word money chargers refers to those who take interest on the loans. He blames the bankers and the financial institutions for the economic problems of the

    Read More

  • The Black Death: Responses of Christians and Muslims

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    It started with a headache. Then, death. The Plague, a severe epidemic that caused the death of millions, received varying replies from varying peoples. Many interpretations were made, and differing actions occurred based on these explanations, religious or non-religious, some more severe than not. Christians often turned the blame on others, while the majority of the Muslims decided that there really was no reason to associate other peoples with the cause of the Great Plague (Documents 8 & 10). While there are generalizations, responses to this catastrophe are different depending on religion and world views.

    Read More

  • Dbq Essay On Ancient Egypt

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    Was it a gift or a curse? The Nile is the world's longest river at 4,160 miles. Of that total, approximately 660 to 700 miles of the Nile are actually in Egypt. It is one of the four most important river civilizations in the world. Land in Egypt was called Black Land (representing life) and Red Land (representing danger). For Egyptians, the Nile meant the difference between life and death. Today, we know that the Nile influenced ancient Egypt in many areas of life such as providing food, shelter and faith to the people. Specific areas dealing with settlement location, agricultural cycle, jobs, trade, transportation and spiritual beliefs will prove the case.

    Read More

  • Plagues And Peoples Chapter Summary

    1646 Words  | 4 Pages

    William H. McNeill makes a monumental contribution to the knowledge of humanity in his book Plagues and Peoples. He looks at the history of the world from an ecological point of view. From this viewpoint the history of human civilization is greatly impacted by changing patterns of epidemic infection. Plagues and Peoples suggests that "the time scale of world history...should [be] viewed [through] the "domestication" of epidemic disease that occurred between 1300 and 1700" (page 232). "Domestication" is perceived "as a fundamental breakthrough, directly resulting from the two great transportation revolutions of that age - one by land, initiated by the Mongols, and one by sea, initiated by Europeans" (page 232). This book illustrates how man's environment and its resident diseases have controlled human migration, as well as societal successes and failures. McNeill discusses the political, demographical, and psychological effects of disease on the human race. He informs his audience that epidemics are still a viable threat to society, and warns of potential future consequences.

    Read More

  • The Reign of Pharaoh Akhenaton

    1515 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first thing he did was he changed religion. He called his religion Aten that is the worship of the sun (El Mahdy 1999: 88). This not the first mentioning of Aten in Egypt it has been used before. Aten was known of since the twelfth dynasty getting more mentions over the years. Thutmoses IV for example refers to a large scarab as a god of battles who makes the pharaoh mighty in his domain, and brings all his subjects under the sway of the sun- disk (Alfred 1988: 239). The symbols for Aten were changed the old way was shown as either a pyramid or a falcon (Rempel 2000: 4). The new symbol was now the sun shown as a disk with rays radiating down ending as hands (Rempel 2000: 4). Akhenaton's religion had only one god coming from a religion of many gods (Eliade 1987: 169). Atenism is Monotheism. This paved the way for combining gods. Combining a lesser god with a greater god (Wilkenson 2000: 83). Also the sun never played that big of a role in the day-to-day run of Egypt. The ways were done by Osiris, Isis, and Horus a cycle of life (Grempel 2000: 2). Osiris represented the fertilizing power of the Nile, Isis the reproductive earth and Horus

    Read More

  • The Historical and Cultural Aspects in The Plague

    1305 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cervo, Nathan A. "Camus' 'The Plague'." The Explicator 62.3 (2004): 169+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. http://liboc.tctc.edu:2058/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CA116672803&v=2.1&u=tricotec_main&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w

    Read More

  • Do Loans Lead to Death?

    1337 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Black Death, also known as the Great Mortality and Bubonic Plague, occurred during the years of 1347-1350. Although it didn’t last very long, it is said that the Plague killed over 1.5 million people in its short amount of time in activity throughout the Mediterranean and Europe. The Black Death was a very gruesome and horrible disease that caused fever, headache, chills weakness, and inflammation of the lymph nodes causing the disturbing site of buboes on the neck, groin and armpits. Petrarch, an Italian Scholar, described his feelings towards the Plague as he wrote, “O happy posterity, who will not experience such abysmal woe and will look upon our testimony as a fable” (qtd. in Nohl 17). Here, P...

    Read More

  • Father Paneloux and The Plague

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is a lot to prove that Paneloux first sermon contains a lot of bad ideas. Even though God does bring His wrath out on the world a lot in the Bible, the plague is mos...

    Read More

  • A Pharaoh and His People

    1544 Words  | 4 Pages

    When a member of the Egyptian royal family became pharaoh, he became much more than ruler of a mighty empire, he ascended to the rank of god. This position allowed the pharaoh to commission monuments to himself and to his reign, controls his subjects regardless of their rank, and maintain Egypt’s status among her enemies. Just as in any hierarchical governmental system, the pharaoh treated different classes of individuals and groups in different ways from the austere priest to the lowly peasant. The them, Pharaoh was a god and he would allow no one to forget that fact; but to him, the world was below him and he treated each group accordingly. This is illustrated in some of the few surviving works from the Egyptian dynastic periods. Through personal letters, official government correspondence, and fiction, a broad picture can be painted as to how the pharaoh interacted with his people and how they reacted towards him.

    Read More

  • Black Death Essay

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    Majority of Today’s Historians and scientist will tell you that the Bubonic Plague started through rats and other rodents, when really a flea has fed off of an infected rat, which is transferred to a human’s bloodstream through the blood sucking transaction. Many Europeans believed the Plague is the raft of god for wrong-doing. The Bubonic Plague is actual...

    Read More

  • Theology and Weather

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Moses was still in Egypt one of the plagues was one of hail. The worst hailstone that ever hit Egypt killed whatever was not in a shelter place. Also when God caused a strong wind to blow all night and keep the sea back.

    Read More

  • The role of god in the ancient world

    1747 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...f the divine world but the kings were in charge of vocalizing god’s wishes on earth. The most famous of these law codes was Hammurabi’s law code. The Hebrews tried to establish order by using Yahweh’s Ten Commandments and the Torah. Mesopotamian deities were hard to please and easily angered. The Mesopotamians constantly felt they were letting their gods down and usually didn’t even know the reason behind it. Hebrews had a much more forgiving god. Through texts like “The Book of Job”, it is apparent that Yahweh was a tough god but always forgiving and fair in the end. He had few demands of his people and all of them were ethical and easy to adhere to. As long as his devotees followed Yahweh’s laws, they were all capable of receiving his blessings. Through it all, it seemed that God and religion was at the center of every aspect of life in the ancient civilization.

    Read More

  • The Great Plague

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Ring around the rosy pocket full of posy.” Most people think of this as just a childhood rhyme. In reality it is a rhyme about the Black Death. The Black Death was a horrendous and infectious disease that killed millions of people in the 1300’s. This plague effect the people n Europe in such a way that people believed god and even nursery rhymes punished them were made up about it. It is probably one of the worst catastrophes that have happened in the history of medicine.

    Read More

  • How Did Ancient Egypt Influence Western Culture

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    As king, the pharaoh had many duties that were civic and religious. The people saw him as the living Horus and the son of Ra. They believed only pharaoh could sacrifice to the gods and only the pharaoh could appoint the priests to serve the gods in his place. The people believed that he became Osiris after death and would continue to help his people in the afterlife. Pharaoh was the commander-in-chief of the army and the highest judge in the land. The people saw the pharaoh as essential for keeping their lives in balance and keeping harmony in Egypt. His rule was absolute.

    Read More

More about The Plagues of Israel to Release the Hebrews

Open Document