tiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not hearken to you, and I shall 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.' The two brothers now appeared before Pharaoh. But to strike the idolatrous Egyptians with awe and reverence, 'signs and wonders' were necessary.

Aaron cast his staff down before Pharaoh, and it changed into a serpent. The king, seeing the miracle, sent for wise men and sorcerers, who also cast their staffs upon the ground, and likewise changed them into serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Not touched by the marvel, Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he refused to listen to the commands of the Lord.

32. THE TEN EGYPTIAN PLAGUES.

[EXOD. VII. 14-XI. 10.]

The Bible now relates one of the most terrible and fearful calamities ever brought upon a country by the infatuation and blindness of its ruler. Pharaoh was warned in time, and warned repeatedly and strongly, but all in vain. Full of pride and presumption, he rose in combat against the God of heaven and earth. But the weapons of the Lord were plagues, each one more awful than its forerunner, smiting king and people with dismay and destruction. Moses, modest and humble, appears as the fearless and faithful worker of His great Master's will: he was the first to whom the power was given of performing miracles in the name of the Lord.

The history of the Egyptian plagues is indeed unequalled in the annals of the world. Although they followed each other in the short space of a few months, and although they were unusually violent in their effect, and afflicted

the Egyptians alone, while they left the Israelites uninjured-features which show their miraculous characteryet they were all connected with or based upon natural causes and phenomena.

First, the waters of the land of Egypt were to be turned into blood. Moses warned Pharaoh of the approaching calamity, and then walking down with Aaron to the brink of the river, he raised his staff, smote the waters, and converted them into streams of blood. All the people of Egypt and the king himself beheld this miracle; they saw the fish die as the blood flowed over the land; and they turned with disgust from the offensive smell of the sacred river. It was impossible for them to drink of the water of the Nile, usually far-famed for its delicious taste; and they were forced to dig deep into the ground for water. But Pharaoh would not relent.

Seven days the plague lasted, and then Aaron stretched forth his staff, and frogs appeared in appalling multitudes. Frogs were always more or less a bane to the Egyptians, but never before had they been seen coming in such incredible numbers out of the river and the canals and the fields, and filling the cities and houses. They penetrated into the very chambers; nothing was secure from their intrusion; they were on the couches, in the ovens, in the kneading troughs, and on the persons of the people themselves. The sorcerers of Egypt, anxious to show their power, tried likewise to produce frogs. They were permitted to succeed, but they could not allay the evil. Pharaoh turned at last to Moses and Aaron in despair. Entreat the Lord,' he exclaimed, that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I shall willingly let the people go that they may sacrifice to the Lord.' Moses cried to God, to grant the prayer of Pharaoh, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields. But when the king of Egypt saw

this respite, he hardened his heart anew, and hearkened not to the children of Israel.

Again the anger of the Lord was kindled, and a third plague was sent. Commanded by God, Aaron stretched forth his staff, and changed the dust of the earth into gnats. These terrible mosquito flies are well known to the Egyptians; they usually appear during the hot months of the year, and are bred in the slime of the river Nile. They are extremely small, but their sting is most painful; they molest man and beast, and even penetrate into the eyes, ears, and noses of their unfortunate victims. But at that time all the dust of the earth seemed winged, and clouds of the tormentors arose from the river, and fastened upon their prey. The magicians were helpless; they could neither produce nor exterminate the dangerous insects. They were obliged to confess to Pharaoh, This is indeed the finger of God.'

6

Then the Lord smote Egypt with another plague, the beetles, while the district of Goshen, the main abode of the Israelites, was spared. The land itself, teeming with luxuriant vegetation, suffered heavily. The voracity of the beetles is well known; they abound in Egypt, like the gnat and the frog, but are regarded with even greater fear and disgust. This time they came in prodigious numbers, flying into the houses of the Egyptians, and covering the ground. Pharaoh trembled; he felt that he must bend before the Almighty; and though full of pride and resentment, he was inclined to make concessions to Moses and Aaron. Go you,' he said to them, and sacrifice to your God in the land,' that is, not beyond the boundaries of the land, but in Egypt itself. But to this Moses objected; how could the Hebrews slay, and offer up as sacrifices to their God, the animals held sacred by the Egyptians? For surely they would be stoned by the people; whereas a three days' journey would

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bring them into the desert, where they might sacrifice to the Lord in peace. Pharaoh, tortured and humbled, consented to their departure: I will let you go,' he said, 'that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the desert; only you shall not go very far away; entreat for me.' So the plague ceased. But this was only a signal for Pharaoh to harden his heart again, and to retract his permission.

The plagues, steadily increasing in their alarming character, now assumed the form of pestilence among beasts. This is a word of awful significance to the Egyptians; for the scourge of pestilence, occasioned by the fierce rays of the sun and the dry heat of the soil, often desolates the land. How must the people have grieved when they saw their stately horses, the pride of Egypt, perish; when all the cattle of the fields were stricken at the word of Moses; when the animals upon which they looked as gods, or as the favoured symbols of the gods, died smitten by the plague! How could they pray to those deities for relief? They had, moreover, the mortification to see the beasts of the Israelites entirely unhurt. Yet Pharaoh, though well aware of the greatness of the misfortune, still hardened his heart, and would not let the Israelites go.

Then followed the sixth plague, which was so painful and so loathsome that it must have struck the people of Egypt with horror and agony. God commanded Moses to take soot from the furnaces, and to sprinkle it towards heaven; and as Moses did so, boils burst forth upon man and beast throughout the land of Egypt. Among all Eastern nations, none were so scrupulously clean as the Egyptians; their priests bathed several times a day, shaved their faces most carefully, and, unlike the Bedouins, preferred linen to woollen garments, because linen is less apt to harbour vermin. When, therefore, they were

visited by such a disgusting affliction, they must have been seized with unspeakable horror and shame. The priests, and the wise men belonging to the sacred caste, suffered with the rest, and could not appear before Moses. This plague was evidently of short duration, for we do not hear that Moses was requested to pray to God for its cessation.

But Pharaoh's heart was still hardened, and he persisted in his refusal to allow the departure of the Israelites. Therefore, after duly warning the king, the Lord smote again the land of Egypt. However, those Egyptians who believed in the God of the Israelites, and heeded the word of Moses, were to be exempted from the fearful infliction. A hail-storm of unprecedented violence was to sweep the land; no living thing, no tree, no herb, was to escape its fury unhurt; safety was only to be found in the shelter of the houses; those, therefore, who believed and were afraid, might keep in their homes, and drive their cattle into the sheds. Some of the Egyptians took this counsel to heart; but the reckless and the stubborn left their cattle with their servants in the fields. When Moses stretched forth his staff, the elements began their awful strife. The storms in the East, though rare, are truly appalling, and terrify the most courageous and the most tranquil-minded. But none is recorded of so fearful a character as that which then burst over the much-tried land of Egypt. The hail poured down with violence, deafening thunder rolled over the earth, and lightning rent the heavens, and ran like fire along the ground. The majesty of the Lord was revealed in that grand spectacle. The hail did its work of destruction; man and beast who were exposed to its rage, died on the spot; the herbs were scattered to the wind, the trees lay shivered on the ground. But the land of Goshen, untouched by the ravages of the storm, bloomed like a garden