Basic HTML Version
God’s Power Revealed
91
The Plagues
The miracle of the rod’s becoming a serpent and the river’s being
turned to blood did not move the hard heart of Pharaoh, only to
increase his hatred of the Israelites. The work of the magicians led
him to believe that these miracles were performed by magic, but he
had abundant evidence that this was not the case when the plague of
frogs was removed. God could have caused them to disappear and
return to dust in a moment, but He did not do this, lest, after they
should be removed, the king and the Egyptians should say that it
was the result of magic, like the work of the magicians. They died,
and then they gathered them together into heaps. Their bodies they
could see before them, and they corrupted the atmosphere. Here the
king and all Egypt had evidences which their vain philosophy could
not dispose of, that this work was not magic but a judgment from
the God of heaven.
The magicians could not produce the lice. The Lord would not
suffer them to make it even appear to their own sight, or to that of
the Egyptians, that they could produce the plague of the lice. He
would remove all excuse of unbelief from Pharaoh. He compelled
even the magicians themselves to say, “This is the finger of God.”
Next came the plague of the swarms of flies. They were not such
flies as harmlessly annoy us in some seasons of the year, but the flies
brought upon Egypt were large and venomous. Their sting was very
painful upon man and beast. God separated His people from the
Egyptians and suffered no flies to appear throughout their coasts.
[117]
The Lord then sent the plague of the murrain upon their cattle,
and at the same time preserved the cattle of the Hebrews, that not one
of them died. Next came the plague of the boil upon man and beast,
and the magicians could not protect themselves from it. The Lord
then sent upon Egypt the plague of the hail mingled with fire, with
lightnings and thunder. The time of each plague was given before
it came, that it might not be said to have happened by chance. The
Lord demonstrated to the Egyptians that the whole earth was under
the command of the God of the Hebrews—that thunder, hail, and
storm obey His voice. Pharaoh, the proud king who once inquired,
“Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” humbled himself
and said, “I have sinned ... : the Lord is righteous, and I and my