Moses and the Plagues of Egypt

God having sent him, Moses, listening to His voice, declared the name of God to him; and Pharaoh, not having endured the hearing, fell speechless upon the earth. Moses, having approached, raised him up, and having engraved the holy name upon a tablet, sealed it; and one of the priests among the Egyptians, having dared to mock this name, immediately lost his life by a seizure. Pharaoh permitted Moses to perform some sign; and Moses, releasing the rod which he held, cast it upon the ground and changed it into a serpent; and he grasped it again and restored it to its former state.

But after this, when he would not release the people, Moses having prayed to God, a great earthquake accompanied by hail descended, so that those fleeing from the rooms were destroyed by the earthquake from the hail, and those hastening to turn away from the hail again were destroyed by the earthquake. And as he remained unmoved even after this, Moses struck the water of the Nile with the rod, and the river, having flooded Egypt, washed away all things to a very small degree, just as it has been done from that time until now, causing its descent. For Pharaoh, having summoned the priests over Memphis, threatened to destroy them and all those of the idols by fire, unless they performed wonders in the likeness of Moses.

But they, using customary sorceries, made a dragon emerge and discolored the river, intending that, through this being made murky, they might subject the Jews to the greatest punishment through Pharaoh. And Moses, striking the earth with the rod, prepared a certain flying creature to emerge from it, which, by clinging to the bodies, caused painful swellings to the Egyptians, so that they would be unable to provide any medical assistance to these. And as Pharaoh was hardened even by this scourge, he finally subjected all the firstborn of all Egypt to death. And when Egypt had been seized by immeasurable grief, Pharaoh expelled all the Jews from the land entirely; and having traveled a great way on this road, and having crossed the rivers of Arabia, they reached the Red Sea.

Because God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, the Egyptians, seized by the previous evils, pursued the Israelites along with Pharaoh. No one should suppose that Pharaoh was driven by God into insensitivity toward the things being done by force; for such a thing is perhaps judged as an injustice of God, with the one saying: 'If He himself hardens the heart, why is He blamed by the one being hardened?' But let it be known that the endurance of the whips was the cause of the hardening that happened to him; for whenever the plagues came upon him, he promised to release the people; but whenever he released him from the torments, he was being hardened. This is also signified by the word, and the Scripture says: 'And when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and did not listen to them, just as the Lord spoke' (Exodus 10:20); and, 'For this very purpose I raised you up, so that I might show all my power to you' (Exodus 9:16).

But hearing this, do not suppose wrongly, saying: 'Why is He punishing them, while preparing him to oppose Him?' or 'Why does He strike, if there is no injustice on the part of God?' But let it be known first that things appearing to be contradictory to the Scripture are resolved not by reasoning, but by examples. For just as the best of physicians, striving to devise something useful for human nature, request to perform amputations on those subjected to fatal decisions, so that through those condemned to death they might bring something useful to men; so also God, surpassing all human wisdom, shows great signs through the unyielding Pharaoh who had sinned, punishing the one worthy of punishment, but healing those coming after this, providing for them the hypothesis of salvation through his own punishment.

Having gathered all his power, Pharaoh pursued the Israelites with two hundred chariots and myriads of horsemen. But those Israelites, the Red Sea having been divided by Moses, were traveling by the command of God; and the Egyptians, driving after them, were crushed when Moses struck the staff and gathered the waters. On the next day, the weapons of the Egyptians were brought to the Hebrews by the water being pushed by the wind. And Moses, perceiving that even this was the providence of God, commanded them to gather them, so that they would not be without weapons. They arrive, indeed, into the wilderness. And Raguel and Jethro (for he happened to be of the same name) arrive to Moses, bringing to him...