Pharaoh About The Upcoming Plague example essay topic

323 words
Making Sense of the Plagues: The Education of Pharaoh INCONSISTENCIES WITHIN THE PLAGUES Then YHVH said to Mosheh, 'Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; standby at the river bank to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake. Say to him, 'YHVH, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, 'Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. ' But until now you have not listened. ' Thus says YHVH, 'By this you shall know that Iam YHVH. ' See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood.

(Sh " mot [Exodus] 7: 14-17) In this account of the warning of the first plague (blood), there are several details which show up again in some - but not all - of the other plagues: 1) Mosheh warns Pharaoh about the upcoming plague - but not every time (only before the plagues of frogs, wild beasts, pestilence, hail, locusts and the first-born). 2) Some of these warnings take place in the early morning by the banks of the Nile (wild beasts and hail) while others take place in Pharaoh's palace. 3) A theological message (e.g. 'By this you shall know that I am YHVH') is appended to the warning - whereas other warnings are bereft of such a message. 4) Mosheh's staff is used in some of the plagues - but not all (it is only used in the plagues of blood, frogs, lice, hail and locusts). Our first simple and straightforward question is: Is there any rhyme or reason to the plagues and their attendant warnings which would explain these apparent inconsistencies?