The Plagues of the Elements

I was watching the “Prince of Egypt” recently, and I was struck by a thought that I had never thought about before.  I was enamored with the 10 Plagues of Egypt and God’s use of all of the elements to accomplish his goals.  Many believe that everything boils down to four basic elements ; that is Air, Water, Fire, and Earth.  In each of the plagues God used one of these elements to create the plague, and each plague affected one of these elements…except the last one.

The last plague was performed by the Angel of the Lord against man himself.  And since man was made in the image of God, it was the fifth element against the fifth element.  The element of Man.

·         Water into blood – Water

o   Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.  Exodus 7:19

·         Frogs – Water

o   Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.  Exodus 8:5

·         Gnats – Earth

o   Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats through all the land of Egypt.  Exodus 8:16

·         Flies – Earth

o   Then the Lord did so. And there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt.  Exodus 8:24

·         Cattle Die – Earth

o   For if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will come with a very severe pestilence on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks.  Exodus 9:2-3

·         Boils – Fire & Air

o   So they took soot from a kiln, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast.  Exodus 9:10

·         Hail – Air & Fire

o   Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.  Exodus 9:22

o   So there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.  Exodus 9:24

·         Locusts – Earth

o   Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the land, even all that the hail has left.  Exodus 10:12

·         Darkness - Air

o   Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.  Exodus 10:21

·         First Born – Man

o   and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well.  Exodus 11:5