What Does the Bible Say About the 10th Plague?

This is different from my normal posts, but it is absolutely worth taking the time to read to the end! I do everything I can to keep my Bible lessons and wording scriptural. This is one of those scriptures that I want to have correct. Like, for instance, Jonah and the great fish, Adam & Eve ate the fruit, etc.

This is one a lot of people have trouble with, and I really wanted a BIBLE answer after the latest Bible movie came out! Well, here it is. Ha! We have a scientist we attend worship with! Scott can read Hebrew, Greek and even speak it. Oh, it is AWESOME! So, let's go back to the ORIGINAL texts and see what God says. (Special thanks to Scott for the work and study to write this for me us!

You can see my Bible lesson on the 10 Plagues here:

http://kidsbibledebjackson.blogspot.com/2012/09/moses-burning-bush-10-plagues.html

 



Well, what does the Bible say?

By Scott Rathkamp

I was recently posed a question about the Exodus passage; “who actually passed over Egypt and killed the firstborn children, God Himself, or did He send the Death Angel?”  Well, the best way to answer a question like that is to look for eye witness of the event and ask him.  It so happens that we have an excellent eye witness, and he wrote a book about it, inspired by none other than God Himself.  Let’s pose that question to Moses and see what he says.  Moses tells us all about the 10 plagues that led up to the exodus in the Book of Exodus.  But before we dive into the details of the story, let’s first put to bed the question “can I trust what I’m reading is what Moses actually wrote?” 

Because the Bibles we read today have come through many translations and copies, we can never be 100% certain, but Bible scholars using very ancient manuscripts and carefully corroborating manuscripts, assure us we can get very close.  I usually begin with the NASB version to find the verses I’m looking for.  The New American Standard Bible is widely regarded as the most literally translated of 20th-century English Bible translations.  The Old Testament portion of the NASB is drawn from the 3^rd edition of the Biblia Hebraica translation of the Leningrad Codex.  The Leningrad Codex (or Codex Leningradensis) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the masoretic text and Tiberian vocalization It is dated AD 1008 (or possibly AD 1009) according to its colophon. 

So what does all this mean?  It means that we can start by looking up a verse in the NASB and then drill down to the original Hebrew words that Moses used, then look up the word in a Hebrew dictionary and find out what God inspired Moses to write down, and what it meant back then.  Ready?  Let’s do it.

In Exodus chapter 11 we are told about the last plague, the death of the firstborn.  In verse 4 Moses writes God’s statement about what is going to happen and who will do it.

Exodus 11:4   Moses said, "Thus says the Lord, 'About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, 5 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. [i]

God tells Moses the all the firstborn will die.  God is speaking and He is saying “I AM ..”.  Lets drill down to the original Hebrew and see if that is correct.  In the Leningrad Codex that verse is:

ויאמר משה כה אמר יהוה כחצת הלילה אני יוצא בתוך מצרים׃

(note – Hebrew is written from right to left so I reversed the word order to make is easier to read in English)

OK, the next step is to translate the Hebrew into English and find the name of the one who is doing the ‘striking down’.

g's	Transliteration	Hebrew	English
559 [e]	way·yō·mer	וַיֹּ֣אמֶר	said
4872 [e]	mō·šeh,	מֹשֶׁ֔ה	Moses
3541 [e]	kōh	כֹּ֖ה	Thus
559 [e]	’ā·mar	אָמַ֣ר	says
3068 [e]	Yah·weh;	יְהוָ֑ה	the LORD
2676 [e]	ka·ḥă·ṣōṯ	כַּחֲצֹ֣ת	mid
3915 [e]	hal·lay·lāh,	הַלַּ֔יְלָה	night
589 [e]	’ă·nî	אֲנִ֥י	I am
3318 [e]	yō·w·ṣê	יוֹצֵ֖א	going
8432 [e]	bə·ṯō·wḵ	בְּת֥וֹךְ	the midst
4714 [e]	miṣ·rā·yim.	מִצְרָֽיִם׃	of Egypt

[ii]

The translation looks quite clear, Moses is speaking and he says “Thus sayeth the Lord”.  The words that follow are the Lord’s words.  And who does Moses say the Lord is?   Look at the 5^th word – it’s the Hebrew name of God, Yahweh.  Let’s look up that word in the Hebrew dictionary (Strong’s).

h3068. יהוה Yhvh (i. e. יְהוָֹה Yehovah or יַהְוֶה Yahveh) [217d]; from 1933b; the proper name of the God of Israel:--  God (314), Lord (6399), Lord's (111).

Sure enough, it is the name of God – Yahweh, Jehovah.  Also note that this word is translated ‘God’ 314 times in the Old Testament, ‘Lord’ 6,399 times and ‘Lord’s’ 111 times.  It is not translated any other way.  And who does God say is performing the action?  Look at the 8^th word – ani – I AM.  Moses tells us what was going to happen, let’s see what took place.

In the next chapter, we read about the night the 10^th plague took place:

Exodus 12:29 Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.

Again, let’s go to the original Hebrew text for Ex 12:29:

ויהי ׀ בחצי הלילה ויהוה הכה כל־בכור בארץ מצרים מבכר פרעה הישב על־כסאו עד בכור השבי אשר בבית הבור וכל בכור בהמה׃

Then translate the text and look for the ‘who did it’:

s	Transliteration	Hebrew	English
1961 [e]	way·hî	וַיְהִ֣י ׀	came
2677 [e]	ba·ḥă·ṣî	בַּחֲצִ֣י	half
3915 [e]	hal·lay·lāh,	הַלַּ֗יְלָה	night
3068 [e]	Yah·weh	וַֽיהוָה֮	the LORD
5221 [e]	hik·kāh	הִכָּ֣ה	struck
3605 [e]	ḵāl	כָל־	all
1060 [e]	bə·ḵō·wr	בְּכוֹר֮	the firstborn
776 [e]	bə·’e·reṣ	בְּאֶ֣רֶץ	the land
4714 [e]	miṣ·ra·yim	מִצְרַיִם֒	of Egypt
1060 [e]	mib·bə·ḵōr	מִבְּכֹ֤ר	the firstborn
6547 [e]	par·‘ōh	פַּרְעֹה֙	of Pharaoh
3427 [e]	hay·yō·šêḇ	הַיֹּשֵׁ֣ב	sat
5921 [e]	‘al-	עַל־	on
3678 [e]	kis·’ōw,	כִּסְא֔וֹ	his throne
5704 [e]	‘aḏ	עַ֚ד	against
1060 [e]	bə·ḵō·wr	בְּכ֣וֹר	to the firstborn
7628 [e]	haš·šə·ḇî,	הַשְּׁבִ֔י	of the captive
834 [e]	’ă·šer	אֲשֶׁ֖ר	who
1004 [e]	bə·ḇêṯ	בְּבֵ֣ית	court
953 [e]	hab·bō·wr;	הַבּ֑וֹר	cistern
3605 [e]	wə·ḵōl	וְכֹ֖ל	and all
1060 [e]	bə·ḵō·wr	בְּכ֥וֹר	the firstborn
929 [e]	bə·hê·māh.	בְּהֵמָֽה׃	of cattle

[iii]

Sure enough there it is, 4^th word down, Yahweh struck all the firstborn of the land of Egypt.  Some additional verses that confirm this conclusion are Exodus 12:23 (twice) and again in verse 12:27.  So who did God send to strike down all of the firstborn of Egypt?  It looks like He is saying, “I did that one Myself.”

---

[i] NASB with Strong’s, Lockman 1995, Olive Tree Bible Software

 

[ii] http://biblos.com/exodus/11-4.htm

[iii] http://biblos.com/exodus/12-29.htm


** My note:

 Another verse to look at is Numbers 33:4:  For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them. Also on their gods the Lord had executed judgments.

 

 

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