Ten Plagues on Egypt

Introduction

I suspect that most people who read Exodus 5 – 12 never think about how long these events would have taken or how much time elapsed between God's first appearance to Moses and his return to Mount Sinai.  For liberal scholars this is no problem, because they uniformly deny that any of these events ever really took place.  For the average non-scholar, temporal perceptions have likely been colored by the four or five cinema adaptations that have been made of the Exodus story over the past 80 years.  In both the Exodus narrative and the cinema adaptations, the sequence of events presented is something like this:

·    Moses and Aaron appear in Pharaoh's court and demand that he let the Israelites go.  Pharaoh refuses, and then Moses pronounces a coming plague as judgment on Egypt.

·      The plague occurs as pronounced.  Pharaoh relents and summons Moses.

·      Moses reappears in Pharaoh's court and promises to stop the current plague.

·     Moses again demands that Pharaoh let the Israelites go, and Pharaoh conditionally acquiesces.

·      When Pharaoh changes his mind, the pattern repeats.

Nowhere in the text of Exodus is there any obvious indication of how long any of these steps in the process took or the duration from beginning to end.  In contrast, the travel narratives are filled with indications of how long it took the Israelites to get from place to place throughout their wanderings.  It seems to me that if anything like the events described in Exodus really took place, the preserved text is just a summary that omits a considerable amount of extraneous detail.  The purpose of the narrative was to describe how the 70 individuals who came to Egypt ultimately left, some 2 million strong, to become the covenanted people of YHWH.

Temporal Indications in Exodus

I mentioned that there were no indications in the text concerning how long the events of the plagues took from beginning to end, but it does have a few temporal notices.  These are summarized here.

·      Ex 1:5 and 1:7 indicate that the people of Israel consisted of 70 individuals when they first arrived, and they became a numerous people – up to 2 million at the time of their departure – but there is no indication as to how long this transformation required.

·      Ex 1:11 indicated that Pharaoh decided to enslave the Israelites.  Again there is no indication how long the Israelites had been in Egypt at the time that they were enslaved nor how long their enslavement lasted from beginning to end.

·      Exodus 2 and 3 describe Moses' birth and early life.  He was raised as a prince of Egypt, but as a man he visited his people and murdered an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite.  He fled from Egypt and settled in Midian, where he met Jethro and married his eldest daughter.  There is no temporal note in the Hebrew text in any of this narrative, but Acts 7:23 states that Moses was 40 at the time he fled from Egypt.  Additionally, Ex 2:23 indicates that the Pharaoh from whom Moses had fled died 'after many days', but the actual duration is not stated.  

·   Moses became a shepherd for Jethro's flock.  While so occupied, YHWH called Moses and commanded to return to Egypt and demand that Pharaoh let the Israelites go.  According to Ex 7:7 Moses was 80 when he confronted Pharaoh.

·      The next specific temporal reference is in Ex 12:1-6 – the month of Aviv, spring.  The first Pesach was celebrated on the 14^th day of Aviv (April-May), and the Israelites were expelled from Egypt the very next day.  All other temporal references are based on the day of their departure.

According to the text, Moses was 80 when he confronted Pharaoh and 120 when he died, but there is no obvious indication concerning how long the 10 plagues took before the Israelites were expelled from Egypt.

The Plagues

The first time that Moses confronted Pharaoh (Ex 5:1-9), he merely demanded that the people be allowed to go out and celebrate a feast to YHWH.  Pharaoh responded by making the work imposed on the Israelites harder.  During the second confrontation Moses performed the two signs that YHWH had given him to persuade the Israelites, but Pharaoh was not impressed.  That is when the judgmental plagues began:

·      First plague – Nile turns to blood (Ex 7:14-25).  Evidently, this plague lasted seven days (Ex 7:25).

·      Second plague – Frogs (Ex 8:1-15).  No duration is indicated.

·      Third plague – Gnats/lice (Ex 8:16-19).  No duration is indicated.

·      Fourth plague – Swarms of insects (Ex 8:20-32).  The land of Goshen was excluded from this and the next five plagues, but no duration is indicated.

·      Fifth plague – Animal pestilence (Ex 9:1-7).  The text states that all the livestock of Egypt died (וימת כל מקנה מצרים), but no duration is indicated.  (Note: the expression כל מקנה can mean 'every kind of livestock,' because the people still had livestock before the start of the seventh plague.)

·      Sixth plague – Boils (Ex 9:8-12).  No duration is indicated.

·      Seventh plague – Hail and fire (Ex 9:22-35).  Anything that was exposed (human, livestock, plant, tree) was destroyed.  Specifically, the barley and flax were both destroyed, but the wheat and spelt were not.

·      Eighth plague – Locusts (Ex 10:1-20).  No duration is indicated, but all the fruit trees and anything not destroyed by the hail was eaten.  This implies that there was sufficient time for any plant not actually killed by they hail to grow back.

·      Ninth plague – Darkness (Ex 10:21-29).  The duration is indicated as 3 days.

·    Tenth plague – Death of the first born males (Ex 12:12, 23).  This plague occurred over a single night, and every house that had blood applied to the door posts and lintel was excluded.

Of these events, the seventh plague can be dated approximately based on the Egyptian agricultural cycle, and the tenth plague occurred over night of the 14^th day of Aviv.

Egyptian Agricultural Cycle

The Egyptian agricultural cycle up until modern times was based on the yearly inundation of the Nile.  Essentially all of the great rivers of the Near East flooded in spring time due to snow melt or winter rains, but the Nile flooded in midsummer – starting about August 15 by modern reckoning.  The reason for this was unknown to the ancient Egyptians – indeed, the actual sources of the Nile were unknown until about 1870.  At any rate the ancient Egyptians developed what is now called basin irrigation.  When the Nile flooded, the flood waters were captured in basins and then drained into farmer's fields.  Water was allowed to stand in the field until the soil was saturated, and then it was drained into a lower field or another basin.  After field irrigation was done, the agricultural cycle lasted 3 to 4 months.  Large scale farming was not possible at any other time.

Probable Duration of Plagues

The text describing the seventh plague specifically mentions barley, flax, wheat, and spelt.  For barley, the growth period from planting to harvest is from 60 to 90 days; for wheat it is from 140 to 170 days.  (These figures are for modern varieties, but the ancient varieties would be similar.)  The text states that the barley was in the head, or about 45 days after planting.  Thus, the plague of hail occurred in late October or early November, and the last plague occurred over night starting on the 14^th of Aviv – March or April of the following year.  This means that the seventh plague and the tenth plague were separated by 5 or 6 months.  Consequently, the total duration from first confrontation with Pharaoh to the start of the actual exodus could have been as much as 10 months.

Why So Long?

Just reading the text as it is preserved in Exodus, it is easy to conclude that the first six plagues could have taken up no more than three or four weeks.  This perception, however, does not take into account geographic and physical realities.

·      Moses was pasturing Jethro's flock near Mt. Horeb when he first saw the manifestation of YHWH.  This location may or may not correspond to the today's traditionally recognized Sinai, but all this area is characterized by very rugged terrain.

·    After meeting with YHWH, Moses returned with the flock to Jethro's camp in Midian (location unknown).  Travel time could easily have been several weeks.

·      Moses then returned to Egypt with his wife, children, and a mule.  He first went to Goshen, the primary area where the Israelites dwelt.  Travel time was at least one or two months.  He spent some amount of time with the Israelites convincing them that YHWH had actually appeared to him.

·      When Moses confronted Pharaoh, he had to travel from Goshen to Pharaoh's court.  Goshen is in the Nile delta in the extreme north of Egypt, and Pharaoh's court would have been in Thebes or possibly Memphis (about 70 miles).  Likely travel time could have been 1 to 2 weeks each way.

So What?

It is easy to forget that 3000 years ago, everything moved at foot pace.  The time delay between Moses' first encounter with YHWH and his initial meeting with the Israelites could easily have been 4 or 5 months.  He experienced direct revelation from YHWH prior to each confrontation with Pharaoh, but the average Israelite did not.  They may have heard some reports, but they had no direct experience of the plagues after the first three until the last plague.  Once the actual exodus started, the people all saw the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, and all experienced deliverance during their travels, but none of them except Moses had any direct interaction with YHWH until they reached Sinai.  When YHWH pronounced the ten words at Sinai, all the people heard him, and they all had the same reaction – they were terrified.  This goes a long way to explain the inconsistent responses of the common Israelite throughout the course of the exodus.  This pattern continued throughout the history of ancient Israel.  The average Israelite knew the traditions of their history and revered YHWH, but few had direct personal interaction with their God.  This is the difference that was promised in the new covenant  as expressed in Jeremiah 31:31 ff – they shall all know me from the greatest to the least.

Passover – פסח -- What does this really mean?

Everybody knows that the noun פסח (Pesach) is the term for the Jewish festival of Passover, but what did the term mean when it was first attached to the event some 3400 years ago?  There are some peculiar aspects to this term:

·      The verbal root occurs a total of six times (Ex 12:13, 12:23, 12:27, 1K 18:21, 18:26, Is 31:5), half of which relate to the festival specifically.  BDB lists no cognate references for this verbal root, and I have found none in any later sources.

·      The nominal form – Pesach – occurs 49 times, and its only use is in relation to the Passover. festival.

·      BDB lists one homonym for this root.  The verbal form is generally translated limp, and the nominal form is translated lame.  Total usage for both noun and verb forms is 14 times.  The only cognate listed is an Arabic term meaning dislocate.

·      The LXX uses the following for the verbal forms: σκεπαζω – cover – (Ex 12:13, 12:27); παρεχομαι – pass by – (Ex 12:23); χωλαινω – be lame – (1K 18:21); διατρεχω – pass through – (1K 18:26); περιποιεω – gain for oneself – (Is 31:5).  The LXX interprets the form in 1K 18:21 as derived from the homonym, and that is the way it is usually translated into English.

·      The LXX uniformly renders the nominal form by πασχα, which is just a transliteration of the Aramaic term פסחא, not a translation.

·      The Vulgate rendering for the verb forms are: transeo – cross over, pass over – Ex 12:13, 12:27; transcend – pass over – Ex 12:23;  claudico – limp – 1K 18:21; transilio – pass over – 1K 18:26; transeo – pass over, pass by – Is 31:5.  The Latin term for Pesach is transitus – a passing over, crossing, passing.

·      I have found no use of the root פסח in any of the early Semitic cognates or in any of the numerous dialects of Aramaic, but the noun form  פסחא is present in the targums and in the Syriac Peshitta.  Translations for the verb forms are: איחוס – root חוס meaning protect, spare – Ex 12:13, 12:23; דחס – press, crowd.  (See reference tables below.)

Reference Tables

The following tables contain every use of the root פסח in the Hebrew text and the corresponding terms used in the earliest translations.  I do not possess all of the texts in question, so blank cells represent those portions of the targums and other translations that I do not have immediate access to.  Translations that omit any corresponding term for פסח are indicated by a dash (–).  For translation terms that are not immediately obvious I have included the common English translation for their first occurrence.

Translations for Verbal Forms

MT References	MT Form	LXX Term	Targum Term	Peshitta Term (Hebrew letters)	Vulgate Term
Ex 12:13	ופסחתי	Σκεπασω (cover, shelter)	ואיחוס (protect)	ואפצח (root meaning: rejoice; derived meaning:  keep passover	Transibo (pass by, pass over)
Ex 12:23	ופסח	Παρελευσεται (pass by)	וייחוס (protect)	ונפצח	Transcendet (pass over)
Ex 12:27	פסח	Εσκεπασεν (cover)	דחס (protect)	דאפצח	Transivit (pass over)
2 Sam 4:4	ןיפסח	Εχωλανθη (become lame)	ואיתחגר (be lame, halt)	ואתחגר (be lame, impeded)	Claudus effectus (lameness resulting)
1K 18:21	פסחים	Χωλανειτε (halt)	פליגין (be divided)	פליגין  (wavering, undecided)	Claudicates  (be lame, halt)
1K 18:26	ויפסחו	Διετρεχον (pass through)	ומשתטן (?)	ואתכתשו  (strive with great effort)	Transiliebantque (pass over)
Is 31:5	פסוח	Περιποιησεται (gain for oneself)	יציל (rescue)	ונסיע  (aid, support)	Transiens (pass over)

The seven occurrences of the verb form are all translated to fit the immediate context.  The three passages in Exodus are all clearly descriptive of the event that formed the basis for the Pesach celebration.  The three passages in 2 Samuel and 1 Kings are clearly not related to Pesach, and most interpreters connect these passages with the unrelated homonym.  However, because the passage in Isaiah is referring to a promise of rescue for Israel, it may be an oblique reference to Pesach.  The unanswerable question is this: Do any of these translations have a connection with the original root meaning of פסח?  At any rate, the uniform interpretation of to pass over did not arise until the translation of the Vulgate in the fourth century CE.  This is a long time after the compilation of Exodus and the Pesach narrative regardless of which theory of composition one assumes.

Translations for Nominal Form

MT References	MT Form	LXX Term	Targum Term	Peshitta Term (Hebrew letters)	Vulgate Term
Ex 12:11	פסח	Πασχα	פסחא	פצחא (the celebration)	Transitus (a passing over)
Ex 12:21	הפסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase (name of feast)
Ex 12:27	פסח	Το πασχα	חיס (protection)	פצחה	Transitus
Ex 12:43	הפסח	Του πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Ex 12:48	פסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Ex 34:25	הפסח	Του πασχα	פסחי	–	Phase
Lev 23:5	פסח	Πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Nu 9:2	הפסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Nu 9:4	הפסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Nu 9:5	הפסח	--	פסחא	פצחא	–
Nu 9:6	הפסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Pascha
Nu 9:10	פסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Nu 9:12	הפסח	Του πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Nu 9:13	הפסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Nu 9:14	פסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Nu 9:14	הפסח	Του πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	–
Nu 28:16	פסח	Πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Nu 33:3	הפסח	Του πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Dt 16:1	פסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Dt 16:2	פסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Dt 16:5	הפסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Dt 16:6	הפסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Jos 5:10	הפסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Jos 5:11	הפסח	–	פסחא	פצחא	–
2K 23:21	פסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
2K 23:22	כפסח	Το πασχα	כפסחא	פצחא	Phase
2K 23:23	הפסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Phase
Ez 45:21	הפסח	Το πασχα	פסחא	פצחא	Paschae
Esr 6:19	הפסח	Το πασχα		פסח	Pascha
Esr 6:20	הפסח	Το πασχα		פצחא	Pascha
2Ch 30:1	פסח	Το φασεκ		עאדא (the festival)	Phase
2Ch 30:2	הפסח	Το φασεκ		עאדא	Phase
2Ch 30:5	פסח	Το φασεκ		עאדא	Phase
2Ch 30:15	הפסח	Το φασεκ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 30:17	הפסחים	Το φασεκ		–	Phase
2Ch 30:18	הפסח	Το φασεκ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 35:1	הפסח	Το φασεχ		עאדא	Phase
2Ch 35:6	הפסח	Το φασεχ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 35:7	לפסחים	Το φασεχ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 35:8	לפסחים	Το φασεχ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 35:9	לפסחים	Το φασεχ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 35:11	הפסח	Το φασεχ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 35:13	הפסח	Το φασεχ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 35:16	הפסח	Το φασεχ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 35:17	הפסח	Το φασεχ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 35:18	כפסח	Φασεχ		פצחא	Phase
2Ch 35:18	הפסח	Το φασεχ		עאדא	Phase
2Ch 35:19	הפסח	–		עאדא	Phase

The translation forms for the noun Pesach is also very interesting:

·      The text of the LXX never attempted to translate the Hebrew term.  Rather, the translators merely transliterated the word – πασχα, φασεκ, and φασεχ.  The first form is closer to the historical Hebrew pronunciation, and it is found in every book except 2 Chronicles.  Chapter 30 of 2 Chronicles uses the form φασεκ, and chapter 35 uses the form φασεχ.  I would guess that the spelling πασχα was used in those books that were translated first and that Chronicles was translated somewhat later by a person or persons that spoke a different dialectical form of Hebrew.

·      The Aramaic targums were translated starting around 200 BCE.  Interestingly, in every instance except Ex 12:27, the targums use the Aramaic form פסחא.  The one exception uses the term חיס, which means protection.

·      The time of the original translation for the Syriac Peshitta is debated, but it is probably between 200 and 300 CE.  This translation uses the noun פצחא everywhere except Ezra 6:19 and 2 Chronicles.  The passage in Ezra has פסח, which is an Aramaic absolute form of the noun; 2 Chronicles uses either פצחא or פצחא.  עאדא is a noun meaning the celebration, and עאדא means the festival. These terms are not  translations of the Hebrew term but merely a label for the celebration that it had become.

·      The Vulgate was completed by Jerome in the 4^th century CE.  This text contains three different renderings for the Hebrew term Pesach: transitus (a passing over), phase, and pascha.  The first is an interpretation based on the corresponding verbal usage, and the latter two are transliterations into a Latin form.

Conclusions

The detailed examination of the root פסח in the MT and the terms used in the corresponding text of the three earliest translations suggest several different possibilities:

·      The earliest translations of the verbal root did not use any equivalent for pass over, pass by.  This usage was introduced consistently by the Vulgate in those passages relating to the festival that has become known as Passover.  The evidence from the translations suggests that pass over was not the original meaning of the root.  The first occurrence of the term in Exodus 12 implies that the term originally meant something very explicit and needed no explanation to those who heard it at that time. 

·      The nominal term Pesach was almost always transliterated by both the LXX and the targums.  There are two possibilities that might have resulted in this practice: 1) These translations were originally created for use by the Jews who no longer understood the ancient form of Hebrew well, but Pesach had become the traditional name of the celebration; 2) The original meaning of the name had been forgotten or else was considered inappropriate for translation.

·      The Vulgate used nominal terms for pass over, pass by twice, but all later passages use a Latin transliteration for Pesach.  Nevertheless, Passover has become the traditional name in modern usage, possibly because it sounds similar to the original Hebrew term.

·      The Peshitta translation almost uniformly contains terms meaning either celebration or festival.  As previously mentioned, these terms are not translations but descriptions of what Pesach had become to the Jews at the time the translation was created.

Let me suggest the following semantic possibility.  BDB lists two homonyms for the root פסח: one translated to pass over and the other meaning to become halt, lame, to limp.  What if this analysis is not correct?  Perhaps we are seeing two different uses of one and the same root.  The primary use in fact refers to a person who is or has become lame, incapable of moving normally.  A secondary, derived, use was applied to the establishment of the festival Pesach.  If this be the original meaning, then the verbal use in Ex 12:13 would become "And the blood will be your sign on the houses where you are, and I will see the blood and halt over you, and there will be no blow for destruction among you when I strike in the land of Egypt".  The nominal use would then be the halting.