The plagues: Why 10? Why these?
The 10 Plagues are among the most iconic miracles in the Torah – right alongside the splitting of the Red Sea. But two questions naturally arise: Why 10? And why these specific 10?
The honest answer to the specific “whys” is that it’s a puzzle. But to understand G‑d’s method, let’s turn to G‑d’s own words to Moshe — His “mission statement” — found in four critical verses in this parashah:
Exodus 7:2–5:
אַתָּ֣ה תְדַבֵּ֔ר אֵ֖ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֲצַוֶּ֑ךָּ וְאַהֲרֹ֤ן אָחִ֙יךָ֙ יְדַבֵּ֣ר אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֔ה וְשִׁלַּ֥ח אֶת־בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מֵאַרְצֽוֹ׃
You shall repeat all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh to let the Israelites depart from his land.וַאֲנִ֥י אַקְשֶׁ֖ה אֶת־לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְהִרְבֵּיתִ֧י אֶת־אֹתֹתַ֛י וְאֶת־מוֹפְתַ֖י בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that I may multiply My signs and marvels in the land of Egypt.וְלֹֽא־יִשְׁמַ֤ע אֲלֵכֶם֙ פַּרְעֹ֔ה וְנָתַתִּ֥י אֶת־יָדִ֖י בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם וְהוֹצֵאתִ֨י אֶת־צִבְאֹתַ֜י אֶת־עַמִּ֤י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם בִּשְׁפָטִ֖ים גְּדֹלִֽים׃
When Pharaoh does not heed you, I will lay My hand upon Egypt and deliver My ranks, My people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with extraordinary chastisements.וְיָדְע֤וּ מִצְרַ֙יִם֙ כִּֽי־אֲנִ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה בִּנְטֹתִ֥י אֶת־יָדִ֖י עַל־מִצְרָ֑יִם וְהוֹצֵאתִ֥י אֶת־בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מִתּוֹכָֽם׃
And the Egyptians shall know that I am Hashem, when I stretch out My hand over Egypt and bring out the Israelites from their midst.
Let’s anatomize these verses, which lay out G‑d’s precise objectives:
- The Command: Moshe and Aaron are to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites depart.
- The Intervention: G‑d will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that He can multiply His signs and wonders.
- The Punishment: G‑d will lay His hand on Egypt, delivering extraordinary chastisements.
- The Goal: The Egyptians shall know that He is Hashem.
Before dealing with the “Why” questions, we need to address a difficult phrase — and an age-old question — right in the middle: “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.” This presents a major theological problem. If G‑d hardens his heart, does Pharaoh truly have free will?
This is a profound theological paradox. While we, living within the confines of time, struggle to reconcile G‑d’s omniscience (all-knowingness) together with human free choice, we must understand that Pharaoh and the Egyptians maintained their capacity for choice throughout. His stubborn refusal to yield, his entrenched ego and reliance on slave labor, meant that a mere request was never going to suffice. G‑d knew this.
I personally didn’t understand this until observing a leader — Ayatollah Khamenei, back in June, when it was clear the US was going to bomb. He seemed utterly unwilling to back down despite all logic and common sense. To me, I understood this concept of a hardened heart. Pharaoh’s heart was already hardened by his own hubris; G‑d’s “hardening” was perhaps a confirmation or an intensification of an existing condition, ensuring that the full lesson could be taught.
This brings us to the nature of the 10 plagues — why this precise, escalating method?
To understand why these 10 and their sequence, we turn to Rabbenu Bechaye, a great medieval commentator, who offers a beautiful, structural explanation. He suggests the plagues were a strategic campaign designed to dismantle the Egyptian worldview, moving systematically through the very elements of nature that they worshiped:
Blood and frogs are from the water… Lice and arov are from the dust (namely, earth)… And because [Pharaoh] hardened his heart and did not want to release them, [G‑d] brought from the heavens plagues on their body… pestilence on the bodies of the animals and… boils on the bodies of the people. And from the air, He also brought hail and locusts upon the vegetation of the earth. And they still did not listen after this and so He brought upon them plagues from the air, namely darkness and the destruction of the breath of life from the firstborn.” (Rabbeinu Bechaye Shemot 11:10)
This structural progression highlights G‑d’s utter dominion over every aspect of existence:
- Attack by Water: Blood and Frogs came from the Nile. The Nile was the heartblood of Egypt and their god. G‑d struck their security first.
- Attack by Land: Lice and Wild Beasts came from the dust and the earth.
- Attack by Air (Biological): Pestilence and Boils struck the bodies of people and animals.
- Attack by Air (Economic): Hail and Locusts destroyed the vegetation—the wealth the Egyptians prized so highly.
- Total Warfare: Finally, Darkness—a removal of the senses, a “cyber-attack” on reality—followed by the Death of the Firstborn.
G‑d attacked by sea, by land, and by air. He systematically dismantled their false gods of the river, the earth, and the sun. G‑d chose a plan of ratcheting up pressure. This was a calculated, slow-moving campaign with built-in “opt-out clauses” along the way. According to the Mishnah in Eduyot (2:10) and the commentary of Rashi (Exodus 7:25), the plagues spanned a period of 12 months. For a full year, there were pauses. Before almost every plague, there was a warning. There was a chance for Pharaoh to say, “Enough.” The intensity of the response escalated only because the refusal persisted.
These actions were a direct consequence of 210 years of acute slavery. This was a regime that threw Jewish babies into the Nile, that crushed the spirits of a people with “back-breaking labor.” The cruelty of the Egyptians was, quite literally, beyond words.
The “extraordinary chastisements” mentioned in the verses were not arbitrary; they were a direct and proportionate divine response to extraordinary cruelty. It is clear that the objectives were met. G‑d wanted the Egyptians to know G‑d through witnessing “signs and wonders.” And extraordinary chastisements. This multi-front campaign of “shock and awe” (of which there were 10 taking the “pairs” and different environments G-d was targeting) surely dismantled their false deities and their sense of invincibility, while offering them an opportunity to step back from the brink at each stage.
We should view the 10 Plagues as a year-long process of justice. It was a gradual, ratcheting pressure on a tyrant who refused every opportunity to stop the suffering. The message was seared into history: There is one G‑d, and eventually, the cries of the oppressed are heard.
Shabbat Shalom.
