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The Antiquities of the Jews - Table of Contents
The Antiquities of the Jews
Written by Flavius Josephus
Translated by William Whiston
Book Two
Chapter 14
Concerning The Ten Plagues Which Came Upon
The Egyptians
1. But when the king despised the words of Moses, and had no
regard at all to them, grievous plagues seized the Egyptians;
every one of which I will describe, both because no such plagues
did ever happen to any other nation as the Egyptians now felt,
and because I would demonstrate that Moses did not fail in any
one thing that he foretold them; and because it is for the good
of mankind, that they may learn this caution - Not to do
anything that may displease God, lest he be provoked to wrath,
and avenge their iniquities upon them. For the Egyptian river
ran with bloody water at the command of God, insomuch that it
could not be drunk, and they had no other spring of water
neither; for the water was not only of the color of blood, but
it brought upon those that ventured to drink of it, great pains
and bitter torment. Such was the river to the Egyptians; but it
was sweet and fit for drinking to the Hebrews, and no way
different from what it naturally used to be. As the king
therefore knew not what to do in these surprising circumstances,
and was in fear for the Egyptians, he gave the Hebrews leave to
go away; but when the plague ceased, he changed his mind again,
end would not suffer them to go.
2. But when God saw that he was ungrateful, and upon the ceasing
of this calamity would not grow wiser, he sent another plague
upon the Egyptians: - An innumerable multitude of frogs consumed
the fruit of the ground; the river was also full of them,
insomuch that those who drew water had it spoiled by the blood
of these animals, as they died in, and were destroyed by, the
water; and the country was full of filthy slime, as they were
born, and as they died: they also spoiled their vessels in their
houses which they used, and were found among what they eat and
what they drank, and came in great numbers upon their beds.
There was also an ungrateful smell, and a stink arose from them,
as they were born, and as they died therein. Now, when the
Egyptians were under the oppression of these miseries, the king
ordered Moses to take the Hebrews with him, and be gone. Upon
which the whole multitude of the frogs vanished away; and both
the land and the river returned to their former natures. But as
soon as Pharaoh saw the land freed from this plague, he forgot
the cause of it, and retained the Hebrews; and, as though he had
a mind to try the nature of more such judgments, he would not
yet suffer Moses and his people to depart, having granted that
liberty rather out of fear than out of any good consideration.
(35)
3. Accordingly, God punished his falseness with another plague,
added to the former; for there arose out of the bodies of the
Egyptians an innumerable quantity of lice, by which, wicked as
they were, they miserably perished, as not able to destroy this
sort of vermin either with washes or with ointments. At which
terrible judgment the king of Egypt was in disorder, upon the
fear into which he reasoned himself, lest his people should be
destroyed, and that the manner of this death was also
reproachful, so that he was forced in part to recover himself
from his wicked temper to a sounder mind, for he gave leave for
the Hebrews themselves to depart. But when the plague thereupon
ceased, he thought it proper to require that they should leave
their children and wives behind them, as pledges of their
return; whereby he provoked God to be more vehemently angry at
him, as if he thought to impose on his providence, and as if it
were only Moses, and not God, who punished the Egyptians for the
sake of the Hebrews: for he filled that country full of various
sorts of pestilential creatures, with their various properties,
such indeed as had never come into the sight of men before, by
whose means the men perished themselves, and the land was
destitute of husbandmen for its cultivation; but if any thing
escaped destruction from them, it was killed by a distemper
which the men underwent also.
4. But when Pharaoh did not even then yield to the will of God,
but, while he gave leave to the husbands to take their wives
with them, yet insisted that the children should be left behind,
God presently resolved to punish his wickedness with several
sorts of calamities, and those worse than the foregoing, which
yet had so generally afflicted them; for their bodies had
terrible boils, breaking forth with blains, while they were
already inwardly consumed; and a great part of the Egyptians
perished in this manner. But when the king was not brought to
reason by this plague, hail was sent down from heaven; and such
hail it was, as the climate of Egypt had never suffered before,
nor was it like to that which falls in other climates in winter
time, (26) but was larger than that which falls in the middle of
spring to those that dwell in the northern and north-western
regions. This hail broke down their boughs laden with fruit.
After this a tribe of locusts consumed the seed which was not
hurt by the hail; so that to the Egyptians all hopes of the
future fruits of the ground were entirely lost.
5. One would think the forementioned calamities might have been
sufficient for one that was only foolish, without wickedness, to
make him wise, and to make him Sensible what was for his
advantage. But Pharaoh, led not so much by his folly as by his
wickedness, even when he saw the cause of his miseries, he still
contested with God, and willfully deserted the cause of virtue;
so he bid Moses take the Hebrews away, with their wives and
children, to leave their cattle behind, since their own cattle
were destroyed. But when Moses said that what he desired was
unjust, since they were obliged to offer sacrifices to God of
those cattle, and the time being prolonged on this account, a
thick darkness, without the least light, spread itself over the
Egyptians, whereby their sight being obstructed, and their
breathing hindered by the thickness of the air, they died
miserably, and under a terror lest they should be swallowed up
by the dark cloud. Besides this, when the darkness, after three
days and as many nights, was dissipated, and when Pharaoh did
not still repent and let the Hebrews go, Moses came to him and
said, "How long wilt thou be disobedient to the command of God?
for he enjoins thee to let the Hebrews go; nor is there any
other way of being freed from the calamities are under, unless
you do so." But the king angry at what he said, and threatened
to cut off his head if he came any more to trouble him these
matters. Hereupon Moses said he not speak to him any more about
them, for he himself, together with the principal men among the
Egyptians, should desire the Hebrews away. So when Moses had
said this, he his way.
6. But when God had signified, that with one plague he would
compel the Egyptians to let Hebrews go, he commanded Moses to
tell the people that they should have a sacrifice ready, and
they should prepare themselves on the tenth day of the month
Xanthicus, against the fourteenth, (which month is called by the
Egyptians Pharmuth, Nisan by the Hebrews; but the Macedonians
call it Xanthicus,) and that he should carry the Hebrews with
all they had. Accordingly, he having got the Hebrews ready for
their departure, and having sorted the people into tribes, he
kept them together in one place: but when the fourteenth day was
come, and all were ready to depart they offered the sacrifice,
and purified their houses with the blood, using bunches of
hyssop for that purpose; and when they had supped, they burnt
the remainder of the flesh, as just ready to depart. Whence it
is that we do still offer this sacrifice in like manner to this
day, and call this festival Pascha which signifies the feast of
the passover; because on that day God passed us over, and sent
the plague upon the Egyptians; for the destruction of the
first-born came upon the Egyptians that night, so that many of
the Egyptians who lived near the king's palace, persuaded
Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go. Accordingly he called for Moses,
and bid them be gone; as supposing, that if once the Hebrews
were gone out of the country, Egypt should be freed from its
miseries. They also honored the Hebrews with gifts; (27) some,
in order to get them to depart quickly, and others on account of
their neighborhood, and the friendship they had with them.
Continue on to
Book
Two,
Chapter 15,
The Antiquities of the Jews
by
Flavius Josephus
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The Antiquities of the Jews - Table of Contents
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