Sssssssnakes!!
Many years passed since Moshe grew up in Paraoh's palace. Moshe was now an old man. He saw that even though HaShem had sent him to free the Jews from their slavery in Egypt, things only seemed to be getting worse and worse. He didn't understand what was going on, and he asked HaShem, "Why are you doing this to the Jews? Things are worse than ever!"
HaShem didn't appreciate that Moshe was complaining. HaShem scolded him:
"Moshe! Don't you trust that I know what I am doing? You doubt me -- but I have shown you far greater miracles than I ever showed Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and they never questioned My ways! Now the time has come for me to fulfill My promise to your forefathers. I have heard the cries of My people, and I can be trusted to free them from their slavery and suffering."
Then HaShem began to prepare Moshe for his next encounter with Paraoh.
"Moshe, don't be surprised when Paraoh doesn't believe you when you say that I have appointed you as the leader of the Jews, to take them out of Egypt. When he demands proof, you will show him the miraculous signs I have given you."
Sure enough, when Moshe and Aharon went to Paraoh and said, "HaShem commands you to let the Jewish people go!" Paraoh mocked him: "Sure he did! Prove it to me!"
So Aharon showed Paraoh the first sign: He threw his stick onto the ground and it turned into a slithering SNAKE!
"Ha! You call that a miracle?" Paraoh scoffed. "My magicians can do that silly trick too!"
Paraoh's magicians came and threw sticks to the ground and -- presto! -- they turned into snakes! And then -- poof! -- the magicians turned the snakes back into sticks.
Just then, HaShem caused something to happen that no magician could dream of doing: Aharon's snake turned back into a stick... and then his stick swallowed up all of the magicians' sticks!
That wiped the smug smile right off of Paraoh's face.
But he still didn't listen to Moshe and Aharon's message. He was hard-hearted and very stubborn, and he refused not let the Jews out of the land of Egypt.
The First Plague: Blood!
It was time for Moshe and Aharon to give Paraoh a serious warning:
"Listen, Paraoh! You have been ignoring us until now. But if you still refuse to listen to us and let the Jewish people go, HaShem will send a terrible plague to punish you. HaShem will turn the water of the Nile River into blood!"
Paraoh said, "Oh yeah? See if I care! Let's see Him go ahead and try it!"
So Aharon, standing by the Nile, raised up his stick and stretched it out over the water... and the water in the Nile -- and in all of the canals, lakes, and everywhere else in all of Egypt -- turned into blood! Even the Egyptians' bathtubs filled up with blood instead of water. Eeeeewwww!
Since all of the fish of the Nile died in it, the blood was unbelievably disgusting and smelly! The Egyptians couldn't even stand to go near it -- let alone drink it!
But in the land of Goshen, where all the Jews lived, there was still clear, pure water. So the Egyptians came to Goshen to get water from the Jews. But when a Jewish person would hand over a cup of water to an Egyptian, the water would turn to blood.
Then the Egyptians thought of a new idea: "We'll share the same cup with a Jew and then we'll be able to finally drink some water!"
But that idea backfired... When the Jewish person drank, he got a refreshing sip of cool water. But when the Egyptian drank from the same cup, it became -- you guessed it -- blood.
"I can't believe it! This is terrible! Hmm... how about if we buy your water?"
That idea worked! Only when the Egyptians paid the Jewish people for their water, did it remain water.
For the seven days of the plague of blood, Egyptians bought water from the Jews in Goshen. As you can imagine, all the money the Jews earned that week was very much appreciated!
You would think that after all of this, Paraoh would give in. But he didn't! He asked his magicians to turn some water into blood, and his magicians were indeed able to do it.
Once again, Paraoh said, "Forget it! I'm never going to let the Jews go!"
The Second Plague: Frogs!
Again HaShem told Moshe to warn Paraoh that another plague would be on its way if Paraoh didn't let the Jews go. This time, it would be... FROGS! Everywhere!
"Frogs, eh?" Paraoh sneered. "Well, bring on the frogs, then, because I will NOT let the Jews go!"
So Aharon reached his stick out over the Nile, and a gigantic frog -- bigger than any frog anyone had ever seen before -- hopped right out of the water!
The Egyptians took one look at the enormous frog and did the only thing they could think of doing: They started hitting it with sticks. But they didn't succeed in killing it. Instead, every time someone hit it, little frogs would jump out of the big frog's mouth.
Soon there were frogs jumping around absolutely everywhere. There were frogs leaping on the Egyptians' beds, and even hopping into their burning hot ovens!
And as if that weren't bad enough, the frogs also made an amazingly loud and annoying croaking sound -- constantly. It drove the Egyptians totally crazy; no one could hear what anyone was saying, and it kept them up during the night.
The frogs were driving Paraoh cuckoo, too. They were all over his royal palace. And he didn't like having frogs hopping on his nose at night any more than anyone else did. So he called urgently for Moshe & Aharon.
"Enough already! Get rid of these frogs and I'll let the Jews go!" he shouted.
"All right, Paraoh. When exactly would you like to have the frogs gone?"
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow it is. The frogs that are in your homes, courtyards, and fields will be destroyed, but the frogs in the Nile will remain."
The very next day, HaShem made all of the frogs die, except for the ones in the river.
But Paraoh saw that his magicians could also make frogs appear, and besides, the frogs that had been jumping all around his kingdom were now gone... So he said: "I will not -- I repeat, NOT -- let the Jews go!"
The Third Plague: Lice!
Next HaShem said to Moshe, "Tell Aharon to strike the dust of the earth with his stick, and the dust will turn into lice. Do not warn Paraoh this time. He had two chances already and he did not listen."
So Aharon hit the ground with his stick, and little biting insects began swarming everywhere. Soon all of the Egyptians - and their animals - were itching and scratching.
A very uncomfortable Paraoh called his magicians and asked, "Do you know how to conjure up lice, too?"
"Well... we tried, Your Majesty... but we couldn't do it. They're just too small for us to make with our magic. This must be the work of HaShem!"
"Hmph," Paraoh said. "Well, I STILL won't let those Jews go!"
The Fourth Plague: Wild Animals!
Again HaShem told Moshe to warn Paraoh that another plague was coming.
So Moshe went to Paraoh and said, "Now your land will be overrun with all kinds of fierce, wild animals!"
Soon, out of the desert came lions and tigers and bears - oh my! - and snakes and scorpions, and all sorts of other dangerous creatures. They were everywhere - except in the Jewish town of Goshen.
The Egyptians were terrified, and Paraoh quickly called for Moshe and Aharon.
"Enough! Enough!" cried Paraoh. "I'll free the Jewish people. They won't be slaves anymore! They can sacrifice to HaShem right here in Egypt!"
"Sorry, Paraoh," said Moshe. "That's just not good enough. We need to go into the desert for three days to make our sacrifices. After all, we'll be sacrificing lambs, which you Egyptians worship... and you wouldn't really want us to do that in Egypt, would you?"
"Fine!" said Paraoh. "You can go into the desert for three days -- just don't go too far away!"
"I'm so glad you said that. I will pray to HaShem to take away all of the wild animals tomorrow."
The very next day, every single one of the animals left. (They disappeared from Egypt completely; they didn't just die, because dead animals would have been valuable to the Egyptians as meat or leather or fur.)
But stubborn old Paraoh cried out, "NO!! I changed my mind! I will NOT let my slaves go!"
(Did you really think Paraoh was the type of person who would keep his promises?)
The Fifth Plague: Animal Disease!
Soon Moshe was back at the palace with another warning:
"If you still won't let the Jews go out of Egypt, HaShem will make all of your field animals die of disease. Say no this time, and tomorrow you can say goodbye to all of your horses, donkeys, camels, cows, and sheep!"
Sure enough, the next day all of the Egyptians' field animals died -- but all of the Jews' animals stayed perfectly healthy.
But, even after this terrible plague, Paraoh's heart was still hard as a rock. "I still say -- I will not let them go!!"
The Sixth Plague: Blisters!
Another plague was on its way, and this time Paraoh had no advance warning.
HaShem told Moshe and Aharon to take fistfuls of ashes from the coal used in furnaces. Once their hands were filled with the black soot, Moshe took all of it in one hand and threw it, with great force, up toward the sky.
HaShem then spread the ashes over all of Egypt. When it landed on people and animals (the ones who survived the fifth plague because they were in stables), it caused their skin to develop a rash of large blisters... OUCH!
This time, it was HaShem who hardened Paraoh's heart so that he would not listen to Moshe and Aharon, and he did not let the Jews go.
The Seventh Plague: Hail!
Now HaShem told Moshe and Aharon to warn Paraoh that the next plague would be as terrifying as all of the other ones combined!
Moshe scratched a line on the wall inside Paraoh's palace and said, "At this time tomorrow, the sun that shines in that window will reach this line. When it does, HaShem will send an enormous hailstorm. It will be a storm like you've never seen before -- and will never see again!"
The next day, Moshe reached his hand toward the sky, and -- BOOM! There was thunder and lightning, and then came hailstones -- bigger than golf balls, bigger than baseballs, even bigger than basketballs! Mixed in with the blocks of falling ice was fire, which miraculously did not melt the hail.
Any person or animal that was outside while the storm was raging was killed. (Egyptians who believed that HaShem was the One sending the plagues saved themselves by staying indoors and keeping their animals safely inside with them.) Even the Egyptians' trees and plants were ruined by the pounding hail and the burning fire. But there was no hail at all in Goshen.
Paraoh called for Moshe and Aharon to come to his palace. "I can't take it anymore!" he cried. "Tell HaShem to stop this bizarre hailstorm. I have sinned, and HaShem is fair and good. He is right -- my people and I deserve to be punished! I WILL let the Jews go! I promise! Now make that hail go away... please!"
So Moshe left the palace and went outside of the city. He prayed to HaShem to stop the thunder and the ice and the fire -- and the storm came to a sudden end. Even hailstones that were already on their way down from the sky stopped in mid-air and never hit the ground!
Promises, Promises
But as soon as the dangerous storm had passed, Paraoh went right back to his old self.
"Did I say I would let the Jews go? No, no, no. Absolutely NOT! I WILL NOT LET THE JEWS GO!"
(What did we say about Paraoh and his promises?)
The story isn't over yet! There are ten plagues, right? And so far we've only read about seven... And there's plenty of excitement to come as the Jews finally leave Egypt -- in a hurry!