The Plague on Livestock

Flies filled the land of Egypt during the fourth plague and then left once Moses prayed for God to relent. Nevertheless, Pharaoh’s heart remained hard (Ex. 8:20–32). So God sent a fifth plague on the land of Egypt, as we read in Exodus 9:1–7.

This plague fell on the livestock of Egypt. Interestingly, it is described as “the hand of the LORD” against the Egyptian animals (v. 3), and one commentator notes that there may be an intentional play on an Egyptian idiom here. Ancient Egyptians often spoke of the “hand of god” to refer to the special protection of a particular deity. This time, however, the divine hand brings destruction on Egypt, not protection. Yet protection does come, but not for the Egyptians. As with the plague of flies described in 8:20–32, God makes a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians within the boundaries of Egypt. Israel’s livestock will survive, but the animals belonging to the Egyptians will perish (9:4).

In making a play on an Egyptian religious idiom, the fifth plague attacks the religion practiced in Egypt. But this is not the only way the Lord stands against the Egyptian deities when He sends a plague on the livestock. In ancient Egypt, the bull was considered a sacred animal. The god Apis, worshiped in the city of Memphis, was depicted with the head of a bull, and Apis was also associated with another prominent Egyptian deity, Ptah, who was believed to have created the other Egyptian gods. By striking livestock dead, including bulls, which represented power and fertility in the Egyptian belief system, the Lord demonstrates His power over the false gods of Egypt.

Finally, note that when Moses says that God kills “all” the livestock of the Egyptians (v. 6), he does not mean that every single Egyptian animal was put to death. Exodus 9:9–10 makes it clear that some animals survived the fifth plague. Moreover, verse 3 limits the plague to livestock “in the field.” Only the livestock in the open die; wise Egyptians who knew that the plague was coming and put their animals inside see their animals spared. The Hebrew word “all” in verse 6 refers to a large number or “all kinds.” In the fifth plague, large numbers of all kinds of animals die. John Calvin comments that the “term merely refers to this plague having been a remarkable proof of God’s anger, because the pestilence did not only kill a few animals, as it usually does, but made havoc far and wide of a vast number of herds and flocks.”