The movie The Ten Commandments has made many people familiar with the plagues God sent on the Egyptians. Moses, God’s appointed leader of Israel, continually relayed to Pharaoh, “Let My people go,” but Pharaoh was stubborn. The ten plagues were: turning the waters to blood, frogs, lice, flies, a disease on the cattle, boils on man and beast, hail, locusts, darkness, and, the crowning blow, the death of the firstborn. The tenth plague finally moved Pharaoh to free the slaves, although he changed his mind and sent troops after them, leading to their drowning in the Red Sea, which God had parted for the Israelites.
The plagues affected only the Egyptians, not the Israelite slaves living in the region of Goshen.
There are, some say, “natural” explanations for most or all of the plagues. It can hardly be coincidence that the ten occurred so close together, or that the Israelites were not affected.
