Midrash Tanchuma, Bo 4 | Jewish Mythology

Our sages of blessed memory said: The Holy One, blessed be He, followed the military tactics employed by kings when inflicting the plagues upon them. When the people of a province rebel, a human king dispatches his legions to surround them. First he dams up their water supply. If the people repent, well and good; but if not, he orders thunderous noises to be directed against them. If they are contrite, good; but if not, he commands that arrows be shot at them. If they relent (their actions), well and good; but if not, he sends barbarians against them. If they retract, good; but if not, he orders other reprisals to be taken against them. If they are contrite, well and good; but if not, he orders naphtha to be hurled upon them. If they are repentant, good; but if not, he catapults stones upon them. If they repent, good; but if not, he turns a large population against them. If they retract, good; but if not, he imprisons them. If they relent, good; but if not, he destroys their leaders. The Holy One, blessed be He, attacked Egypt with the tactics employed by a king. The first thing He did was to cut off their water supply, as it is said: And he turned their rivers into blood. They were not contrite, and He therefore brought tumultuous noises upon them. These were the frogs. R. Yosé the son of Hanina said: Their croaking was harder to bear than the havoc they wrought. Still they did not repent, and so he shot arrows at them. These were the gnats, as it is said: And there were gnats upon man, and upon beast (Exod. 8:13). They penetrated the bodies of the Egyptians like spears. However, they did not become contrite, and so He sent barbarians against them. These were the swarms, as it is said: And there came grievous swarms of beasts (ibid., v. 20). Still they did not relent, and so He took other reprisals against them. He brought the murrain: And all the cattle of Egypt died (ibid. 9:6). Nevertheless, they did not repent, and so He poured naphtha over them. These were the boils, as it is said: And a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast (ibid., v. 9). Still they were not contrite, and so He catapulted projectiles upon them. This was the hail. But even then they did not repent, and so he stirred up a large population against them, that is, the locusts. Even so, they did not mend their ways, and so He imprisoned them. This was the darkness, as it is said: And there was a thick darkness (ibid. 10:22). When they refused to repent, He killed their important men, as it is said: The Lord smote all the firstborn (ibid. 12:19).

Every burden that the Egyptians imposed upon the Israelites, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon them. Because they forced the Israelites to draw water for them, He turned their water to blood. They conspired to have them bear burdens, and so He brought the frogs against them to consume what they had carried. They schemed to make them work upon the land, and so the gnats swarmed over the land. They decided to compel them to serve as tutors to their children, and He sent herds of lions, wolves, leopards, bears, and eagles against them. When an Egyptian who had five children ordered an Israelite to take them to the marketplace, a lion would appear and seize one of them; a wolf, another; and a leopard, a bear, and an eagle would each seize one more. When he returned alone to the home of the Egyptian, he would ask him: “Where are my sons?” “I will tell you what happened,” he would answer, “A lion came and took one; a wolf, another; and a leopard and a bear each took another.”

They forced the Israelites to pasture their flocks, and so he sent the murrain against them, as it is said: Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle (Exod. 9:3). They compelled the Israelites to keep the heated things warm, and so He afflicted them with boils. They plotted to have them stoned to death and so He sent hail upon them. They planned to make the Israelites their gardeners, and so He brought against them the locusts, which consumed their trees, and ate all the grass and fruit in the land. They conspired to imprison them, and so He brought darkness upon them. They planned to kill the Israelites, and so He smote all their firstborn. They wanted to drown them in water, and so He overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea (Ps. 136:15).

All the plagues that the Lord brought against the Egyptians in Egypt, He will bring against Edom (Rome),4Contrast Chap. 2, sec. 13 (above). Here, where it is said that Cappadocia will be destroyed, the reference is presumably to a later period, when Jews were persecuted there. as it is said: When the report cometh to Egypt, they shall be sorely pained at the report of Tyre (Isa. 23:5). R. Eleazar said: Every time Scripture employs the complete spelling of the word Tyre, it refers to Egypt, but when the word Tyre (i.e., without the vav) is spelled defectively, it refers to Edom, which also oppressed Israel. The punishments visited upon the first nation will also be inflicted upon Edom. In the case of Egypt, He smote it with blood, and with reference to Edom, it is said: I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood (Joel 3:3). In Egypt the voices of frogs were harsh, while in Edom: Hark! an uproar from the city, hark! it cometh from the Temple (Isa. 66:6). Gnats came upon Egypt: And He smote the dust of the earth, and in Edom: And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and dust thereof into brimstone (Isa. 34:9). In Egypt there were swarms, and in Edom: The pelican and the bittern shall possess it, and the owl and the raven shall dwell therein (ibid., v. 11). R. Abba the son of Kahana said: Darkness and thick darkness were used as divine agents in Egypt, but void and waste never were and never will be used. When will they be used? Against a great city in Cappadocia, as it is said: And He shall stretch over it the line of confusion, and the plummet of emptiness (ibid.).

The rabbis said: Because the nations of the world did not accept the Torah, it was given as darkness hovered over them, as it says: For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples (Isa. 60:2). In reference to Israel, however, it is written: Upon thee will the Lord arise, and His glory shall be seen upon thee (ibid.).

There was pestilence in Egypt, and about Edom it says: I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood (Ezek. 38:22). In Egypt, boils were inflicted, and in Edom: Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouths (Zech. 14:12). In Egypt there was hail, and upon Edom: An overflowing shower and great hailstones (Ezek. 38:22). Locusts afflicted Egypt, and in the case of Edom: Son of man … Speak unto the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the field: Assemble yourselves (Ezek. 39:17). Darkness befell Egypt, and with regard to Edom: He shall stretch over it the line of confusion and the plummet of emptiness (Isa. 34:11). In Egypt He smote their firstborn, and in Edom: There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians (Ezek. 32:30).

R. Meir said: And the wild oxen descended with them (Isa. 34:7) implies that their idols were cast down with them. In Egypt He exacted retribution from their idols, and He also punished them in Edom. He destroyed their guardian angel, and after that He destroyed them, as it is said: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will punish the host of the high heaven on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth (ibid. 4:21).

Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael5An early tannaitic Midrash, on a part of Exodus, of which a considerable portion is the source for our text.

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