The Divine Cure: How Ten Plagues Healed A Broken Worldview

 

Parashat Bo describes the final three plagues that struck Egypt—locusts, total darkness, and the death of the firstborn. Together with the earlier plagues, they raise a fundamental question: Why exactly ten plagues? Why these specific punishments, and why in this precise order?

Rabbi Zilber explains that the plagues were not acts of vengeance, but a carefully designed spiritual cure. Just as a physician prescribes different treatments for different illnesses, so too did the Almighty address Egypt’s deeply flawed understanding of the world.

Ancient Egypt was a pagan society composed of forty-two provinces, each worshipping its own deity—animals, natural forces, and celestial bodies. The concept of one Creator ruling the universe was foreign not only to the Egyptians, but tragically, to many Jews as well, who after 210 years in Egypt had begun to absorb idol worship.

The first “course of treatment” was meant to prove that there is a Ruler of nature.

Egypt’s supreme god was the Nile. Its annual flooding brought fertility and wealth, and Egypt even based its calendar on it. To shatter this illusion, the very first plague transformed the Nile’s waters into blood. Life itself was cut off at its source. As Hashem declared: “With this you will know that I am the L-rd” (Shemot 7:17).

When Pharaoh’s magicians attempted to dismiss this as coincidence, a second plague followed—frogs erupting from the river and invading every corner of Egyptian life. Still unconvinced, the third plague—lice—struck humans and animals alike, and for the first time, the sorcerers conceded: “This is the finger of G-d.” The message was clear: there is One G-d.

Yet acknowledging a Creator is not the same as recognizing Divine supervision. Many philosophers accept a Creator who does not intervene. The second course of treatment demonstrated hashgachah pratit—that Hashem governs the lives of every creature.

Wild animals attacked Egyptians but not Jews. Livestock died in Egyptian fields but not in Goshen. Boils struck even the sorcerers themselves, but not the Jewish people. Appearance made no difference; identity did. Pharaoh investigated and confirmed it himself: the distinction was absolute.

The Torah summarizes this stage: “So that you will know that I am the L-rd in the midst of the earth” (Shemot 8:18).

Still, another misconception remained—the belief in competing powers, gods of good and evil, fire and water, heaven and earth. The third course of treatment was designed to uproot this entirely.

Fire and hail descended together. East and west winds obeyed Moshe’s prayer. Locusts arrived and departed at Divine command. Darkness engulfed Egypt completely, while light remained with the Jews. One message resounded: “There is none like Me in all the earth” (Shemot 9:14).

Finally came the plague of the firstborn—the ultimate blow. Egypt had enslaved G-d’s “firstborn,” Israel, and now its own firstborn paid the price. That night, Pharaoh broke. He summoned Moshe and Aharon and begged them to leave.

Thus, after ten plagues—ten precise, purposeful lessons—the Jews were driven out of Egypt.

Rabbi Zilber emphasizes that redemption required more than freedom from slavery. It required freedom from false beliefs. Only when the world learned that Hashem alone rules nature, life, and history could klal Yisrael begin its journey as a nation devoted to truth.

By Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber, zt”l, Founder, LaMaalot Foundation