Essay su Esodo 9:41

Although this plague spares humans, it is nevertheless described as “heavy” (v.3). The narrative uses a play-on-words as well: the Hebrew for pestilence (dever) echoes that for thing (davar).

Just as in the previous “short” plague, number 3, the magicians come to the fore. No longer do they cry to Pharaoh; they cannot even take the stage!

Long like its corresponding predecessors (numbers 1 and 4), the seventh plague prefaces its occurrence with an emphatic introduction by God, and its warning gives God-fearing Egyptians a chance to save themselves (vv.19–21), something new. The description of the plague itself is fraught with spectacle, presaging Sinai with its use of thunder and fire. There is also the ominous note, twice in the text (vv.18, 24), that such a plague was unique in Egyptian annals. The plagues, at least for the Egyptians, now transcend the realms of normal, explainable experience, as well as of historical recollection.