The Ten Plagues As “Spiritual Warfare”

It is easy for us to read about the "Ten Plagues" in Exodus 7:14-12:30, and wonder aloud, "Why these?!?"  As if the LORD was simply "showing off" with random acts of magical power.  "Look at what I can do!"

I think there is far more to these events than that!  All through the Scriptures, The LORD acts with purpose - even if I miss it or don't understand that purpose.  Consistent with that and sorting through what we can document about ancient Egyptian religion, I think it is reasonable to connect each of the individual Plagues with one of the potential corresponding "deities" of the Egyptian pantheon.

Rather than "random acts of magical power," the Plagues become a "power encounter" between two religious systems: The LORD (also vocalized as Jehovah or Yahweh) versus the various "gods of Egypt."  The following chart lays out what that could look like:

CLICK HERE for a downloadable .pdf file of this same chart.  Thanks to Barnes' Bible Charts for their work and accessibility.

Such a "power encounter" could be conceived as a battle between the sovereign, omnipotent Yahweh and lesser, evil spiritual entities; between worship of the "true God" and the "false worship" of idols; an early skirmish that foreshadows the great and final, apocalyptic battle in Revelation.

From The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes:

Another popular idea about the plagues is that each one was directed at a particular Egyptian deity. Ex 12:12 states: “I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt” (though this refers primarily, and perhaps only, to the last plague). The ancient Egyptians had numerous deities—nearly 1,500 throughout their recorded history. Many deities could take the form of more than one animal or creature. If one were to look hard enough, one should eventually be able to find a deity or two whose significance and symbolism could, conceivably, serve as the object of an attack by each plague account.

For example, the god Hapi was associated with the inundation of the Nile, which was crucial for ensuring good crops. Perhaps the first plague was directed at him. It is difficult, though, to find deities for all the plagues that, together, make a convincing case. With the third and fourth plagues, e.g., one suggestion is that the god Khepri, usually portrayed as a scarab beetle, is under attack. But there is little consensus regarding even which insects are in view here, and any correlation with Khepri is inexact. In the end, no consistent linking of the plagues with Egyptian deities is discernible. To be sure, there are a number of points at which the Biblical text does seem to be directed at the Egyptian belief system, but each instance must be examined on its own merits. 

Craig S. Keener and John H. Walton, eds., NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 120.