“When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them.

• Exodus 30:12

And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made..

• Genesis 32:35

And I will bring the sword on you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands.

• Leviticus 26:25

From among all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the tent of meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary.”

• Numbers 8:19

But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.

• Numbers 11:33

Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the Lord!

• Joshua 22:17

“In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons. And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

• Exodus 13:14-16

I was in Tennessee for nearly two full weeks, counting driving down and back – more than two weeks.  Several times, I asked my grandchildren to simply give me Bible stories.  The youngest said, “The seven plagues of Egypt.”  Okay, he might not be doing well in math…  Actually, that is one of his better subjects.

This quiz could be about what each of the plagues were.  Ten questions.  Quiz done.  But there is meaning in these plagues.  The plagues were the redemption price (Exodus 13:14-16 above) to redeem the Israelites who were slaves in Egypt.  Jesus paid the redemption price for us.  There are parallels here.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Plagues 1, 2, and 9 attack Egyptian false gods directly.  What are these false gods of Egypt?
2	Which plagues featured insects?
3	What was the first plague that the Egyptian magicians were unable to duplicate? Bonus: Why?
4	In which three plagues are livestock deaths recorded?
5	What is the first of the plagues that documents that the Israelites were not affected by the plague?
6	What is the first plague when the Lord had to harden Pharoah’s heart?
7	Which two plagues wiped out the grain needed to make bread?
8	Why did the first of the plagues in question 7 not destroy all forms of grain?
9	In the first plague, what was the Nile turned into?
10	In the last plague, what happens to the firstborn from each womb, human or animal?

Notice that the last four questions apply in some way to the Last Supper.  The bread and wine symbolize what the Nile turned into and what happened to the flesh of the firstborn, that is, the firstborn of Mary.  Since the last two questions speak about the first and last plagues, these plagues provide bookends to package the ten plagues as a foreshadowing of the redemption Jesus would make at Golgotha.

Many of the other plagues dealt with the things that the Egyptians held sacred.  When it comes to the plagues of insects, two insects come early, but then the third insect, which has been a plague maker even in recent times, came later.  That was due to God’s perfect timing.

And consider why the Israelites came to Egypt in the first place.  Joseph had interpreted Pharoah’s dream.  He was the only person in attendance when the dream was interpreted who had a plan to resolve the coming famine.  Thus, Joseph rose in power to manage the gathering and storage of grain.  Once the famine hit, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt, hearing that Egypt had storehouses of grain for sale.  Once Joseph revealed who he was to them, they moved the family to Egypt.  God remained sovereign, as He always is, through this period so that the plagues could be a foreshadowing of things to come, but did the Egyptians retain the wealth they acquired when God led Joseph in interpreting the dream and managing the process?

Egypt got rich off a dream that God helped Joseph interpret.  All that wealth is removed from Egypt in these ten plagues.

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Plagues 1, 2, and 9 attack Egyptian false gods directly.  What are these false gods of Egypt?	Exodus 7:19; 8:3; 10:21
2	Which plagues featured insects?	Exodus 8:16; 8:20; 10:1
3	What was the first plague that the Egyptian magicians were unable to duplicate? Bonus: Why?	Exodus 9:11
4	In which three plagues are livestock deaths recorded?	Exodus 9:1; 9:21; 11:5
5	What is the first of the plagues that documents that the Israelites were not affected by the plague?	Exodus 9:7
6	What is the first plague when the Lord had to harden Pharoah’s heart?	Exodus 9:12
7	Which two plagues wiped out the grain needed to make bread?	Exodus 9:31; 10:5
8	Why did the first of the plagues in question 7 not destroy all forms of grain?	Exodus 9:32
9	In the first plague, what was the Nile turned into?	Exodus 7:19
10	In the last plague, what happens to the firstborn from each womb, human or animal?	Exodus 11:5

The words: sword, famine, and plague are mentioned 25 times in the same verse in the NIV.  Of these 25 times, Jeremiah prophesies regarding this triad fifteen times, seven times in Ezekiel.  There is only one reference to this triple threat in the New Testament, when the fourth horseman, the pale horse, rides with Hades following close behind.

Some older translations use the word pestilence instead of plague.

These naturally occur in this order.  Young men, and now women, go off to war (sword) and many of them die.  Thus, the modern sword ranges from a bayonet to the atomic bomb, but the point is that people die by violence whether the war is called a war or some other name, like conflict.

While these young people are at war, bombs tear through fields that could be planted, but the fields are not planted due to the workers being at war.  Often, famine follows war.  There are not enough workers to produce and harvest a crop.

And if too many die from the famine, who is left, or maybe of those who are left who is able, to bury the dead?  Thus, scavengers, carrying pestilence and disease, come in to take care of the bodies who fall on the battlefield or fall due to starvation.

Regardless of whether the Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophecies were about the exile or the End Times, the reference in Revelation is definitely the End Times.

These times will come in the future.  The ripples of the war in Ukraine are causing this triple threat to spread, since Ukraine has been the breadbasket of Europe.  And it is a special kind of evil that preys upon this triple threat to obtain what they want.

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The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Plagues 1, 2, and 9 attack Egyptian false gods directly.  What are these false gods of Egypt?	Exodus 7:19; 8:3; 10:21	The River Nile, frogs, and the Sun (the plague being darkness)
2	Which plagues featured insects?	Exodus 8:16; 8:20; 10:1	Gnats, Flies, and Locusts – Scarabs were important in Egyptian worship
3	What was the first plague that the Egyptian magicians were unable to duplicate? Bonus: Why?	Exodus 9:11	Boils – the magicians could not stand before Moses due to the pain from the boils.
4	In which three plagues are livestock deaths recorded?	Exodus 9:1; 9:21; 11:5	The plague on the Livestock, Hail (when they ignored the warning), and the last plague, the death of the firstborn
5	What is the first of the plagues that documents that the Israelites were not affected by the plague?	Exodus 9:7	Pharoah investigated and found that none of the Israelite livestock were affected by the plague on the Livestock.
6	What is the first plague when the Lord had to harden Pharoah’s heart?	Exodus 9:12	Boils
7	Which two plagues wiped out the grain needed to make bread?	Exodus 9:31; 10:5	Hail and Locusts
8	Why did the first of the plagues in question 7 not destroy all forms of grain?	Exodus 9:32	The wheat and spelt ripen later in the season.
9	In the first plague, what was the Nile turned into?	Exodus 7:19	Blood
10	In the last plague, what happens to the firstborn from each womb, human or animal?	Exodus 11:5	death

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here is Charity Gayle singing Thank You Jesus for the Blood.

Here is the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir singing There is Power in the Blood.

Here is Matthew Adams singing Passover Lamb.

Here is Big Daddy Weave singing Redeemed.

We are not what we used to be.  We are redeemed.  God redeemed the Israelites with a foreshadowing of things to come, His Son dying on the cross so that we could be redeemed.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.