And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it. The goal of the plagues is knowledge — specifically, the knowledge of the Egyptians that the God of the Hebrews is the Lord. This is mission disguised as judgment. The ten plagues are addressed not only to Israel but to the watching empire. Ezekiel uses the phrase they will know that I am the Lord more than sixty times, always in the context of God acting in history so that nations recognize His identity. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 is the positive invitation form of the same goal: all nations knowing and acknowledging God. What Egypt learns through judgment, the nations are invited to learn through the gospel. The knowledge is the point — not domination but recognition.

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