If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field — on your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep and goats. The fifth plague targets the livestock — the agricultural and economic foundation of Egypt's power. The list is comprehensive: horses for warfare, donkeys for transport, camels for long-distance trade, cattle for farming, sheep and goats for food and sacrifice. Every sector of Egypt's animal-dependent economy will be struck. Deuteronomy 28:18 includes the livestock among the things cursed when Israel departs from God; here the curse falls on the nation that oppressed those who belong to God. The economic dimension of the plagues is not incidental — the wealth of Egypt that will be transferred to Israel at the Exodus (Exodus 12:36) is being systematically dismantled through the plagues that precede it.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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