The Fifth Plague (Exodus 9:1-7)

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh [indoors at his court?] and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them [Pharaoh is holding back people who belong to someone else and belong somewhere else], 3 behold, the hand of the Lord [first time a plague as God’s work is announced] will fall with a very severe plague [indicating the worsening of the plagues] upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.”’” [The distinction between the two people is emphasized and death is mentioned for the first time. Livestock were treasured possessions and benefited the welfare of the people. For the Egyptians to lose their livestock while the Israelites retained theirs would be humiliating.] 5 And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” [The fifth plague is part of the Second cycle of plagues. In the second plague Pharaoh was given the choice of when the plague should end, and he said, “Tomorrow.” Having been given the chance to learn, Pharaoh learned nothing. Now God decides when the fifth plague will commence: tomorrow!] 6 And the next day the Lord did this thing. All [mistranslation because the Hebrew could also mean “all sorts of” or “all over the place”] the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. 7 And Pharaoh sent [men to investigate], and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. [The bodies of dead animals are rotting and smelling all over the place, and if the same had been the case in Goshen, then Pharaoh would know this was a natural occurrence.] But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. [Continuing to resist was the most foolish thing Pharaoh could do, but that was exactly what God, behind the scene, was making him do, leading him to complete humiliation and his ultimate and tragic defeat.]