It was the duty of the king of E'gypt to give the children of Is'ra-el complete freedom, but he treated this solemn obligation with increasing contempt. Mo'ses and Aa'ron had shown themselves to be very generous, and had proved beyond question that they were servants of God, but still he scorned them. Four plagues had visited the land, each one more severe than any other calamity which had ever befallen E'gypt, but the king remained obstinate and insolent toward God.
The solemn promises to let Is'ra-el go were forgotten as soon as God removed the afflictions. During the fear and suffering brought on by each plague Pha'raoh pretended deep repentance for his sins, but when the danger seemed past, committed even greater sins. The righteous judgments of God had forced Pha'raoh to acknowledge His Supremacy, but when these judgments were lifted, he became more defiant than ever.
God's Mercy was abused by Pha'raoh; instead of leading him to repentance, it seemed only to make him worse. When the rod of justice ceased to strike, he rebelled again. As soon as one voice of Divine Judgment was stilled, he seemed to think that there would be no others.
But the LORD God of Heaven continued His appeals and warnings, and made it clear to Pha'raoh that he was trifling with Divine Justice. The wrath of God could not be halted by false promises and pretended repentance. Mo'ses was directed by the LORD to appear again before Pha'raoh, and this time he was to tell the king that an even worse plague would come if he still refused to let Is'ra-el go into the wilderness to worship their God. The next calamity to be sent by God would strike the domestic animals of the E'gyp-tians, bringing death to thousands of cattle, sheep, horses, and camels.
On the day after Mo'ses had spoken to Pha'raoh a deadly disease fell upon all the animals of the E'gyp-tians, and in one day they were dead. The whole land became one gruesome plain covered with the dead bodies of animals. Thousands of oxen, which were regarded as sacred by the E'gyp-tians, lay lifeless upon the ground; the horses, asses, and camels which were used for transportation were also dead, as were the sheep and cattle which provided the E'gyp-tians with food. Surely such terrible calamities would bring the stubborn king to his knees!
This plague, however, had only the effect of hardening Pha'raoh's heart all the more. He made a special visit to the land of Go'shen, where the Is'ra-el-ites lived, and found that none of their live-stock had been harmed by the plague. It angered him greatly to find that the despised He'brews had not been touched by the judgment which had cost him so much, and he became more determined than ever not to yield to the command of God.
