The Ten Plagues Reconsidered: Rising Above the Worship of Nature
Points to Ponder #14: Va’era | Translated by Leah Hartman
The book of Exodus tells the chronicle of the Ten Plagues—the ten colossal, supernatural disasters that G-d inflicted upon Egypt in order to force Pharaoh to set the Israelites free.
Children usually have no big issue with the story of the Ten Plagues. They enjoy seeing the bad guys get their comeuppance. But for adults, questions often arise. For example: Why must the Egyptians endure so many plagues? And why such catastrophic ones? Generally speaking, what is the deeper meaning of the Ten Plagues?
The Divine Within Nature, the Divine Beyond Nature
The story of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt is a prelude to another story—that of the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Interestingly, these two stories share a noteworthy detail: at the center of both lies the number 10—the Ten Plagues and the Ten Commandments. Might there be a connection between the two 10s?
The answer is yes, and it lies in a third 10, a more hidden one, that precedes them both: the “Ten Utterances”, the Divine sayings through which G-d created the World. Nine of these utterances are stated explicitly, preceded by the words “G-d said”, and one of them, the first, is implied in the Torah’s opening word, Bereishit (In the beginning), which the Jewish Sages interpreted as signifying a unique, “silent” utterance.
The Ten Utterances and the Ten Commandments, two sets of Divine acts of speech, are seen in Judaism as complementary. They symbolize the two fundamental ways G-d reveals Himself to the world:
The Ten Utterances used to create the world embody the aspect of G-d that resides within nature. This aspect is expressed in the wondrous order of the laws of nature, in nature’s beauty, and in the myriad of naturally occurring processes of growth and development. It is an immanent aspect of G-d, i.e. one in which He feels present and close at hand, but also an impersonal one: all of nature is equally Divine.
The Ten Commandments, on the other hand, embody the aspect of G-d that lies beyond nature. This aspect violates the laws of nature, intervenes in history’s trajectory, and brings into the world sublime light that it cannot reach on its own. It is a transcendent aspect of G-d, i.e. one in which He feels distant and unreachable, yet, paradoxically, also one which reveals Him as a personal G-d who contacts us directly and beseeches us to enter into a Divine covenant with Him.
The opposite and complementary nature of these two approaches is implied in the names each employs to describe G-d: The Ten Utterances use the name Elohim (א־להים, pronounced Elokim). This name, which literally means “powers,” expresses the multitude of natural forces at work in nature, and also shares the same gematria (numerical value) as the Hebrew word for “nature” (teva). In contrast, the Ten Commandments use the ineffable name YHVH, also known as the Tetragrammaton (י־ה־ו־ה, usually replaced in Biblical translations by the term The Lord, and referred to in Hebrew simply as Hashem, “The Name”). This sublime and mysterious word serves as G-d’s “first name,” so to speak. It also contains within it the Hebrew words for “was”, “is”, and “will be,” which is to say that it hints at something eternal and timeless that lies beyond the flow of regular time.
What does all of this teach us about the Ten Plagues? Well, according to Kabbalistic teachings, the plagues, which appear in the Bible between the Ten Utterances and the Ten Commandments, are actually an intermediate level between the two. In some mysterious way they help transition us from appreciating G-d only as residing within nature (the Ten Utterences) to encountering G-d as also existing beyond it (the Ten Commandments).
But what does this mean? Why must we go through the Ten Plagues in order to receive the Ten Commandments?
From Worshiping the Creator to Worshiping Creation
Experiencing G-d in nature is a wonderful thing: “The heavens recite the glory of God, and the sky tells of the work of His hands” (Psalms 19:2). Who among us does not experience G-d’s presence when marveling at a breathtaking landscape or when appreciating at the wonders of the animal world? Yet the wonders of nature can be a double-edged sword: the same sense of harmonious wholeness that reminds us of G-d can also serve to obliterate Him from our consciousness. If the universe is such a harmonious whole, why bother imagining a Creator behind its wheel? In the Bible, the word “Elohim” is used also in reference to false idols (elohim acherim); so, too, the awareness of the Divine within nature can deteriorate to a kind of nature worship.
Nature worship may take on many forms. It can assume a more rationalistic and “masculine” guise, like that of the “pantheism” of Baruch Spinoza, or a more mystical and “feminine” one, like the worship of the “goddess” so prevalent in New Age circles. But, regardless of its appearance, it refers to a worldview where G-d is always and already here, surrounding us and present within us, and therefore all that remains is to accept and love “what is”. In this dense fabric of immanence and passivity, no opening exists for another, transcendent voice to enter; a voice that calls upon us to actively rise above nature, rebel against it if necessary, and through these actions connect to levels of light and truth higher than those we may achieve within it.
Egypt, which worshiped animals and the Nile River, is the epitome of this kind of nature worship, which denies the notion of a transcendent, personal G-d. Pharoah taunts Moses, “Who is YHVH that I should obey His voice? …I do not know YHVH.” And indeed, it was from ancient Egypt that an entire tradition arose known as “Hermeticism,” whose central tenet was that all mysteries of existence are embedded within the natural world.
The Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt meant that, to a certain extent, they too were immersed in the Egyptian worldview. Although most Jewish sources emphasize the total separation between Israel and the Egyptians, others reveal that the truth was more complicated: many Israelites became deeply attached to Egyptian culture and wished to remain there. In addition, a principle in Hasidic teachings says that all our external enemies exist also within us: within every Israelite, there is an ”inner Egyptian” seeking to enslave them.
Shattering the Worship of Nature
Now we can understand the inner purpose of the Ten Plagues: They were meant to shake up the nature worship of the Egyptians, both those from without and those from within. Do you believe that nature is the source of your abundance? Know then that its waters can come to betray you. Do you marvel at the harmony of the animal world? Learn to what extent it can threaten your livelihood and your life. Do you admire your beautiful body? Remember that it can become afflicted with lice and disease.
The Egyptian exile marks the nadir of a process of deterioration that began with the creation of the world, in which the Ten Utterances, G-d’s presence in nature, became covered up by the external shells of the worship of nature. Nature had ceased being a portrait reflecting G-d’s face and became a mask concealing it. In order for G-d’s transcendent voice to be heard over the clamor of these shells it was necessary to, so to speak, bang on the table and create silence. This was the purpose of the Ten Plagues. Indeed, in Hebrew the Plagues are called makot, strikes, as of someone striking something to break its external shell.
This idea is hinted at by G-d’s statement to Moses—which appears just before the story of the Plagues and opens their first Torah portion—that heretofore He had not become known to the Isarelites with His name YHVH (Exodus 6:3). This is followed by the promise that once the Exodus from Egypt takes place they will know Him by this name (6:7). Before G-d can reveal Himself as transcendent, He must first shatter any preconceived notions people have of Him as immanent within nature.
Today, too, many are content with worshiping the Divine within nature. There’s something so comforting about it, so calming and sedative—who needs anything else? But life begins truly when this image is cracked. Only then, through the crevice, can a Divine speech higher than that echoed by nature break forth, and invite us to join it and ascend.
מדהים
מאד אהבתי
מבט שונה ומעמיק על הבריאה