Time span of the 10 plagues

 

When reading the book of Exodus, it's all too easy to imagine the plagues in Egypt took less than two weeks. Read them more carefully. 

 

We know the last plague, the deaths of the firstborn, happened in the spring. They had the Passover. They had lambs. They had aviv barley. And God specifically said that was the first month of the year. 

 

The ninth plague was darkness for three days. There is no indication of what time of year that took place, so it could very well have been right before the Passover. 

 

The eigth plague was locusts. They ate all the fruit on the trees. When have you ever seen fruit on trees in the spring? Fruit is on the trees generally in the Fall. Artists draw pictures of locusts in Egypt, covering the skies, eating all the barley, assuming it happened in the spring, about four days before the Passover. But the Bible doesn't say anything about them eating any grains. It says they ate herbs and the fruit on the trees (Exodus 10:15)

 

The seventh plague was hail. We know this happened in the spring because the barley and the flax were destroyed, but the wheat and the rye weren't because they weren't ripe enough to be brittle (Exodus 9:31-32). This is one full year. 

 

The sixth plague was boils. There is nothing there that indicates the time of year. 

 

The fifth plague was the cattle. There is nothing there that indicates the time of year except possibly by inference. We know this was one of the plagues Moses said the people needed to go serve God so it could have been for one of the appointed festivals. 

 

The fourth plague was flies. There is nothing there that indicates the time of year except, again, the indication that Pharaoh knew they wanted to to make sacrifices. 

 

The third plague was lice. There is nothing there that indicates the time of year, not even mention of the need to sacrifice. So perhaps this was at a time between the appointed festivals. 

 

The second plague was frogs. During the spring, frog are in the ponds either mating or swimming around as tadpoles. They're not out and about hopping around and getting into everything. Like the plague of locusts, this could not have taken place during the season of the passover. 

 

The first plague was the Nile River turning to blood. Again, there is no indication of the time of year, but it does say that at least seven days passed (Exodus 7:25). 

 

If Moses went to Pharaoh demanding the release of the people to worship every time one of the appointed Festivals came, this is at least two years worth of time with some extra plagues in between. And all this took place after Moses first made that demand and Pharaoh increased the burdens by taking away the straw. During that period, the children of Israel had enough time to complain, cry out, appeal for relief, and wander around the land in search of straw (Exodus 5:6-18). 

 

So in total, from the time Moses first returned to Egypt to the point of the Exodus, likely 2-3 years had passed while all this took place. If the Pharaoh and the Egyptians had memories as short as the average American and the modern day media, it's no wonder their hearts hardened as they passed weeks and months between each plague.