The Plagues of Egypt and the Contest of Magicians

Episode 10: The story of the “Plagues of Egypt” — the signs and wonders performed by Moses and Aaron in the book of Exodus — has a complicated history, and the Priestly author’s contest of magicians is a particularly overlooked aspect of the story. Learn more about this tale and why some of the popular interpretations are probably incorrect. Chapters: 0:03 - Prologue 0:36 - Signs and Wonders 3:04 - The Plague of Blood 4:17 - A Duel of Mages 8:00 - Sources of the Plague Story 12:18 - Pseudo-Academic Interpretations 17:01 - Summary 17:29 - Credits and Easter Egg Buy me a coffee to support the channel: ⦾ https://ko-fi.com/pauldavidson ★ Special thanks to John Kesler for consulting and advice. Download a PDF containing just the "contest of magicians" passages: ⦾ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lusS... Sources and References: ⦾ Currid, John D. (1997). Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament. ⦾ Gertz, Jan Christian (2014). The Miracle at the Sea: Remarks on the Recent Discussion about Origin and Composition of the Exodus Narrative. In The Book of Exodus: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation. ⦾ Greenstein, Edward L. (1995). The Firstborn Plague and the Reading Process. In Pomegranates and Golden Bells: Studies in Biblical, Jewish, and Near Eastern Ritual, Law, and Literature in Honor of Jacob Milgrom. ⦾ Greifenhagen, Franz Volker (2002). Egypt on the Pentateuch’s Ideological Map. ⦾ Harris, Mark (2015). The Thera Theories: Science and the Modern Reception History of the Exodus. In Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective. Text, Archaeology, Culture, and Geoscience. ⦾ Lemmelijn, Bénédicte (2009). A Plague of Texts? A Text-Critical Study of the So-Called ‘Plagues Narrative’ in Exodus 7:14–11:10. ⦾ Miller, James Maxwell, and John Haralson Hayes (1986). A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. ⦾ Propp, William (1999). Exodus 1–18: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, The Anchor Yale Bible. ⦾ Römer, Thomas (2014). From the Call of Moses to the Parting of the Sea: Reflections on the Priestly Version of the Exodus Narrative. In The Book of Exodus: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation. ⦾ Van Seters, John (1986). The Plagues of Egypt: Ancient Tradition or Literary Invention? ZAW 98. ⦾ Van Seters, John (1995). A Contest of Magicians? The Plague Stories in P. In Pomegranates and Golden Bells. Music by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au), Fesliyan Studios (fesliyanstudios.com), and WombatNoisesAudio. “The Legend of Narmer” by WombatNoisesAudio (  / user-734462061  . Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... #Bible #deconstruction #Exodus