Like some giant oppressive vise, the stench of death clung to the air-an omen presaging some horrible calamity. For months, Egypt had suffered the wrath of the unseen God. Because of a few devout slaves who persisted in praying to the God of their fathers, Egyptians had known about Him peripherally. But it was Re who gave Egyptians water, food, and light; and it was Re whom Egyptians adored. It seemed that this God of the Hebrew slaves had declared war on the gods of Egypt. First, the sacred Nile had become puddles of blood. The fish in the river died- millions of them-and the foul odor of dead fish clung to the land. Even after the river was cleansed, for a long time, if the wind blew in the right direction, one could taste the faint acrid odor of decaying fish. Almost worst than the odor was the lack of water-no water to drink, or cook, or clean with. Then had come the avalanche of frogs. Frogs in the bedroom, frogs in the bathhouse, frogs in the kitchen and frogs in the pots, it seemed there were slimy frogs, nasty frogs everywhere. Amazingly, the land of Goshen had been spared these disasters. Other horrible things had happened: like the time swarms of flies had troubled the land, and the boils that had afflicted the horses, donkeys, camels and sows. Many of the animals had died. Yes, the plagues had taken there toll on the Egyptian economy and on its population.
The locust had destroyed the farms and gardens of this desert oasis. And now, it was rumored that at the stroke of midnight, the firstborn of all Egyptian households would die. The official government statement was that this was precisely, that, a rumor, against the gods of Egypt no power could prevail. But in the land of Goshen, the Hebrew slaves seemed to know something the authorities did not know, they were packed and ready to go. They had been told that their long ordeal-slavery-was over. On that night they would be delivered and they would come out of Egypt with great substance-jewels, gold, silver-payment for their slave labor. God had told them to kill an unblemished lamb, and offer sacrifice to Him. Using hyssop, they were to strike the blood on the doorpost and the lintel of their house and when the avenging angel saw the blood, he would pass over them and their firstborn would be spared. Was there any truth to that?