king's heart to be hardened, so that all the Egyptians
might see the great work God was going to do for His people.

Then God sent the ten plagues upon the Egyptians, while the
Israelites--God's people--suffered nothing from these plagues.

The first plague was blood. All the water in the land was converted into
blood. (Ex. 7). The king then sent for Moses and promised that if he
would take away the plague he would allow all the people to depart.
Moses prayed to God, and the plague was removed. But after it was taken
away the king's heart was hardened again and he would not keep his
promise. Just as people in sickness, distress, or danger sometimes
promise God they will lead better lives if only He will help them, and
when they are saved they do not keep their promises, so did Pharao; and
therefore God sent another plague. The second plague was frogs. Great
numbers of them came out of the rivers and lakes, and filled all the
houses of the Egyptians, and crawled into their food, beds, etc. Again
the king sent for Moses and did as before; and again Moses prayed, and
all the frogs went back into the waters or died. (Ex. 8). But the king
again hardened his heart and did not keep his promise. The third plague
was sciniphs (Ex. 8)--very small flies, that filled the land. Imagine
our country filled with mosquitoes so numerous that you could scarcely
walk through them; it would be a dreadful plague. As it is, two or three
might cause you considerable annoyance, and pain: what then if there
were millions doubly venomous, because sent to punish you? So these
little flies must have greatly punished the Egyptians. The fourth plague
was flies that filled the land and covered everything, to the great
disgust of the people. The fifth plague was murrain--a disease that
broke out among the cattle. The sixth plague was a disease--boils--that
broke out on men and beasts, so that scarcely anyone could move on
account of the pains and suffering. The seventh plague was hail, that
fell in large pieces and destroyed all their crops. The eighth plague
was locusts. These are very destructive little animals. They look
something like our grasshoppers, but are about two or three times their
size. They fly and come in millions. They come to this country in great
numbers--almost a plague--every fifteen or twenty-five years, and the
farmers fear them very much. They eat up every green blade or leaf, and
thus destroy all the crops and trees. When the l