Plaguing the Modern “Egyptians” with Truth

“Proclaim . . . the day of vengeance on the part of our God.”—Isa. 61:2.

1, 2. (a) To whom does 2 Timothy 4:3, 4 apply and to whom not, and why? (b) What fact do those overlook who find fault with the plaguing messages delivered by Jehovah’s ministers?

CONCERNING the day in which we are living the apostle Paul prophesied: “There will be a period of time when they will not put up with the healthful teaching, but, in accord with their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves to have their ears tickled; and they will turn their ears away from the truth.” True as those words are of the modern religious leaders and their flocks, as noted time and again in the pages of this journal, they should not be and are not true of the dedicated Christian ministers of Jehovah. These must and do welcome the truth, even though it may hurt at times.—2 Tim. 4:3, 4.

² Those who find fault with the blunt and warning message that these ministers of Jehovah bring and who accuse them of preaching a loveless God and a message of hate entirely overlook the fact that these ministers apply to themselves, first of all, God’s warning messages concerning his vengeance. Thus the first three plagues upon ancient Egypt, considered in a previous issue of this journal, were seen to affect, not only the “Egyptians,” but also the enslaved “Israelites,” Jehovah’s people. However, by benefiting from the modern-day fulfillment of these plagues, being corrected by them, as it were, Jehovah’s people today are spared the effects of the remaining seven plagues, which they also have a share in pouring out. In the modern-day pouring out of the plagues Jehovah’s remnant on earth today were pictured by Moses’ brother Aaron, whereas Moses himself pictures Jesus Christ, reigning in heavenly glory and power. (Ex. 6:5, 6, 20; 9:8) Aaron acted as a mouthpiece for Moses and used Moses’ rod.

FOURTH PLAGUE—GADFLIES

3. Of what did the fourth plague consist, and what was its effect?

³ The fourth plague upon ancient Egypt was the first one of the ten in which Jehovah made a distinction between his people of Israel and the Egyptians. It consisted of gadflies and is recorded for us at Exodus 8:21-24. The gadfly appears to have been a fly larger than the ordinary housefly, more like the dog fly or horsefly. Certain species of this fly attacked humans and animals; others, only vegetation. They also filled the earth with their maggots. They spread throughout all the houses of Egypt, and their damage was so extensive that “the land came to ruin as a result of the gadflies,” we are told. This plague might be said to have poured contempt upon the goddess of the ichneumon fly, Wadjet.a It caused Pharaoh to yield, but only until it was ended.—Ex. 8:28-32.

4. How is the “land” of spiritual Israel identified?

⁴ Since this plague was said to have ruined the land of Egypt, it would aptly picture a plaguing message from Jehovah that exposes the ruined state of modern “Egypt,” Satan’s organization. And what is that? A clue is given in the prophecies found at Isaiah 62:4 and Isa 66:8, which read, in part: “Your own land will be owned as a wife.” “Will a land be brought forth with labor pains in one day?” These prophecies refer to the restored condition of spiritual Israel in our day. The expression “land” refers to the earthly position or situation occupied by the restored remnant of God’s spiritual nation; their status, as it were. During World War I of 1914-1918 they appeared to be disowned by God. But in 1919, as history shows, their favored status with God was renewed, reborn, “brought forth with labor pains,” suddenly, as “in one day.” This involved their doctrines, their organization and their form of worship.

5, 6. How has modern “Egypt” sought status with God, but what did the fourth plague reveal, and by what means?

⁵ This being so, it might be said that for status with God the religionists of modern Egypt have depended upon their man-made doctrines, organization and practices. Included would be such doctrines as the trinity God, eternal torment after death of the body, purgatory, immortality of the human soul, divine right of kings, and so forth. They have also sought to obtain or gain status with God by such religious practices as asceticism, clerical celibacy, monks, nuns, going to church on Sunday, confession to priests, use of the cross, holy water, images, not forgetting the icons of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, adoration of Mary and of the “saints,” veneration of relics, and so forth. And they also expect to gain status with God by their ‘mighty works.’ such as building costly churches and temples, faith healing, interfaith of Catholics, Protestants and Jews, moral reform, influencing legislation, charity, including soup kitchens for the poor in the United States and rice for the poor in the Orient.

⁶ The fourth plague of truth reveals what is the real status of the religionists of modern Egypt in the eyes of God and in the eyes of all persons enlightened by God’s truth. This plague has exposed the unscripturalness of Christendom’s teachings, her organization and her forms of worship and works. A striking example of this plague took place in connection with the 1924 Columbus (Ohio) convention of Jehovah’s witnesses, where an Indictment was issued which showed the falsity of Christendom’s chief doctrines and religious practices. At that time upward of thirteen million copies were printed for distribution. A more recent publication that has been doing this nineteen years now is the Bible-study aid, the book “Let God Be True,” more than nineteen million copies of which have been published in fifty-four languages. An especially plaguing message along this line was the booklet “The Word”—Who Is He? According to John, which was sent to practically all the clergymen of Christendom. Upward of nine million copies in many languages were printed for distribution around the world. Proof of its plaguing them was to be seen in the many irate letters they wrote to the publishers of that booklet. Another example of this plague was the special issue of Awake! April 22, 1964, entitled “Examining the Foundations of Modern-Day Religion,” 6,196,655 copies being printed. Yes, in ever so many Watch Tower publications the “land” of modern “Egypt” has been exposed as ruined, having no status with God, not owned by him. This exposé by Jehovah’s witnesses under the Greater Moses, Jesus Christ, has truly served as a plague.

THE FIFTH PLAGUE—PESTILENCE

7. Of what did the fifth plague consist?

⁷ Upon Pharaoh’s plea, Moses interceded with Jehovah on behalf of Egypt, and the fourth plague was lifted. But again Pharaoh made his heart unresponsive, and so Jehovah sent the fifth plague, which was aimed at the livestock of Egypt. Said Moses: “Look! Jehovah’s hand is coming upon your livestock that is in the field.” The plague took in all of them. “On the horses, the asses, the camels, the herd [of cattle] and the flock [of sheep and goats] there will be a very heavy pestilence.” “Accordingly Jehovah did this thing . . . and all sorts of livestock of Egypt began to die; but not one of the livestock of the sons of Israel died.”—Ex. 9:3, 6.

8-11. How is the fifth plague of modern times being fulfilled?

⁸ What is pictured by this plague? In the Scriptures livestock, domestic animals, and in particular sheep and cattle, are often used to picture humans, who are like beasts of burden. In that all Egypt’s livestock brought support to Egypt, it would well picture the supporters of the antitypical Egypt of today, Satan’s organization. And even as all sorts of livestock died, but not literally all livestock, so we find that all sorts of men, supporters of antitypical Egypt, high and low, rich and poor, old and young, male and female, of differing nationalities and races, are figuratively dying as far as their supporting Satan’s organization is concerned because of the plaguing judgment message brought by God’s people. In particular would this plague picture the messages that are directed to persons of honest heart, lovers of righteousness but ignorantly supporting Satan’s organization, and that appeal to them to come out of it and take their stand for Jehovah and his kingdom.

⁹ While all seven annual messages sounded by Jehovah’s witnesses from 1922 to 1928 concluded with such appeals, it was particularly the Resolution of 1927, passed at their international assembly in Toronto, Canada, that highlighted this feature of the ministry of Jehovah’s remnant, pictured by Moses’ brother Aaron. (Ex. 9:27) Note how pertinent its language is. Among other things, the Resolution stated: “There is no reason to give further support to that . . . system. In this hour of perplexity Jehovah God bids the peoples to abandon and forsake forever ‘Christendom’ or ‘organized Christianity’ and to turn completely away from it, because it is the Devil’s organization, and to give it no support whatever; and that the peoples give their heart’s devotion and allegiance wholly to Jehovah God and to his King and Kingdom and receive full freedom and the blessings God has in store for them.” Over 3,900,000 copies of this Resolution in booklet form were distributed in many languages.

¹⁰ Similar appeals have since been made, such as the pointed one contained in the Resolution passed by Jehovah’s witnesses at their 1958 Yankee Stadium-Polo Grounds convention in New York City. In its conclusion it called upon “all lovers of life and happiness under a righteous government to whose attention this Resolution may come, to take to heart its import and to honor the name of the Creator of heaven and earth and to turn to His kingdom by Christ as the rightful government of the new world.” This Resolution had a circulation of 70,000,000 copies in fifty languages of the world. This plaguing message continues upon antitypical Egypt to the present time, calling on the people to heed the command of Revelation 18:4: “Get out of her [Babylon the Great], my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.” Not that Babylon the Great and symbolic Egypt of today are the same thing; rather, Babylon the Great is the religious part of symbolic Egypt, Satan’s visible organization. So by fleeing from modern Babylon the Great, or dying as to giving it support, one is figuratively dying as far as giving his support to modern “Egypt” is concerned just like the domestic animals of ancient Egypt.

¹¹ Each annual report of Jehovah’s witnesses, as it is published in each January 1 issue of The Watchtower and in the Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses in several languages now, tells of the extent of this plague. How so? In that it tells how many persons detached themselves from modern “Egypt” by dedicating themselves to Jehovah and being baptized in water. During the 1963 service year the number was 62,798, and during 1964 the number was 68,236. Surely the very publishing of this information in such literature serves as a plague to modern “Egypt.”

THE SIXTH PLAGUE—BOILS AND BLISTERS

12, 13. Of what did the sixth plague consist?

¹² Although all sorts of livestock of the ancient Egyptians perished in the fifth plague, “Pharaoh’s heart continued to be unresponsive, and he did not send the people away.” So Jehovah warned of the sixth plague, and in obedience to Jehovah’s instructions Moses took soot from a kiln and “tossed it toward the heavens, and it became boils with blisters, breaking out on man and beast. And the magic-practicing priests were unable to stand before Moses as a result of the boils, because the boils had developed on the magic-practicing priests and on all the Egyptians.”—Ex. 9:7-11.

¹³ This plague disgraced Imhotep, the Egyptian god of medicine, for none of the Egyptian physicians were able to cure it. In particular did it bring low the magic-practicing priests of Egypt. Previously they had appeared to imitate the first two plagues that Moses brought on, and the third plague, that of gnats, they had to admit was by the “finger of God.” (Ex. 8:1-19) But the sixth plague really disgraced them to the extent of their being unable to appear before Pharaoh. Some Bible commentators hold that this plague was the black leprosy or botch of Egypt, known as elephantiasis, the disease that most likely afflicted Job some years before this. (Job 2:6-12) Be that as it may, it was a skin disease marked with boils, swellings, ulcers and skin eruptions and without a doubt was extremely painful, as can be gathered from its effect on Egypt’s priests.

14-16. By what means has modern “Egypt” been plagued till now by the sixth plague?

¹⁴ How is this plague having its fulfillment in modern times? Revelation 16:2 gives us a clue, for it tells that as a result of the pouring out of the bowl of God’s anger hurtful and malignant ulcers came upon those who had the mark of the wild beast and who worshiped its image. The book entitled “‘Babylon the Great Has Fallen!’ God’s Kingdom Rules!” shows that this plague began in 1919, when the failure of the League of Nations was foretold. It was in the year 1919 that The Watchtower for the first time identified the symbolic sea beast of Revelation chapter 13 as Satan’s visible political organization rather than an ecclesiastical system, and the idolized “image” of the beast as the League of Nations. This plague, even as the other plagues, might be said to have two aspects in modern times. One aspect is the use of the Bible to show the way the modern “Egyptians,” the worshipers of the “image” of the beast, appear in the eyes of Jehovah, and the other is the pain that this exposé gave them. Since Egypt stands for Satan’s entire visible organization, this plague affects the religious leaders and guides of both Christendom and pagandom.

¹⁵ An early high point in this plague came in 1922 when, on September 8 at the Cedar Point, Ohio, convention of Jehovah’s witnesses, Joseph F. Rutherford, as president of the Watch Tower Society, called attention to King Uzziah’s becoming a leper because of his presumptuousness in mixing religion with politics in Jerusalem, in that he as king presumed to offer incense at the temple, which privilege was only for the priests of the tribe of Levi; and in this presumptuousness and its punishment King Uzziah was a prototype of Christendom. (2 Chron. 26:1, 16-23) Then referring to Christendom’s endorsement of the League of Nations as a man-made substitute for God’s kingdom, Judge Rutherford said: “Thus they denied the coming of the Lord and his Kingdom,” and at once they appeared to Jehovah God to be leprous or filled with boils and blisters, and hence unclean. And just as the sixth plague upon Egypt was an expression of Jehovah’s anger and brought pain, so did the proclamations made by his dedicated people regarding these things. Such expression of his anger at the men that had the “mark” of the beast and that worshiped its image, the League of Nations, pained the antitypical Egyptians of our twentieth century.

¹⁶ Since then the Watch Tower Society as publishers for the Christian witnesses of Jehovah has published and caused to be distributed much literature showing that the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations, are futile man-made substitutes for the kingdom of God. A particularly striking recent example was the special issue of Awake! October 8, 1962, entitled “The United Nations or the Kingdom of God?” The Watch Tower Society printed for distribution 5,269,268 copies of the October 8, 1962, issue of Awake! All this publication and distribution of God’s judgment message has shown how wretched, unclean, miserable and spiritually diseased the supporters of these schemes of men must appear in the eyes of God. Such publication has been very painful to the supporters of these political instruments for world peace and security both inside and outside Christendom, and is part of the sixth plague.

THE SEVENTH PLAGUE—HAIL, FIRE AND THUNDERS

17, 18. (a) Why did Jehovah proceed with Pharaoh the way he did? (b) Of what did the seventh plague consist back there?

¹⁷ Six plagues had been sent upon Pharaoh and his nation by Jehovah God and still Pharaoh’s heart remained obstinate. Why was Jehovah, the omnipotent One, dealing with this stubborn, proud, yet puny man in this manner? Jehovah himself, at this point, told him: “By now I could have thrust my hand out that I might strike you and your people with pestilence and that you might be effaced from the earth. But, in fact, for this cause I have kept you in existence, for the sake of showing you my power and in order to have my name declared in all the earth.” Yes, by proceeding in this manner Jehovah was making a name for himself as well as showing Pharaoh how great and varied His divine power is. Having told Pharaoh his reason for proceeding with him the way He did, Jehovah next warned him of the seventh plague: “Are you still behaving haughtily against my people in not sending them away? Here I am causing it to rain down tomorrow about this time a very heavy hail, the like of which has never occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.”—Ex. 9:15-19.

¹⁸ Pharaoh refusing to heed this warning, Jehovah God had Moses stretch out his hand toward the heavens, “and Jehovah gave thunders and hail, and fire would run down to the earth, and Jehovah kept making it rain down hail upon the land of Egypt. Thus there came hail and fire quivering in among the hail. . . . Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, there occurred no hail.”—Ex. 9:22-26.

19-21. (a) Against what was the seventh plague directed? (b) What are pictured by the thunder, hail and lightning?

¹⁹ This plague, by reason of its thunder, fire and hail coming from the sky, might be said to have affected the heavens, the air and the earth. It calls to mind the seventh plague of Revelation 16:17-20, which was poured out upon the air, which people breathe. It reads: “And the seventh one poured out his bowl upon the air. At this a loud voice issued out of the sanctuary from the throne, saying: ‘It has come to pass!’ And lightnings and voices and thunders occurred, and a great earthquake occurred such as had not occurred since men came to be on the earth, so extensive an earthquake, so great. And the great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give her the cup of the wine of the anger of his wrath. Also, every island fled, and mountains were not found.” That plague of Revelation was an expression of God’s anger against the spirit that the people of the world breathe in. It is the spirit of the Devil and it bears its fruitage among men. A message calling attention to this was delivered in Detroit, Michigan, in 1928, entitled “Declaration Against Satan and for Jehovah.” It put the blame squarely upon Satan the Devil for all mankind’s ills and warned of Armageddon’s rapid approach. All that has been written exposing Satan’s role in world affairs is a part of this plague on modern-day “Egypt” and its Pharaoh. Included, therefore, are The Watchtower articles “The Taunt-Song Against Satan the Devil,”b and “Delivering Satan’s Death Notice,”c as well as all else that has been written exposing Satan’s invisible influence in world affairs, including the exposé of what is “the spirit of the world,” in The Watchtower of December 15, 1963.

²⁰ Back in ancient Egypt the seventh plague was also accompanied with thunder and fire or lightning. So this plague in modern times also consists of thunderous warnings of divine judgments upon antitypical Egypt, Satan’s visible organization, to be executed at the battle of Armageddon. Those symbolic thunders were, in turn, caused by spiritual lightnings, flashes of truth emanating from Jehovah’s heavenly temple. This plague warns that there is no safety in modern “Egypt” and all who will not heed this warning and who will die at Armageddon will be like those ancient Egyptians who failed to heed the warning back there and who died of the hail.

²¹ Yes, there was also hail in connection with this seventh plague, even as there was in connection with the seventh bowl poured out, as recorded at Revelation chapter 16, and after the seventh trumpet sound, as recorded in Revelation 11:15-19. As regards ancient Egypt, the fire and smashing hail of this seventh plague call to mind the words of Jeremiah 23:29: “Is not my word [when executed] correspondingly like a fire, . . . and like a forge hammer that smashes the crag?” Hail is made up of frozen water; and accordingly the bound books published by the Watch Tower Society picture hard, smashing Bible truths. The Bible-study aids, such as the books Enemies and Religion, continued the spiritual hail, even as did the public lecture “Christendom Has Failed God! After Her End, What?” delivered around the world in 1962. And currently a plague of spiritual hail is falling by the presentation of the messages found in the Bible-study aid, the 704-page book “Babylon the Great Has Fallen!” God’s Kingdom Rules! and the two-hour-long moving picture “Proclaiming ‘Everlasting Good News’ Around the World.”

22. Of what will the plague of hail yet consist?

²² As regards the plague of hail, the congealed, hard spiritual truths, together with the thunderous warnings to the antitypical Egyptians of today, it appears that the climax of this plague is yet in the future. Says the book “Babylon the Great Has Fallen!” God’s Kingdom Rules! on pages 574, 575: “The hard, unyielding message of God’s vengeance against Satan’s visible organization will at last pelt men. It will presage their destruction. The symbolic hailstorm was not meant or expected to convert mankind at that late development of world affairs. . . . The fact that ‘the plague of it was unusually great’ foreshows that at the last there will be an unusually great proclamation of God’s vengeance by Jehovah’s witnesses.” Based on that comment, we ask the question: Since this plaguing hail-like message will not convert men, why will it be delivered? So that the wicked will know for a certainty who is causing their destruction and why.

THE EIGHTH PLAGUE—LOCUSTS

23, 24. What interesting facts are noted regarding the eighth plague?

²³ When ancient Pharaoh saw the extent of the damage done by the hail and fire, he professed repentance, but it lasted only as long as the plague. As soon as the hail ceased, he changed his mind, and so Jehovah now sent Moses and his spokesman Aaron to Pharaoh with the warning of the eighth plague, one of locusts. Concerning it we read, at Exodus 10:13-15: “The morning came and the east wind carried the locusts. And the locusts began to come up over all the land of Egypt and to settle down upon all the territory of Egypt. . . . and they went on eating up all the vegetation of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left; and there was left nothing green on the trees or on the vegetation of the field in all the land of Egypt.”

²⁴ Egyptian locusts may be as much as three inches long. Under the law of God given through Moses, locusts were considered clean insects and suitable for eating; in fact, they are still being eaten in the Orient. This plague was the greatest that ancient Egypt had ever seen of locusts, swarms darkening the skies. The warning itself as given by Moses and Aaron was enough to get the servants of Pharaoh up in arms against the policy of their ruler. So he called back Moses and Aaron, after having turned them down. But when Moses and Aaron insisted that all Israel, and not merely the able-bodied men, be permitted to go into the wilderness to worship Jehovah, Pharaoh drove them from his presence in rage. So this plague came, and not only did it strip the country bare of what remained from the previous plagues, inflicting catastrophic desolation, but at the same time it was a signal victory over the Egyptian gods credited with fertility and harvest. Hurriedly Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and professed repentance, but afterward he again let his heart become obstinate. One does not learn from experience unless one’s heart is right.

25, 26. What destruction has the modern locust plague till now been causing, and by what means?

²⁵ What is pictured by this plague? The literal plague disastrously affected Egypt’s remaining food supplies, producing famine conditions, but not hurting Jehovah’s people in the land of Goshen. Jehovah God sent those locusts; and the antitypical fulfillment would be the exposé made by his witnesses of today concerning the religious food of antitypical Egypt, proving such “Egypt” to be without life-giving spiritual food.

²⁶ This plague shows the way antitypical Egypt appears to Jehovah God as regards spiritual food. The Bible truths published by his spiritual remnant, pictured by Aaron, under the direction of the Greater Moses, Jesus Christ, prove the religious doctrines and practices of antitypical Egypt to be false, without life in them. Commerce, politics, the scientists, the philosophers, and all the false religionists, including the Catholic clergy, the Protestants, the fundamentalists and the modernists with their evolution theory, have been unable to relieve the situation. The antitypical Egyptians were shown to be without any spiritual food that had any value. This exposé of the spiritual famine in modern “Egypt” was a plague to the “Egyptians.” The subject of the world’s spiritual famine has been dealt with in The Watchtower as well as in the Awake! magazine, and in public lectures by Jehovah’s witnesses. More recent expressions of this symbolic plague have been such publications as What Has Religion Done for Mankind? and “Babylon the Great Has Fallen!” God’s Kingdom Rules! All such messages, which take in all false religion and expose the spiritual famine in modern “Egypt,” show there is not a single green thing of spiritual nourishment left and that those who are conscious of their spiritual need have to look elsewhere.

THE NINTH PLAGUE—DARKNESS

27, 28. (a) What was the ninth plague, and why was it the most telling plague yet against the gods of Egypt? (b) How did Pharaoh respond after it was lifted?

²⁷ Pharaoh of ancient Egypt refusing to learn from the eighth plague, Jehovah God sent the ninth plague, darkness. Exodus 10:21-29 tells us that it was a darkness so thick that it could be felt, as though it were a thick smog. In fact, the darkness was so dense that no Egyptian stirred from his place during the three days and nights that it lasted. The Israelites, however, had light in their dwellings, they being spared from this ninth plague even as from the five previous plagues. This plague poured out contempt upon the sun-god Amon-Ra and upon Thoth, who was the counselor of Osiris and was god of the moon as well as the so-called systematizer of sun, moon and stars. It might be said to have been the most telling blow till then against the gods of Egypt. How so? In that the Egyptians, above all, were especially devoted to the worship of the sun and light.

²⁸ At the end of the plague of unnatural darkness Pharaoh agreed to let all the Israelites go to worship Jehovah in the wilderness. But when Moses and Aaron insisted that the Israelites take along their livestock for offering sacrifices, Pharaoh thundered: “Get out from me! Watch yourself! Do not try to see my face again, because on the day of your seeing my face you will die.” To this Moses calmly replied: “That is the way you have spoken. I shall not try to see your face any more.”—Ex. 10:28, 29.

29. What marks the fulfillment of the ninth plague in our day?

²⁹ As for the modern counterpart of this ninth plague: Today Christendom does not recognize Jehovah God as the light of the universe, nor Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and its Light, no more than does the rest of antitypical Egypt. Many look to evolution to save man; others to materialistic science; many pagan religions hold out their particular remedies; the Jews claim that Judaism is the light of the world and man’s only hope. The ninth plague reveals the folly of all such supposed lights, and it shows that those who look to these or hold them forth are actually in a pitch-black darkness, yes, not only in a mental darkness but in the darkness of God’s disfavor. An outstanding expression of this plague was first given in 1926 at the London, England, convention of Jehovah’s witnesses in connection with the public lecture “Why World Powers Are Tottering—the Remedy,” given in support of the Resolution passed by the conventioners at that time. That Resolution showed the League of Nations to be a complete failure, that by reason of “the blinding influence of Satan the minds of the rulers and of the ruled are turned away from the true God,” and that only God’s kingdom would be able to remove “the blind ignorance” with which the people have long been afflicted. (Rev. 16:10, 11) Likewise the recent Assembly Resolution of 1963, as adopted all around the globe, pointed out that the darkness of God’s disfavor rests upon modern “Egypt.” Much has been published by Jehovah’s people showing that the would-be saviors of men, individuals, movements or organizations, such as the League of Nations that was hailed as “the only Light there is!” are no lights, no saviors. The public talk and Resolution of the 1926 convention in London, England, were made up in printed form as a tract and fifty million copies were distributed. Additionally, the Watch Tower Society paid for a full-page ad, to carry this same message, in a London newspaper, the Daily News, a paper available to 800,000 readers. All such publication showing how dense the darkness upon antitypical Egypt is forms part of this symbolic ninth plague, and such messages by Jehovah’s witnesses certainly do plague those looking to such worldly things as lights.

The Tenth Plague—Firstborn Slain

1, 2. What was the tenth plague, and what effect did it have on Pharaoh?

Now we come to the climactic tenth plague on ancient Egypt, the death of the firstborn. The details of this plague are given at Exodus 11:1 to 12:36. What a demonstration of Jehovah’s power that occasion was, both to preserve and to destroy! Every firstborn son perished, from Pharaoh’s to that of the captive in the prison hole, as well as the firstborn of every beast. The gods of Egypt were judged helpless that night and so proved no gods. Especially so was Amon-Ra the supposed preserver of all the firstborn. Where was he that night? There could be no question now as to who was greater, Pharaoh’s Amon-Ra or Moses’ Jehovah.

² Forgotten now was Pharaoh’s threat to kill Moses and Aaron if he ever saw them again. Instead, he urgently sent for them and said: “Get up, get out from the midst of my people, both you and the other sons of Israel, and go, serve Jehovah, just as you have stated. Take both your flocks and your herds, . . . and go. Also, you must bless me besides.” (Ex. 12:31, 32) Thus was fulfilled the warning that Jehovah told Moses to declare to Pharaoh at the very beginning of the negotiations: “This is what Jehovah has said: ‘Israel is my son, my first-born. And I say to you: Send my son away that he may serve me. But should you refuse to send him away, here I am killing your son, your firstborn.’”—Ex. 4:22, 23.

3. How are the modern “firstborn” identified?

³ Just what is the modern counterpart of the plague of the death of the firstborn? From earliest times the firstborn were those devoted to God. It was the firstborn that served as a priest for each family. That is why we read of priests in the book of Exodus (19:22, 24) before Jehovah appointed Aaron the firstborn and his sons as priests and caused Aaron to be anointed. The firstborn of modern Egypt would therefore be all those religionists who profess to be devoted, especially set apart for the service of their god. This would include nuns, monks, priests, all the clergy, the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches, all the way up to the pope. It would also include the sadhus or “holy men” and monks of India, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, and suchlike of other Oriental and African lands.

4, 5. What in our day corresponds to the tenth plague?

⁴ So in the antitypical plague on the firstborn these are pictured as slain because of being exposed as not being devoted to Jehovah God, not being, in fact, his holy firstborn. They are dead to his service. All the Watch Tower Society’s literature has exposed the religious pretensions of these men, showing them to be really serving the “god of this system of things,” they being self-righteous and commercialists, like the Pharisees, money-lovers, or greedy for power, as are the politicians. Such publicity is part of this plague. A plaguelike message of modern times directed against these religious devotees was first given after World War I at the convention in Los Angeles, California, in 1923. It enumerated instance after instance in which the clergy of Christendom have shown themselves to be hypocrites, false religious shepherds, and so forth. It applied to the clergy 2 Timothy 3:1-5, which tells of the perilous “last days” when men would be lawless, extremely selfish, lovers of themselves and of pleasures rather than lovers of God, and so forth. It charged them with having forsaken the Word of God, using the name “Christian” as a cloak for their wicked deeds, teaching evolution and higher criticism by which they are destroying the faith of millions, posing as representatives of the Prince of Peace but advocating war.

⁵ The Indictment, the Resolution that was issued in connection with the 1924 convention at Columbus, Ohio, also lashed out against the antitypical firstborn of modern “Egypt,” and so did the Resolution passed at the 1958 assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses at Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds, New York City. Among other things, that Resolution, adopted by 194,418 conventioners, showed that the clergy had caused the people to forget the name of Jehovah, that they have refused to join in giving the Kingdom witness, that they have turned their backs on Jesus Christ and endorsed the United Nations, and that the clergy of Christendom stand as the most reprehensible and delinquent class of men on earth before Jehovah, and, when God executes his judgments, he will give them judicial attention first. This Resolution, as has been pointed out, was printed in fifty languages, to the number of seventy million copies, and thus received worldwide distribution. All that has been written and circulated exposing clericalism, honorary religious titles, celibacy, monasticism, whether of Christendom or of pagandom, to prove such religionists as dead to God’s true service, is a part of this symbolic tenth plague. A most recent example is the motion picture telling of preaching the good news around the world, and exposing false Babylonish religion, which motion picture is being exhibited free to large audiences all around the world, numbering into the millions. All such shows that these people of the cloth are not in fact “firstborn” or devoted to God and true religion, and so are dead to his pure worship. They are the firstborn of the false gods of this world, antitypical Egypt, under Satan the Devil, and are marked as “vessels of wrath made fit for destruction.”—Rom. 9:22.

6. (a) What is pictured by the fact that the tenth plague represented a threat to Israel’s firstborn? (b) Who else in modern times are affected by the tenth plague?

⁶ Any Israelite household in ancient Egypt that failed to obey instructions for holding the passover supper suffered the death of its firstborn. (Ex. 11:7 to 12:30) So today, all who profess to be members of spiritual Israel, Jehovah’s spiritual anointed people, devoted to him, will likewise be considered as dead in his sight unless they exercise faith in “Christ our passover” and render obedience and live truly devoted lives toward Jehovah God. (1 Cor. 5:7) Any such dead “firstborn” from among spiritual Israel would be those who after having dedicated themselves to Jehovah God have become ‘drowned in the sea of commercialism,’ as well as those who for selfish reasons have severed themselves from Jehovah’s people. They too have been exposed in the Watch Tower Society’s publications as not being faithful in their dedication and devotion to Jehovah, as in the Watchtower article entitled “The Traitorous Evil Slave and His Prototypes.”—Matt. 24:48-51.

7, 8. What other parallels are to be seen in the prophetic drama of the ten plagues on Egypt?

⁷ Today Jehovah’s dedicated people have the great privilege of sharing in sending the antitypical ten plagues upon modern Egypt and will continue to do so until religious Babylon the Great suffers destruction and the battle of Armageddon strikes. And just as those plagues back there in ancient Egypt magnified Jehovah God, so they do today. Back in ancient Egypt, Moses and Aaron had to appear before Pharaoh time and again, twelve times in all as far as the plagues were concerned, yet not knowing from one plague to the next how many more times they would need to do so. Today Jehovah’s servants must keep going over their territory time and again, not knowing the exact number of times remaining. It was not easy for Moses and Aaron to appear at the court of Pharaoh with its officials, retainers and soldiers. So today, it is not easy for Jehovah’s people to go forth to the homes of the people with these messages and to fight their legal cases in the judicial courts of the land. Back in ancient Egypt the plagues caused the name of Jehovah to be talked about in an unfriendly way by some Egyptians. So today, the plaguing messages that Jehovah’s people bring cause the majority to speak about Jehovah in an unfriendly way.

⁸ And what has been the result of all ten of these plagues upon antitypical Egypt of today? The same as back there. On the one hand, the ten plagues have hardened the hearts of those having the spirit of the antitypical Pharaoh, Satan the Devil. On the other hand, the plagues have softened those who are of honest heart and who love righteousness. Yes, back in 1513 B.C.E. “a vast mixed company” associated itself with Jehovah’s people, leaving Egypt with them. (Ex. 12:38) So today a “great crowd” of persons from all nations, tribes and tongues have left modern “Egypt,” as it were, and taken their stand with the spiritual Israelites, the remnant of anointed Christians still on earth. (Rev. 7:9-17; 11:8) After the death of Egypt’s firstborn, the Israelites and the “mixed company” left Egypt. Today, therefore, from one standpoint, God’s people have left antitypical Egypt and are now on their way to the Promised Land. They must yet pass through the Red Sea experience of Armageddon, where Pharaoh’s counterpart, Satan the Devil, and his pursuit forces will be “drowned.” The antitypical firstborn ones of modern “Egypt” will all be literally destroyed then. (Ex. 14:19–15:19) But, from another point of view, in that the ten plagues are still being poured out upon modern “Egypt,” it might be said that God’s people are still in antitypical Egypt, or, as Jesus said, in the world but no part of it.—John 17:15, 16.

9. How can we today heed the instructions King Hezekiah gave the priests and Levites?

⁹ Until Jehovah God’s destruction of Babylon the Great and his war at Armageddon, may there be no quitting or even slowing down on the part of Jehovah’s servants. As faithful King Hezekiah of Jerusalem told the priests and the Levites back in his day: “My sons, do not give yourselves up to rest, for you are the ones whom Jehovah has chosen to stand before him to minister to him and to continue as his ministers.” (2 Chron. 29:11) Let Jehovah’s servants keep on declaring his name and sharing in plaguing antitypical Egypt, of which religious Babylon the Great is a prominent part. At the same time let them