Meaning of PLAGUES

Plagues are punishments that God inflicts on man. Most of the plagues mentioned in the Bible are epidemics or diseases, but the punishment is sometimes of a different order.



Plagues are punishments that God inflicts on man. Most of the plagues mentioned in the Bible are epidemics or diseases, but the punishment is sometimes of a different order.

It is not necessary for a disease to be prodigious in nature for it to constitute a plague. A violation of divine law regarding the use of the body in general, and sexuality in particular, and even unconsciously unhygienic behavior with no obvious relationship to morality, can bring a plague against those who thus violate the sanctity of the body.

God is the one who determines the place and time of his appearance. Certain plague epidemics (typhus, for example) have sometimes been clear judgments of God. The first plague mentioned in the Bible fell on a Pharaoh contemporary with Abraham: God wanted to protect Sarah (Gen. 12:17).

Regarding the ten plagues of Egypt, see the article PLAGUES OF EGYPT (THE TEN). Later, God punished the Israelites who had made and worshiped a golden calf (Ex. 32:35). He also punished those who had murmured against the manna (Num. 11:33, 34). (See MANNA.)

He put to death the ten spies who spoke evil of the Promised Land (Num. 14:37). On another occasion, 14,700 Israelites died protesting against the punishment that had befallen the rebels Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num. 16:4650).

The people who gave themselves over to idolatry and the consequent immorality in the worship of Baal-peor were struck by a deadly plague; 24,000 Israelites perished (Num. 25:9; Josh. 22:17; Ps. 106:28-30). The tumors of the Philistines were also a punishment (1 Sam. 6:4).

The census ordered by David caused a plague to break out, and 70,000 people perished (2 Sam. 24:13-25; 1 Chron. 21:12-30). A great plague fell on Jehoram, king of Judah, and on his people (2 Chron. 21:14, 15).

The term translated “scourge” in Mark 5:29, and which in some versions is translated “plague,” does not designate an epidemic disease. In Lv. 14:3454 the term "plague" is used for leprosy and ringworm, which are individual cases and not epidemic.