By divine command he appeared before the reigning Pharaoh and demanded, in the name of Jehovah, the release of his brethren, who, in all, must have been about 2,000,000. This number, though not stated, may be supposed to be correct as based upon the fact that at the departure from Egypt the able men numbered 600,000. =6. The unwillingness of the king= to let the people go was finally subdued by a series of remarkable plagues. The most singular feature of these inflictions is found in the fact that in every case they seem to have attacked the Egyptians in the most important elements of either their national greatness or in the direction of their greatest comforts and reliance. Another singular feature in the whole course of affliction was their progressive seriousness. =7. The first plague= appeared in the sudden change of the waters of the Nile into blood. The Nile was not only the great source of water supply, but was supposed to be under the immediate care of the gods of Egypt. Hymns have come down to us composed in the honor of the personified Nile. These were composed before the time of Moses, and give the names of their chief gods to the waters of the great river. The Nile was “the representative of all that was good.” This plague made it necessary that the people should begin digging wells near the banks of the river and elsewhere throughout all Egypt. =8. The second plague=, of frogs, attacked in like manner, but more directly, the religious superstitions. The frog-headed deity Heki was the wife of the god of the cataracts of the Nile, who also was represented with a frog’s head. The frog was the symbol of renewed life after death, and was worshipped as such. =9. The third plague= was more intense; it afflicted man and brute alike. The ground brought forth insects, “lice” so called, in such abundance that even the priests could not cleanse themselves. The priests were not allowed to use woollen in any of their garments, because of the likelihood that it would harbor this vile evil, which was one greatly abhorred. Insects of every kind, even gnats, were considered unclean. Priests and people were alike unclean. =10. The fourth plague=, of flies, was somewhat similar, being an insect curse, but now the curse was winged. =11. The fifth plague=, of “murrain,” was far more serious, as it not only touched the honor of the Egyptian faith in the worship of Isis and Osiris, to whom the cattle were sacred, but caused the death of the cattle throughout Egypt. It troubled in yet more serious degree the temple and the market, the priest and the people. =12. The sixth= was yet more distressing, for it sent boils and “blains” upon man and beast, not even the magicians being able to stand in the presence of Moses “because of the boils.” =13. The seventh plague= was one not only of hail, but of fearful displays of lightning and peals of thunder, such as were never before known in the land.