[8] Against the worship of the Nile, two miracles were directed, and two likewise against Isis and Osiris, because they were supposed to be the supreme gods. Many placed the Nile first, as they said it had power to water Egypt independently of the action of the elements. The Almighty having thus revealed himself as the true God, by miraculous agency, and pursued those measures, in the exercise of his power, which were directly adapted to destroy the various forms of idolatry which existed in Egypt, the eleventh and last miracle was a judgment, in order to manifest to all minds that Jehovah was the God who executed judgment in the earth. The Egyptians had, for a long time, cruelly oppressed the Israelites, and to put the finishing horror to their atrocities, they had finally slain, at their birth, the offspring of their victims; and now God, in the exercise of infinite justice, visited them with righteous retribution. In the mid-watches of the night, the 'angel of the pestilence' was sent to the dwellings of Egypt, and he 'breathed in the face' of all the first-born in the land. In the morning, the hope of every family, from the palace to the cottage, was a corpse. What mind can imagine the awful consternation of that scene, when an agonizing wail rose from the stricken hearts of all the parents in the nation? The cruel task-masters were taught, by means which entered their souls, that the true God was a God not only of power but of judgment, and as such, to be feared by evil-doers, and reverenced by those that do well. The demonstration, therefore, is conclusive, that in view of the idolatrous state of the world, and especially of the character and circumstances of the Israelites, the true God could have made a revelation of himself in no other way than by the means, and in the manner, of the miracles of Egypt; and none but the true God could have revealed himself in this way.[9] [9] In accordance with the foregoing are the intimations given in the Bible of the design of the miracles of Egypt. By these exhibitions of Divine power God said--'Ye,' the Israelites, 'and Pharaoh shall know that I am Jehovah.' Miracles, moreover, were the evidence that Pharaoh required.--Ex. vii. 9, God said to Moses, that when he should present himself as the Divine legate, and Pharaoh should require a miracle, he should perform it accordingly. In relation to the destruction of idolatry, the design of Jehovah is expressly announced (Ex. xii. 12), 'Against all the Gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Jehovah.' See also Ex. xviii. 11. CHAPTER IV. WHAT WAS NECESSARY AS THE FIRST STEP IN THE PROCESS OF REVELATION.