Question about the Plagues

[milby]

In Exodus 9 God sent the plague of the death of the livestock. He said all the livestock of the Egyptions were to die including horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. Ok.

Now right after that is the plague of the boils (Ex. 9: in which boils broke out on man and beast.

My question is if all the livestock were killed prior to the boil plague, where did the "beasts'" come from that were stricken with the boils?

 

[Amy.G]

We had this question just the other day, but I'll give my opinion again anyway.

You are assuming that the plagues came rapidly, like one day after another. There were probably months between them, giving the Egyptians plenty of time to have new livestock brought in.

 

[Scarlett O.]

In addition to what Amy said about a timeline, the word for cattle and beast in that passage is "behemah" which can mean cattle, livestock, animals, and wild beasts according to the Hebrew definition.

If God killed their cattle, then the "beasts" could have including crocodiles, frogs, foxes, cats, dogs, and whatever other non-domesticated animals that were there.

The plagues grew more inclusive to a degree as they went. The magicians were able to duplicate the initial one and by the time the boils came the Bible says that they could not combat it because they were covered too. So it stand to reason, to me, that one plague destroyed the livestock and the next plague included a destruction that included non-domesticated animals.

 

[Amy.G]

Here is some additional info that might be of interest. According to my bible dictionary, the plagues (1st 9) would have occurred from the natural flooding of the Nile which happened every year in July, August, and September. It is estimated the plagues occurred over a period of 7 to 9 months.
Each plague also represented an Egyptian deity.
1. blood = Hapi
2. frogs = Heqt
3. lice = Hathor, Nut
4. flies = Shu, Isis
5. livestock diseased = Apis
6. boils = Shekhmet
7. hail = Geb
8. locusts = Serapis
9. darkness = Ra

The Egyptians also worshiped the Nile River and since all 9 of these plagues seemed to be an attack on the Nile river, God was making a definite statement against the pagan worship of Egypt and they would have recognized this.