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Wednesday, March 11 2009
The English word plague originated from a Latin word, plaga, meaning to strike, as with injury or illness. It is used to translate two different Hebrew words of the Scriptures.
The first, pronounced neh-gah, means to mark, as with an injury or illness. It is variously translated as plague, sore, stroke, stripes, stricken and wound i.e. the word could refer as much to injury as illness, as much from war as from biological catastrophe (although sometimes they could be combined, as in Biological Warfare). An example of neh-gah from the time of the Exodus:
"12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague [neh-gah] shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:13 KJV)
The other Hebrew word, pronounced mag-gay-faw, also means to strike with illness or injury. An example from Exodus (note how the "plague" was intended to have a psychological effect upon the Pharaoh).
"9:14 For I will at this time send all my plagues [mag-gay-faw] upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth." (Exodus 9:14 KJV)
"I will break the pride of your power"
Although many regard what happened to the Egyptian Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus as unique to him, the use of national "plague" was applied even to the Israelites themselves when they became a lawless law unto themselves (see the Fact Finder question below).
"26:19 And I will break the pride of your power [see The Two Kinds Of Pride]; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: 26:20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. 26:21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins." (Leviticus 26:19-21 KJV)
The LORD has brought "plague" upon "Pharaohs" through all time - and will do so most spectacularly in the end time, some of which will be delivered through a modern-day Moses and Aaron, the LORD's two witnesses (see Two Witnesses and An Angel).
"11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
11:6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will." (Revelation 11:3-6 KJV)
Fact Finder: What does "violence to God's Law" mean?
See Violence
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This Day In History, March 11
537: The Goths besieged Rome.
1702: The first British daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, appeared.
1810: The emperor Napoleon was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise.
1812: An edict emancipated the Jews in Prussia; in reality however, the edict was evaded e.g. Jews could study law but not practice it.
1845: John Chapman died at age 71 in Indiana. He is more popularly known in legend as Johnny Appleseed.
1900: British prime minister Lord Salisbury rejected the peace overtures offered from Boer leader Paul Kruger.
1917: General Maude with 50,000 British and Indian troops marched into Baghdad, capturing 9,000 Turkish prisoners.
1931: The communist Soviet Union banned the sale or importation of Bibles.
1935: Hermann Goering established the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe.
1941: The U.S. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Bill, enabling Britain to borrow money for food and military equipment for World War II.
1949: Israel's application for membership in the United Nations was approved by the Security Council (membership itself came the following May).
1953: A U.S. bomber accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb on South Carolina, however the weapon of mass destruction did not explode due to 6 "safety" catches.
1985: Mikhail Gorbachev became head of the Soviet Union following the death of Konstantin Chernenko. At 54, he was the youngest member of the ruling Politburo.
1990: The Lithuanian Parliament proclaimed the restoration of the Baltic Republic's pre-World War Two independence from the Soviet Union. Lithuania was the first Soviet Republic to break away from Communist control.
