Dan Dan's Flag Judah Judah's Flag Reuben Reuben's Flag Gad Gad's Flag Asher Asher's Flag Naphtali Naphtali's Flag Manasseh Manasseh's Flag Simeon Simeon's Flag Levi Levi's Flag Issachar Issachar's Flag Zebulun Zebulun's Flag Joseph Joseph's Flag Benjamin Benjamin's Flag

Plagues

The plagues on Egypt are traditionally thought to be ten, but they map the the 13 tribes when we share the wind/locust plague with two tribes and add the plundering of Egypt of gold and silver and the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. The following table explores.

Tribe Sign Scripture
Judah Blood

Exodus 7:14-24
14Then Yahvah said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go.
15Go to pharaoh in the morning; look, he goes out to his daily duty; and you stand toward him by the river's brink and wait; and take in your hand the staff which was turned into a serpent.
16And you will say to him, Yahvah, god of the Hebrews, has sent me to you saying, Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness; and look, until now you have not listened.
17Yahvah says, By this you will know that I am Yahvah: look, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike on the waters of the river, and they will be turned to blood.
18And the fish that are in the river will die, and the river will stink; and the Egyptians will loathe to drink of the water of the river.
19And Yahvah said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your staff and lift up your hand on the waters of Egypt, on their rivers, on their ponds, and on all their pools of water, and on the streams, and they will become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, in both vessels of wood and vessels of stone.


20And Moses and Aaron did as Yahvah had commanded them; and Aaron lifted up the staff which was in his hand and struck the waters of the river, in the sight of pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood.
21And the fish that were in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22And the magicians of Egypt did the same by their enchantments; but pharaoh's heart was hardened and he did not listen to them, as Yahvah had said.
23And pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take to heart even this sign.
24And all the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

Reuben Frogs

Exodus 8:1-15
1Then Yahvah said to Moses, Go to pharaoh and say to him, Yahvah says, Let my people go that they may serve me.
2And if you refuse to let them go, look, I will strike all your borders with frogs;
3and the river will swarm with frogs, which will come up and enter into your house and into your bedroom and into your bed and into the houses of your servants and of your people and into your inner chambers and into your kneading troughs;
4and the frogs will come up both on you and on all your people and on all your servants.
5And Yahvah said to Moses, Say to Aaron your brother, Lift up your hand with your staff over the rivers and over the streams and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come on the land of Egypt.
6So Aaron lifted up his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
7And the magicians did the same with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.


8Then pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said to them, Pray to Yahvah, that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go that they may sacrifice to Yahvah.
9And Moses said to pharaoh, Appoint a time; when I will pray for you and for your servants and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your house?
10And he said to him, Tomorrow. And Moses said, Be it according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like Yahvah our god.
11And the frogs will depart from you and from your house and from your servants and from your people; they will remain in the river only.
12And Moses and Aaron went out from the presence of pharaoh; and Moses prayed before Yahvah because of the frogs which he had brought against pharaoh.
13And Yahvah did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died that were in the houses and in the courtyards and in the fields.
14And they gathered them together in heaps; and the land stank.
15And when pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as Yahvah had said to Moses.

Gad Gnats

Exodus 8:16-19
16And Yahvah said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Lift up your staff and strike the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
17And he did so; and Aaron lifted up his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the land, and it became lice on men and on cattle; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
18And the magicians did the same by means of their magic to bring forth lice, but they could not get rid of the lice; so there were lice on men and on cattle.
19Then the magicians said to pharaoh, This is the finger of god; and pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as Yahvah had said.

Asher Arabs (Flies)

Exodus 8:20-9:0
20And Yahvah said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning and stand before pharaoh; look, he goes out to his daily duty; and say to him, Yahvah says, Let my people go that they may serve me.
21Else, if you will not let my people go, look, I will send the Arab on you and on your servants and on your people and on your house; and the houses of the Egyptians will be filled with the Arab, like a field when it is covered with them.
22And I will set apart on that day the land of Goshen, in which my people live, that no Arab will be there, to the end that you may know that I am Yahvah in the middle of the land.
23And I will put a division between my people and your people; tomorrow this sign will be.
24And Yahvah did so; and he brought a great Arab into the house of pharaoh and into his servants' houses and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was ruined by reason of the Arab.


25Then pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said to them, Go sacrifice to your god inside the land.
26And Moses said, It is not proper to do so; for we will sacrifice to Yahvah our god some of the animals that are an abomination to the Egyptians. And if we should sacrifice animals that are idols before Egyptian eyes, they would stone us.
27We will go 3 days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to Yahvah our god, as he has commanded us.
28And pharaoh said, I will let you go that you may sacrifice to Yahvah your god in the wilderness; only you will not go very far, and you must also pray for me.
29And Moses said, Look, I go out from your presence and I will pray before Yahvah and he will cause the arab to depart from pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; but do not let pharaoh deal deceitfully any longer by refusing to allow the people to go to sacrifice to Yahvah.
30So Moses went out from the presence of pharaoh and prayed before Yahvah.
31And Yahvah did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the arab from pharaoh and from his servants and from his people; not 1 remained.
32And pharaoh also hardened his heart at this time and did not let the people go.

Naphtali Livestock

Exodus 9:1-7
1Then Yahvah said to Moses, Go to pharaoh and say to him, Yahvah, god of the Hebrews, says, Let my people go that they may serve me.
2For if you refuse to let them go, and until now you have withheld them,
3look, Yahvah will strike your cattle which are in the desert, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the oxen, and the sheep; there will be a very severe plague.
4And Yahvah will discriminate between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of the Egyptians, so that none of the cattle that belong to the sons of Israel will die, not even 1.
5And Yahvah appointed a set time saying, Tomorrow Yahvah will do this thing in the land.
6And Yahvah did that thing the next day, and all the cattle of the Egyptians died; but of the cattle of the sons of Israel not 1 died.
7And pharaoh sent, and look, not 1 of the cattle of Israel was dead. And the heart of pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people go.

Manasseh Boils

Exodus 9:8-12
8And Yahvah said to Moses and to Aaron, Take 2 handfuls of the ashes of the furnace and let Moses scatter it toward the skies in the sight of pharaoh.
9And it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and there will be boils breaking forth with sores on men, and on cattle, throughout all the land of Egypt.
10So they took ashes of the furnace and stood before pharaoh; and Moses scattered it toward the skies in the sight of pharaoh; and it became blistering boils, breaking out with sores on men, and on cattle.
11And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils had spread among the magicians and throughout all the land of Egypt.
12And Yahvah hardened the heart of pharaoh and he did not listen to them, as Yahvah had said to Moses.

Simeon Hail

Exodus 9:13-10:0
13And Yahvah said to Moses, Arise early in the morning, and stand before pharaoh, and say to him, Yahvah, god of the Hebrews, says, Let my people go that they may serve me.
14For this time I will send my plague on your heart and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is no one like me in all the land.
15For now I will stretch out my hand that I may strike you and your people with pestilence; and you will perish from the land.
16But for this cause I have raised you to the throne, to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the land.
17As yet you are continuing to detain this people and refusing to let them go.
18Look, tomorrow, about this time, I will cause a severe storm of hail, such as there has not been in Egypt from the day that it was founded even until now.
19Send now and gather your cattle and all that you have in the field; for on every man and the cattle which be found in the field, and will not be brought home, the hail will come down on them, and they will die.
20He who feared the word of Yahvah among the servants of pharaoh brought his servants and his cattle into the house.
21But he who did not regard the word of Yahvah left his servants and his cattle in the field.


22And Yahvah said to Moses, Lift up your hand toward the skies that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on men and on cattle and on all the grass in the field, throughout the land of Egypt.
23And Moses lifted up his staff toward the skies; and Yahvah sent thunder and hail, and lightning ran along on the ground; and Yahvah showered hail on the land of Egypt.
24So there was hail, and flaming fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
25And the hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and cattle; and the hail destroyed all the herbs of the field and broke every tree of the field.
26Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel lived, there was no hail.


27Then pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned this time; Yahvah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
28Pray before Yahvah, for there is yet a chance for forgiveness in his presence that there not be mighty thunderings and hail any longer; and I will let you go, and you will stay no longer.
29And Moses said to him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will stretch forth my hands to Yahvah; and the thunder will cease and there will not be hail any longer, that you may know that the land belongs to Yahvah.
30But as for you and your servants, I know that you have not yet feared Yahvah God.
31And the flax and the barley were lost; for the barley was in the ear and the flax was boiled.
32But the wheat and the rye were not lost; for they were sown late.
33And Moses went out of the city from the presence of pharaoh, and spread out his hands to Yahvah; and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the land.
34And when pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had ceased, he sinned yet more, and his heart was hardened, and the heart of his servants.
35And the heart of pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the sons of Israel go, as Yahvah had sent word to him by Moses.

Levi Wind

Exodus 10:1-13
1And Yahvah said to Moses, Go into pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may perform these signs among them,
2that you may relate in the presence of your son and of your son's son the things which I have done to the Egyptians and the signs which I have performed among them, that you may know that I am Yahvah.


3And Moses and Aaron came to pharaoh, and said to him, Yahvah, god of the Hebrews, says, How long will you refuse to fear me? Let my people go that they may serve me.
4Else, if you refuse to let my people go, look, tomorrow I will bring locusts on all your domain;
5and they will cover the face of the land so that men cannot see the ground; and they will eat the residue of what is left to you from the hail and will eat all the trees which have budded for you in the field;
6and they will fill your houses and the houses of your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians such as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they were on the land even to this day. And they turned, and went out from the presence of pharaoh.


7And pharaoh's servants said to him, How long will we suffer this disaster? Let the men go that they may serve Yahvah their god; do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?
8So Moses and Aaron were brought back to pharaoh; and he said to them, Go, serve before Yahvah your god; but who are those who are going?
9And Moses said to him, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters; with our flocks and with our herds we will go, for it is a festival of Yahvah for all of us.
10And pharaoh said to them, Let Yahvah be with you, but when I let you and your little ones go, look to it; perhaps you have evil intent.
11Do not let it be so; go now, the older men, and serve before Yahvah; for it is the rest that you desire. And they were driven out from pharaoh's presence.


12And Yahvah said to Moses, Lift up your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come on the land of Egypt and eat the herbs of the land, even all that the hail has left.
13And Moses lifted up his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahvah brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

Issachar Locusts

Exodus 10:13-20
13And Moses lifted up his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahvah brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
14And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested in all the domain of the Egyptians; it was a great swarm; neither before them were such swarms of locusts as these, nor after them will be such swarms.
15For they covered the face of the whole land so that the land was darkened; and they ate all the herbs of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left; and there remained no leaf on the trees nor grass in the field, through all the land of Egypt.
16Then pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said to them, I have sinned against Yahvah your god and against you.
17Now forgive me my fault this time also, and pray before Yahvah your god that he may remove from me this death.
18And Moses went out from the presence of pharaoh and prayed before Yahvah.
19And Yahvah turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea; there remained not 1 locust in all the domain of Egypt.
20But Yahvah hardened pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the sons of Israel go.

Zebulun Darkness

Exodus 10:21-11:0
21Then Yahvah said to Moses, Lift up your hand toward the skies that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even thick darkness.
22And Moses lifted up his hand toward the skies; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt 3 days;
23they did not see each other, nor rose any from his place for 3 days; but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.
24And pharaoh called to Moses and said to him, Go, serve before Yahvah your god; only let your flocks and herds remain here; let your little ones also go with you.
25Then Moses said to pharaoh, You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may present to Yahvah our god.
26Our cattle will also go with us; there will not be 1 hoof left behind; for we must take them to serve before Yahvah our god; and we do not know what else we must offer to Yahvah until we come there.
27But Yahvah hardened pharaoh's heart and he would not let them go.
28And pharaoh said to Moses, Get away from here, take care of yourself, do not try to see my face again.
29And Moses said, You spoke well, I will not try to see your face any longer.

Joseph Firstborn

Exodus 12:29-30
29And it came to pass that at midnight Yahvah slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison; and all the firstborn of cattle.
30And pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great wailing in the land of Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not 1 dead.

Benjamin Plunder

Exodus 12:31-36
31And pharaoh called Moses and Aaron that night, and said to them, Rise up and get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, serve Yahvah, as you have said.
32Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and also bless me.


33And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might get them out of the land of Egypt in haste; for they said, We will all die.
34And the people took their kneading dough before it was leavened and their cold kneading dough wrapped up in their mantles on their shoulders.
35And the sons of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold and clothing;
36and Yahvah gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they asked of them. And thus they stripped the Egyptians.

Dan Sea

Exodus 14:24-28
24And it came to pass that in the morning watch Yahvah appeared to the Egyptians army in a pillar of fire and of cloud, and threw the Egyptian army into confusion,
25thus clogging their chariot wheels that they drew heavily, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from before the house of Israel; for Yahvah fights for them against Egypt.


26And Yahvah said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea that the waters may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and on their horsemen.
27And Moses lifted up his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its place when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and Yahvah overthrew the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.
28And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not a single 1 of them.

Notes

Judah as the plague of blood is still a little muddy to me.

Reuben fits nicely with the plague of frogs in that the plague includes the detail that the frogs went into pharoah's bed. Reuben is known for defiling the bed also.

Gad as the plague of gnats is unclear to me.

Asher as the plague of "arabs" (aka flies) maps to Asher and his modern nation of Austria, the headquarters of OPEC. Remember Asher's feet were to be bathed in oil. All the arab oil is traded at OPEC. In Hebrew the word "flies" does not exist but "swarm" is spelled ayin, reysh, bet and sometimes translated Arabia. Quite literally this scripture is saying Egypt was plagued with a great arab, but apparently it was not any more politically correct to say such things in 1611 than it is now.

Naphtali as the plague on livestock is wonderful because it's actually the "decree" or "word" on livestock (debar in Hebrew). Naphtali would have "beautiful words" according to Jacob in Genesis 49, so this is a nice match.

Manasseh as the plague of boils from soot from a furnace is good. Elsewhere in scripture Manasseh is the altar of burnt offering, which has plenty of ashes. One of his books is Job, who throws ashes on his head as Moses and Aaron did to Egypt.

Simeon as the plague of hail is a good match because the uniqueness of the plague fits Simeon. Only the plague of hail comes with counsel ahead of time, which some Egyptians hear, but many do not. They are told to shelter their servants and animals because it is going to hail. Simeon is the one who did not listen to his father's counsel in Genesis.

Levi takes the first part of the plague of locusts, which is a wind that eventually drives the locusts from the sea into the land of Egypt. Not exactly sure why this would be Levi, but the plauges around this match the tribes well so this match is more or less right even if unclear at this time.

Issachar then takes the second half of the plague of locusts, the part where the locusts actually show up en masse and consume everything in Egypt that was not destroyed by the hail. Issachar's holiday is Tabernacles, which is actually a trade fair, a time when everyone descends on Jerusalem, sets up their booths, and buys, sells and trades anything and everything for a week. By the end of Tabernacles everything is consumed like when the locusts where done with Egypt.

Zebulun as the plague of darkness needs more thought. I don't get this one yet.

Joseph holds the firstborn promise for his generation, so he's a natural fit with the plague on firstborn.

Benjamin was the one who plunders in Genesis 49 and here he maps to the "plundering" of Egypt's gold and silver. When the list of apostles are mapped to the tribes Judas goes with Benjamin. Judas, of course, had his hand in the money bag.

Dan goes nicely with the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. Later in time Dan would settle "by the sea" when Israel took Canaan. The modern day Danites, Netherlanders, have also pushed back the sea with an extensive system of dikes.