The great German rabbi and Biblical commentator (1808-1888), Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch offers a compelling interpretation of the 10 plagues. In the Haggadah we read that Rabbi Yehuda ha'yah notayn ba'hem see'maneem, "Rabbi Yehudah used to form acronyms (of the 10 plagues) by their initials": D'tzach, A'dash, B'ah'ch'av. Rabbi Hirsch asserts that Rabbi Yehuda's breakdown of the plagues into three sets of three (Makkat B'chorot - the slaying of the first born is in a category of its own), is not at all arbitrary. In fact, it is based on the Brit Bayn Hab'tarim, the Covenant Between the Pieces (Genesis 15) where G-d tells Avraham: Ya'do'ah tay'dah, "You shall surely know that your children will be gerim, exiles, in a land that is not theirs," va'avadum, " they will be enslaved," v'eenu otam "and they will be persecuted," arbah may'ot shana, "400 years."
Rabbi Hirsch underscores the three elements of the Covenant Between the Pieces: exile, enslavement and persecution. Elaborating on the structure of the 10 plagues, Rabbi Hirsch points out that the first plague of each triplet: dam, blood, arov,wild animals, and barad, hail, always takes place at the riverside. The first plagues of each triplet represent galut, exile. Just as the Jews in Egypt experienced exile, so the Egyptians must experience exile. The Nile is no loner the Nile. The most highly identified feature of Egypt is now a river of blood. The land is overrun with wild animals. It is no longer Egypt. Suddenly this country of hot climate is stricken with barad, hail. It is no longer Egypt.
The second of each triplet, says Rabbi Hirsch, always takes place at Pharaoh's palace. Tz'pharday'ah, frogs, deh'ver, death of the animals, and a'rbeh, locust, all represent avdut, enslavement. The Egyptians are overrun by timorous frogs who control their lives and enslave the citizens. The plague of the animals requires the Egyptians to serve as clean-up laborers. And a'rbeh, locusts, the little bugs control and in effect enslave the Egyptians.
The final plague of each triplet always takes place without any warning to Pharaoh. Kinim, lice, sh'chin, boils, and cho'shech, darkness, represent the third aspect of the Covenant Between the Pieces -- physical persecution. Physical persecution from lice, boils and darkness. The darkness, as the rabbis interpret it, was so fierce that the Egyptians were literally imprisoned, and they could not physically move.
Now we understand why Rabbi Judah would break the plagues up into three categories--because the 10 plagues truly served as a fulfillment of the Covenant Between the Pieces. We also see that there is magic to the structure of the Torah -- what seemed to be ten arbitrary plagues have deep and profound meaning when understood in the proper context.
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