In this week’s parsha, Hashem sends Moshe to tell the Jews they will be freed. When they didn’t listen to him, Moshe’s stick turned into a snake by being thrown to the ground. When Pharaoh’s magicians did the same with their sticks, Moshe’s snake turned back into a stick and then it swallowed all the other sticks. Pharaoh was stubborn and wicked and would not listen to Moshe and Aaron. Hashem then sent the ten plagues; blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, death of the domestic animals, blisters, hail, locusts, darkness, and death of the first born. Only seven are discussed in this weeks parsha. In Hebrew the first letter of each of the ten plagues were written on the stick of Moshe.
Why did Hashem bring the plagues in this order? One explanation is that Hashem punished the Egyptian people with these ten plagues because they did evil things to the Jews. Each plague matched a thing that the Egyptians did to the people of Israel. For example lice: the Egyptians commanded the Jews to sweep the floors and rake the fields. So Hashem therefore turned all the dust in Egypt into lice so there was no more dust for the Jews to sweep.
One thing we can learn from this week’s parsha is that when Hashem punishes us we promise to improve, but as soon as the suffering comes to an end we forget all about out decision to be good and return to our old ways. Let us stick to our decisions even after we are out of trouble.