When Moses relayed Hashem's message of "Let My people go" to Pharaoh, the Egyptian monarch snarled back, "Who is Hashem that I should listen to Him? Besides, I've never heard of Hashem before" (Exodus 5:2). With such unprecedented insolence, Pharaoh was begging for punishment. The punishment came quickly. There were ten different plagues. Each one was a precise measure-for-measure response to the suffering that Pharaoh and the Egyptians meted out to the Israelites, as we see in today's lesson.