Great judgments. That deliverance could not be accomplished by peaceful means, but would require a show of force on the part of God, is now intimated. Hints of judgments to come had been made previously (Exodus 3:20; 4:23). True, they had not been called such, although God had promised Abraham that He would judge that nation whom they should serve (Genesis 15:14). The plagues about to be visited upon Pharaoh and his people were not merely “wonders” or “signs” in the ordinary sense, but also punishments inflicted on a proud and cruel nation by a divine Judge.