NOTES for Exo 9:1-35
The catastrophe that overtook Egypt is described by the biblical author very schematically, and the conclusions suggest themselves: a wicked king, an unbelieving people, punishment; and conversely, a prophet, a faithful people, well-being (not one of the Egyptian "plagues" touches the Israelites).
At first glance, such theology is rather primitive. Do believers not suffer? In global catastrophes, do people of different convictions, "good" and "bad," not die? And how are we to distinguish the good from the bad, and is God not "kind to the ungrateful and the evil"?
Behind this ancient and specific language ("execute the enemies, spare our own") stands another, more universal truth: the evil that takes place in the world is the consequence of human evil (even if not directly); death enters the world because of mistrust of God; and therefore faith is the way of life, even when we cannot always see it with our own eyes.