The sign of the invasion of frogs (8:1-7). Once more Moses and Aaron commanded Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" and warned him that another plague was coming. "Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings" (Ps. 105:30). In Egypt, the frog was a fertility symbol; and Heqet, the goddess of resurrection, fertility, and childbirth, had the head of a frog.
The Lord's warning was very specific. He told Pharaoh that the frogs would go into their houses, beds, ovens and cooking utensils, and would even cling to the bodies of the people. Of course, the magicians again counterfeited the miracle, when the smartest thing they could have done was to nullify it.
Pharaoh hardens his heart against God (Ex. 8:8-19)
Pharaoh began to harden his heart when Moses and Aaron performed the first miraculous sign before him, just as God said he would do (7:3, 13-14). He hardened his heart further when his magicians counterfeited the signs (v. 22) and even when they couldn't duplicate what Moses and Aaron had done (8:19). When Moses succeeded in stopping the plague of frogs, Pharaoh's heart again hardened (v. 15). This hardening continued throughout the entire series of plagues (v. 32; 9:7, 34-35; 13:15).
What does it mean to harden your heart? It means to see clear evidence of the hand of God at work and still refuse to accept His Word and submit to His will. It means to resist Him by showing ingratitude and disobedience and not having any fear of the Lord or of His judgments. Hardhearted people say with Pharaoh, "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?" (5:2)
But the narrative also makes it clear that by sending these various judgments, God was hardening Pharaoh's heart (4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17). Does this mean that God was unfair and that Pharaoh shouldn't be held responsible for what he did? No, for the same sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay. It all depends on the nature of the material.
To the very end of the contest (14:5ff), Pharaoh was a proud, unrepentant sinner who refused to hear God's Word, do God's will, or even keep his own promises to the Jewish people. The Lord gave him more than enough evidence to convince him that the gods of Egypt were false and the God of the Hebrews was the true and living God. Pharaoh sinned against a flood of light; and though God used him to accomplish His own purposes, Pharaoh made his own decisions and hardened his own heart against God.
He hardened his heart to God's mercy (vv. 8-15). Life was miserable for the Egyptians because of the invasion of the frogs, so much so that Pharaoh asked Moses and Aaron to remove the pests. He even admitted that the frogs had been sent by the Lord. So anxious was he to be rid of the frogs that he offered to let the Jewish people go on their worship trip if Moses and Aaron complied with his request. This was only a stratagem to remove the plague, but Moses and Aaron cooperated with him.
Why did Moses let Pharaoh select the time for the frogs to leave? To prove to him and the nation that Jehovah was the living God who heard their words and responded to the prayers of His servants. The plague wasn't a freakish accident; God was in control. But why didn't Pharaoh ask for immediate deliverance from the frogs? Why postpone recovery until the next day? Perhaps he was gambling on the chance that the frogs would leave of themselves, and then he wouldn't have to keep his bargain and release the people for their journey. Or, he may have wanted the word to spread that deliverance was coming so that the expectation of the people would be high. The next day the crowds would be waiting and watching, and if Moses failed, Pharaoh was the winner and Jehovah and His servants were discredited.
But Moses wasn't about to fail, for he and Aaron prayed to God that the plague would end. God answered, not by causing the frogs to return to the rivers and ponds, but by killing the frogs and thus forcing the people to carry away the dead bodies and dispose of them. But how do you get rid of piles and piles of dead frogs? It wasn't easy, and the stench only reminded the Egyptians of their king's rebellion against God.
Moses and Aaron kept their promise, and so did the Lord; but Pharaoh refused to keep his word and let the Jewish people go. He really wasn't interested in helping the Israelites; he only wanted to get relief from the awful plague of frogs. Many sinners aren't interested in repenting and receiving God's grace; they want only to be delivered from God's judgment. However, this was only a temporary respite; the greatest judgments were yet to come.
In my pastoral ministry, I've met people who were in trouble in one way or another, who begged me to pray that the Lord would deliver them. They made all kinds of promises to me and to the Lord, telling what they'd do if He would help them. But when He did graciously help them, they forgot their promises and even forgot the Lord. I never saw them again. They were quite unlike the psalmist who wrote: "I will come to Your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to You—vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble" (Ps. 66:13-14, niv).
He hardened his heart to God's power (Ex. 8:16-19). In stopping the plague of frogs, God was merciful to Pharaoh; but instead of surrendering to God's mercy, the king only further hardened his heart. So, the Lord sent a third plague and caused the dust of the ground to become gnats. Pharaoh's court magicians couldn't duplicate this miracle and had to admit it was "the finger of God." But even in the face of this evidence, Pharaoh refused to submit to the Lord and only hardened his heart even more. Neither God's mercy nor God's power caused him to repent and obey the Word of the Lord.
The fact that the desert dust became gnats was a judgment against Set, the Egyptian god of the desert. Jehovah was so great that He could give life to insignificant dust and use that life to punish the people who revered Set. But something else was involved. The Egyptians in general, and the priests in particular, were fanatical about cleanliness; and the priests frequently washed and shaved their bodies in order to be acceptable to their gods. Imagine the chagrin and discomfort of the priests when their bodies were invaded by unclean gnats that made life miserable for them! And their gods could do nothing to deliver them!
The defeated magicians saw "the finger of God" in this miracle when it was actually God's "strong hand" (6:1) and "outstretched arm" (v. 6). In Scripture, the "finger of God" is also associated with the giving of the law (31:18; Deut. 9:10), the creation of the heavens (Ps. 8:3), and the casting out of demons (Luke 11:20). All of these are demonstrations of God's authority and power.
But God wasn't through with speaking to Pharaoh or judging the gods of Egypt. Jehovah had seven more plagues to send, and when they were finished, the nation of Egypt would be bankrupt.
"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31). Warren Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary[2]
"The Lord, Mighty in Battle"
Exodus 8:20-10:29
God is gracious and long-suffering, but there comes a time when He will no longer tolerate the disobedience and arrogance of defiant sinners. "To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless, to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd" (Ps. 18:25-26, niv). If we walk contrary to Him, He will walk contrary to us (Lev. 26:23-24).
"God shows Himself to each individual according to his character," wrote Charles Spurgeon, and no individual in Scripture illustrates this truth better than the king of Egypt. For months, Moses and Aaron had dealt with Pharaoh, but the king was unwilling to obey God's command or even acknowledge God's authority. The water courses in Egypt had been turned into blood, slimy frogs had invaded the land, and swarms of pesky gnats had irritated the people, but Pharaoh had refused to bend.
What did God do? He declared all-out war on both the ruler of Egypt and the gods of Egypt. The Lord sent six painful and destructive plagues to the land, and then a seventh plague which brought the death of every firstborn son. As you study Pharaoh's responses to these plagues, you see the moral and spiritual deterioration of a man who wouldn't submit to God and paid a terrible price for his rebellion.
Let's consider Pharaoh's responses to the judgments of God but, at the same time, let's examine our own hearts to learn whether or not we are responding positively to the will of God.
Bargaining (Ex. 8:20-32)
At certain times of the year, Pharaoh would go to the sacred Nile River to participate in special religious rites, and it certainly must have irritated him on that particular holy occasion to see Moses and Aaron waiting for him. In Pharaoh's eyes, these two men were national nuisances. Actually, Pharaoh was the cause of the nation's troubles, but he would not admit it. God was dealing with Pharaoh in mercy, wanting to bring him into submission; for it's only when we obey God that we can truly enjoy His blessings. With one blow, God could have wiped out Pharaoh and the nation (9:15), but He chose to give them opportunity to repent.
God's warning (vv. 20-21). We've already noted that before sending seven of the ten plagues, God warned Pharaoh what was coming but, of course, he refused to believe the Word of God and persisted in his disobedience. The fact that each plague occurred just as God described it, at the time announced, should have convinced Pharaoh and his officers that the God of Israel was in control of these spectacular events. They weren't caused by Pharaoh's magicians, who could neither prevent them nor reverse them, nor were they mere coincidences. The hand of the Lord was against the land of Egypt.
God's grace (v. 22). The Lord added a new feature to this plague by announcing that the Jews in the land of Goshen would escape the plague completely. Only the great God of Israel could control the flight pattern of tiny flies and keep them from entering the land of Goshen. But God's providential care of Israel was evident in all these seven last plagues, because the Jews escaped each one of them (vv. 22-23; 9:4, 9:11 ["all the Egyptians"], 9:26; 10:6 ["all the Egyptians"], 10:23; 11:7).
Often in Scripture, the land of Egypt symbolizes the world system with its pride and bondage, while the Exodus of Israel from Egypt pictures the deliverance of God's people through the blood of the lamb (John 1:29; Gal. 1:4; 1 Peter 1:18-19). During the time when Joseph was in Egypt, Pharaoh had given the land of Goshen to the Jews, and now God set it apart for His people. In this way God made a "division" between His people and the Egyptians. The word translated "division" in Exodus 8:23 means "a redemption, a ransom, a deliverance." Because they belonged to God in a special way, the Jews were "different" from the Egyptians, but Pharaoh wouldn't acknowledge this fact.
God's wrath (v. 24). Just as God promised, the next day great swarms of flies invaded the land, entering the homes of the people and even the palace of the king. But the flies were more than just an immediate nuisance to the people, for their coming caused some long-range problems as well. The swarms of insects no doubt carried disease germs that affected the people, and it's possible the insects deposited their eggs on the vegetation and the larva that came out ate the plants and thus ruined the land. Some students think that the fly was especially sacred to the Egyptian god Uatchit, so the plague was also God's way of dishonoring another one of the false gods of Egypt.
Pharaoh's offers (vv. 25-32). During the time of the plagues, Pharaoh offered four compromises to Moses and Aaron. The first two are recorded here, during the plague of the flies (vv. 25, 28); the third came during the locust plague (10:7-11); and the fourth occurred during the three days of darkness (vv. 24-26). The fact that Pharaoh even thought he could bargain with God is another evidence of his pride. What is mortal man, even the king of a great nation, that he should dare to negotiate the will of God? These offers were all part of Pharaoh's hypocritical scheme to outwit Moses and Aaron, for his heart was still stubborn and unyielding. He wasn't interested in either the will of God or the welfare of the Jews; all he wanted was to stop the plagues.
God's people face similar "Egyptian compromises" today as we seek to serve the Lord. The enemy tells us we don't have to be separated from sin because we can serve God "in the land." God's reply is found in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. "Don't go too far away," the enemy whispers, "or people will call you a fanatic." James 1:27 and 4:4 demolish that proposal. True service to God means giving Him authority over all our possessions and all the people in our family for whom we're responsible. Not to do so is to disobey Mark 10:13-16; Ephesians 6:4; and Deuteronomy 6:6-13. Once we start to negotiate the will of God and see how close we can get to the world, we have already disobeyed Him in our hearts.
In his first proposal, Pharaoh offered to let the Jews hold their worship feast in the land of Egypt
(Ex. 8:25 ), an offer Moses and Aaron rejected. They knew that some of the animals the Jews would sacrifice were sacred to the Egyptians, and what began as a meeting for solemn worship would quickly turn into a riot. The Jews were a separate people, living in Goshen, a land that had been set apart by God, and they had to separate themselves a three days' journey from Egypt in order to please the Lord.
Pharaoh's second offer was that Israel leave the land but not go too far away (v. 28). The appendix to his offer ("Now pray for me!" niv) shows that his real concern was to get rid of the swarms of flies. On the surface, it looks like Moses and Aaron accepted this second offer, because Moses promised to get rid of the flies. Perhaps they thought they could travel farther once they got out of the land, but surely they both knew that Pharaoh wouldn't keep his word. Pharaoh had a habit of begging for help when he needed it (v. 8; 9:28; 10:16-17) and then changing his mind once the plague was removed (8:15, 32; 9:34-35; 10:20). God answered Moses' prayer and removed the flies, but Pharaoh only hardened his heart even more.[3]
The Plagues Upon Egypt (Continued)
Exodus 8-10
In our last article we made a number of general observations upon the judgments which the Lord God sent upon Pharaoh and his people. The subject is admittedly a difficult one, and little light seems to have been given on it. This should make us seek more fervently for help from above, that our eyes may be opened to behold wondrous things in this portion of the Word. We shall now offer a few remarks upon each plague separately according to our present understanding of them.
1. The first plague is described in Exodus 7:14-25—let the reader turn to the passage and ponder it carefully. This initial judgment from the Lord consisted of the turning of the waters into blood. Blood, of course, speaks of death, and death is the wages of sin. It was, therefore, a most solemn warning from God to Egypt, a warning which intimated plainly the doom that awaited those who defied the Almighty. Similarly will God give warning at the beginning of the Great Tribulation, for then shall the moon "become as blood" (Revelation 6:12). The symbolic significance of this first plague is easily discerned. Water is the emblem of the Word (John 15:3; Ephesians 5:26), and the water turned to blood reminds us that the Word is "a savor of death unto death" (2 Corinthians 2:16) as well as "of life unto life".
The striking contrast between this first plague and the first miracle wrought by the Lord Jesus has been pointed out by others before us. The contrast strikingly illustrates the great difference there is between the two dispensations; "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). All that the Law can do to its guilty transgressor is to sentence him to death, and this is what the Water turned into blood symbolized. But by the incarnate Word the believing sinner is made to rejoice, and this is what the turning of the water into wine speaks of.
Before passing on to the next plague we would offer a word of explanation upon a point which may have troubled some of our readers. The Lord's command to Moses was. "Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood" (Exodus 7:19). And yet after this we are told, "And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments" (v. 22). Where then did they obtain their water? The answer is evidently supplied in verse 24; "And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink".
2. The second plague is described in Exodus 8:1-7. An interval of "seven days" (7:25) separated this second plague from the first. Full opportunity was thus given to Pharaoh to repent, before God acted in judgment again. In view of the fact that the Flood commenced on the seventh day (see Genesis 7:10 margin), that is, the holy Sabbath, the conclusion is highly probable that each of these first two plagues were sent upon Egypt on the Sabbath day, as a Divine judgment for the Egyptians' desecration of it.
This second plague, like the former, was Divinely directed against the idolatry of the Egyptians. The river Nile was sacred in their eyes, therefore did Jehovah turn its waters into blood. The frog was an object of worship among them, so God now caused Egypt to be plagued with frogs. Their ugly shape, their croaking noise, and their disagreeable smell, would make these frogs peculiarly obnoxious. Their abounding numbers marked the severity of this judgment. Escape from this scourge was impossible, for the frogs not only "covered the land of Egypt" but they invaded the homes of the Egyptians, entered their bed-chambers, and defiled their cooking-utensils.
The moral significance of these "frogs" is explained for us in Revelation 16:13—the only mention of these creatures in the New Testament. There we read "And I saw three unclean small spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet". Frogs are used to symbolize the Powers of evil and stand for uncleanness. The turning of the waters into blood was a solemn reminder of the "wages of sin". The issuing forth of the frogs made manifest the character of the Devil's works—uncleanness.
Concerning this second plague we read, "And the magicians did so with their enchantments and brought forth frogs upon the land of Egypt" (8:7). This is most suggestive. The magicians were unable to remove the frogs, nor could they erect any barriers against their encroachments. All they could do was to bring forth more frogs. Thus it is with the Prince of this world. He is unable to exterminate the evil which he has brought into God's fair creation, and he cannot check its progress. All he can do is to multiply wickedness.
3. The third plague is described in Exodus 8:16-19. This judgment descended without any warning. The dust of the ground suddenly sprang into life, assuming the most disgusting and annoying form. This blow was aimed more directly at the persons of the Egyptians. Their bodies covered with lice, was a sore rebuke to their pride. Herodotus refers to the cleanliness of the Egyptians: "So scrupulous were the priests on this point that they used to shave their heads and bodies every third day, for fear of harboring vermin while occupied in their sacred duties". As another has said, "This stroke would therefore humble their pride and stain their glory, rendering themselves objects of dislike and disgust".
The key to the moral significance of this third plague lies in the source from which the lice proceeded. Aaron smote the dust of the land "and it became lice in man and beast" (8:16). In the judgment which God pronounced upon disobedient Adam we read that He said, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake" (Genesis 3:17), and again, "for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19). When Aaron smote the "ground", and its "dust" became lice, and the lice came upon the Egyptians, it was a graphic showing-forth of the awful fact that man by nature is under the curse of a holy God.
Concerning this plague we read, "and the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not" (8:18). How small a matter the Lord used to bring confusion upon these magicians! As soon as God restrained them, they were helpless. Turn water into blood, and bring forth frogs, they might, by God's permission; but when He withheld permission they were impotent. Thus it is with Satan himself. His bounds are definitely prescribed by the Almighty, and beyond them he cannot go. Death he can inflict (by God's permission), and uncleanness he can bring forth freely—as the "magicians" illustrated in the first two plagues; but with the Curse (which the "dust" becoming lice so plainly speaks of) he is not allowed to tamper with.
The admission of the magicians on this occasion is noteworthy: "Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God" (8:19). These are their last recorded words. In the end they were obliged to acknowledge the hand of God. So will it be in the last Great Day with the Devil himself, and with all his hosts and victims. They, too, will have to bow before the Lord, and publicly confess the supremacy of the Almighty.
There is a striking correspondency between this third plague and what is recorded in the eighth chapter of John's Gospel. There we find a similar contest—between the Lord and His enemies. The Scribes and the Pharisees, using the woman taken in adultery as their bait, sought to ensnare the Savior. His only response was to stoop down and write on the ground. After saying to them, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her", we read that "Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground". The effect was startling: "They which heard, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one... and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst". What was this but the enemy of the Lord acknowledging that it was "the finger of God" as He wrote in the dust!
4. The next plague is described in Exodus 8:20-32. This plague marked the beginning of a new series. In the first three, the magicians had opposed, but their defeat had been openly manifested. No longer do they appear upon the stage of action. Another thing which evidences that this fourth plague begins a new series is the fact that God now made "a division" between His own people and the Egyptians. The Israelites too had suffered from the first three judgments, for they also merited the wages of sin, were subject to the debasing influences of Satan, and were under the curse. But now that the Lord was about to destroy the property of the Egyptians, He spared the Israelites.
It will be noted by the student that the words "of flies" are in italics, supplied by the translators, the word "swarms" being given for the original term. The Hebrew word signifies, literally, "mixture", being akin to the term "mixed multitude" in Exodus 12:38. Apparently these "swarms" were made up of not only flies, but a variety of insects. As we are told in Psalm 78:45, "He sent divers sorts of flies". Moreover, this verse in the Psalms informs us of their devastating effects—they "devoured them"; the Hebrew signifying "ate up". This was, therefore, worse than the plague of lice. The lice annoyed, but the "divers sorts of flies" preyed upon their flesh.
The deeper meaning of this plague may be gathered from the nature of its effects, and also from the fact that the Israelites were exempted from it. This judgment had to do with the tormenting of the bodies of the Egyptians, thus looking forward to the eternal judgment of the lost, when their bodies shall be tormented forever and ever in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. In this the people of God will have no part..Arthur W. Pink, Gleanings in Exodus [4]
Appendix / Bibliography
- [1] The Holy Bible: New King James Version Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1988. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
[2] Warren Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary – Be Delivered (Exodus 25-20), (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2003), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 189-190.
[3] Warren Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary – Be Delivered (Exodus 25-20), (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2003), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 190-192.
[4] Arthur W. Pink, Gleanings in Exodus, (Austin, TX: WORDsearch, n.d.), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 58-61
