Exodus 8

Plagues of Frogs, Gnats and Flies

⁽¹⁾ Then the Lord* said to Moses, “Go back to Pharaoh and announce to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can worship me.

*Lord: Yahweh

^(>2) If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs* across your entire land.

*frogs: Heqt, a goddess of childbirth, is depicted in Egyptian art with the head of a frog. Additionally, the frogs came from the Nile (verse 3). This plague is showing the superiority of Yahweh over the gods of Egypt. Amulets and scarabs worn by Egyptian women to protect them during childbirth would often bear the image of Heqt for protection. Egyptians worshipped the frog as a female goddess because frogs were common around the Nile, because they reproduced rapidly, and because being amphibians they are part of two worlds, creatures of both land and water.
Frogs were so sacred in Egypt that even the involuntary slaughter of one was often punished with death. Imagine the people of the land as they went out to gather the decaying bodies of the frogs, and put them into heaps.

 

   

⁽³⁾ The Nile River will swarm with frogs. They will come up out of the river and into your palace, even into your bedroom and onto your bed! They will enter the houses of your officials and your people. They will even jump into your ovens* and your kneading bowls.

*ovens: In various parts of the East, instead of what we call ovens they dig a hole in the ground, in which they insert a kind of earthen pot, which having sufficiently heated, they stick their cakes to the inside, and when baked remove them and supply their places with others, and so on. To find such places full of frogs when they came to heat them, in order to make their bread, must be both disgusting and distressing in the extreme." (Clarke, Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible, page 101).

⁽⁴⁾ Frogs will jump on you, your people, and all your officials.’”

⁽⁵⁾ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Raise the staff in your hand over all the rivers, canals, and ponds of Egypt, and bring up frogs over all the land.’”

⁽⁶⁾ So Aaron raised his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs came up and covered the whole land!

⁽⁷⁾ But the magicians were able to do the same thing with their magic. They, too, caused frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.

   This is the last miracle the Egyptian magicians are able to duplicate. The ability of the magicians to do the same points to a supernatural power present; this isn't the work of a skilled illusionist, this is occult power at work. For all their occult powers, all the magicians can do is make more frogs! This increases the problem instead of solving it, yet it gives Pharaoh an excuse to further harden his heart. The magicians were unable to rid the land of the frogs - only Yahweh was capable of that!

⁽⁸⁾ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and begged, “Plead with the Lord* to take the frogs away from me and my people. I will let your people go, so they can offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

*Lord: This is the first time in the conflict that Pharaoh even acknowledged that Yahweh existed. Now he is asking for prayer to remove the frogs and is promising to release Israel. This result of the plague must have been an encouragement to Moses. The fact the Pharaoh entreated Moses to intercede with Jehovah to take away the frogs was a sign the he recognized the God of Israel as being the author of the plague -- Pharaoh realized this was not a natural occurrence.

⁽⁹⁾ “You set the time*!” Moses replied**. “Tell me when you want me to pray for you, your officials, and your people. Then you and your houses will be rid of the frogs. They will remain only in the Nile River.”

*set the time: The verb would be simply translated “honor yourself” or “deck yourself with honor.” It seems to mean here “have the honor or advantage over me” in choosing when to remove the frogs. The Septuagint (Greek version) has “appoint for me.” Moses is doing more than extending a courtesy to Pharaoh; he is giving him the upper hand in choosing the time. But it is also a test, for if Pharaoh picked the time it would appear less likely that Moses was manipulating things. As U. Cassuto puts it, Moses is saying “my trust in God is so strong you may have the honor of choosing the time” - (A commentary on the book of Exodus. Translated from the Hebrew by Israel Abrahams. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1967).

**Moses replied: Suddenly, Moses loses his fear and excuses and talks directly to Pharaoh without Aaron as the spokesman!

⁽¹⁰⁾ “Do it tomorrow*,” Pharaoh said. “All right,” Moses replied, “it will be as you have said. Then you will know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

*tomorrow: Why not immediately? Was he so fond of the frogs in his bedroom that he would have them stay another night with him? No, but probably he hoped that they would go away of themselves, and then he should get clear of the plague without being obligated either to God or Moses.

⁽¹¹⁾ The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials, and your people. They will remain only in the Nile River.”

⁽¹²⁾ So Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh’s palace, and Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had inflicted on Pharaoh.

⁽¹³⁾ And the Lord did just what Moses had predicted. The frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields all died.

   When Moses prays, God answers - and all the frogs die! The Egyptian magicians were not able to do that! The end of the plague revealed clearly God’s absolute control over Egypt’s life and deities – all at the power of the man who prayed to Yahweh.

⁽¹⁴⁾ The Egyptians piled them into great heaps, and a terrible stench filled the land.

⁽¹⁵⁾ But when Pharaoh saw that relief had come, he became stubborn*. He refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had predicted.

*became stubborn: Hebrew made his heart heavy; also in 8:32. We are also told that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Each took the responsibility in his sphere. Pharaoh chose to defy God and God chose to allow him to do it so that the wicked ruler's heart would be clear to all.

⁽¹⁶⁾ So the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Raise your staff and strike the ground. The dust will turn into swarms of gnats* throughout the land of Egypt.’”

   It does not appear that any warning was given of it before.

*gnats: The word "gnats" is rendered as "lice", "sand flies" or "fleas" in some translations. The Hebrew word kinnim comes from a root word meaning "to dig"; it is probable that the insect in question would dig under the skin. By “gnats”, many commentators mean “mosquitoes,” which in and around the water of Egypt were abundant. Whatever they were, they came from the dust and were troublesome to people and animals. This plague would have been an embarrassment to Geb, the great god of the earth. Egyptians gave offerings to Geb for the bounty of the soil -- yet it was from "the dust of the soil" that this plague originated.

   This plague struck at the heart of all Egyptian worship, especially at their priests. The Egyptian priesthood was extremely scrupulous about hygiene and ritual cleansing and an infestation of lice or gnats made them unable to worship their gods. The gods of Egypt would not receive the sacrifice of infested animals, so this stopped their sacrificial system.

⁽¹⁷⁾ So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded them. When Aaron raised his hand and struck the ground with his staff, gnats infested the entire land, covering the Egyptians and their animals. All the dust in the land of Egypt turned into gnats.

⁽¹⁸⁾ Pharaoh’s magicians tried to do the same thing with their secret arts, but this time they failed. And the gnats covered everyone, people and animals alike.

   The first miracle the Egyptian magicians were unable to duplicate, nor could they remove the "gnats". Why? Perhaps because the other plagues originated from the water; this originates from the dust of the ground. Perhaps, the Egyptian demons were limited in their power.

⁽¹⁹⁾ “This is the finger of God*!” the magicians exclaimed to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard. He wouldn't’t listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

*God: Elohim. Even the magicians are getting the message that they cannot defeat this God of the slaves Who goes by the name Yahweh.

⁽²⁰⁾ Then the Lord told Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand in Pharaoh’s way as he goes down to the river*. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can worship me.

*goes down to the river: Is he going down to the Nile to get a bath. I doubt it. This was a religious ritual.

⁽²¹⁾ If you refuse, then I will send swarms* of flies** on you, your officials, your people, and all the houses. The Egyptian homes will be filled with flies, and the ground will be covered with them.

*swarms: The word meaning is uncertain. In Assyrian, urubau, means "mixed noxious insects." The Septuagint translators who lived in Egypt (centuries later) identified it as the dog fly which attaches itself to edges of eyelids. The Hebrew word ’arov means “a mix” or “swarm.” It seems that some irritating kind of flying insect is involved. Psalm 78:45 says that the Egyptians were eaten or devoured by them. Various suggestions have been made over the years: (1) it could refer to beasts or reptiles; (2) the Greek took it as the dog-fly, a vicious blood-sucking gadfly, more common in the spring than in the fall; (3) the ordinary house fly, which is a symbol of Egypt in Isaiah 7:18 (Hebrew zÿvuv); and (4) the beetle, which gnaws and bites plants, animals, and materials. The fly probably fits the details of this passage best; the plague would have greatly intensified a problem with flies that already existed.

**flies: Moses did not use the phrase "of flies" in this passage -- he simply used the word "swarms" (Hebrew awrob)-- the phrase "of flies" was added by the translators.

   The announcement of the fourth plague parallels that of the first plague. The flies the plague describes involve something greater than any normal season for flies. Now, with the flies, it becomes clear that God can inflict suffering on some people and preserve others – a preview of the coming judgment that will punish Egypt but set Israel free. God is fully able to keep the "swarms" in the land of the Egyptians and save his people from these judgments.

   This is the first plague in which God made a distinction between His people and the Egyptians -- the swarms stayed away from Goshen, where His people lived, for He made "a difference between My people and your people" (Exodus 8:22-23).

   Psalm 78:43-51: They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt,
his wonders on the plain of Zoan.
For he turned their rivers into blood,
so no one could drink from the streams. He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them
and hordes of frogs to ruin them. He gave their crops to caterpillars;
their harvest was consumed by locusts. He destroyed their grapevines with hail
and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet. He abandoned their cattle to the hail,
their livestock to bolts of lightning. He loosed on them his fierce anger—
all his fury, rage, and hostility.
He dispatched against them
a band of destroying angels. He turned his anger against them;
he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives
but ravaged them with the plague. He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family,
the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.

⁽²²⁾ But this time I will spare the region of Goshen, where my people live. No flies will be found there. Then you will know that I am the Lord and that I am present even in the heart of your land.

   God was going to keep the "swarms" away from Goshen – he was setting that apart. In fact, being set apart is the underlying meaning of the word sanctified.

⁽²³⁾ I will make a clear distinction* between my people and your people. This miraculous sign will happen tomorrow.’”

*I will make a clear distinction: Hebrew reads I will set redemption between

⁽²⁴⁾ And the Lord did just as he had said. A thick swarm of flies filled Pharaoh’s palace and the houses of his officials. The whole land of Egypt was thrown into chaos* by the flies.

   Notice that the staff is not used here.

*chaos: destroyed. The verb describes utter devastation. This is the verb that is used in Gen 13:10 to describe how Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Swarms of flies would disrupt life, contaminate everything, and bring disease.

⁽²⁵⁾ Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. “All right! Go ahead and offer sacrifices to your God,” he said. “But do it here in this land.”

⁽²⁶⁾ But Moses replied, “That wouldn't’t be right. The Egyptians detest the sacrifices that we offer to the Lord our God. Look, if we offer our sacrifices here where the Egyptians can see us, they will stone us.

   The text literally says, “for the abomination of Egypt we will sacrifice to Yahweh our God.” In other words, the animals that Israel would sacrifice were sacred to Egypt, and sacrificing them would have been abhorrent to the Egyptians. An “abomination” is something that is off-limits, something that is taboo. U. Cassuto (Exodus, 109) says there are two ways to understand “the abomination of the Egyptians.” One is that the sacrifice of the sacred animals would appear as an abominable thing in the eyes of the Egyptians, and the other is that the word “abomination” could be a derogatory term for idols – we sacrifice what is an Egyptian idol. So that is why he says if they did this the Egyptians would stone them.

⁽²⁷⁾ We must take a three-day trip into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, just as he has commanded us.”

⁽²⁸⁾ “All right, go ahead,” Pharaoh replied. “I will let you go into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God. But* don’t go too far away. Now hurry and pray for me.”

*But: As always, Satan wants us to compromise "just a little bit". You can go, but you can’t go far! Certainly don’t go so far that Pharaoh wouldn't’t be able to bring you back! Basically, have your religion if you want, but have it within Egypt… have it still within his worldly system. So much of what passes itself off as ‘Christianity’ today falls into this category. So many people love to have some form of godliness or belief without allowing it to impact or change their life at all. People that look particularly shiny and clean on Sundays but are still within the realms of Egypt for the remainder of the week! This is what Pharaoh was saying here – ‘have a little bit of religion if you like, but it’s going to be within Egypt!’ Moses did well in telling Pharaoh to take a running jump because…’that would not be right!’ We shouldn't’t ever think that Satan is scared of people becoming ‘religious’. He is well in control of many ‘religions’ and cults around the world. He will one day bring them together in the form of a one-world religion which he will control. He doesn't’t mind people having a vague belief in God as long as they don’t come to see the victory that is theirs because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. -- Jesus Plus Nothing: Exodus – The Purposes of God and the Purposes of Satan: www.jesusplusnothing.com/studies/online/exodus5.htm.

⁽²⁹⁾ Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the swarms of flies will disappear from you and your officials and all your people. But I am warning you, Pharaoh, don’t lie to us again and refuse to let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”

⁽³⁰⁾ So Moses left Pharaoh’s palace and pleaded with the Lord to remove all the flies.

⁽³¹⁾ And the Lord did as Moses asked and caused the swarms of flies to disappear from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. Not a single fly remained.

⁽³²⁾ But Pharaoh again became stubborn* and refused to let the people go.

*became stubborn: Hebrew made his heart heavy

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On-Line Sources:

• Against All the Gods of Egypt: www.padfield.com/acrobat/history/gods_of_egypt.pdf


• Back to the Bible 101: "Jesus Christ our Redeemer, our Passover Lamb": http://www.geocities.com/genebrooks/exodus.html


• BibleGateway - An Introduction to the Book of Exodus: www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=41m


• BibleGateway - Exodus 8: www.bible.org/netbible/exo8.htm


• Chuck Missler - Exodus: www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/missler_chuck/Exd/Exodus-Expositional_template.html


• Crosswalk: http://bible.crosswalk.com
  
• Commentary on Exodus (part 2): www.geocities.com/genesiscommentary/exodus2.html


• Decoding the Bible: www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885976924&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter


• Enduring Word - Exodus 8: www.enduringword.com/commentaries/0208.htm


• Evidence for the Exodus: http://www.konig.org/wc52.htm


• Exodus Audio Bible Study Lesson: http://www.soniclight.com/study_cd/audio_bible_study_lessons/exodus.htm


• Exodus Decoded: theexodusdecoded.com/index1.jsp


• Exodus - From Egypt to the Sanctuary: www.bibleexplained.com/moses/Exod/Exo.htm


• Gleanings in Exodus: www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Gleanings_Exodus/exodus.htm


• Hebrew for Christians: www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/scripture.html


• Jesus Plus Nothing: Exodus – The Purposes of God and the Purposes of Satan: www.jesusplusnothing.com/studies/online/exodus5.htm


• Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary Exodus: www.ccel.org/h/henry/mhc2/MHC02000.HTM


• Net Bible: http://www.bible.org/netbible/index.htm


• Studies in the Life of Moses (Peninsula Bible Church): www.pbc.org/library/files/html/14749_moses09.html and www.pbc.org/library/files/html/14751_moses10.html


• The Plagues of Egypt: www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/thera/plagues.html


• Wikipedia - Exodus: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus

Off-Line Sources:

• "Cruden's Complete Concordance" - Zondervan Publishing House


• "Breath of the Holies: Secrets of Moses' Tabernacle" - DVD by Perry Stone


• "In Search of the Mountain of God" by Robert Cornuke and David Halbrook - Broadman & Holman Publishers


• "Symbols of Judaism" by Marc-Alai Ouaknin - Barnes & Noble Books, publisher


• "The Exodus Revealed: Searching for the Red Sea Crossing" - (2001), DVD, Studio: Questar, ASIN: B00005AUE2, available from Amazon.com


• "The Defender's Study Bible" -World Bible Publishers


• "The Miracle of Passover" - DVD by Zola Levitt


• "The NIV Application Commentary - Exodus" – Peter Enns – Zondervan™


• "The Ten Commandments" (1956 film) from Paramount Pictures, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Charlton Heston as Moses