Exodus 8:1-32

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Exodus 8:1-32

November 12, 2014

Moses has commanded freedom for the Israelites, but Pharaoh has simply refused. Aaron’s

staff turned into a serpent to change his mind, but the Egyptian magicians did the same and

Pharaoh’s heart only swelled with pride and hardened. Even when Aaron’s serpent

consumed the others Pharaoh was unwilling.

Shortly afterward, Moses met Pharaoh along the banks of the Nile to perform the first of

ten plagues. Aaron’s staff went into the water and made it turn to blood. All of Egypt was

filled with it, and Pharaoh should have repented and let Israel go, but his heart got even

harder after his own magicians could do the same. Now we come to chapter eight which

holds the next three plagues:

8:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the

LORD , Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 And if thou refuse to let them go,

behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: 3 And the river shall bring forth frogs

abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber,

and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into

thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs: 4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee,

and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. 5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say

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unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and

over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. 6 And Aaron

stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered

the land of Egypt.

Aaron holds his staff over the river and frogs pour out and go into the Egyptians’ houses. The people can’t do anything without stumbling over frogs: they pull the blankets back, and

there’s a bunch of frogs. They go to make bread and the kneading trough is full of frogs. The

frogs hop on their feet while they stand and climb onto their bodies while they lie, and it’s

just a constant nuisance.

Of all the things God could choose for a plague, why this? Why frogs? Why not a blood moon

or poisonous snakes? I doubt anyone knows for sure, but if you’ll look closely you’ll see that

these plagues come in pairs. First Yahweh proves he’s over the Nile when he turns it to

blood and then he makes frogs come up out of it. In the next two plagues he’ll show he’s

over the insects with lice and flies, then he shows he’s over health with disease and boils,

then that he’s over the sky with hail, lightning, and locusts, and then finally that he’s over darkness and death. These plagues taken together show that Egypt is powerless in every

sphere and Yahweh controls them all!

Not only that, but the plagues that follow the frogs are related to their absence. When the

frogs die, the ecosystem is upset so that lice and flies can thrive without as many natural

predators. The frogs were a plague, but their removal was just as much of a problem.

So, Aaron brings this plague, and Pharaoh wants to prove that he’s got power too, so he

calls his magicians to come perform the same:

7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the

land of Egypt. 8Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD ,

that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people

go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD.

The show of power sort of backfires because Egypt already has a problem with too many

frogs, and now they’ve made it worse. When Pharaoh has finally had enough, he calls for

Moses and Aaron and announces a change of mind. If they’ll pray for Yahweh to take the

frogs away, he will let them go into the wilderness to offer sacrifices.

9

And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they

may remain in the river only? 10 And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to

thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God. 11 And

the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from

thy people; they shall remain in the river only.

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“Glory over me” just means that Moses yields to Pharaoh: “You tell me when, and we’ll do

it.” Pharaoh says to pray the next day, and that’s a little confusing because he should ask for

it today. No one really knows why he wants to wait, but it’s been suggested that maybe he

thinks Moses or Yahweh need time to prepare or maybe he thinks the frogs might leave on

their own sometime before then. Personally, I wonder if he’s making sure the whole thing

isn’t coincidence, and that’s why Moses says, “Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God .” The coming and the going of the frogs is

Yahweh’s power!

12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD because

of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 13 And the LORD did according to the

word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the

fields. 14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank. 15 But when

Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto

them; as the LORD had said.

Pharaoh breathes a sigh of relief when the frogs are gone, and immediately his proud heart hardens. It’s a true Proverb that a dog returns to its vomit and a sow to her wallowing (2 Pt.

2:22). Don’t miss the number of times it says he hardens his heart “as the LORD had said.”

Some people downplay God’s role in this hardening, but think about what he did to

Nebuchadnezzar and Herod. The first was struck with insanity while in the middle of

bragging about his own power, and he ran to a field and ate grass with the oxen for seven

years (Dan. 4:33). The second king, Herod, heard the people calling him a god, and his heart

swelled with pride so that the angel of the Lord struck him with worms and he died (Acts

12:23). God can do whatever he wants to Pharaoh, and he’s not trying to change his mind

through the plagues. He keeps Pharaoh’s heart hard enough to illogically continue in his

refusal so that God can utterly destroy him from every sphere of power.

16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust

of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 17 And they did so;

for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it

became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all

the land of Egypt. 18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth

lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.

This third plague is lice from the dust, and it’s most notable because the magicians can’t

duplicate it. This is the reason I think their other wonders could have been supernatural

and not just tricks. If they could turn staves into serpents, water into blood, and bring frogs from the water, then surely they can also do this, but God is finished letting them compete.

The only thing we read about them after this is that they can’t stand in front of Moses

because they’re covered in boils (9:11). Their folly was made manifest (2 Tim. 3:8-9).

19Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart

was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

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When they realize the power is beyond their limitations they confess that “this is the finger

of God.” They don’t call him Yahweh, but they do admit that elohim, a generic word for any

god, was with Moses. It must be a slap in the face to Pharaoh who considers himself deity,

and who thinks so little of the Hebrews’ one God compared to the plethora of Egyptian

gods. However, the admission has the opposite effect of what we might expect. Rather than

coming to his senses and letting the people go, he is hardened and refused to listen. If he asked Moses to pray for respite, it’s not recorded.

20 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before

Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD , Let

my people go, that they may serve me. 21Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I

will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and

into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and

also the ground whereon they are.

The fourth plague, and the last one we’ll talk about today, is a swarm of flies. That sounds

harmless, but the Hebrew word doesn’t mean flies. There’s a lot of debate about what it actually was, but pretty much everyone agrees that the basic meaning of the word is a 1

“mixture.” In Psalm 78:45 we read about this plague and that God sent a swarm which

“devoured” the Egyptians. Maybe it was biting-flies or maybe it was a mixture of flies,

hornets, mosquitos, and a bunch of other insects that the dead frogs weren’t eating. The

point is that it was a plague in their houses, on the ground, and on their bodies.

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22 And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no

swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the

midst of the earth. 23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to

morrow shall this sign be.

God made a distinction between Moses and the magicians with the lice, and he makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel right here. This is something he says several times

throughout the Exodus, and it’s something that shouldn’t be missed. The plagues are a

judgment against one people and deliverance for another. This isn’t a failed effort in

evangelism, and it’s not God’s intention that Egypt should repent. We tend to think that God

hardened only Pharaoh’s heart, but God says in 10:1 that he hardened Pharaoh’s heart and

the hearts of his servants. His purpose in this is to put a division between his people and

Egypt’s!

This has tremendous theological significance, and it’s the basis for our salvation: God

chooses. That’s not at all a source of pride because we all have gone astray and deserve

nothing but plagues, but God chooses to save some for his own glory. This principle was foundational to Abraham who was called out of Ur and to all the Jews who came after him.

Some people criticize election saying that it led the Jews to isolation, but nowhere in the

Scriptures are they condemned for that. In fact, Jesus rebukes them in one place for

crossing land and sea to make false converts (Mt. 23:15)! Their problem wasn’t that they

believed in election, but that they had no faith.

Paul recognizes its importance and teaches more on it in the New Testament:

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour,

and another unto dishonour? 22What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power

known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that

he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore

prepared unto glory, 24Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the

Gentiles? (Rom. 9:21-24).

The only reason some are made for honor and others for dishonor is the will of the Potter.

It’s no mystery as to whether he does it, but it is far beyond our understanding as to why he

does it. The people who made up the nation of Israel were as wicked as the Egyptians, yet

they were chosen by him as a special people to be separated from the plagues poured out

on the Egyptians. He put a division between them.

24

And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was

corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies. 25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for

Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. 26 And Moses said, It is not meet

so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo,

shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not

stone us? 27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD

our God, as he shall command us. 28 And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may

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sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away:

intreat for me. 29 And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the LORD

that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his

people, to morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the

people go to sacrifice to the LORD. 30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated

the LORD.31

And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained

not one. 32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the

people go.

Pharaoh has his fill of flies, so he seeks compromise and commands Moses to offer

sacrifices within Egypt. Moses refuses, however, saying that the people would see that as an

abomination and stone him to death. They have to leave the land, so Pharaoh tells them to

go but don’t go far. Moses agrees to pray and warns about being deceptive, but Pharaoh’s

heart hardens as soon as the flies are gone, and he changes his mind. This brings us to the

end of chapter eight and through the first four plagues; we’ll pick up here next time.

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Exodus 8:1-32