CHAPTER 8

(1491 B.C.)

FROGS

¹And the LORD spoke unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus says the LORD, Let My People go, that they may serve Me. (This Verse, as others, portrays the demand by God to Satan, Let My people go, that they may serve Me. This is the only power that Satan recognizes. The Church flounders helplessly when it uses the ways of Egypt to attempt to deliver men from Egypt. It simply cannot be done. Only God can deliver.)

²And if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your borders with frogs (this plague was directed against the frog-god that was an object of worship in Egypt; it was worshipped as a symbol of fertility):

³And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, and into your bedchamber, and upon your bed, and into the house of your servants, and upon your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneadingtroughs (due to the fact that the frog was a god to the Egyptians, they could not kill them, but yet the frogs drove them to the point of insanity; their animal-worship was thus proved absurd and ridiculous; the type of frog that invaded Egypt at that time has the scientific name of Rana Mosaica, and resembles our toad, and is a disgusting object, which crawls rather than leaps, and croaks perpetually):

⁴And the frogs shall come up both on you, and upon your people, and upon all your servants (the frogs coming up on Pharaoh proved the helplessness of his claim as a god).

⁵And the LORD spoke unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.

⁶And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt (over the entirety of the land, with the exception of Goshen, where the Children of Israel resided [Vs. 22]).

⁷And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt (considering that the land was literally inundated with frogs, Im sure the people really appreciated the Egyptian magicians bringing even more frogs on the scene).

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 (this request by Pharaoh was an admission that the Lord was greater than all the gods of Egypt; this is the first time that he had sent for Moses and Aaron).

⁹And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me (of what do I have this honor?): when shall I intreat for you, and for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only? (Even though the Scripture is silent regarding this, it is more than likely possible that Pharaohs magicians tried to take away the frogs, but could not succeed in doing so.)

¹⁰And he said, Tomorrow. (What a stupid answer! They could have been taken away immediately. One more night with the frogs.) And he said, Be it according to your word: that you may know that there is none like unto the LORD our God (and Pharaoh was helpless to contest this claim).

¹¹And the frogs shall depart from you, and from your houses, and from your servants, and from your people; they shall remain in the river only.

¹²And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.

¹³And 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.

¹⁴And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank (hundreds of millions of frogs died at once, and one can well imagine the stench that filled the land).

¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. (With the plague of frogs lifted, Pharaoh reneges on his promise to let the people go, which is indicative of most of humanity. God is quickly forgotten when the judgment lifts.)

LICE

¹⁶And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out your rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt (the hardened heart of the Monarch was answered by a plague of lice).

¹⁷And 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. (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 thrice-Holy God.)

¹⁸And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. (By slight of hand, it was possible, it seems, for Jannes and Jambres, the lead magicians of Egypt, to turn rods into serpents, water into blood, and to bring up frogs out of the river; however, it was impossible for them to turn dust into lice. The only other living creature that the Bible says is made out of dust is man. Thus, they were helpless.)

¹⁹Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the Finger of God (the term actually reads of a God; all that they meant to say was, This is beyond the power of man it is supernatural some god must be helping the Israelites): and Pharaohs heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. (As we shall see, the stubbornness of Pharaoh only falls out to a portrayal of the Power of God. Either way, some way, God is glorified!)

FLIES

²⁰And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he comes forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus says the LORD, Let My People go, that they may serve Me.

²¹Else, if you will not let My People go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon you, and upon your servants, and upon your people, and into your houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. (This miracle was designed to manifest the helplessness of Beelzebub, the god of flies, who was supposed to have power to prevent flies. The type of fly mentioned here is said to have been the Blatta Orientalis. It was a kind of beetle, which inflicts very painful bites with their jaws. They also gnaw and destroy clothes, household furniture, leather, and articles of every kind, and either consume or render worthless all eatables. It is said they can even drive people out of their houses and, at the same time, devastate the fields.)

²²And 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 you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the Earth. (The indication is that none of the plagues affected the Children of Israel, and neither were they meant to affect the Children of Israel.)

²³And I will put a division between My People and your people: tomorrow shall this sign be. (That division is still maintained by the Lord as it regards the world and His people. While the Lord may chastise His people, He never sends judgment, because such judgment was tendered at Calvary.)

²⁴And 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. (This means all the crops were lost, plus all the grass eaten. In other words, Egypt was left denuded, with the exception of Goshen.)

²⁵And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. (This is the first compromise made by Pharaoh: Sacrifice to your God in the land. It is Satans trick that the Believer be not only in the world, but, as well, of the world.)

²⁶And Moses said, It is not meet (possible) to do so; 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? (Pharaoh knew this, as well!)

²⁷We will go three days journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as He shall command us. (Moses did not take the bait.)

²⁸And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away: intreat for me. (This was the second compromise! Go, but not very far away. As Believers, we must never forget that one of the great themes of the Bible is separation.)

²⁹And Moses said, Behold, I go out from you, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.

³⁰And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD (asked the Lord to remove the flies).

³¹And 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. (In fact, everything the Lord did in this situation, in one way or the other, constituted a miracle. There were billions of flies, buzzing, gnawing, and eating; and then the next moment there wasnt even one.)

³²And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.