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.”
God’s
continued patient striving with the rebellious king is an example of His
desire to see sinners saved, as it is written, “The Lord ... is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance,” 2 Peter 3:9.
This assurance
however, is balanced by the solemn warning, “My spirit shall not always
strive with man,” Genesis 6:3, and again, “He, who being often reproved
hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy,”
Proverbs 29:1.
8:2.
“And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders
with frogs:”
Punishment is
the inevitable concomitant of disobedience, but God sometimes, as here,
imposes many warning chastisements before executing His final sentence:
death.
The plague of
frogs, like all the others, was meant to break Pharaoh’s stubborn will, and
induce him to release the Hebrews, but it was of no avail. He had hardened
his heart against God, and would not repent.
8:3.
“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:”
Any doubt as
to whether the multiplication of the frogs was the result of a divine
miracle, was negated by the fact that their behavior would be contrary to
that of their kind. Frogs are always found in close proximity to water:
never in any of the places mentioned here. Not only would their phenomenal
proliferation cause consternation, but their very presence in these unlikely
places would evoke loathing and horror.
8:4.
“And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all
thy servants.”
“... come up”
is also rendered clamber over you: will crawl all over you. This
continues to emphasize that these would be no ordinary frogs, for such
behavior is totally foreign to the nature of frogs.
8:5.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say 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.”
8:6.
“And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs
came up, and covered the land of Egypt.”
8:7.
“And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon
the land of Egypt.”
See
comments on 7:12 relative to the
ability of the magicians to also produce frogs.
8:8.
“Then 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.”
Sheer
desperation had impelled Pharaoh’s promise, for as verse 15 reveals, he
reneged as soon as he saw that the frogs had gone. Nor is he the only one
who has thus dissembled with God. Many another, caught in the vice of
adversity, has also promised reformation, only to break his vow as soon as
the misfortune ended.
8:9.
“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?”
“... Glory
over me” is also translated You may have this triumph over me: Take this
chance to get the better of me: The honor is yours to tell me: Make clear to
me: Be pleased to command me: Of your royal favor, appoint me a time.
8:10.
“And he said, Tomorrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou
mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God.”
8:11.
“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.”
Pharaoh was
being given the opportunity to select the time when the frogs would be
removed, so that he would know that their departure was by God’s decree, and
not just by chance.
8:12.
“And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the Lord
because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.”
8:13.
“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.”
The removal of
the frogs at the time selected by Pharaoh ought to have convinced him that
the God of Moses and Aaron was omnipotent, and that He was the only God, all
others being but the product of men’s deluded minds; but his self-hardened
heart had become insensitive to every appeal, and blind to all evidence. He
had crossed the fatal line that separates God’s mercy from His wrath.
Repentance for him had become impossible. His doom was sealed, as is that of
every man who resists the striving of the Holy Spirit, and crosses that same
invisible deadly line.
8:14.
“And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.”
So many were
the dead frogs which the people had piled in mounds in order to clear the
ground of them, that the stench of their rotting bodies hung like the pall
of death over the whole land.
8:15.
“But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and
hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.”
Repentance
produced simply by the desire to escape from an unpleasant situation, but
apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, is worthless, “For
godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the
sorrow of the world worketh death,” 2 Corinthians 7:10.
8:16.
“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.”
8:17.
“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.”
“... lice” is
also rendered vermin, maggots, mosquitoes, stinging gnats.
8:18.
“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.”
See
comments on 7:12.
8:19.
“Then 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.”
This latest
miracle compelled even the magicians to admit that God was its Author; but
nothing would induce the rebel king to make that same admission. Having
traveled the road to destruction, to the point where God would permit no
retreat, the doomed insurgent plunged on headlong in his folly, and it is
beyond the power of words to describe the eternal torment awaiting every
other such rebel, first in hell, and thereafter for ever in the unquenchable
flame of the dreadful lake of fire.
8:20.
“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.”
8:21.
“Else, 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
ground whereon they are” means that every place on which they walked would
also be covered with the flies, so that every step the people took, whether
in their homes or outside, would be accompanied by the revolting squelching
sound of the creatures being crushed under their feet.
8:22.
“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.”
That the
swarms of flies were not just an unusual natural phenomenon would be
attested by the fact that the plague would not be in the land of Goshen
where the Hebrews dwelt.
8:23.
“And I will put a division between my people and thy people: tomorrow shall
this sign be.”
Further proof
that the multiplied swarms of flies were not just a natural aberration,
would be supplied by the fact that they would not appear until the time
announced by God: the next day.
8:24.
“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.”
“...
corrupted” in the present context means infested: tainted: utterly
wasted: ruined.
8:25.
“And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to
your God in the land.”
Pharaoh was
beginning to break under the increasing pressure being applied by God. Up
to this point he had been adamant in refusing to allow the Israelites to
sacrifice to Jehovah anywhere, but now he would permit them to
worship, the only condition being that they do so “in the land,” i.e., in
Egypt.
See
comments on 3:18 relative to their
having to go three days’ journey into the desert in order to worship.
8:26.
“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?”
A further
reason why Israel must not sacrifice to God in Egypt is that some of the
animals which the Hebrews offered in sacrifice to Jehovah were considered
sacred by the Egyptians.
“... the
abomination of the Egyptians” doesn’t refer to animals which the Egyptians
abominated, but to those they considered sacred, and whose slaughter
therefore would be an abominable act in their eyes.
8:27.
“We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the
Lord our God, as he shall command us.”
8:28.
“And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your
God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.”
See
comments on 3:18 relative to the
three days’ journey into the desert.
8:29.
“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, tomorrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in
not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”
This may not
be taken to mean that Moses was willing to comply with Pharaoh’s decision to
let the Hebrews go into the wilderness a short distance, and not the full
three days’ journey commanded by Jehovah. There could be no compromise
relative to what God had commanded.
8:30.
“And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the Lord.”
8:31.
“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.”
8:32.
“And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the
people go.”
Were this not
the language of Scripture it would be difficult to believe that Pharaoh
still hadn’t learnt the futility of rebellion against God; but the sad truth
is that man’s deceitful heart is capable of leading him into unbelievable
folly, even his own eternal destruction.