Once again, God commands Pharaoh to let His people go and worship Him, Exodus 8:1, and He gives Pharaoh a week to think about it, Exodus 7:16. If he refused, then another miraculous outpouring of God’s judgment would come upon the land of Egypt, Exodus 8:2.
The second plague brought frogs from the Nile, Exodus 8:2. This was a judgment against ‘Heqet’, the frog-headed goddess of birth. Frogs were thought to be sacred and not to be killed.
Davis, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The Egyptians were just about the most polytheistic people known from the ancient world. Even to this day, we are not completely sure of the total number of gods which they worshipped. Most lists include somewhere in the neighbourhood of eighty gods.’
God says the Nile will teem with frogs, they will come up into Pharaoh’s palace, bedroom, bed, the houses of Pharaoh’s officials, his people, and into their ovens and kneading troughs, Exodus 8:3-4.
The LORD tells Moses to tell Aaron, Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt, Exodus 8:5.
We can’t help but note the number of frogs there must have been, they were all over the land including in the bedrooms of many houses, Exodus 8:6 / Psalm 78:45.
This would have had a huge impact on the living conditions of all those in Egypt and their spiritual conditions, as frogs were worshipped by the Egyptians, they wouldn’t be able to go about their daily lives without crushing them.
Youngblood, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Since the frog or toad was deified as the Egyptian goddess Heqet, who was believed to assist women in childbirth, there may be a touch of irony in the statement that large numbers of frogs would invade the Pharaoh’s bedroom and even jump on his bed, Exodus 8:3.’
Again, the Bible doesn’t tell us how the magicians performed this trick, Exodus 8:7, but it does say they used their ‘secret arts’, 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10. Remember, they are magicians and magic was their art.
They were secret because these magicians, like some today, don’t reveal how they do it. It’s interesting to note that if the magicians were real miracle workers, why didn’t they miraculously remove the frogs instead of producing more?
At last, and for the first time, it appears that Pharaoh’s stubborn heart is beginning to soften, as he asks Moses to pray to the Lord and remove the frogs so that God’s people can go and worship Him, Exodus 8:8. However, it appears that his request wasn’t genuine, he just wanted some relief from the frogs, and he has no intentions of letting God’s people go anywhere.
Notice also when Moses asked exactly when Pharaoh would like the frogs removed, Exodus 8:9, he replied, ‘tomorrow’, Exodus 8:10. If we were in Pharaoh’s shoes, I’m sure we would say, ‘now, get rid of these frogs right now’, but for some reason, he said ‘tomorrow’.
Moses tells Pharaoh, in order that he will know there is no one like the LORD, God, the frogs will be removed tomorrow from everywhere except the Nile, Exodus 8:10-11. Moses then cries to the LORD about the frogs, Exodus 8:12, and the very fact that the frogs died the following day, is another miracle within itself, Exodus 8:13.
God had the frogs invade every part of the homes of the Egyptians, and when they died, their stinking bodies were heaped up in offensive piles all through the land, Exodus 8:14.
We can only imagine the stench and piles and piles of dead frogs were scattered throughout Egypt, Exodus 8:14. It appears that when God put pressure on Pharaoh, his heart softened, but now that the frogs were dead, he went back to being hard-hearted again and refused to let God’s people go, Exodus 8:15 / Exodus 4:21.
It’s interesting to note that Pharaoh was given no warning and no thinking time about this plague from God, as he had been with the others. Here we find the third plague, gnats, Exodus 8:16.
This was a judgment against ‘Set’, the god of the desert. The Hebrew word used here for gnat is the word ‘ken’, and it means any of the tiny, minute stinging flies, which are classified as stinging gnats.
Different translations of the Scriptures use different words here; some use ‘gnats’, some use the word ‘lice’, some use the word ‘maggots’, some use the word ‘mosquitoes’, and others use the word ‘fleas’.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The word used in this text means the tick, 1. They are said to be in man and beast. The tick buries its head in the victim, and 2. The meaning of the root word here, which is to make firm, fix or establish, which ticks most assuredly do.’
Aaron, with his hand outstretched with the staff, strikes the dust of the ground, and gnats came on people and animals, in fact, all the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats, Exodus 8:17.
Just as man was created from the dust of the ground, Genesis 3:19 / 1 Corinthians 15:47, so too were these gnats. But unlike the previous plagues, the magicians were unable to duplicate this one, Exodus 8:18 / 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10.
This is possibly because this plague came unannounced, and so they would have had no time to prepare. Notice they declared to Pharaoh that, ‘this is the finger of God’, Exodus 8:19.
Durham, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The new element introduced in the account of the third of the mighty acts is the realisation by Pharaoh’s learned men that God or a god is in the midst of what is happening in Egypt.’
When the magicians said this, they weren’t acknowledging the God of Israel; they were simply acknowledging that the plague was supernatural and beyond their power of imitation. This, of course, was an excuse for not being able to replicate the miracle.
Asimov, a Jewish commentator, says the following.
‘Jannes and Jambres were so impressed by Moses that they eventually joined the Israelites but died in the course of the Exodus.’
There were so many gnats that they covered the land of Egypt, which would have made life pretty miserable for the Egyptians. Because they were all over the animals, the gods of Egypt wouldn’t receive the sacrifice of gnat-infested animals, so this stopped their sacrificial system.
Pharaoh’s heart once again became hard, and he wouldn’t listen to God just as God said, Exodus 8:19 / Exodus 4:21. It’s interesting to note that if Pharaoh himself was regarded as a god by the Egyptians, why didn’t he himself intervene and do something about all these judgments?
Unlike the plague of gnats, God now gives Pharaoh another warning with this plague and gives his notice about what He is about to do, Exodus 8:20-21. Notice also that this will also affect Pharaoh at the river again, where he would go for his daily walk to worship, Exodus 8:20 / Exodus 7:14.
Once again, it’s difficult to know what kind of flies these were, Exodus 8:21. Some translations have the word ‘gnats’, others have the word ‘beetles’, and others have the word ‘gadflies’. Whatever they were, they were some kind of flying insect, Psalm 78:45, which totally destroyed the land.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following concerning these insects.
‘When enraged, they fasten themselves upon the human body, especially upon the edges of the eyelids. They not only tortured, ’devoured’, Psalms 78:45, the men, and disfigured them by the swellings produced by their sting, but also killed the plants in which they deposited their eggs.’
This fourth plague was a judgment on either ‘Re’ or ‘Uatchit’, who were both Egyptian gods depicted as flies. In this plague, God clearly distinguished between the Israelites and the Egyptians.
Goshen, where the Israelites lived, would have no flies, but where the Egyptians lived, they would have swarms of them, Exodus 8:22. By doing this, God was making a distinction between His people and Pharaoh’s people and the sign would occur tomorrow, Exodus 8:23.
Pause for a moment and think about this, and imagine what the Israelites were thinking about during this miracle. You’ve got all these flies swarming around in Egypt, but yet, in Goshen, where God’s people were, there were none. I would imagine the Israelites were thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this God, who not only created billions of flies but controls them?’
I don’t know about you, but when we get one single fly in our home, it’s almost impossible to catch it, never mind control it. But God, who is the creator of all things, can demand obedience even from the animal world.
God is not only the all-powerful one, but He is also the one who protects. There’s no way the Egyptians could misunderstand the point God was making. The point was that Israel is God’s people, and He wanted Pharaoh to let them go.
Notice the LORD did this and when the dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace, the houses of his officials and throughout Egypt, notice the flies totally ruined the land, Exodus 8:24.
Pharaoh appears to soften his heart and comes up with a compromise, they can go and worship in the land, but not where God wants them to go but in Egypt, Exodus 8:25.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Here is the first of four compromises suggested by Pharaoh as a means of hindering the will of God. The second is in Exodus 8:28, ‘Ye shall not go very far away’. The third is in Exodus 10:11, ‘only the men must go’. The fourth is in Exodus 10:24, ‘the flocks and the herds must be left behind’. Moses’ ultimate answer to these was the stern declaration, ‘there shall not a hoof be left behind!’ Exodus 10:26.’
The Israelites couldn’t sacrifice and worship in Egypt because the sacrifice involved the killing of sheep, and as we know, shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians, Exodus 8:26 / Genesis 46:34. The Egyptians would have turned on the Israelites and killed them if they sacrificed sheep.
Cassuto, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The Egyptians regarded the animals the Israelites would have sacrificed as holy and as manifestations of their gods. Consequently, the sacrifices would have been an abomination.’
Moses tells Pharaoh that they need to take the three-day journey and worship God where He wants them to worship Him, Exodus 8:27. Pharaoh, once again, under the pressure of the plagues, agrees to let God’s people go and worship Him in the wilderness, Exodus 8:28. However, he adds the restriction of them not going far away, Exodus 8:28.
Notice that Pharaoh asks Moses to intercede for him, Exodus 8:28. Moses agrees to intervene on behalf of Pharaoh and tells him tomorrow the flies will leave, however, he also gives him a warning bot to be deceitful by going against his word, Exodus 8:29.
After speaking to God, God agrees and removes the flies, not one fly remained, Exodus 8:30. The One who sent the plagues and he knows that God is the only one who can stop the plague, Exodus 8:30-31 / Exodus 9:27-33 / Exodus 10:15-19 / Exodus 8:30-31 / Exodus 9:5-6 / Exodus 10:13 / Exodus 10:33.
Once again, Pharaoh lied through his teeth to Moses when the pressure was taken off, or he may have simply changed his mind. This is seen in the fact that his heart became hard again, Exodus 8:32.