Exodus 8:1-32

November 12, 2014

Moses has commanded freedom for the Israelites, but Pharaoh has simply refused. Aarons
staff turned into a serpent to change his mind, but the Egyptian magicians did the same and
Pharaohs heart only swelled with pride and hardened. Even when Aarons 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. Aarons 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. 2And if thou refuse to let them go,
behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: 3And 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: 4And the frogs shall come up both on thee,
and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. 5And 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. 6And 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 cant do anything without stumbling over frogs: they pull the blankets back, and
theres 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 its
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 youll look closely youll see that
these plagues come in pairs. First Yahweh proves hes over the Nile when he turns it to
blood and then he makes frogs come up out of it. In the next two plagues hell show hes
over the insects with lice and flies, then he shows hes over health with disease and boils,
then that hes over the sky with hail, lightning, and locusts, and then finally that hes 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 hes 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 theyve made it worse. When Pharaoh has finally had enough, he calls for
Moses and Aaron and announces a change of mind. If theyll 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? 10And 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. 11And
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.

Glory over me just means that Moses yields to Pharaoh: You tell me when, and well do
it. Pharaoh says to pray the next day, and thats a little confusing because he should ask for
it today. No one really knows why he wants to wait, but its 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 hes making sure the whole thing
isnt coincidence, and thats 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
Yahwehs 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. 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. 15But 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. Its a true Proverb that a dog returns to its vomit and a sow to her wallowing (2 Pt.
2:22). Dont miss the number of times it says he hardens his heart as the LORD had said.
Some people downplay Gods 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 hes not trying to change his mind
through the plagues. He keeps Pharaohs 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. 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. 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.
This third plague is lice from the dust, and its most notable because the magicians cant
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 cant stand in front of Moses
because theyre covered in boils (9:11). Their folly was made manifest (2 Tim. 3:8-9).
19

Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaohs heart
was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

When they realize the power is beyond their limitations they confess that this is the finger
of God. They dont 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, its 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 well talk about today, is a swarm of flies. That sounds
harmless, but the Hebrew word doesnt mean flies. Theres a lot of debate about what it
actually was,1 but pretty much everyone agrees that the basic meaning of the word is a
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 werent eating. The
point is that it was a plague in their houses, on the ground, and on their bodies.

http://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/component/docman/doc_view/182biblereviewbeastsorbugs?Itemid=158

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. 23And 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 its something that shouldnt be missed. The plagues are a
judgment against one people and deliverance for another. This isnt a failed effort in
evangelism, and its not Gods intention that Egypt should repent. We tend to think that God
hardened only Pharaohs heart, but God says in 10:1 that he hardened Pharaohs heart and
the hearts of his servants. His purpose in this is to put a division between his people and
Egypts!
This has tremendous theological significance, and its the basis for our salvation: God
chooses. Thats 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 wasnt 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: 23And 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.
Its 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. 25And Pharaoh called for Moses and for
Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. 26And 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? 27We will go three days journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD
our God, as he shall command us. 28And 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. 29And 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. 30And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated
the LORD. 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. 32And 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 dont go far. Moses agrees to pray and warns about being deceptive, but Pharaohs
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; well pick up here next time.
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