Exodus 8

The second plague: Frogs

Exo 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.
Exo 8:2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:
Exo 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:
Exo 8:4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.

The Egyptians had two frog fertility gods.

Moses and Aaron spoke with authority the message of God. Frogs were another god that was worshipped by the Egyptians. The frog spirits were demonic.

Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Rev 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

Exo 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.
Exo 8:6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.
Exo 8:7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh refused to let the people go, so a curse of frogs came upon the land and the magicians through enchantments brought up more frogs. They added to the curse. Satan will never bless, he will only bring more misery

Exo 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.
Exo 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?
Exo 8:10 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.

Frogs in everything and Pharaoh said remove the frogs tomorrow. Maybe he was trusting his magicians to remove them first?

Exo 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.
Exo 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.
Exo 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.
Exo 8:14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.

The frogs died and they began to stink. Dead frogs in heaps and a bad smell.

The third plague: Lice

Exo 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.
Exo 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.
Exo 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.
Exo 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.

The Egyptian earth god: seb, was god of the lice

This time the magicians could not copy the miracle curse of making of lice from dust.The priests of Egypt were required to do ritual cleansing and to sacrifice animals to their gods. Lice on man and beast made them all filthy.

The LORD is LORD over all.

Isa 40:15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

The LORD can make man from dust.

Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

During WW2 Nazi Germany turned the living people of God, the Jews, into their enemies, treating them as if they were vermin or lice to be exterminated. This too was the devil's plan to destroy God's people and the plan of God for them.

Exo 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.

The fourth plague: Swarms

When the magicians gave God the glory, Pharaoh still hardened his heart. Moses and Aaron would come to the king in the morning by the River, as before with the same request. If God is in it we continue.

Exo 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.
Exo 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.

Swarm: arob, a swarm. It does not say flies, so they may have been biting insects as well. Swarm, arob, was used for the word flies in Psalm 78, but it spoke of all sorts of flies and that they devoured them.

Psa 78:45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

Exo 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.
Exo 8:23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.

The Egyptians also worshipped the god of the flies: Uatchit. Another name for the lord of the flies is Beelzebub. He was called the prince of devils by the Pharisees. The text says that there was a division between God's people and the Eqyptians. No plague would come against the Hebrews.

Exo 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.
Exo 8:25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.

This time Pharaoh was in a hurry to remove the plague of swarming flies. Go sacrifice in your land, not Canaan, but in Egypt but in their land of Goshen. This way they would be prevented from leaving the land.

Exo 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?

The God of Israel was an abomination to the Egyptians. Just as Islam hates all other gods, even if their God is an abomination to the Hebrews. In a time of tolerance, those who are serious about their belief have little tolerance for others. Tolerance in our time is a way to say, I will do what I want, so leave me alone. The God of Israel had commanded that his people were to leave Egypt to worship in the wilderness. Now there is a showdown as to whose God is the strongest.

Exo 8:27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us.
Exo 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.

Pharaoh is coming closer to allowing Moses to take his people out, but not too far. Now intreat for me, pray to your God for me, plead to him to remove the flies.

Exo 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, to morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.

This time Moses says,"tomorrow". He was in no hurry to remove the plague of flies and he was not convinced that Pharaoh would keep his word.

Exo 8:30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD.
Exo 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.
Exo 8:32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

The flies were removed and Pharaoh hardened his heart again, he would not let the Hebrews go.

When I was in the eighth grade, there was a graduation assembly. We all stood up and sang the song "When Israel was in Egypt's land; let my people go." When we were to be seated, a prankster pulled my chair back and I scraped my back as I tumbled to the ground. It was painful, but it also is an illustration of the spirit of Pharaoh, playing games, as he in the spirit pulled the chair out from under Moses, but Moses did not fall for this trickster. He would continue to do what God asked of him and Pharaoh would be hard hearted until he could resist no more. Our God is greater than all other gods.

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