Episode 358 - "Frogs everywhere" Exodus 8:1-15
Ex. 8:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs. 3 The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. 4 The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.”’” 5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt!’” 6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 7 But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
Ex. 8:8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the LORD to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.” 9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “Be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” 10 And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. 11 The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile.” 12 So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the LORD about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh. 13 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 14 And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
As we will see going forward, the LORD will bring ten plagues upon Egypt that will ultimately cause Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. This will be in accordance with what the LORD told Moses and Aaron would happen. It’s an odd variety of plagues. Some scholars argue that each plague corresponds to a specific god worshipped by the Egyptians, and that each plague reveals the LORD is greater than those gods. Others point to the lack of evidence for those claims. The text itself does not name any particular gods the Egyptians worshipped. Yet, later in Exodus, during the final plague, the LORD says, “and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments.” (Ex. 12:12). I think the purpose of each plague is to reveal to all that the LORD is the supreme God of all. According to the LORD, he is one God with no equal.
The second plague begins with the LORD’s instructions to Moses to deliver the same mandate to let the Israelites go, with the consequences of failing to obey the LORD’s command being an overwhelming infestation of frogs. I find it interesting that the text seems to skip the part where Moses delivers this message and Pharaoh's response. Instead, immediately after the LORD gives Moses the instructions, the LORD told Moses to have Aaron stretch out his staff over the waters, and the frogs started coming from everywhere. While Moses’ interaction with Pharaoh is not recorded here, I think Moses did everything the LORD commanded him. But Pharaoh didn’t give him the time of day.
It seems to me the LORD is turning up the heat, so to speak, with this plague. The water turned to blood would have been terrible. But frogs coming from everywhere and going everywhere would have been a nightmare. It was an unrelenting attack on the people. I suspect they had a difficult time sleeping, eating, or doing anything with so many frogs around.
Once again, the magicians were able to duplicate the miracle in some measure. It’s important to note, however, that Pharaoh pleaded with Moses to have the LORD stop the plague. If the magicians were able to produce frogs themselves, why didn’t Pharaoh ask them to make the frogs disappear? I would guess that Pharaoh recognized that what the LORD had done was greater than what the magicians had done. At least, this was the first time he seemed to consider letting the people go if the LORD had stopped the plague.
Moses clearly wanted to capitalize on Pharaoh’s apparent softening and told Pharaoh to give him a specific time for the LORD to stop the onslaught of frogs. This should not only have revealed the LORD’s power to Pharaoh, but also point out that the LORD would listen to and grant Pharaoh’s request. Yet, when the LORD stopped the frogs, Pharaoh refused to honor his promise. This narrative reveals a sharp contrast: the Israelites did not trust the LORD to fulfill the covenant promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Israelites. But the LORD was demonstrating himself as faithful while Pharaoh was untrustworthy and faithless himself.
One last observation about this plague is that while the LORD stopped the onslaught of frogs, he did not completely remove their impact. The frogs that had entered their homes died where they were, and the effects of Pharaoh’s rebellion lingered on. It seems to me that this reminds us that while the LORD forgives sin and shows people mercy, he doesn’t make the negative consequences disappear. The good thing is that it can remind us of the consequences of our sin.