Exodus 8

The second plague—frogs (vs. 1-15)—The Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to return to Pharaoh and demand the release of the Israelites (v. 1). If the king refused, “I will smite all your territory with frogs. So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your servants, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls” (vs. 2-3). Not a very pleasant prospect, but then, none of the plagues were amusing. The conversation between God’s men and the Pharaoh is not recorded, but obviously he refused to free the Hebrews for in verse 5 the Lord told Aaron to stretch out his rod over all the waters of Egypt and “cause frogs to come up on the land.” Aaron did so, and the frogs “came up and covered the land of Egypt” (v. 6). Interestingly, the magicians of Egypt were once again able to duplicate the feat and bring forth frogs as well (v. 7). How they did so is unknown, but a little dexterity and trickery, perhaps the knowledge of some breeding grounds, enabled them to bring frogs onto the land as well.

But regardless of what his sorcerers could do, Pharaoh recognized that the actions of Moses and Aaron were far advanced of what the Egyptian tricksters could accomplish. So the king asked Moses and Aaron, “Entreat 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 sacrifice to the LORD” (v. 8). Moses agreed, a time was set for the removal of the frogs (v. 10), and the man of God made his request. And “the LORD did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields” (v. 13). The unpleasantry wasn’t over yet: “They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank” (v. 14). And, not unexpectedly, when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, “he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the LORD had said” (v. 15). Notice that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened after the plague was removed; he was “tender” hearted during the pestilence.

The third plague—lice (vs. 16-19)—God then commanded Aaron (through Moses) to “strike the dust of the land, so that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt” (v. 16). Aaron did so, and “all the dust of the land became land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt” (v. 17). “So there were lice on man and beast” (v. 18). This plague the Egyptian magicians could not copy, and they told Pharaoh, “’This is the finger of God’” (v. 19). But Pharaoh still declined to let the Israelites go.

The fourth plague—flies (vs. 20-32)—If you’ll notice, in the most accurate translations (KJV, ASV, and NKJV) the word “flies” is in always in italics. That’s because the Hebrew word here is a little obscure; flies are possibly meant, but it could have been some other kind of insect. The New American Standard uses the “insects.” I’ll stick with flies, “swarms” of them. The Lord “set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the land” (v. 22). And such is what happened; not even Pharaoh’s house escaped (v. 24).

Pharaoh tried to bargain with Moses and Aaron: “’Go, sacrifice to your God in the land’” (v. 25). Moses rejected the idea. “It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God. If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not stone us?” (v. 26). The Israelites would be sacrificing animals that were sacred to the Egyptians, something that Moses argues would not be tolerated by the locals. He said that the Israelites would go “three days’ journey into the wilderness” (v. 27) and sacrifice there. That, of course, was not God’s ultimate plan, but the Lord wasn’t finished showing His power and glory to His people and the Egyptians. Pharaoh agreed to the deal (v. 28) and asked Moses to “intercede for me” (v. 28). Moses petitioned Jehovah to remove the flies, which He did (vs. 30-31). The chapter ends with the not surprising statement, “But Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go” (v. 32). Always keep in mind that Pharaoh was a “god,” too, and was very reluctant to admit defeat to the god of his slaves.