The 10 plagues go from remote and objective, to very personal and subjective. A staff turns into a snake - big deal - stay away from snakes. (I wonder why Moses didn’t do the leprosy trick?). Turn the water into blood - the water was something the Egyptians would have to go to get - and they tried to find ways around the problem by avoiding it. The next plagues that we see tonight - frogs, gnats and flies - start getting closer to them - invading their personal space. But they are just nuisances - really bad nuisances - but nothing personal.
Then the Lord will strike their livestock in chapter 9. Livestock were their livelihood - their food, milk, perhaps money too. And here things start to get subjective - as the Israelite livestock are spared. Then we see God get very personal by inflicting boils on the Egyptians. Then things get downright disastrous and out of control with hail - again an impersonal object, but one that wreaks terrible destruction.
Verses 1 - 15 The Frogs
Verses 1 - 4
I think frogs are kind of cute. I remember once I was putting in plumbing under our house and I was having a real hard time - I ended up getting blasted with water - it’s a long story. Anyway, I was pretty frustrated and wet and I don’t like it under houses anyway. So I’m looking for where the house drain is and I shine my flashlight over and here’s this little frog. I have no idea how he got under the house and into the sewer pipe, but he was so cute and I was comforted. Somehow I don’t think that was the response the Egyptians had.
Notice here that we don’t actually hear Pharaoh refuse to let the people go before God sends the frogs.
Verses 5 - 7
Notice that it’s actually Aaron that lifts up his staff. This is really the prototype of the prophet - speaking the words of God and then doing the acts of God. Again the Egyptian magicians did the same thing - bringing more destruction, not stopping the frogs, but making more of them. This is still a power struggle - which God is greater - Yahweh or the Egyptian gods.
So now we see Pharaoh’s first lie that he will comply. But this too is probably a test to see if God is really serious.
Verses 8 - 15
Isn’t it interesting that Pharaoh told Moses to send the frogs away tomorrow? Why not - right now! Perhaps it was because he had other schemes he was hatching - maybe by tomorrow he thought Moses might change his mind - who knows. It’s possible that Pharaoh realizes how his comfortable world is going to change drastically - and he just isn’t quite ready to give up yet. How often do we want "one more night with the frogs" - just a little longer with our pet sin, before we give it up to God. Sometimes our minds trick us to withstand the short term consequences of sin because we don’t want to face the long term consequences of giving up our lives to the Lord.
In reality - all Pharaoh wanted was for a respite from the frogs - he had no intention of letting the people go. He figured that "if I can just get these frogs out of here it’ll give me some breathing room to come up with another scheme."
In a way we might call this foxhole repentance - "I’m in a jam, Lord. Get me out and I’ll go to church every Sunday." God doesn’t allow trials so that we can make empty promises - as if God can’t see right through that anyway. He brings us into trials, like Moses said - "so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God."
Notice too that it was Pharaoh who hardened his heart - take note because after a while God’s going to give him a hand in the heart hardening.
Verses 16 - 19 The Gnats
So did the dust actually become gnats? Or were they born from the stinking rotten masses of frogs? Doesn’t really matter. It is interesting that the magicians were no longer capable to mimicking God’s power. The enemy does have power, but it is limited - he can only do what God allows.
This must have been a terrible thing to endure. At least you can see frogs - you can’t see gnats. Notice that so far the plagues have affected the Israelites as much as the Egyptians - living in this world we too are affected by sin, even though our sins have been paid for. There is much sickness and plague in this place - violence, disease, and heartache. But we are spared ultimate death - and from now on, only the Egyptians are plagued.
Notice too that it says "Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. It’s like first he voluntarily hardened his heart, then he set it in that condition - it’s a passive construction here, like he is turning his heart over to an external force.
The magicians here are not converted - just because they recognize God’s power. They are in a struggle and realize the enemy is more powerful then they.
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder. NIV
Pharaoh doesn’t ask, nor does Moses ask God to take away the gnats. Perhaps it was a plague that went away on its own or was bearable enough.
Verses 20 - 32 The Flies
Verses 20 - 24
The purpose of the frogs was so that Pharaoh would recognize the distinctiveness of Yahweh. The gnats were to see the power of God, and now the flies were so that they could see that God was among them. We too need to recognize that there is only one God, that He has the power to judge or to save, and that He has come to us to make a distinction between those that have a covenant with Him and those that don’t. At first it is a geographical distinction - the Land of Goshen. Soon, however, it is going to be a personal distinction - with the blood of a lamb being the only thing that saves.
An interesting note: verse 23 starts out "thus I will put a division between my people and your people." Most translations use the Greek Septuagint translation, which changes one letter of the Hebrew and makes the word "distinction". If you leave it in the original it says: "I will place redemption between my people and your people."
The "great" swarms of flies literally means "heavy" - pretty gross. The land being "ruined" is actually an imperfect form of the verb - denoting an incomplete action. God does not bring about total destruction until we have had complete opportunity to repent. Though the wheels of His judgment grind slowly, they crush completely.
Verses 25 - 27
So here Pharaoh - at the worst part of the plague ("then" - Hebrew waw) tries to plumb the depths of God’s will. Is it freedom He wants, or just religious observance? Many people today are caught in this dilemma as well. They think that by going to church, giving tithes, acting "churchy" that God will be mollified. God wants nothing less than total obedience, which means repent and leave your old citizenship behind and serve Me and Me alone. You can’t bargain your way out of sin.
Verse 26 - the Hebrew is literally "we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians" - which probably means that the act of sacrificing animals the Egyptians considered sacred would have been disgusting to them.
This reminds me of John chapter 6 when Jesus said: "whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me." Many people took offense at this - and for many people today: the sacrifice that brings life - that of Jesus giving His life on the cross and shedding His blood - then us getting that life through that blood sacrifice. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ESV
Verses 28 - 32
It is amazing to what lengths Pharaoh will go to bargain with God. He’s still got his end game in sight - of keeping Israel as a slave nation. "Lose the battle - win the war" sort of thinking. He obviously does not yet know who he is fighting against. Pharaoh once again hardens his heart. Soon he will turn that job over willingly to God.
Chapter 9
Plague 5 - The Livestock - Verses 1 - 7
In this plague, as I mentioned, things start to get personal - now the livestock are killed - perhaps with a fly borne illness? But notice that with the flies God made a distinction between the rest of Egypt and the district of Goshen - now He focuses down not just on Goshen but on the people of Israel. No pleading allowed this time. And see the condition of Pharaoh’s heart: "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh" as we see the transition to God hardening his heart.
Plague 6 - Boils - Verses 8 - 12
Although we don’t know the exact nature of the boils - one commentator suggests that it could be anthrax - which can occur after a cattle distemper. The ashes came from a kiln used to make clay pottery. In a way God is moving the plagues closer to home - the kiln representing the vital Egyptian economy which made huge cities and pyramids out of clay - and that the boils afflicted the people themselves - not some external source but to them an internal disease. Even the magicians were afflicted. Sin as it has infected all of humanity - is an equal opportunity killer and is 100% fatal.
Now it is the Lord who hardens Pharaoh’s heart - the transition is complete. God will make sure Pharaoh gets what Pharaoh wants - to be an enemy of God.
Plague 7 - Hail - Verses 13 - 35
It’s one thing for a plague to be an inconvenience - like having to dig for water, or seeing your livestock die. It’s quite another order of plague when nature itself seems to conspire against you - sending something so hideous and tremendous that it would send you into a panic.
Verse 14 could read "I will send all my plagues on your heart." In the end, it is the rebellious human heart that God judges - a heart that refuses to bow and believe.
Verse 15 - God is saying that He is actually measuring His actions against Pharaoh. "God desires for all men to "to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4).
God even warned them how to escape His judgment. It says "those who feared God" put their livestock inside and escaped harm. But those "who did not pay attention to the word of the Lord" suffered loss. Is there anything more clear? Jesus said: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can kill both body and soul in hell" (Matt 10:28). Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10) - listening to His Word is the second part - and that speaks of salvation through Jesus Christ (John 1).
I remember one time living in the mountains and experiencing a thunderstorm up close and personal. It was like artillery shells going off. Imagine a thunder, lightning, and hail storm like you have never experienced in your life - that’s what the Egyptians encountered - utter destruction.
Verse 27 "this time I have sinned" - as if he hadn’t sinned before. But Moses knew that because a shred of hope remained for Pharaoh in the crops that had not yet been destroyed - that even this was not enough to break Pharaoh.
Notice the word "sin." It is a Hebrew word that means "to miss the mark." But Pharaoh is not repenting of sin against God - it would be like saying "I really blew it this time - I made a serious mistake." And he is only referring to this last plague. Sometimes as God convicts us we repent because we get caught - but are not really sorry for our sin (only this time) and not sorry for our sin nature.
Conclusions
Do you fear the Word of the Lord?
Today the Bible is derided as out of date, inaccurate, or optional. It is none of those - and ignoring His Word is like ignoring the warning flags of a storm - we do so at our own peril.
Sin’s Consequences - Increasingly personal
When we sin often times we see it as very impersonal - it just involves me doing or saying or thinking something. But even as Paul the Apostle said in Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. KJV
It doesn’t at first seem as if our sins are doing much destroying - in fact it feels pretty good. But we don’t see the hidden destruction that builds one on top of the other - like the water attracting frogs who when they died brought gnats and flies.
Ephesians 4:19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. NIV
And as we continually ignore God’s truth it becomes increasingly harder for us to hear His voice and the methods He must use to get through to us become harsher and harsher.
1 Timothy 4:2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. NIV
What is the condition of your heart?
Do you have a hardened heart to God? Revelation 3 says "Behold I stand at the door and knock. Anyone who opens the door I will come into him and dine with him and he with me." Is God knocking on the door of your heart? How long will you ignore it? If you stubbornly refuse His entreaty for too long - your ears will no longer hear it and disaster will overtake you while you are deaf to the warning.
God in the end will give you the desire of your heart. If it is to be against Him, He will help you to be against Him. Please don’t let that be true of you!
Will you go with your king?
The Egyptians themselves had done nothing wrong. They just had Pharaoh as their king so they suffered his fate. For all of us humans when born into a kingdom we have Lucifer as our king. His fate will be an eternal lake of fire. We will suffer his fate unless we escape - and the only way of escape is though Jesus Christ.
Next time the plagues get really serious - including the death of the first born - and finally, Israel will go free.
