The plagues came at a time when frogs we being falsely worshiped by the Egyptians as "gods" (and goddesses) in place of the one true and living God. God's people.... stuck in the midst of this were being rescued by God, and to accomplish this, God sent Moses on a mission to have a little chat with Pharaoh.
"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. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: 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 kneading troughs: And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants."
Pharaoh had been warned.
" 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. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. "
But Pharaoh was not the least bit fazed. No... he called his magicians and set them to work.
" And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt."
Weird isn't it that the magicians imitated God?
Can you imagine frogs everywhere? Then to make matters worse, the magicians conjure up even more frogs. Now, why did the magicians do THAT?
Were they showing that they were just like God? As powerful as he?
They would better have shown their power by removing the frogs, but they could not do that. They did not have the power to fix the problem. These men with all their magic arts were helpless;( they had no power to help themselves.) In fact, all they could do was make matter worse.
The story has a happy ending though, because through it all and in various ways at various times, some people learned to rely on the power and goodness of God Even Pharaoh realized that God, and only God could solve the problem....
"Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, 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 do sacrifice unto the Lord."
Respectfully, Moses agreed to destroy the frogs at Pharaohs request.
"Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, 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 do sacrifice unto the Lord."
Respectfully, Moses agreed to destroy the frogs at Pharaohs request.
"And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I entreat 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?"
He even let Pharaoh name the day and time....
"And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God. 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. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 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. And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank."
Then the next day, the frogs all died. Unfortunately, much like the bad religion of Egypt, they stunk up everything. And still Pharaoh's heart was not really into this God thing. He just wanted what he wanted... to be rid of the frogs.... and he got his way..... after which he did not want to have anything to do with obeying God or letting the people go.
" But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said."
The result of pharaoh's hardened heart was worse than frogs.... it was a plague of lice. However the magicians were powerless to both cure the lice problem and copy the Lord.
"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. 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. 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. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God"
The magicians pointed to what they called, the "finger of God."
Interesting term. In Luke 11, Jesus referred to his casting out of devils as the "finger of God" too.
Luke 11:19-20
"And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you."
And who do YOU say Jesus is?
In some weird way, I kinda like frogs. They are interesting creatures. I have to say though that I like frogs best when they are free-living natural creatures just like God made them to be and found in a river or pond, resting on the pads of lilies.... where they belong, eating the things that bug you.... and me.
In the story Pharaoh lets the people go.... finally, but only after the angel of death passed throughout Egypt.... and only those households with the blood of the Lamb over the doorposts were protected from harm.
L.B.
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