EXODUS
CHAPTER 8
The Lord sends plagues of frogs, lice, and flies upon Egypt—Pharaoh hardens his heart.
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.
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:
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. [ Plague number 2, which centers on the frog or the goddess Heqet. The frog was sacred in ancient Egypt. It was a symbol of life springing forth. It was associated with the concept of resurrection. In fact, it was a symbol of resurrection. And it was an animal considered sacred by all Egyptians that is now being manipulated by Israel's God. And the plague of frogs also shows that miracles and signs don't produce lasting conversion in most people. ]
6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.
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, [ Pharaoh. "Well, yeah, I'm going to let them go, but please get rid of this plague of the frogs." ] that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD.
9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, [ Moses says "Well, I give you the honor of telling me when you want this to happen." ] 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?
10 And he said, To morrow. [ And Pharaoh says, "Ah, how about the next day?" ] And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God.
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.
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.
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.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; [ Pharaoh goes back on his promise to let the Israelis go. so signs and wonders, miracles don't produce lasting conversion in many people. When Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, that yeah, it wasn't that long that he turns around and is like, "Oh, okay. We're fine now." What's interesting about the first two plagues is that the magicians at Pharaoh's court are able to duplicate these signs and wonders just like they were able to duplicate the staff becoming serpent. It ends after this. They will no longer be able to duplicate this. And so as the signs and wonders intensify and they strike at the very heart of who the Egyptians are, the magicians are not able to do what the Lord, God, is able to do. And this is seen beginning in the third plague ] as the LORD had said.
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 [ Actually stinging gnats. ] throughout all the land of Egypt.
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. [ Remember, the soil is also worshiped by the Egyptians. So now Jehovah has caused the soil, which was once magnificent to the ancient Egyptians, to turn on them. In the biblical text, the phrase the dust will become gnats is probably symbolic of the enormous numbers of these stinging creatures. ]
18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: [ The magicians could not duplicate this plague. ] so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.
19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: [ So the magicians were trying to explain to Pharaoh how Moses was able to do all of these things, and they respond that it is through the Lord(the Priesthood). Remember that the Pharaoh did not hold the priesthood so he fiend it. The phrase "finger of God" is used to describe God's power and authority, often in contexts that emphasize action, skill, or divine intervention. When the “finger” of God appears in the Bible, as opposed to his “hand” or “arm,” it seems to indicate the writing of God and therefore his intentions—whether in law, creation or judgment. Jesus exemplifies this meaning when he writes with his finger in the dirt, perhaps listing off the sins of his opponents. ] and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, [ He became even madder at God because that the Priesthood of God was not within his grasp. ] and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.
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.
21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, [ Moses is trying to tell the Pharaoh that he really should listen, because his boss; God; well he is going to keep his word. He has made covenants with the people of Israel and God will stop at nothing short of keeping his end of the covenant. So again the Pharaoh has another chance to let the 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.
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.
24 And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies [ notice the word of flies is in italics. Those words don't appear in the original text. So there are grievous swarms, and these grievous swarms are none other than the dung beetles, the scarab. Egyptologists and students of ancient history will recognize that the scarab is an emblem of the sun God Ra or Ra, one of the greatest and most enduring symbols in ancient Egypt. And so what we have is we have these swarms of scarab beetles that are supposed to represent these magnificent and kind gods but now have turned against the people and it's the Lord's power that's behind that. So in a way we can begin to see that the plagues are really dismantling Egyptian theology all while tormenting the people. ] 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.
25 ¶ And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.
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?
27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us.
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.
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.
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.
32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart [ The word in Hebrew that's used that's translated as harden. I will harden my heart or he hardens his own heart is the word for heavy. Kaved is the Hebrew word, kaved or kaved. So what the text is really having Pharaoh say is I will make my heart heavy. This plays directly into an ancient Egyptian religious practice, which is known as the weighing of the heart. This has to do with the afterlife. Candidates who wish to enjoy a life after this one , to live in the realm of the Gods are required on their deathbed to pass a series of tests. So we see this person being brought to the god, Anubis, who's the god of the dead. He's the jackal-headed god. We see another Egyptian god, who's got a slate in his hand and a stylist and he's taking notes. That's the god Thoth, who is the god of scribes. Then we see the balance scales, where the candidate for eternal life's heart is being weighed against the feather of the goddess Maat. A candidate is required to stand there but have his heart weighed on the balance scales. They viewed the world differently than we do. So he wants to enjoy eternal life with the gods, his heart is weighed. If his heart weighs heavier than the feather of Maat, it means that the accumulated deeds of his life have been evil. So things are out of balance. If his heart weighs heavier than the feather of Maat, then he's turned over to what's called the Ammit monster. The Ammit monster is represented as a creature with the head of a crocodile, the chest and pause of a lion, and the rear end of a hippopotamus. These are the three largest man-eating animals in Egypt, in the ancient world as they are today. So you stay away from those three. So he's cooked, he's done. He won't get eternal life. But if your heart weighs as light as the feather of Maat, then you are brought into the next realm, where you stand before Osiris. You go through a series of, I guess what we would call ordinances is too strong a word. We would use that word but the ancient Egyptians would say he goes through a series of in enthronement tasks. Then he's anointed for eternal life. The ankh is poured out on his head, he's robed with the robe of the gods. Then he's ushered into the presence of Osiris to live his life. ] at this time also, neither would he let the people go.