Exodus 8--Plagues 2-4: Frogs, Gnats, and Flies

The Second Plague: Frogs​
8  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.

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.

The Third Plague: Gnats
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’” 17 And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. 18 The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. 19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Fourth Plague: Flies
20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 21 Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. 22 But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. 23 Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.”’” 24 And the Lord did so. There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by the swarms of flies.

25 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 26 But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? 27 We must go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us.” 28 So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. Plead for me.” 29 Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 30 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 31 And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. 32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.

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Frogs, and gnats, and flies, OH MY!!! (Please tell me I wasn't the only one thinking that.)  In this passage we see Moses go to Pharaoh again, and again, and again giving him the message that the LORD says, "Let My people go!"  Pharaoh refuses and we see a pattern of him trying to barter with God and change the terms and conditions of God's ultimatum.  God said that He wanted His people to make a 3-day journey into the wilderness to make sacrifices and offerings to Him.  We first see with the plague of frogs that Pharaoh was unwilling to immediately relent and was willing to spend "one more night with the frogs"

Here's a couple of songs inspired by this plague:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PppzGGcdy4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otsluVgyDpM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN4MgBCDOJo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DVtr4sdBVc

Moses prayed to the LORD and the the frogs that were in the houses, courtyards and the fields, but they didn't go back to the river--they died where they were and the people had to collect them and pile them up, and the whole land of Egypt stank from the dead frogs--and remember, this was one of the the things that the Egyptians worshiped.  Once Pharaoh realized that the frogs were gone he went back on his word and did not let the people of God go free, but instead hardened his heart once again.

So, God sent another plague (notice there was no meeting with Pharaoh this time to give him a chance to let the people of Israel go)--this time making all of the dust of the earth turn into gnats.  The magicians of Egypt could not replicate this miracle like they had done with the plague of blood, and they knew that this was the "finger of God," but Pharaoh still would not listen to them and hardened his heart even more.

For the last plague we'll talk about in this blog, God again sent Moses to Pharaoh to tell him "Let My people go, that they may serve me."  God, through Moses and Aaron, warns Pharaoh that if he does not, then the whole land will be filled with swarms of flies, with the exception of the land of Goshen, which would be protected.  And the swarms of flies came the next day just as the LORD had said, and ruined everything, but the flies did not affect the land of Goshen where the children of Israel dwelt.

Pharaoh tries to change the terms of the ultimatum and said that he would let the people make sacrificies, but they would not be allowed to leave Egypt to do so.  Moses said that the blood sacrifices they would be required to make would be an "abomination" (detestable to their sight and sensibilities), and Moses knew the Egyptian law and asked if such action wouldn't be punishable by stoning?--Remember, he grew up in the palace for most of the first 40 years of his life.

Then Pharaoh says they can go into the wilderness to make their sacrifices but "cannot go very far away."  Again, God had already specified how far away they were to go--3 day's journey, and God was not going to let Pharaoh usurp His authority or tell His people when, where, and how to worship Him.

Then Moses seems to grow a bit more of a spine than we've seen before and he calls Pharaoh a cheat to his face.  Moses says he will intercede for the flies to be taken away but if Pharaoh cheats like he did before and will not let the people go sacrifice, but that is exactly what happened as Pharaoh hardened his heart yet again.

Did Pharaoh have any intention of letting the people go?  Probably not.  He was probably thinking he was toying with Moses and God the entire time and that he could trick them and that he was somehow smarter than God and could get rid of the plague and keep his slaves.  The rest of the plagues that we'll see seem strangely familiar to many of the plagues that God is going to send on the world during its last days.  God is not at all pleased with Egypt or their king and is going to give them a taste of what is to come for the wicked that will be judged in the end times.