Exodus 8:1-15 NIV Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. 3 The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. 4 The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’”
5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, 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. 7 But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.”
10 “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.
Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God. 11 The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”
12 After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. 13 And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. 14 They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
Observation
This Exodus story of the 10 plagues of Egypt is told and retold year after year in Sunday School. We miss the deeper meaning of this story if we just view it as God using miracles to wear the Egyptian’s resistance down. Each plague demonstrated God’s power and authority over an Egyptian god who could not protect Egypt from the effects of the plagues; the Egyptian magicians by calling on their gods were only able to add to the plagues but never able to reverse them.
Turning the waters to blood challenged the authority of Khnum, the creator god who also controlled all the waters. Creating an overabundance of frogs made mockery of Heqet, the goddess of fertility, childbirth and the one who breathed life into every child. The sun god, Ra, could not dispel the plague of darkness, and so on through the rest. The ten plagues are about Yahweh declaring that He is God over all, supreme in power and authority, Creator, Giver of Life and Light – the one true God.
So, my “favorite” plague is the frogs. Since frogs were closely associated with Heqet (the goddess with a frog’s head – ick!), they were considered sacred and could not be killed. I can just hear the Egyptians: “Watch your step! Look before you sit down! Don’t hurt the frogs! Don’t touch them!” Also, anyone who studies frogs will tell you that many frogs have a slightly toxic, some even poisonous, slime that, on contact, can cause painful skin irritation. (There is a reason that you only find frog legs on the menu!) Being overwhelmed by frogs had to make life truly difficult, annoying, frustrating, slimy and possibly very itchy. The consequences of each plague became increasingly serious and even deadly as they progressed.
Impact on Me
I am sure that I have heard and taught this story dozens of times in over 30 years in Children’s Ministry. This plague of frogs has always left me with a few questions.
- How could anyone possibly know that the magicians were successful in creating more frogs since there didn’t seem any place free of frogs? “The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. 4 The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.”
- Why in the world would Pharaoh choose another night with the frogs? I certainly would have said, “Now, immediately!”
- What relief?! “The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. 14 They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief …”
- Even cleaning up the carcasses was going to cause issues – How do you dispose of holy creatures whose slime will cause serious itchiness? Where do you put them as they are already everywhere?
So, why is this my “favorite” plague? I think it is that “tomorrow” of Pharaoh. Just as he procrastinated in his and his people’s misery, it is so human for us to procrastinate in leaving our own – those temptations that plague us, those habits of spiritual laziness, those wasted times that could be spent with the Lord. If I hold on to these, aren’t I also choosing one more night with the frogs?
Prayer
Dear Lord, Almighty and gracious Father, I do not want to procrastinate in seeking You and making time for You in my life. No more nights with the frogs! By Your Holy Spirit, search me and find the frogs that remain. Help me to clean them out of my life. I desire to worship and adore only You. In Jesus’ name, I pray.
Pressing On In His Footsteps 