Exodus 8:1-15
After the plague of blood had run its course for seven days, Pharaoh was again informed that if he would not let the people go his country would be visited by a further severe plague. “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.” vv. 1,2.
Pharaoh gave scant attention to these warnings, with the result that Moses was instructed to say to 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.” Aaron did so, and a vast horde of frogs emerged; the land was covered with these actively disgusting objects, as the waters of blood had shocked and sickened the Egyptians before. The magicians of Egypt were again able to imitate the performance and they too brought up frogs.
The frog was included among the sacred animals by the Egyptians, and now these objects of their sacred admiration were turned into pests: they beheld them with horror and detested them.
What a repulsive scene this was! Frogs intruded everywhere — into the houses, even into the beds of the Egyptians, hopping into their ovens and into the very kneading troughs. Thy cry of the people and the presence of the frogs throughout the royal palace was finally too much even for the haughty king, and he pleaded with Moses and Aaron; “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.” verse 8.
No doubt this was welcome news to the two servants of God, and Moses promptly cried to the Lord to remove the awful plague from the land. “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.” vv.13,14.
But when Pharaoh saw the respite he had a change of heart; “He hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them.” Such was the callous treachery of this ruler, who counted a pledge to his slaves of so little value that he immediately broke it when he considered he had achieved his purpose. Satan, our great enemy often turns things to his advantage through false hopes and expectations. The Lord Jesus said of him: “He is a liar, and the father of it.”
The invasion of frogs may be compared to the inroads of corruption in this world. “They covered the land of Egypt,” just as the ugliness of sin covers the world now. When men, unreconciled and godless, who themselves have been a tool in Satan’s hand, see the threatening effects of evil which they themselves have helped to bring about, they are often amazed and fearful of the forces that run unchecked. Then, like Pharaoh, they seek some means of removing the evil, often through an outward show of religion. Yet, when granted relief from the terror, they quickly forget the promises they made, and they return to their evil ways. In spite of repeated deliverances, the heart of man, left to itself, will continue in rebellion, and revert to former ways, like “the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”
ML 10/13/1968