The Ten Plagues (4): Exodus 8

Do you see many frogs in your area?

“No,” might be your answer, “but I don’t want to, either! Frogs are so ugly! They have such big eyes and a wide mouth and can jump so far!”

But, just think — how would you like to have frogs in your bed...frogs in your oven...frogs in your sink...frogs jumping on you...and frogs hopping all around you! Wouldn’t that be an awful thing? Most of us don’t even want to think about it!

But — that is what happened to King Pharaoh. This was the second plague with which God had punished him and his people. Moses and Aaron had asked Pharaoh if they could go away to worship their God, but again he said “No.” And so — “Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.”

Did that bother the king? No; in fact, he told his magicians to do the same thing! And they did! They were able to make frogs come up out of the water, too! I wonder why they would even want to do that? I certainly would not want more frogs around me; why didn’t the magicians try to get rid of them instead? But, of course, they couldn’t. Only God could.

And then — listen to this! Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Oh please, ask your God to take away these frogs. Ask Him to take them out of our land. And then I will let you go to worship your God!”

Did you hear that? The king said he would let the people go as soon as God took the frogs away!

“Tell me when you want God to take them away,” said Moses.

“Tomorrow,” replied the king.

“Then it will be tomorrow,” Moses told him. “I will pray to God to take them away.”

And sure enough, the next day all the frogs died! Now there were dead frogs lying everywhere — in beds, on the floors, and all over. But dead frogs are easier to pick up than living, hopping frogs, aren’t they? So the people of Egypt picked up all the dead frogs and put them in big piles. They had to hold their noses because of the awful smell of the dead frogs!

Now the children of Israel could go and worship God, couldn’t they? The king had said so! He said he would let them go as soon as the frogs were gone! But — but — listen. Hear what the king said: “No, no, you can’t go. I didn’t really mean you could. No, I want you to stay here!”

Poor, poor Pharaoh! But are we ever like the king? Maybe we were once very sick, and we said to God, “Oh God, if Thou wilt let me get better, I will read the Bible! I will go to church more prayerfully. I won’t read those bad books. I’ll seek for Thee — oh God, if Thou wilt help me get better, I will think only about Thee!”

Then God made us well. But did we seek for Him?

It would be awful to have frogs everywhere, wouldn’t it? But I think it would be even worse to have lice all over! And that’s what God sent next to the people of Egypt.

Lice are very, very tiny bugs. You can barely see them. And that’s why they are worse than frogs. You can see frogs hopping around and, I suppose, you would push them out of your way. But lice are so tiny that they can be all over and you won’t even see them. But you feel them. They will crawl through your hair and inside your clothes and on your skin, and make you itch and itch all over! Lice probably were even in the people’s food and drink! And not only the people were bothered by lice, but the animals were as well!

God had told Moses and Aaron to change all the dust in the land to lice, and they had done so. This was the third plague God had brought upon the king. And again the king told his magicians to do it, too — but this time they could not!

“Oh King,” they told Pharaoh, “this time we cannot do it. Nothing happens. The dust won’t change to lice for us. Only God could do a thing like this!”

But Pharaoh wouldn’t listen. Again he made his heart hard. Again he turned around and walked away.

The Bible doesn’t say, but it seems that God took the lice away in a few days. Then Moses and Aaron came to King Pharaoh again.

“Our God says to let us go worship Him,” they told the king, “or else He will send flies. There will be flies all over you, all over your people, all throughout your houses.”

Do you think the king might listen this time? He knows Moses’ God can do it. He knows it will happen, as it happened before. Maybe he will listen!

But — he did not. The king again would not let the children of Israel go away. Oh King, why do you do that when you know you will get flies?

But are we any different than the king? We act as if we will never die, even though we know we will. It happens to every person. We “harden our hearts” and don’t listen to God’s ministers. Aren’t we just like this king?

And then — the flies came. Flies, mosquitoes, bees, and wasps. Wouldn’t that be horrible! Flies all over, on their faces, biting their bodies, and sitting on their food. But this time the children of Israel were not bothered by them. Only the people of Egypt were.

“Okay, okay!” the king told Moses and Aaron. “I will let you go worship your God. But you must stay here and do it. You can pray to Him right here in the land.”

“No,” replied Moses, “we can’t do that! The people of Egypt would kill us when they see us praying to our God. And anyway, our God told us to go out into the desert to worship Him, and so that’s what we have to do.”

“Oh, all right,” sighed the king. “You may go. But first ask your God to take away these flies!”

“I will do that,” said Moses. “I will pray to God to take them away tomorrow. But, oh king, do not trick us again! Please don’t lie and say you will let us go when you won’t!”

God took away the flies. Everything was fine again. But — again the king made his heart hard.

Are we ever like that King?

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