And Jehovah said to Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah Let my people go, that they may serve me.
The first plague has run its course, and God sends Moses back to Pharaoh with the same demand. Two phrases carry it: "My people" settles who owns Israel, and "serve Me" settles why they must go.
The demand opens by naming Israel as God's own. That single phrase puts two owners in direct conflict.
The word to him was, "Let My people go …" So the Lord at once claimed the people as His. For a century or two the Pharaohs of Egypt had regarded the people as theirs, and held them as slaves. From the very start the two claims clashed. The Lord claimed the people that Pharaoh regarded as his own. Which claimant would prevail? The issue could not be in doubt for one moment.
Israel had earned nothing. The claim rests on God's own name, and even their time in Egypt had an end He had fixed.
God always acts on the ground of what He is. "I AM" secures everything for "MY PEOPLE." He was not about to leave His people among the brick-kilns of Egypt, under the whip of Pharaoh's taskmasters. They were His people, and He would act toward them in a way worthy of Himself. He did use Egypt as a school, and Pharaoh as a schoolmaster. But when the needed work was done, He set both aside and brought His people out with a high hand and an outstretched arm.
Freedom here is not an end in itself. The demand names a goal, and God repeats that goal from Moses' call to Sinai.
When He sent Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt, God said to him, "You shall serve God on this mountain" (Ex. 3:12). Again and again during the dispute with Pharaoh the word was, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me." And when the people were at Sinai, the word was, "You shall serve the LORD your God" (Ex. 23:25). God gave the law so the people might know His will for them, and serve by obeying it.
That service could not happen where they were. God demanded departure, not just better treatment.
The Exodus is the separation of the people of God from the world. One feature of the scene struck me: Israel was to go out of Egypt to serve the Lord, or hold a feast to Him (Ex. 5:1; Ex. 3:18; Ex. 8:1, 20; Ex. 9:1, 13; Ex. 10:3, 9). They could not serve Him or offer sacrifice to Him in the land of their slavery and in front of that people. Their religious service was of such a kind that Egypt would not tolerate it. It cut right across everything the Egyptians believed. If they had seen it, they would have persecuted and destroyed them, so Israel had to go out.
The verse offers another chance, not another blow. God announces the coming plague in advance, so Pharaoh can still give in.
Again God gives Pharaoh the opportunity to respond to His demand to let Israel go (v. 1). But Moses was to add a warning. If Pharaoh refused, a plague of frogs would flood their land. The frogs would not stay outside. They would come into their homes, into their bedrooms and beds, into their food and kitchen utensils (vv. 2-3).
God gave time as well as warning. Pharaoh had gone home from the river, and a full week passed before Moses came to him again.
He hardened his heart and strengthened himself in his opposition. He left the riverside and went to his house. Seven days passed, and Pharaoh had not seen Moses. God had given him time to think it over. Pharaoh had not profited by it.
The creature chosen was not random. Egypt held the frog sacred, so the blow fell on their gods.
As Egypt had its Nile god, so it had its frog-gods and frog-goddesses. The Egyptians held the frog itself as a sacred emblem of the creative power of the god Ptah, one of the greatest of Egypt's gods… At God's command, the river was to swarm with these emblems of creative power. At the word of the Lord, frogs came in huge numbers over the whole country, against the creature's normal instinct.
The humiliation was complete: what they honoured became what they could not bear.
How humbling this second judgment must have been to a people who counted frogs among their sacred animals — to see them, now an object of disgust, crowding their houses, their beds, their ovens and their kneading-troughs! These animals never trouble the Egyptians at the beginning of the year; still less do they come and go at the command of a man like Moses.
The plague also carried a message about Egypt itself, and Pharaoh's magicians only underlined it.
The magicians too could introduce such uncleanness, but could not reverse it. God had done this to discipline Egypt. He wanted to show them the real state of moral uncleanness that filled their nation. The magicians did it to show off their magic skills, but they only increased the trouble.
- Claim. "My people" sets God's ownership against Pharaoh's, and that contest was never in doubt.
- Ground. The claim rests on who God is, not on what the slaves were. "I AM" secures everything for "My people," and Egypt was only a school God would close.
- Purpose. Release is never bare freedom; every repetition of the demand ends in the same word — serve.
- Separation. They had to leave, because the service God wanted was one Egypt would not tolerate.
- Cost. Refuse the demand, and judgment falls on the very things a nation worships. Its own experts can copy the trouble, but they can never remove it.
And if thou refuse to let [them] go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs.
God speaks to Pharaoh a second time, and the demand carries a condition: refuse, and frogs will overrun the whole land. Why frogs? Why warn before striking? And what does a man do when the judgment lands?
The threat in verse 2 is not the plague. It is the offer of a way out, spoken before anything happens.
Again God gives Pharaoh the opportunity to respond to His demand to let Israel go (v. 1). But Moses was to bring with it a warning. If Pharaoh refused, their land would be flooded with a plague of frogs. The frogs would not stay outside. They would come into their homes, into their bedrooms and beds, into their food and kitchen utensils (vv. 2-3).
Before this second warning, Pharaoh had already had a week to think.
He hardened his heart, strengthening himself in his opposition, left the riverside, and went to his house. Seven days passed, and Pharaoh had not seen Moses. There had been time to think. Pharaoh had gained nothing from it.
A warning is only as serious as the one who gives it. Commentators say God never bluffs, and that He still leaves a door open.
Men's threats are sometimes just idle words or empty boasting. The judgments God announces are not like that. In the whole history of the world, the Creator has never threatened a judgment He did not mean to carry out. At times the repentance of the people has held back His hand... It is also true that He is "slow to anger." He leaves an open door for repentance until the last. But even the patience of God has limits.
The threat named ovens and kneading bowls — the hot, dry places no frog would ever choose. That detail is what marks the plague as more than a bad season on the Nile.
These frogs were no ordinary ones. Or, if they were the ordinary creature, they were about to do what frogs never do. They were going into ovens, into hot and dry spots, and all kinds of places completely contrary to their nature.
The choice of creature was not random, and neither was its reach. In Egypt the frog was a religious symbol, so the plague turned the nation's own emblem against it — from the king down.
As Egypt had its Nile god, so it had its frog-gods and frog-goddesses. Egyptians held the frog itself as a sacred emblem of the creative power of the god Ptah... At God's command the river was to bring out these emblems of creative power in swarms. At the word of Jehovah a swarming multitude of frogs spread over the country, against the ordinary instinct of the creature. They afflicted everything — houses, bedrooms, beds, ovens or dough. They afflicted everyone, the king as much as the people. Nothing and nobody escaped their slimy presence and disgusting croaking.
Commentators read a moral meaning in the order of the plagues, and connect the frogs with the unclean spirits of Revelation.
The first plague taught the serious lesson of death. The second stands for uncleanness (Rev. 16:13-14). It pictures something far more revolting: the moral and spiritual pollution that infects every level of society when people refuse the Word of God... The magicians too could introduce such uncleanness, but could not reverse it. God did this to discipline Egypt. He wanted to show them the real state of moral uncleanness that ran through their nation.
When the frogs came, Pharaoh turned to Moses for help. Note who he did not ask.
Frogs crawled over the proud king himself. He had no choice but to ask Moses to plead for their removal. He appealed neither to the magicians nor to those frog-shaped idols. He knew they could not help him. Only Jehovah could give help. The God of Moses was the only resource. But Pharaoh did not know Him.
Relief came. But with the frogs gone, Pharaoh "only hardened his heart in determination to keep Israel in captivity" (L. M. Grant).
- Refusal invites it. The plague is conditional. It lands only if Pharaoh says no. The frogs are his own choice, arriving in physical form.
- Refusal is given time. Seven silent days sat between the first plague and this warning. Pharaoh had real time to think, and he wasted it.
- Refusal is answered exactly. God sent Egypt's own sacred emblem, doing what frogs never do, so no one could call it bad luck.
- Refusal spreads filth. The second plague pictures uncleanness. It is the pollution that fills a society when God's Word is pushed away. Imitators can multiply it, but never remove it.
- Refusal survives relief. Pharaoh begged the God he claimed not to know. He got what he asked for, and hardened again. Pressure alone changes no heart.
And the river shall swarm with frogs, and they shall go up and come into thy house, and into thy bedroom, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy bondmen, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs.
This verse belongs to the warning Moses brings Pharaoh before the second plague. It raises two questions: why frogs, and why into the oven and the bed?
The warning is not just that frogs will appear in the land. They will cross every threshold Pharaoh has. One writer follows the plague from the open fields into the most private corners of Egyptian life:
Moses was to add this warning: if Pharaoh refused, a plague of frogs would flood their land. The frogs would not stay outside. They would come into their homes, into their bedrooms and beds, into their food and kitchen utensils.
The ovens and kneading bowls are the clearest sign that this was no natural swarm. Ovens are hot and dry — the last place a frog goes:
These frogs were no ordinary ones. Or, if they were the ordinary creature, they were about to do what frogs never do. They were going into ovens, into hot and dry spots, and all kinds of places entirely against their nature.
Some explain the plague as a natural event in the Nile valley. The timing defeats them:
The critics do not explain how the frogs came as soon as Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and how they died by the millions after Moses prayed. Pharaoh was better than the modern critics, for he at least admitted that this was a miracle of Jehovah.
The frog was not a random creature. In Egypt it carried religious weight:
As Egypt had its Nile god, so it had its frog-gods and frog-goddesses. Egypt held the frog itself as a sacred emblem of the creative power of the god Ptah… At God's command, the river was to bring out these emblems of creative power in swarms. At the word of Jehovah a huge multitude of frogs swarmed over the country, against the normal instinct of the creature. They troubled everything: houses, bedrooms, beds, ovens and dough. They troubled all people too, whether the king or his subjects.
For a nation that treated frogs as sacred, this was worse than an inconvenience:
How humbling this second judgment must have been to a people who counted frogs among their sacred animals! They had to watch a creature they found disgusting crowd their houses, and beds, and ovens, and kneading bowls.
Commentators read a moral meaning in the swarm, and they set it beside the plague that came before:
The first plague taught the serious lesson of death; now the second signifies uncleanness (Rev. 16:13-14). It is a picture of something far more disgusting: the moral and spiritual pollution that infects every level of society when people refuse the Word of God… The magicians could bring in such uncleanness too, but they could not remove it.
Another writer ties this uncleanness to what happens when people turn away from God:
This plague is clearly connected with the last one. So we are following the same track as the apostle when he speaks of the result of turning away from God. "Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done," or, as he puts it elsewhere, "to impurity" (Rom. 1:28, 24). Here are the unclean things that come out of the river, when people worship and serve the creature instead of the Creator.
When the frogs came, Pharaoh had nowhere else to turn:
The proud king, with frogs crawling over his own body, had to ask Moses to pray that they would be taken away. He did not appeal to the magicians, nor to those frog-shaped idols. He knew they could not help him. Only in Jehovah was there any help.
Yet relief did not produce repentance:
They died and were gathered in heaps, so that only their stench remained, a reminder of the bad smell of Egypt's uncleanness. But as soon as he had relief from this scourge, Pharaoh only hardened his heart in his determination to keep Israel in captivity.
- Refusal — God announces the plague as the result of Pharaoh's refusal to let the people go. The warning comes before the swarm.
- Reach — Nothing stayed private: house, bedroom, bed, oven and kneading bowl, and the king's own body as much as his servants'.
- Reversal — The frog was a sacred emblem of Egypt's creative power. The creature they honoured became the thing they could not bear.
- Revelation — The swarm shows uncleanness pouring out of what people worship in place of God. The magicians could add to it, but never take it away.
- Refusal again — Pharaoh admitted that only Jehovah could take the frogs away. Then relief came, and he hardened his heart.
And the frogs shall come up both upon thee and upon thy people, and upon all thy bondmen.
The second judgment against Egypt ends on a personal note: the frogs will reach the king's own body, and everyone under him. Why would God use a creature this small and this disgusting against a king and his gods?
The threat is total. Egypt could not shut it out of a single room or a single life.
At the word of the Lord a vast multitude of frogs swarmed over the country, against the ordinary instinct of the creature. They afflicted all things — houses, bedrooms, beds, ovens or dough. They afflicted all persons too, whether the king or the people. Nothing and nobody was exempt from their slimy presence, their disgusting croaking and yelling.
The same levelling runs through the strokes that followed.
The whole land of Egypt was made to tremble beneath the successive strokes of the rod of God. All, from the monarch on his throne to the servant at the mill, were made to feel the terrible weight of that rod.
Frogs belong in water. The places named in the warning are the last places a frog would go.
These frogs were no ordinary ones. Or, if they were the ordinary creature, they were about to do what frogs never do. They were going into ovens, into hot and dry spots, and all kinds of places completely against their nature.
The timing was wrong as well.
How humbling this second judgment must have been to a people who counted frogs among their sacred animals! They saw them, an object of disgust, crowd their houses, and beds, and ovens, and the bowls where they made their dough. These animals never trouble the Egyptians at the beginning of the year. Still less do they come and go at the command of a man like Moses.
The choice of animal was not random. The frog stood for one of Egypt's chief gods.
As Egypt had its Nile god, so it had its frog-gods and frog-goddesses. The frog itself was held as a sacred emblem of the creative power of the god Ptah. It appears sitting on a ring — an emblem of life — and it stands for the idea of great numbers. It was also an emblem of resurrection... The god Ptah was "the father of the gods." It was said of him that he "formed all beings, and all things came after him."
So the river Egypt worshipped poured out the creature Egypt worshipped.
All their gods became a source of shame and misery... The river brings forth frogs; their god tormented them.
Pharaoh was holding God's people, and each blow fell on what Pharaoh trusted in.
He dealt with Pharaoh as the oppressor of His people. Pharaoh stood as a figure of the god of this world. So His conflict was with Pharaoh and with everything Pharaoh trusted in. We therefore read that He executed judgment upon the gods of Egypt. It was, then, the brilliant display of God's victorious power in the stronghold of Satan. If Satan rises in conflict with God, the outcome can only be his utter defeat.
Copying a judgment is one thing. Ending it is another, and only one power could.
The gods of the Egyptians could not protect their worshippers from them. The magicians brought up frogs as well. But could they take them away?... The proud king had frogs crawling over his body. He had to ask Moses to plead with God to take them away. He appealed neither to the magicians nor to those frog-shaped idols. He knew they could not help him. In the Lord alone was help to be found.
Commentators also read a moral picture in the swarm.
The first plague taught the serious lesson of death. The second one stands for uncleanness. It pictures something far more revolting: the moral and spiritual pollution that infects every level of society when people refuse the word of God... The magicians too could introduce such uncleanness, but could not reverse it.
- Refusal — Pharaoh held God's people as their oppressor, and this second stroke fell on the king who would not release them.
- Reach — the plague spared no rank; it ran from the throne to the servant at the mill, and onto the king's own body.
- Reversal — the creature Egypt honoured as an emblem of the god Ptah, of life and of resurrection, became the instrument of their misery.
- Rivalry — the magicians could copy the plague, but they could not remove it; only the God of Moses could send the frogs and take them away.
- Result — Pharaoh had to look past his own gods and beg for help, because in the Lord alone was help to be found.
And Jehovah said to Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy hand with thy staff over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh has already refused once, so God orders a second blow, and Aaron must stretch his hand over Egypt's waters — the Nile, its canals, its pools. Why strike the water, and why with a creature as small and ordinary as a frog?
It follows a warning Pharaoh brushed aside, and the frogs come up out of waters God had already struck.
At the end of that time the Lord, through Moses, repeated His demand for the release of His people. He announced a second plague if Pharaoh refused. Pharaoh did refuse, and the frogs appeared in their millions out of the waters that had been struck (Exodus 8:5-6).
The verse names the river, the canals and the pools. That list is the route the frogs took into ordinary homes.
The slimy creatures came out of every branch of the river, out of the irrigation canals and out of the reservoirs, as verse 5 shows. They got into houses, into their beds, their food vessels and their ovens. They defiled everything.
The plagues were not random discomfort. God struck at everything Pharaoh leaned on.
He dealt this way with Pharaoh as the oppressor of His people, and as a picture of the god of this world. So His conflict was with Pharaoh, and with everything Pharaoh trusted in. That is why we read that He executed judgment on the gods of Egypt.
The frog itself was one of those gods.
As Egypt had its Nile god, so it had its frog-gods and frog-goddesses. Egypt held the frog as a sacred emblem of the creative power of the god Ptah… Ptah was "the father of the gods." The Egyptians said of him that he "formed all beings, and all things came after him." At God's command the river was to swarm with these emblems of creative power.
Not everyone accepts this as a miracle. The timing settles it, at both ends of the plague.
This plague was frogs, and they came out of the worshipped, sacred Nile. Critics have tried to explain it as a natural event. But they do not explain how the frogs came as soon as Aaron stretched his hand over the waters of Egypt. Nor do they explain how the frogs died by the millions after Moses prayed. Pharaoh was better than these modern critics, for he at least admitted it was a miracle of the Lord.
Even the natural facts about Egypt do not account for it.
Those who know Egypt and its history tell us that a "red Nile" used to happen every year, and that the river was a breeding place for frogs. But what happened here was quite out of the ordinary, both in its timing and in its intensity, and the invasion of the whole land by the frogs was a dreadful affliction.
The behaviour of the frogs was as strange as the timing.
These frogs were no ordinary frogs. Or, if they were the ordinary creature, they were about to do what frogs never do. They were going into ovens, into hot and dry places, and into all kinds of places against their nature.
Egypt's magicians answered the miracle by producing frogs of their own. Their success only exposed the limit of what they could do.
Satan's power appears again, for we read, "The magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt." Then relief came, and the plague was lifted when Moses prayed for them… How striking that the only hope of removing the plague rested with Moses before the Lord. Those who wielded Satan's power were helpless before it, and under its power.
The frogs picture more than physical misery.
The first plague taught the serious lesson of death. Now the second stands for uncleanness (Rev. 16:13-14). It is a picture of something far worse: the moral and spiritual pollution that spreads through every level of society when people refuse the Word of God… The magicians could also bring in such uncleanness, but they could not take it away.
- Refusal — Pharaoh rejected the warning, so the frogs came up out of the waters God had already struck.
- Reach — The river, the canals and the pools are all named, so the frogs reached houses, beds and ovens.
- Target — The frog was an emblem of the god Ptah, so the judgment fell on what Egypt worshipped, not just on what it used.
- Proof — They came the moment Aaron stretched out his hand, and died when Moses prayed. They even filled dry ovens, against their own nature.
- Result — The magicians could copy the uncleanness, but they could not remove it. Only Moses before the Lord brought relief.
And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.
Aaron's hand goes out over the waters, and the second plague falls. Egypt's fields, houses and ovens fill with frogs. Commentators read it on three levels. It is a real event in a real land. It is a blow at what Egypt worshipped. And it shows how imitation, not open denial, fights God's power.
Egypt already knew frogs, and it knew a red Nile. What it had never known was this scale, at this moment.
Pharaoh refused, and millions of frogs came up out of the waters that had been struck. People who know Egypt and its history tell us that a "red Nile" used to happen every year, and that the river was a breeding place for frogs. But what happened here was far out of the ordinary in both timing and intensity. The frogs invaded the whole land, and it was a dreadful affliction.
The timing is the argument. Some call the plague a natural event. Two moments still need explaining.
Critics who reject the supernatural have tried to explain this plague too as a natural event. But they do not explain how the frogs came as soon as Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt. They do not explain how the frogs died by the millions after Moses' prayer. Pharaoh was better than today's critics. He at least admitted that it was a miracle of Jehovah.
The frogs came up out of Egypt's own waters, and both the river and the frog had a place in Egyptian religion.
As Egypt had its Nile god, so it had its frog-gods and frog-goddesses. The frog itself was held as a sacred emblem of the creative power of the god Ptah... The god Ptah was "the father of the gods." The Egyptians said of him that he "formed all beings, and all things came after him." At God's command, the river was to pour out these emblems of creative power in swarms. At the word of Jehovah huge numbers of frogs swarmed over the country, against the creature's normal instinct. They spoiled everything: houses, bedrooms, beds, ovens and dough. They troubled everyone, the king as much as the people. Nothing and nobody escaped their slimy presence and their disgusting croaking and yelling.
What a nation honoured became what it could not escape.
How humbling this second judgment must have been to a people who counted frogs among their sacred animals! They saw them, an object of disgust, crowd their houses, and beds, and ovens, and kneading-troughs. These animals never trouble the Egyptians at the start of the year. And they certainly do not come and go at the command of a man like Moses.
Egypt's deeper problem was not the frogs. One writer reads the plague as a mirror of the nation's moral state.
The first plague taught the serious lesson of death. Now the second signifies uncleanness (Revelation 16:13-14). It is a picture of something far more revolting: the moral and spiritual pollution that infects every level of society when people refuse the Word of God... God had done this to discipline Egypt, and to show them the real moral uncleanness that filled their nation. The magicians did it to show off their magic skills, but they only made the plague worse. Cunning impostors do the same. They try to imitate spiritual power, and they only add their own uncleanness to the wickedness in the world.
The magicians answered this sign as they had answered the others — by doing the same thing. One writer names the two magicians who opposed Moses, and sees a strategy in their copying.
"Jannes and Jambres" were able to do three things: the serpents, the blood, and the frogs. These were marked by satanic energy, death, and uncleanness. That is how they "opposed Moses." In the same way "these men also oppose the truth," and hinder its moral weight and its action on the conscience. Nothing deadens the power of truth so much as this: people who are not under its influence at all do the very same things as those who are.
Imitation reached its limit when Pharaoh wanted the frogs gone. Copying the sign was one thing. Lifting it was another.
Then relief came, and the plague was lifted when Moses interceded... How striking that the only hope of removing the plague rested with Moses before the Lord! Those who wielded Satan's power were helpless before it, and under its power.
Pharaoh's choice of whom to ask was itself a verdict on Egypt's gods and magicians.
Frogs crawled over the proud king himself, and he had to ask Moses to pray for their removal. He appealed neither to the magicians nor to those frog-shaped idols. He knew they could not help him. Only Jehovah could help him.
- Command — The frogs came up the instant Aaron's hand went out. They died at Moses' prayer. The timing, not the creature, makes it a miracle.
- Covered — Egypt honoured the frog as an emblem of its creator-god. Then frogs filled its beds, ovens and kneading-troughs. The idol became a torment.
- Corruption — Blood spoke of death. The frogs speak of uncleanness, and expose the moral state of a land that refused God's word.
- Counterfeit — The magicians could copy the sign. Commentators call that copying Satan's weapon: imitation, not open denial.
- Cure — Counterfeits could multiply the plague but not lift it. Pharaoh, crawling with frogs, looked past his own gods to the God of Moses.
And the scribes did so with their sorceries, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.
Frogs had just covered Egypt, and Pharaoh watched his own magicians produce more of them. That raises a question far bigger than Egypt: how far can God's opponents copy His works?
The magicians did not argue with Moses. They matched him.
The New Testament names the chief of these Egyptian magicians: "Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth" (2 Tim. 3:8). This reference matters, because what the magicians did embodies a principle of Satan's working. What was its special character? In one word, IMITATION… It was the same with the frogs (Ex. 8:7). Timothy shows the same men opposing the truth, as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, "having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power" (2 Tim. 3:5). This is one of Satan's most dangerous tricks. If he can succeed by opposing the truth in the open, he will not hide himself. If that door shuts, he disguises himself as an angel of light.
The copy did its work on the king.
The magicians showed that they too could produce frogs out of the waters, and so they reduced the effect of the miracle in Pharaoh's mind. Those who know Egypt and its history tell us that the river was a breeding place of frogs. But what happened here was far out of the ordinary in both timing and intensity, and the invasion of the whole land by the frogs was a dreadful affliction.
What the magicians produced made Egypt worse. Nobody asked them to undo it.
The first plague taught the serious lesson of death; the second signifies uncleanness. It is a picture of the far more revolting moral and spiritual pollution that infects all levels of society when the Word of God is refused. The magicians could also bring in such uncleanness, but they could not reverse it. God had done this as discipline toward Egypt, to expose to them the actual condition of moral uncleanness that filled their nation. The magicians did it to show off their magic skills, but they only increased the plague. Cunning impostors do the same: trying to imitate spiritual power, they only add their own uncleanness to the wickedness in the world. Pharaoh may have seen through this, for he did not ask the magicians to take the frogs away.
Relief could only come from the side the king was resisting.
Then the relief came; at the prayer of Moses the plague was removed, and "when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart" still more. How striking that the only hope of removing the plague lay with Moses before the Lord. Those who used Satan's power were helpless against it, and under its power themselves.
The frogs were the last thing the magicians could match.
The magicians of Egypt could imitate the servants of the true and living God in only three things: turning their rods into serpents (Ex. 7:12), turning the water into blood (Ex. 7:21), and bringing up the frogs (Ex. 8:7). But the fourth involved the display of life along with nature's humiliation. There they were defeated and had to admit, "This is the finger of God" (Ex. 8:16-19). It is the same with those who resist the truth in the last days. All they do is by the direct energy of Satan, and lies within the range of his power.
The boundary was life itself: they could produce striking results, but not that.
They could produce remarkable results, but they could not give life. When they tried to produce life, we read, "but they could not" (Ex. 8:18).
Egypt had a goddess assigned to this very problem.
Egyptologists tell us that a special goddess was supposed to be in charge of the frogs, to protect the land from them. Her name was Heki, and the monuments sometimes picture her with the head of a frog. The Egyptians had to learn that Heki was nothing before the LORD. It illustrates the word, "on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments" (Exodus 12:12).
A real power stood behind the magicians, but it had a fixed limit.
We may ask how far the devil can work miracles. I know of no limit, if God allows it (as in Egypt), in the use of natural laws or in producing appearances. But beyond nature or deception they cannot go. Ask them to create a louse, and Satan's instruments are stopped (Exodus 8:16-18). God alone can create. Satan uses power by inferior power, within the created scene. He cannot go beyond modifying it, and he cannot do it when he wills. Jannes and Jambres helped to harden Pharaoh's heart, but that only gave occasion for the display of God's own power and government or judgment.
- Imitation. The enemy's move here is not denial but copying — the tactic of Jannes and Jambres: looking godly while denying the power.
- Increase. The copy never relieves; it adds. The magicians brought more frogs and could not reverse one of them.
- Limit. Three plagues were the ceiling. When life itself had to appear, the imitators failed and confessed the finger of God.
- Exposure. Egypt's frog goddess Heki was nothing before the LORD. The plague showed His judgment on all the gods of Egypt.
- Outcome. The hardening they helped cause only made room for God to display His own power — and relief still lay with Moses before the Lord.
And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat Jehovah, that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to Jehovah.
Egypt's king had said he did not know the LORD. Now the frogs have reached his own bedroom, and he is begging Moses and Aaron to pray — with a promise attached.
Why frogs? The answer lies in what Egypt worshipped.
As Egypt had its Nile god, so it had its frog-gods and frog-goddesses. Egypt held the frog itself as a sacred emblem of the creative power of the god Ptah... God commanded the river to "bring forth abundantly" these emblems of creative power. At the word of the LORD the swarming multitude of frogs spread over the country, against the creature's own normal instinct. They afflicted everything — houses, bedrooms, beds, ovens, dough — and everyone, whether the king or the people. Nothing and nobody escaped their slimy presence and their harsh croaking.
Pharaoh began by denying that he knew God at all. Listen to how he speaks now.
Through this plague, Pharaoh's ignorance of the LORD disappeared. He no longer said, "I do not know the LORD." Instead he cried, "Plead with the LORD to take away the frogs from me and from my people" (Ex. 8:8).
Pharaoh had magicians of his own, and they had produced frogs too. Notice who he does not send for.
The magicians could also introduce such uncleanness, but they could not reverse it. God had done this to discipline Egypt. He wanted to show them the real moral uncleanness that ran through their nation. The magicians did it to show off their magic skills, but they only increased the plague. Cunning impostors do the same. Trying to imitate spiritual power, they only add their own uncleanness to the wickedness in the world. Pharaoh may have seen through this, for he did not appeal to the magicians to take the frogs away.
Pharaoh wants someone else to approach God for him. One writer sets him beside a king of Israel who did the same.
"Pray for me," said Jeroboam in alarm. Sadly, the unhappy man had never learned to pray for himself. In this he reminds us of Pharaoh in Exodus 8:8, and Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8:24. The exercise of the power of God that he had experienced should have led Jeroboam to repentance, but the flesh learns nothing. He felt the consequences of his sin, but not the evil of it.
Moses did not turn down the plea of a man he had every reason to distrust.
Moses answered this plea and fixed the time for his prayer. Then Pharaoh would see the hand of the Lord in God's answer as surely as he had seen it in the judgment. It is beautiful to notice God's tender ways of grace, even with a hardened sinner. If there is even the slightest turning of the heart toward Him — though He knows it is not real — He is ready to hear. This is a striking testimony: He does not want the sinner to die. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9.)
Pharaoh offers to let the people go. But was that real surrender?
He had to recognise that the hand of the Lord was in this dreadful affliction. So he pretended to give in to God's demand, to get rid of the plague.
What happened when the relief came?
What a picture of the evil heart of man! Bowed down under the hand of God, alarmed at the consequences, he cries for relief and promises to keep God's commands if it is granted. The relief is given, and he at once forgets both his fears and his vows. In all such cases the conscience has never been truly awakened. There has been no sense of guilt before God, no acceptance of His word about man's lost and ruined condition, and so no turning to His saving grace in Christ Jesus the Saviour. The vows were made only as a kind of offering to appease God and get His hand lifted.
- The blow. God struck Egypt through a creature it held sacred. Its own emblem of divine power became its torment.
- The plea. The man who said he did not know the LORD now uses His name and begs for help. Pressure can teach the mouth what the heart has not learned.
- The mediator. His magicians could produce the plague but never remove it. So Pharaoh asked for prayer he would not offer himself.
- The mercy. God answered anyway. Even the faintest turning toward Him meets a readiness to hear, because He does not want the sinner to die.
- The relapse. The promise was a bargain, not repentance. He felt the consequences of his sin, not the evil of it — so when the relief came, the hardness came back with it.
And Moses said to Pharaoh, Glory over me, for what time shall I intreat for thee, and for thy bondmen, and for thy people, to cut off the frogs from thee and from thy houses; [so that] they shall remain in the river only?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he said, For to-morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word; that thou mayest know that there is none like Jehovah our God.
Pharaoh has just begged Moses to pray the frogs away. Moses lets the king himself name the hour of the miracle, and Pharaoh picks the next day. Moses ties that chosen hour to one purpose: that Pharaoh would know there is no one like the LORD.
In verse 9 Moses invites the king to name the time himself. Older versions render his words "Glory over me":
Moses made the removal more impressive by asking the king to fix when the frogs should go. The words "Glory over me" are rendered in the Septuagint "Fix for me." His answer was "Tomorrow." Moses replied that the LORD, the God of Israel, would prove His power. He would remove the plague at the exact time the king had set. It seems obvious that removing them in this way was an even more impressive miracle than bringing them up.
Pharaoh could have said "now." One writer suggests why he chose the next day instead:
Pharaoh told him, "Tomorrow." (Perhaps he thought that God could not be expected to do it so quickly as "today"!) Moses told him at once that God would answer his prayer at that exact time. Then Pharaoh would have clear evidence that there is no other like the LORD God of Israel.
Egypt's magicians had matched the plague by producing frogs of their own. Producing frogs and removing them are not the same power:
The first plague taught the serious lesson of death; the second signifies uncleanness... The magicians could also introduce such uncleanness, but they could not reverse it. God had done this in discipline toward Egypt, to expose to them the actual condition of moral uncleanness that filled their nation. The magicians did it to show off their magic skills, but they only increased the scourge.
So the removal, not the arrival, forced the admission. Egypt had never worshipped this God, yet the frogs obeyed Him:
A God until then unknown in Egypt really existed. True, He had no temple in that land, no priests devoted to His service, and no processions in His honour. But this at least was acknowledged: He alone could remove the disgusting and unwelcome frogs. Here was a power greater than the magicians knew. A Being very different from any and all of the Egyptian gods had worked — first in multiplying the frogs, then in removing them. They were clearly under His control. His command went out; they came up and covered the land. By His command they died. God was making Himself known to the Egyptians by acts of judgment — an awful way of revealing Himself.
Moses' claim is a comparison with Egypt's gods. Those gods were tied to the very things the plagues struck:
Those who have studied the records of ancient Egypt tell us that the Egyptians worshipped the Nile as standing for one of the chief gods of that land of idols... They also had a goddess who was thought to rule over frogs. This shows us how these judgments affected the gods of Egypt.
Pharaoh had begun this conflict by refusing to acknowledge the LORD. Verse 10 answers him, and one writer traces the pattern back through Egypt's history:
In some way or other He will and must make Himself known, for that is His glory; but He would rather be known in goodness than in judgment, if men will hear... To Egypt the Lord made Himself known in Joseph, the witness of His goodness. Through Joseph He filled Egypt's storehouses with all kinds of wealth. But Egypt forgot Joseph. Then a king arose who persecuted Joseph's people. He said of his God, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey Him?" So the Lord had to make His name known in that land by judgment... He was now to be made known, not in Joseph, but in plagues.
God kept giving Pharaoh time. One writer sets that delay against the way God offers salvation:
Twice in the previous chapter God announced a plague for tomorrow. That gave at least twenty-four hours' respite, in case Pharaoh might relent. In contrast to this, salvation, as we know, is always presented today.
- Question. Pharaoh had asked, "Who is the LORD?" Every plague, this one included, is God's answer.
- Offer. Moses let the king fix the hour himself, so no one could call the deliverance a coincidence.
- Proof. Egypt's magicians could add frogs; they could not remove one. Undoing the plague, not producing it, showed there is no one like the LORD.
- Contrast. The frogs had a goddess of their own; the judgment landed on Egypt's gods as much as on Egypt.
- Warning. God gave Pharaoh a full day's respite. But salvation is never offered for tomorrow. It is offered today.
And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy bondmen, and from thy people they shall remain in the river only.
Pharaoh had begged for the frogs to go, and he named the hour himself. So the question of this verse is simple: can the God who sends a plague also call it off to the minute — and what does a man do once the pressure lifts?
Moses let Pharaoh name the hour himself. One writer checks the Septuagint, an early Greek translation, for the sense of that offer.
Moses made the removal even more impressive by asking the king to set the time when the frogs should go. The Septuagint renders the words "Glory over me" as "Fix for me." Pharaoh's answer was, "Tomorrow." Moses replied that the LORD, the God of Israel, would prove His power by removing the plague at the very time the king had named. It seems obvious that their removal in this fashion was an even more impressive miracle than their being brought up.
Egypt's magicians had produced frogs of their own. Getting rid of them was another matter.
Had such a plague ever been known before? The LORD, the God of Israel, brought the frogs. The gods of the Egyptians could not guard their worshippers against them. The magicians brought up frogs as well. But could they take them away? Was it just an accidental affliction that could not be explained? Pharaoh knew then that the God of the Hebrews was more powerful than all the gods of Egypt. So he turned to Moses to plead with the LORD for him. Frogs crawled over the proud king himself, and he had to ask Moses to plead for their removal.
Egypt had many gods, and none of them could do this. Both the plague and its end pointed to a Being they had never reckoned with.
A power greater than the magicians knew had worked. This was a Being completely unlike any of the Egyptian gods. He first multiplied the frogs, and then removed them. Such creatures were clearly under His control. His command went out; they came up and covered the land. By His command they died, so that they would torment the king and his people by their presence no more. God was making Himself known to the Egyptians by judgment, a terrible way to reveal Himself.
Pharaoh could have said "now." One writer wonders why he chose to wait.
Pharaoh told him, "Tomorrow." (Perhaps he thought God could not be expected to act as fast as "today"!) Moses told him at once that God would answer his prayer at the exact time. Then Pharaoh would have clear evidence that there is no other like the LORD God of Israel.
God used the word "tomorrow" too. One writer contrasts the delay before a plague with the timing of salvation.
God twice announced a plague for tomorrow. That gave at least twenty-four hours' delay, in case Pharaoh would relent. In contrast to this, salvation, as we know, is always offered today.
Pharaoh's request came from discomfort, not from a changed heart. God answered it anyway.
Moses answered this appeal and set the time for the prayer. When God answered, Pharaoh would see the hand of the LORD as surely as he had seen it in the judgment. It is beautiful to notice God's tender ways of grace, even with a hardened sinner. If there is even the slightest turning of heart to Him, He is ready to hear, though He knows the turning is not real. This is a striking witness that He does not want the sinner's death. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9.)
The frogs left the people and the houses, and only the river kept them. The relief was exact — and it changed nothing in the king.
But even so, the effect of the plague was not yet over. Except in the river, all the frogs died that day by a miracle. They were gathered in heaps, and the land stank with their bodies. Yet even this was a respite, and as soon as Pharaoh saw it he hardened his heart and continued to defy God. The judgment had not produced any vital change.
- Command: The frogs came up at God's word and left at God's word — He alone rules what He sends.
- Proof: Egypt's magicians could add to the plague but could not lift it. Taking it away showed there is no other like the LORD.
- Timing: Pharaoh named the hour himself. The answer came to the minute, so he could not call it an accident.
- Mercy: God heard a plea He knew was not genuine, showing that He does not want the sinner's death.
- Relief: The relief came, but the heart stayed the same. That is why rescue is always offered today, never tomorrow.
And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried to Jehovah because of the frogs that he had brought against Pharaoh.
Between the plague and its removal stands a prayer. Pharaoh had begged for relief. Moses had let the king name the hour. Now the two men walk out of the palace, and Moses takes the plague to God. Egypt's judgment would be lifted because Egypt asked.
The magicians had matched Moses by producing frogs of their own. But they could not reverse a thing. Only this prayer could remove the plague.
Then the relief came. Moses prayed, and the Lord took the plague away — and "when Pharaoh saw there was respite he hardened his heart" still more. How striking that the only hope of removing the plague lay with Moses praying before the Lord. The men who used Satan's power were helpless against it, and were under its power themselves.
Egypt was learning something about a God it did not worship.
But this much at least they admitted: He alone could remove the disgusting, unwelcome frogs. A power greater than the magicians knew, a Being utterly unlike any of the Egyptian gods, had acted — first in multiplying the frogs, then in removing them. Clearly the frogs were under His control. He gave the command; they came up and covered the land. At His command they died, and tormented the king and his people with their presence no more.
Moses prayed "about the frogs." In Egypt, frogs were more than pests. Writers who have studied ancient Egypt point to a goddess connected with them.
Egyptologists tell us that a special goddess was thought to rule over the frogs and keep the land safe from them. Her name was Heki, and the monuments sometimes show her with the head of a frog. The Egyptians had to learn that Heki was as nothing before Jehovah. It illustrates the word, "Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment" (Exodus 12:12).
Pharaoh's plea was not repentance. He wanted the frogs gone. Yet Moses prayed for him, and God listened.
Moses answered his plea, and set the time for the prayer. Then, when God answered it, Pharaoh would recognise the hand of the Lord as surely as he had when the judgment fell. It is beautiful to notice God's tender ways of grace, even with a hardened sinner. If there is even the slightest turning of heart to Him, He is ready to listen, although He knows the turning is not real. That is a striking testimony: He does not want the sinner to die. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9.)
Moses had asked the king to set the time himself. That detail turned the answer into proof.
Moses made the removal more impressive by asking Pharaoh to name the time when the frogs should go. The words "Glory over me" — the wording of an older translation — appear in the Greek Old Testament as "Fix for me." His answer was, "Tomorrow." Moses replied that Jehovah the God of Israel would prove His power by removing the plague just as the king had fixed it. It seems obvious that removing them this way was an even greater miracle than bringing them up.
Some have tried to explain the plague as a natural event.
Critics who deny miracles have tried to explain this plague too as a natural event. But they do not explain how the frogs came as soon as Aaron stretched his hand over the waters of Egypt, and how they died by the millions after Moses prayed. Pharaoh was better than today's critics, for he at least admitted that it was a miracle of Jehovah (verse 8).
The answered prayer did Pharaoh no lasting good.
Even then the effect of the plague was not over. Outside the river, all the frogs died that day by a miracle. They were gathered in heaps, and the land stank with their dead bodies. Yet even this was relief, and as soon as Pharaoh saw it he hardened his heart and went on defying God. The judgment had not produced any vital change.
- Cry — Moses leaves the palace and takes the plague straight to God. Only that prayer could lift it.
- Contest — the frogs struck at what Egypt held sacred. Their exit, at God's word, showed the gods of Egypt to be nothing.
- Compassion — Pharaoh's turning was not real, and God knew it. Yet He was ready to hear, because He is not willing that any should perish.
- Clock — the king named the hour himself, so no one could call the answer chance. Taking the frogs away was the greater miracle.
- Cold heart — relief came, the land still stank, and Pharaoh hardened again. Answered prayer is not the same as a changed heart.
And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields.
Frogs had swarmed out of the Nile and filled Egypt's houses, and Pharaoh had begged Moses to pray them away. Verse 13 records the answer — and it raises the sharpest question of the chapter: what does a man do when God answers his prayer?
Moses let Pharaoh name the time of relief himself, and Pharaoh chose the next day. The answer came exactly then, and that was the point.
Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. He asked them to plead with the Lord to take the frogs away, and he promised to let the Israelites go in return. Moses answered by asking Pharaoh to name the time when he should pray for the frogs to go (v. 9). Pharaoh told him, "Tomorrow." Moses told him at once that God would answer his prayer at that exact time. Then Pharaoh would have clear evidence that there is no other like the Lord God of Israel (v. 10).
Another writer looks at Moses' question, which older translations give as "Glory over me":
Moses made the removal even more impressive by asking Pharaoh to set the time when the frogs should go. The Greek Old Testament translates the words "Glory over me" as "Fix for me." Pharaoh's answer was, "Tomorrow." Moses replied that the Lord, the God of Israel, would prove His power by removing the plague at the time the king had set. It seems clear that taking them away like this was an even greater miracle than bringing them up.
Pharaoh's own magicians had produced frogs. He still had to go to Moses to get rid of them.
The magicians may have helped to increase the number of frogs a little, but they could not take them away. Pharaoh had to recognize that the hand of the Lord was in this dreadful suffering. So he pretended to give in to God's demand, in order to get the plague removed.
Their copying had a short reach. It ran out at the very next plague.
There were only three things in which the magicians of Egypt could imitate the servants of the true and living God: turning their rods into serpents (Ex. 7:12), turning the water into blood (Ex. 7:21), and bringing up the frogs (Ex. 8:7). But the fourth plague involved the producing of life, together with the humbling of nature. There they were completely baffled, and had to admit, "This is the finger of God." (Ex. 8:16-19)
Pharaoh's plea was only a pretence, and the Lord heard it anyway and acted according to the word of Moses:
It is beautiful to notice God's tender ways of grace, even with a hardened sinner. If there is even the slightest turning of heart to Him, He is ready to listen, though He knows the turning is not real. This is a striking witness that He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9.) So the Lord heard, and "did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields." (Ex. 8:13.)
Some have explained the frogs as a natural event. Their sudden death is where that explanation breaks down — and the creature in question was tied to Egypt's own gods.
This plague was made up of frogs, which came out of the Nile, the river the Egyptians worshipped as sacred. Critics who deny the miraculous have tried to explain this plague too as a natural event. But they do not explain how the frogs came as soon as Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and how they died by the millions after Moses prayed. Pharaoh did better than today's critics, for he at least admitted that it was a miracle of the Lord (verse 8). Frogs were also connected with Egyptian idolatry. One Egyptian goddess called Hekt is pictured with the head of a frog. Frogs stand for unclean things. See Revelation 16:13.
The answered prayer left heaps of dead frogs and a stinking land — and a king unchanged.
But even so, the effect of the plague was not yet over. Except in the river, all the frogs died that day by a miracle. They were gathered into heaps, and the land stank with their dead bodies. Yet even this was a relief, and as soon as Pharaoh saw it he hardened his heart and went on defying God. The judgment had produced no real change.
- The cry. Pharaoh asked for relief, not for God; the request was a pretence made to get the plague lifted.
- The grace. God answered a cry He knew was not real — evidence that He is not willing that any should perish.
- The hour. Pharaoh fixed the time himself, and the answer came exactly then — proof that there is no other like the Lord God of Israel.
- The power. The magicians could add frogs; they could not remove one. Only God undoes what God sends.
- The heart. The frogs died, the land stank, and Pharaoh hardened — the judgment produced no real change. Relief by itself changes no one.
And they gathered them in heaps; and the land stank.
Pharaoh named the day, and on that day the frogs died. Egypt piled them up and lived with the smell of a creature it had called sacred, while Pharaoh took the relief and hardened his heart.
The frogs did not drift away or crawl back to the water. They died where they stood, and the dying itself was a miracle.
Even so, the effect of the plague was not yet over. Except in the river, all the frogs died that day in a miraculous way. As people gathered them in heaps, the land stank with their bodies.
Pharaoh had named the day himself. The heaps that followed were more than garbage.
Tomorrow, said Pharaoh. On the next day the frogs died out of the houses, villages, and fields. What widespread misery they must have caused, for now the land stank because of their dead bodies. Heaps of them were collected — witnesses, when alive, of Jehovah's power, and also, now dead, of His mercy.
The smell carried an insult. You can only feel it once you know what the frog meant in Egypt.
As Egypt had its Nile god, so it had its frog-gods and frog-goddesses. The Egyptians held the frog itself as a sacred emblem of the creative power of the god Ptah. It appears seated on a ring — an emblem of life — and stands for the idea of multitudes. It was also an emblem of resurrection.
Hapi was the Nile god of Egypt. What he gave now made the country unbearable.
The generous Hapi had given birth to multitudes indeed! The emblem of creative power had become Egypt's tormentor by its unbearable numbers. Corrupted by its own deity, "the land stank."
Commentators read this plague as a picture of something wider than frogs. The magicians had matched the miracle earlier in the chapter, but matching was all they could do.
The first plague taught the serious lesson of death; this second one stands for uncleanness. It is a picture of the far more revolting moral and spiritual pollution that infects every level of society when the Word of God is refused… The magicians too could introduce such uncleanness, but could not reverse it. God had done this in discipline toward Egypt, to expose to them the actual moral uncleanness that filled their nation. The magicians did it to show off their magic skills, but they only increased the scourge. In the same way, cunning impostors who try to imitate spiritual power only add their own uncleanness to the wickedness in the world.
Where does such uncleanness come from? One writer traces it back to people who pushed God out of their thinking.
What makes them so distressing is their numbers, their presence everywhere, and — as is implied — their swarming out of the mud and slime: their uncleanness… Here we follow the same track as the apostle. He speaks of the result of departure from God: "since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done," or, as he otherwise puts it, "to impurity" (Rom. 1:28, 24). Here are the unclean things that come out of the river, when people worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator.
Pharaoh's plea for prayer was not sincere, and God knew it. He answered it anyway.
It is beautiful to notice God's tender ways of grace, even with a hardened sinner. If there is the slightest turning of heart to Him, He is ready to hear, even though He knows it is not real. That is a striking testimony: He does not will the sinner's death. Indeed He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)… But what was the result? "But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said." What a picture of the evil heart of man!
- Cause — The frogs came out of the river Egypt revered. Uncleanness swarms where people worship the creature instead of the Creator.
- Judgment — Egypt's own sacred emblem became its tormentor. The land stank because of what it had honoured.
- Prayer — The frogs died on the day Pharaoh named. Alive they were witnesses of God's power; dead, of His mercy.
- Imitation — The magicians could produce frogs but never remove them. Copying spiritual power only adds to the mess it cannot clear.
- Result — God answered a plea He knew was false, because He wants no one to perish. Pharaoh took the relief, kept the stench, and hardened his heart.
And Pharaoh saw that there was respite; and he hardened his heart, and hearkened not to them, as Jehovah had said.
Pharaoh had begged Moses to pray the frogs away, promising to let Israel go, and God answered. What happened next says more about him than the plague did: when the pressure lifted, so did the promise.
The frogs died, and people piled them in heaps until the land stank. Even that mess was better than the plague, and the small relief was all Pharaoh needed to go back to his old course.
Yet even this was a respite, and the moment Pharaoh saw it he hardened his heart and went on defying God. The judgment had produced no vital change.
The word for "hardened" also means "made heavy". Pharaoh made his own heart heavy against God. One writer sets that beside a question from the book of Job.
The frogs died, and Pharaoh hardened, or made heavy, his heart. But "who has hardened himself against Him and has prospered?" (Job 9:4). So said Job, and Pharaoh was no exception to that ancient saying.
Pharaoh's plea was not sincere, and God answered it anyway.
It is beautiful to notice God's tender ways of grace, even with a hardened sinner. If there is the slightest turning of heart towards Him, He is ready to hear, even though He knows it is not real. This is a striking testimony that He does not want the sinner to die. Indeed, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)... But what was the result? "But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the LORD had said." What a picture of the evil heart of man!
Every removal of a plague was an act of mercy, and Pharaoh met each one the same way. Only later in the story does the wording change.
Is God's sovereignty not seen in this? Again and again, God acted in sovereign mercy to remove the plagues. But this mercy only became the occasion of Pharaoh hardening his heart (see Ex. 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7). Finally, Pharaoh having hardened his heart, we read that "The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh" (Ex. 9:12).
The order of those two hardenings matters, because it settles who is responsible for what.
God did not make Pharaoh wicked. God leads no man to sin; but when Pharaoh had proved himself wicked and stubborn, God judicially hardened his heart. This hardening, however, never takes place until man has proved himself to be wicked.
The pause between plagues was not neutral. A stubborn heart treats delayed punishment as permission.
The judgment of God is against everyone who does evil. There is no remedy but turning to God, whose goodness keeps inviting men to repentance. Yet His patience so often leads men to despise the riches of that goodness. So when judgment against an evil work is not carried out quickly, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil (Ecc. 8:11). With Pharaoh, what hardened his heart was simply God's patient mercy (Ex. 8:15; Ex. 9:34)... treasures of mercy are stored up for the future as treasures of wrath.
The verse closes by pointing back to what God had already announced. Later plagues end on the same note.
But again and again we are reminded that this was no surprise to God. All this happened "as the LORD had spoken through Moses." He saw the end from the beginning.
Fear can produce prayers and promises that vanish with the danger. One writer heard the same thing from a soldier:
A soldier, badly wounded in France... told me that soldiers will pray when faced with death. They promise God to give up swearing. But as soon as the danger is over, both the prayer and the promise are forgotten. This shows there is no reality in either.
Why do such vows collapse?
In all such cases the conscience has never been really awakened. There has been no sense of guilt before God, and no acceptance of His testimony to man's lost and ruined condition. So there has been no turning to His saving grace, as revealed in Christ Jesus the Saviour. The vows that were made were really a kind of payment offered to get God's hand removed.
- Respite tests. The plague pressed Pharaoh; the relief exposed him. Judgment changed his words, not his will.
- Respite is mercy. God answered a plea He knew was hollow, because He is not willing that any should perish.
- Respite despised. Patience that should have led to repentance became the very thing that made his heart heavy.
- Respite ends. Pharaoh hardened himself first. Only after he proved himself stubborn did the LORD harden him in judgment.
- Respite is now. A promise made in danger and dropped in safety was never real. God's goodness is still inviting you to repentance, so use the pause while it lasts.