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.