The Story of God: The Lord of Frogs, Gnats and Flies

When we first moved into our house at Robson we were told that we would need to have our house sprayed for insects on a regular basis.  I didn’t think about that too much at first.  After all, we were in a brand new home and everything was sealed up pretty tight.  But around April the first crickets began to show up.  That wasn’t too bad.  But then in early May after Courtney’s friend Kelsey came stay for a weekend, she found a big cockroach in her shoe. That was pretty gross.  But it all came to a head one evening when a giant cockroach made its appearance in our living room.  All of a sudden there was Becky and Courtney standing up on our couch screaming for me to rescue them.  It was then I knew I needed to call the exterminators.  But that got me thinking.  What was it like in Arizona before exterminators?  I can’t imagine having your home overrun by cockroaches, crickets, scorpions and all kinds of creepy, slithery things.

And yet, that’s the world we are stepping into today as we return to the story of God in Exodus, where Egypt is reeling from the effects of the first plague.  Seven days have passed since God upended their economy, ruined their transportation system, and spoiled their water supply by turning the Nile to blood.  But Pharaoh was stubborn.  He refused to let God’s people go.  Instead, he hardened his heart, turned his back on God and locked himself away in his palace.  Even though God had proved His superiority over the god’s of the Nile, Pharaoh wouldn’t give an inch.  Pharaoh may have turned his back on God, but God was just getting started with Pharaoh.

So, if you brought your Bible with you today, that’s where we pick up this conflict between God and Pharaoh in Exodus 8, a conflict where we will not only see God continue to destroy the gods of Egypt, but a conflict where we will also begin to see the consequences of a sinful and stubborn heart..  So, if you’ve found Exodus 8, lets begin by looking at the next attack on the god’s of Egypt with  The Plague of Stinking Frogs  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.  If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country.  The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs.  The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’”

Then the Lord said to Moses,“Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’”  So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

Frogs were now everywhere.  How bad was this? They are in every nook and cranny: in homes, in bedrooms, even in ovens and kneading troughs.  They hopped into their food supplies and even into Pharaoh’s royal chambers. Some of them had the audacity to jump on his royal person…  Now, in Great Britain it is considered a serious breach of protocol for a commoner to touch a member of the Royal Family.  All the more so in Egypt, where Pharaohs were considered to be gods.  So the frogs were a sanitary issue, an offence to Pharaoh, but more than that. they brought about a second spiritual crisis.

For in the Egyptian pantheon of gods, the frog played an important role in child birth. The frog-goddess Heqet was the spouse of the creator-god Khnum.  Now, the Egyptians believed that Khnum fashioned human bodies on his potter’s wheel, and then Heqet breathed into them the breath of life.  So when an Egyptian woman was about to give birth, she went into labor fearing both for her own life and for the life of her child.  And her only hope was to cry out to Heqet for the breath of life.  So this plague was not just an attack on this “goddess of child birth,” it was also God’s judgment on Egypt for all the infant Hebrew boys who had been thrown in the Nile.

And as things went from bad to worse, Pharaoh did the unthinkable: He ordered Moses and Aaron to return and said to them: “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

Wow, Pharaoh summed the prayer team.  This is an amazing turn of events and an even more amazing request – because now it shows us: how much Pharaoh had learned about God.  For starters, he had learned God’s name.  The first time he encountered Moses, he said, “Who is the Lord?”… “I do not know the Lord.”  Now he was getting to know him– much better than he expected – just as God had promised.

Pharaoh had also learned something about God’s power.  He summoned Moses and Aaron because he knew that this plague was a divine miracle.  He knew God had sent the frogs and now believed only God could take them away.  So by asking for their removal, he was admitting that the God of Israel had great power. And he even seems to have understood that the way to access God’s power was through prayer.

And Pharaoh had learned one more thing: what God requires.  He ended his speech by making the first of many concessions: “I will let the people goto sacrifice to the Lord.”  So it looks like this plague has fulfilled its purpose.  It looks like Pharaoh’s heart is bending to God’s will.  But is it really?  Let’s look at Moses’ response to Pharaoh: Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.”  Exodus 8:9

“Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.

Tomorrow? What was Pharaoh thinking?  You would think he would have Moses pray right then and there.  What gives?  Maybe Pharaoh thought that by the next day these frogs would hop away on their own and he wouldn’t need God’s help.  Maybe he thought his magicians could get rid of them before then.  But whatever Pharaoh was thinking it is not hard to guess what Moses had in mind.  You see, by letting Pharaoh decide when the frogs would croak, he was showing his confidence in God.  So Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God.  The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.” Exodus 8:10-11

There is no one like the Lord our God.  That’s why Moses allowed Pharaoh to set the time of prayer.  So that Pharaoh would not just experience the mighty hand of God in judgment, but that he would also experience God’s mercy. How cool is that? That’s why Moses allowed Pharaoh to set the time of prayer.  So what happened?

After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them. But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. Exodus 8:12-15

Moses prayed.  God answered, but rather than being grateful, Pharaoh hardened his own heart.  He broke his promise.  What a sad commentary on Pharaoh. What we see here is that he was the kind of man who says anything to get out of trouble, but as soon as trouble passes, he goes right back to his old ways. Like a lot of people, Pharaoh only wanted God to take away the consequences of his sin. He never had any intention of getting rid of the sin itself or doing what God wanted.  He USED God to get what he wanted, and when he got it, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.  He just played God.

But of course, God will not be played by anyone, so He immediately sends a third plague: The Plague of Slithery Gnats  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats.  Exodus 8:16-18a

How bad was this plague? In modern Hebrew this word kinnim, this word for gnats means “lice.”  And the Bible says that these lice “were on man and beast.” In other words, they were on the skin the Egyptians.  So it’s more likely these were actually lice or mosquitoes rather than gnats or fleas. Writing in the first century, Philo of Alexandria describes these insects as creeping up people’s noses and into their ears…   So you can only imagine how irritating, disgusting and vile these slithery insects were.

And of course, Pharaoh calls for his magicians again:But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said. Exodus 8:18b-19

This time Pharaoh’s magicians had no power.  Why? Scholars say that the first two plagues deal with water, which is the life and power of Egypt, politically, economically and religiously.  However, these slithering lice came from the land, which was not an Egyptian “power source.” So with this third plague, the magicians are out of their element.  And they recognize they are dealing with a higher power by confessing, “This is the finger of God.”They know some deity more powerful is behind this. And yet, Pharaoh is unmoved.  He would not listen to Moses.  Now he refuses to listen to his magicians.  He stubbornly refuses to obey the God of the Hebrews who is making a mockery of him and all Egypt.

So how does God respond to Pharaoh’s continued defiance? With The Plague of the Swarming Flies Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.  If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.  Exodus 8:20-21

“‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinctionbetween my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’” Exodus 8:22-23

And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies. Exodus 8:24

How bad was this plague?  A number of ancient sources indicate that they these insects were “dog flies” blood sucking bugs that tormented both man and beast. Others argue that the flies were really flying beetles, known as scarabs.  Scarabs appeared frequently on Egyptian monuments, mummies, charms and amulets. The scarab was actually sacred to the Egyptians.  For them, it was an emblem of the sun, which represented eternal life.  But no matter what insect it was, these flies were everywhere the Egyptians were, making life miserable for everyone.  For the Bible says they wreaked such havoc that the land was “ruined.” In fact Psalm 78 further explains that God “sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them” Psalm 78:45. So they weren’t just foul and disgusting ceatures, landing in their food, buzzing their faces. These flies were eating them alive and destroying their LAND.

But they were NOT in the LAND of Goshen. They did not plague the Israelites, only the Egyptians.  Why?  So that all Egypt would know that the God of Israel was in their land.  And they could do nothing about it.  And Pharaoh knew this too.  For this time he ignores his magicians and calls for Moses and Aaron and says to them, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”Exodus 8:25

Wow, what a breakthrough.  Pharaoh relents. He is willing to let Israel worship their own God…     But is this really a breakthrough?  Or just a clever ploy on his part?  After all, what he is offering Moses is a COMPROMISE.  Pharaoh’s willing to let Israel worship, but he’s still unwilling to let them leave.  So how does Moses respond? But Moses said, “That would not be right.The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.” Exodus 8:26-27

Moses was not willing to compromise.  Rather than give in to Pharaoh, Moses stood fast to God’s Word.  He knew that Pharaoh’s compromise was not God’s will.  He believed God was going to deliver Israel completely from their bonds in Egypt.  He believed God’s plan.  And he was not willing to compromise God’s plan, saying, “That would not be right!”

Aren’t you proud of Moses here? Most men would be tempted to think, “Well, this is the best we’re going to get, let’s take it.”  But not Moses!  His faith in God’s plan allowed him to stand firm.  You see, its not good enough for us to know God’s Word.  We’ve got to believe it.  We’ve got to stand on it.  We’ve got to put it into practice. You are I will be tempted to compromise just like Moses was here.  But the reason he didn’t give in; the reason he stood firm; was that he had been building a habit of OBEDIENCE. God’s Word is emphatic on this. WE ARE TOLD:  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  James 1:22

Moses obeyed and so Moses stood his ground? And it worked!  Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in thewilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”Exodus 8:28

Pharaoh gives in and asks Moses to pray for him.  But again you’ve gotta love Moses response.  “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.” So Moses answers,  “As soon as I leave you,I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”Exodus 8:29

Moses knows he is dealing with deceitful man.  He’s been burned before.  He doesn’t want to get burned again. So he warns Pharaoh to not go back on his word. But what happens? Then Moses left Pharaoh andprayed to the Lord, and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained.  But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go. Exodus 8:30-32

Oh the deceitfulness of sin!  Pharaoh uses God only when it benefits him to do so.  As soon as he gets relief, he goes back to his sinful, stubborn self.  And I’ve got to ask:   Do we ever do that? Do you ever do that? Do you only ever come to God when you NEED something from Him? That’s not faith.  That’s manipulation.  That’s Pharaoh.

He was a deceitful man.  In fact, you could say that Pharaoh is a case study in the deceit of sin. Pharaoh clings to his deceit.  He believes he has the answers.  And he knows that if he gives Moses a little of what Moses wants, he can get what he wants. What a manipulator. He NEVER intended to let Israel worship God let alone leave.  Why? Because he hardened his heart to God.

That’s what the deceitfulness of sin does:  It hardens our hearts.  Look at what we’ve seen in Pharaoh today:  He now knows God’s name.  He’s now experienced God’s power at least seven times: once when Aaron’s staff devoured the Magician’s staffs, four times through these devastating plagues against Egypt’s gods and now two times experiencing God’s mercy after asking for prayer.  Not only that, he now is crystal clear on what God’s will is. He knows exactly what God wants.  But Pharaoh only wants what Pharaoh wants.

That’s what the deceitfulness of sin does.  It creates a defiant and rebellious heart – a heart unyielding to God that only uses God when God benefits him.

So what would God have us take away from His Word today?

1. Be Like Moses: Obey God’s Word. Don’t just be hearers of the Word, but doers. Build a habit of obedience so when temptation comes you can stand.
2. Don’t be like Pharaoh: Guard your heart against the deceitfulness of sin

In fact, God tells us how to guard our heart against the deceitfulness of sin by giving us this command: “Encourage one anotherdaily, as long as it is called ‘Today’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”  Hebrews 3:13

We are in a spiritual battle.  We need each other.  You need the encouragement I can give.  I need the encouragement you can give.  And we both need encouragement everyday.  That’s why God calls us to do life together, to follow Jesus together and that’s why He is calling each one of us to play our part in His story.  So who will you encourage today, tomorrow, this week?