Exodus 8:1-15
The Second Plague: Frogs
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 2 But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your territory with frogs. 3 So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your servants, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. 4 And the frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants.”’”
5 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.’” 6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.
8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat the LORD that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.”
9 And Moses said to Pharaoh, “Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only.”
10 So he said, “Tomorrow.” And he said, “Let it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. 11 And the frogs shall depart from you, from your houses, from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only.”
12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses cried out to the LORD concerning the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh. 13 So the LORD did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields. 14 They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the LORD had said.
God told Pharaoh He would smite the land with frogs of judgment if he refused to let His people go to serve and worship Him, knowing full well that the despot would refuse and harden his already hard heart (Romans 9:17) further in resistance to the word of the LORD. These were not the usual explosion of frogs in the spring that you would expect in the most extreme circumstances, but so much more that they would be found in every house, in every bedroom in the beds, in the houses of all their servants, their population, and even in their ovens, and kneading bowls of their food! They would be simultaneously hopping mad and fearful at the sight of all these invasive slimy creatures wherever they turned. Moses held his staff over the Nile and they came in incessant droves over the land as promised when Pharaoh refused to heed God’s word. Unfortunately, the Egyptian magicians were able to bring up some frogs by their efforts, though everyone ignored the fact that they were not nearly as prolific as the ones God called out, and Pharaoh ignored God’s hand of judgment against him. He merely asked Moses and Aaron to pray that the LORD would disperse the invasive hopping hoard and falsely promised to let the people go to sacrifice and worship out of flippant desperation. Moses was honored to honor the request as he told the king that the frogs would only be found in the river after entreating God for relief. He told him the next day they would be gone in this way that it would be clearly evident it was at the work of God’s hand and not a simple dying off of the frogs. The next day it was so as God promised. They had to clean up the mess, however, and the resulting stench filled the land afterwards as a reminder of the sin of disbelief and disobedience to God’s word. Still the Pharaoh hardened his heart further and reneged on his own word and defiantly ignored the word of God through His spokesmen delivering the message to let them go. This smiting of the land with a covering of loving and then decaying frogs was a judgment on the land and on Pharaoh as accountable over it as ruler. Rulers are held accountable in the world and among God’s people, the church, today. May we learn from the disobedience and rebellion of Pharaoh not to ignore and reject God’s word on how we are to love and worship Him with our (Romans 12:1-2) lives.
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