8
📚And the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: Let my people go so that they may serve me.8:1 The Hebrew word for “serve” also means “worship”. In all ages God brings His people out of the bondage of sin that they might both serve and worship Him (John 4:23; Rom 12:1; Rev 22:3-4).⚜
2 📚And if you refuse to let them go, now I will plague all the land within your borders with frogs.
8:2 The frog was also connected with the most ancient forms of idolatry in Egypt.⚜
3 📚And the river will swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and onto your bed, and into the house of your servants, and onto your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. 4 📚And the frogs will come up on both you and on your people and on all your servants.’ ”
5 📚And 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 📚And 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 magic arts and brought frogs up on the land of Egypt.
8:7 The magicians seemed equal to the challenge.⚜
8 📚Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the LORD so he will take away the frogs from me, and from my people, and I will let the people go, so that they may offer sacrifices to the LORD”.
8:8 Evidently the magicians could not remove the frogs with their secret arts. They could add to the severity of the plagues but could not offer any cure. Pharaoh now shows his first sign of weakness.⚜
9 📚And Moses said to Pharaoh, “Get the honour instead of me, when will I pray for you and for your servants and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, so that they may remain only in the river?”
10 📚And he said, “Tomorrow”. And he said, “Let it be according to your word, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God 📖. 11 📚And the frogs will go away from you and from your houses and from your servants and from your people. They will remain only in the river”.
12 📚And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses called out to the LORD, because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 13 📚And the LORD did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields. 14 📚And 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 listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
8:15 The wicked always want relief from their difficulties, but they do not want to love and serve the true God.⚜
Lice
16 📚And the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the ground, so that it may become lice 📖 throughout the whole land of Egypt.’ ” 17 📚And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and struck the dust of the ground, and it became lice on man, and on beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout the whole land of Egypt. 18 📚And the magicians tried to bring out lice with their magic arts, but they could not. So there were lice on man and on beast.
19 📚Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
8:18-19 The magicians could not create anything and so failed here. They were convinced that God was at work through Moses. This was a very significant admission, but Pharaoh would not listen.⚜
Flies
20 📚And the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh when he comes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: Let my people go, so that they may serve me. 21 📚Otherwise, if you will not let my people go, look, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people, and into your houses, and the houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground where they are.
22 📚“‘And on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, to the end that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. 23 And I will put a division 📖 between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’ ”
8:22-23 The true God would give further evidence that He was the God of Israel and that He was there with them. He will always make a distinction between those who serve and worship Him and those who worship other gods, but not in just the way He then distinguished between them in Egypt.⚜
24 📚And the LORD did so. A great swarm of flies came into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants’ houses and into all the land of Egypt. The land was ruined because of the swarm of flies.
25 📚And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God inside the country”.
26 📚And Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we will sacrifice to the LORD our God what the Egyptians regard as an abomination, and, see, when we sacrifice what the Egyptians regard as an abomination will they not stone us? 27 📚We will go a three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the LORD our God, just as he commands us”.
28 📚And Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, so that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the desert. But you must not go very far away. Pray for me 📖”.
8:25-28 Pharaoh wanted Israel to remain in the land, or at least in reach of his armies. But, of course, he wanted also to be relieved of his difficulties.⚜
29 📚And Moses said, “See, I am going out from you, and I will pray to the LORD that tomorrow the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. But let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD”.
30 📚And Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD. 31 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained. 32 📚And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also; he would not let the people go.