Frogs


Exodus 7:25-8:15
25Seven full days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile. 1Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs. 3The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. 4The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.”’ ” 5And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt!’” 6So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 7But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. 8Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 9Moses said to Pharaoh, “Be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” 10And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. 11The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile.” 12So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh. 13And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 14And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. 15But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
The Nile returns to a watery rather than bloody state and Pharaoh probably thinks he’s done with Moses and the whole mess. But God is just getting started. Once the Nile runs with water again Moses returns with the next plague ready to go. This time, God sends frogs. In light of the pantheon of Egyptian gods, this is a logical choice.
 
As mentioned earlier, the Egyptians worshiped many gods not the least of which was Heqet, symbol of life, fertility, and childbirth represented by a frog or woman with a frog’s head. So God take on this “frog-goddess” and overruns the land with frogs. As with the Nile turning to blood, while no one is hurt they are all [except for the Land of Goshen where the Hebrews lived] severely inconvenienced and probably a little grossed out. (Maybe a lot grossed out.) Also to be noted; the magicians were able to duplicate this plague, but once again they had no power to clean up the mess. Had they been able to do so, the Pharaoh’s problems would be over and he could have commanded them to deal with the problem. They were useless.

Our take-home point for today might be that we need to be careful about what we choose to worship. I am reminded of the Children of Israel later in this same story who will complain to God about the food. They tire of manna and want meat and so God sends them quail – knee deep for as far as the eye could see. God has no trouble granting us an excess if that will help us see that we are foolishly chasing something false. These frogs had to have shown at least some of the Egyptians the stupidity of worshiping a frog-goddess.

Let me also briefly point to one word change that has occurred as God deals with the Pharaoh. With the initial meeting between Moses and Pharaoh, the request was that the Children of Israel be allowed to go out into the desert to worship God. Now the demand has changed. Pharaoh is being asked to let them go so that they may "serve" God. This is a huge departure because they currently "serve" the Pharaoh as slaves. This is no longer a request for a three day absence. Now Pharaoh knows that they will not be back.

As with all of the plagues, the Pharaoh continues in his hard-hearted place. As soon as the frogs are gone, he’s just as belligerent as ever. And there’s our second take-home point for today. Do I forget what God has done for me as soon as I’m out of distress? Prayer is easy and frequent when I’m in trouble. Yet when the trouble has passed there goes my prayer life! We can be a fickle people.

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