Exodus 8:1-32

Exodus: Israel becomes a nation

The *Israelites leave Egypt

Exodus Chapter s 1 to 18

Hilda Bright and Kitty Pride

Chapter 8

*Plague number 2: *Frogs – verses 1-15

The *LORD warns *Pharaoh – verses 1-7

v1 Then the *LORD spoke to Moses. ‘Go to *Pharaoh and tell him this. “This is what the *LORD says to you: Let my people go. They must go and *worship me. v2 You may refuse to let them go. But then I will send animals called *frogs. And those *frogs will go everywhere in your whole country. v3 *Frogs will fill the River Nile and they will come into your palace. They will come into your bedroom and on your bed. And they will come into all the houses where your officials and your people live. They will go into your ovens and into the bowls where you make bread. v4 The *frogs will climb on you, and on your people and on all your officials.” ’

v5 The *LORD spoke to Moses again. ‘Say this to Aaron. “Reach out your hand with your stick in it. Hold the stick over the streams, the canals and the ponds. Make *frogs come up on all the land in Egypt” ’

v6 So they obeyed God. And Aaron reached out his hand with the stick over Egypt’s waters. Then *frogs came out from the water and they covered the country. v7 But the men who used magic did the same thing with their secret skills. They caused *frogs to come all over the country too.

Verse 2 *Frogs are small animals that can live in water or on land. They have very powerful back legs. With these legs they can swim and they can jump up in the air. They make a loud, low noise that can sound very unpleasant. The *Egyptians *worshipped a female false god called Heqt. That false god had a *frog’s head. They thought that she helped women. And then the women could have children.

Verses 3-4 describe how an enormous number of *frogs would leave the River Nile. Those *frogs would be a nuisance everywhere. The *frogs would be in the ovens when people tried to cook. Nobody would sleep because the *frogs would be in the bedrooms and on the beds. The *frogs would be in the bowls when people wanted to prepare food. Those details showed clearly how the *frogs would affect every part of their lives. Even *Pharaoh would not escape. The *frogs would enter his palace. They would go into his bedroom and into his bed. Psalms 105:30 mentions the *frogs in the rulers’ bedrooms.

Verse 7 The men who used magic increased the number of the *frogs! That act did not help *Pharaoh because too many *frogs were already there!

*Pharaoh’s promise – verses 8-15

v8 *Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. ‘Pray to the *LORD for me’, he said. ‘Ask him to take the *frogs away from me and away from my people. Then I will let your people go. And you can give gifts to the *LORD.’

v9 Moses replied to *Pharaoh. ‘You may choose the time for me to pray. And I will pray for you and for your officials and for your people. I will ask the *LORD to send the *frogs away. He will make them leave you and your houses. Then *frogs will remain only in the River Nile.’

v10 ‘Do it tomorrow’, *Pharaoh said.

And Moses replied. ‘It will happen as you say. Then you will know that there is nobody like the *LORD our God. v11 The *frogs will leave you and your houses. They will leave your officials and your people. And they will remain only in the River Nile.’

v12 Moses and Aaron left *Pharaoh. Then Moses cried out to the *LORD about the *frogs. God had sent them to punish *Pharaoh. v13 But now, the *LORD did what Moses asked him. So all the *frogs died. There were dead *frogs in the houses. They were in the gardens in front of the houses. They were in the fields also. v14 The *Egyptians gathered the *frogs into great piles. And the *frogs’ dead bodies caused a very bad smell over the whole country. v15 Then *Pharaoh saw that the *frogs were dead. So he became proud again. He would not give in. He would not listen to Moses and Aaron. It was exactly as the *LORD had said.

Verse 8 When *Pharaoh himself had suffered, then he spoke to Moses and Aaron. He asked Moses to pray to the *LORD on his behalf. If God took the *frogs away, *Pharaoh would let the *Israelites go. Then they could give gifts to the *LORD. *Pharaoh recognised that the *LORD had sent the *plague of *frogs. He realised that his wise men could not send the *frogs away. His men, who used magic, had no power against God.

Verse 9 Moses was very polite to *Pharaoh, but he also emphasised God’s power. God had sent the *frogs. And God could make that *plague go away at any time.

Verses 12-14 After Moses had prayed, the *frogs died. The people put the frog’s bodies in piles, which made a very bad smell.

Verse 15 But *Pharaoh did not remember his promise. He did not let the *Israelites go. He thought that his country was safe again now. The *frogs had gone, so everything was normal again.

*Plague number 3: Insects called *gnats

*Gnats attack people – verses 16-19

v16 Then the *LORD spoke to Moses again. ‘Tell Aaron to reach out with his stick. He must hit the dust on the ground. And everywhere in Egypt the dust will become tiny insects called *gnats.’ v17 They obeyed God. So Aaron reached out his hand with the stick. And hit the ground with the stick. Then *gnats flew onto the people and onto the animals. The dust everywhere in Egypt became *gnats. v18 So the men who used magic tried to produce these tiny insects by means of their secret skills. But they failed. And the *gnats landed on both people and animals.

v19 Then the men who used magic spoke to *Pharaoh. ‘God has done this’, they said. But *Pharaoh would not give in to God. He would not listen, just as the *LORD had said.

Verses 16-17 Those ‘*gnats’ were probably the insects called ‘mosquitoes’. Such insects develop in enormous numbers in pools of water. And there were pools everywhere after the River Nile’s annual flood. Mosquitoes and *gnats are a nuisance when they fly up from the water. They look like a large black cloud. They sting people and they cause pain and illness. ‘Dust’ and ‘cloud’ are ways to describe their great numbers. God promised Abraham that his family would increase. They would be as many as the ‘dust of the earth’ (Genesis 13:16).

Verses 18-19 The men who used magic could not copy that *plague. So they told *Pharaoh that God had made the *plague of *gnats.

*Plague number 4: Flies – verses 20-32

The *LORD warns *Pharaoh – verses 20-23

v20 Then the *LORD spoke to Moses again. ‘Get up early tomorrow morning. And speak to *Pharaoh as he goes down to the river. Make him listen to this message from me. “The *LORD says this to you, *Pharaoh: Let my people go. They must go to *worship me. v21 And you must let my people go. If you do not allow this, I will send flies to your country like a great cloud. The flies will land on you, on your officials and on your people. I will fill all the *Egyptian houses with flies. And the flies will crawl all over the ground where you live.

v22 But on the same day, it will be different in the region called Goshen. That is where my people live. And I will not send flies in clouds to Goshen. Then you will know that I am in this country. I am the *LORD. v23 I will not deal in the same way with my people and with your people. This wonderful *sign will happen tomorrow.” ’

Verses 20-21 *Pharaoh was going down to the River Nile. Perhaps he was going there to *worship the false god of the river. The *Hebrew word ‘fly’ could refer to a variety of insects. The *Greek translation calls them ‘dog flies’. Some flies give painful bites to people and to animals.

Verses 22-23 Goshen was the area in Egypt where the *Israelites lived (Genesis 45:10). That was the first time that God dealt with the *Egyptians in a different way from the *Israelites. But later, the writer mentions that particular difference. It is during *plagues number 5 (Exodus 9:4; Exodus 9:6), *plague number 7 (Exodus 9:26), *plague number 9 (Exodus 10:23) and *plague number 10 (Exodus 11:7). The *LORD punished the *Egyptians. But at the same time he looked after his own people.

*Pharaoh tries to bargain with Moses – verses 24-32

v24 And the *LORD did as he had told *Pharaoh. Flies, in thick clouds, flew into *Pharaoh’s palace. And they flew into his officials’ houses. Everywhere in Egypt the flies ruined the country. v25 Then *Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. ‘Go!’ *Pharaoh said to them. ‘You must give gifts to your God, but you must not leave this country.’

v26 Moses replied to *Pharaoh. ‘No, that would not be right. The *Egyptians would hate to see us give our gifts to the *LORD, our God. *Egyptians would think that we are insulting their gods. Then they would throw stones at us to kill us. v27 We must go for a journey of three days into the *desert. The *LORD, our God, has ordered us. There, we can give our gifts to him.’

v28 *Pharaoh said. ‘I will let you go into the *desert to give your gifts to the *LORD, your God. But you must not go very far. Now pray to the *LORD on our behalf.’

v29 Moses answered, ‘As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the *LORD. And tomorrow the flies will leave you. The flies will leave your officials and your people too. But be sure that you are not telling lies to us again. You must not refuse to let the people go now. They must go and give their gifts to the *LORD.’

v30 Then Moses left *Pharaoh. And Moses prayed to the *LORD. v31 And the *LORD did what Moses asked him. The flies left *Pharaoh and his people. Not one fly remained. v32 But *Pharaoh became proud again and he would not give in. So he would not let the people go.

Verses 25-26 Moses reminded *Pharaoh about the customs in his country. It would offend the *Egyptians if the *Israelites gave their gifts to God in Egypt. The *Israelites had to kill cows as a gift for the *LORD. But that was an insult to the *Egyptian false god, Isis. The *Israelites had to kill sheep as gifts for the *LORD. And that was an insult to the *Egyptian false god, Amon. Those animals were special and holy to the many *Egyptian false gods. Nearly every animal that the *Israelites were likely to give would offend the *Egyptians. So the *Egyptians would be very angry. And they would try to kill the *Israelites with stones.

Verses 27-28 *Pharaoh had to agree that was true. And he said that the *Israelites could go into the *desert. But to go for a ‘three day journey’ did not please him. Perhaps he thought that they would not come back! So he said that they must not go very far.

Verses 29-30 Moses promised to pray to the *LORD on behalf of *Pharaoh. Only God could remove the *plague of flies. *Pharaoh had told lies to them in the past. So Moses warned *Pharaoh that he must carry out his promise. He must let the *Israelites go. But as soon as the flies left completely, *Pharaoh became proud again. He would not give in. Again, he refused to let the people go.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
plague ~ a terrible disease or trouble.
frog ~ a small animal with 4 legs. The two back legs are long and they help it to jump. It has a huge mouth. It lives both on land and in the water.
LORD ~ God gave this special name to himself. It translates the word ‘Yahweh’ in the Hebrew language. It links to the words ‘I am’; it means that God has been here always.

Lord ~ a name for God. It translates the Hebrew word ‘Adonai’, which means ‘my ruler’. The word ‘lord’ (without a capital letter) means an ordinary ruler.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Israelites spoke. A Hebrew is a Jewish person or an Israelite

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to the Jews.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Pharaoh ~ the Egyptian ruler or king.

Egyptian ~ someone from the country called Egypt; anything with a relationship with Egypt.
worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a gift to God.
frog ~ a small animal with 4 legs. The two back legs are long and they help it to jump. It has a huge mouth. It lives both on land and in the water.
Egyptian ~ someone from the country called Egypt; anything with a relationship with Egypt.
plague ~ a terrible disease or trouble.
gnat ~ a small insect that flies and that bites people and animals.
gnat ~ a small insect that flies and that bites people and animals.
sign ~ a signal; a mark to show that something is special; a powerful act.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Israelites spoke. A Hebrew is a Jewish person or an Israelite

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to the Jews.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Greek ~ people and things from the country called Greece, and the language that they speak. The language in which the authors wrote the New Testament.

New Testament ~ the second part of the Bible. It tells about Jesus Christ and his followers.
desert ~ a wild place where there are small bushes and not much water. It has poor soil and people cannot grow crops there. So, not many people live there.