Anytime you need the music for a "new" song, check the foot tall stack of ole books you have under the piano first. Just sayn'

Chapter 8

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, “Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, ‘Thus saith the LORD, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

2 “‘“And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:

3 “‘“And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs:

4 “‘“And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.”‘“

Can you imagine having frogs everywhere? Even hopping into your food? Yuck!

5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, “Say unto Aaron, ‘Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon 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 enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.

How could they tell Moses’ frogs from the magicians’ frogs? Anyway…

8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Intreat 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 do sacrifice unto the LORD.”

Obviously this “LORD” that Moses is talking about is more powerful than the Egyptian goddess Heqt. She had the head of a frog and because of her, it was illegal to kill frogs (a symbol of fertility and life.)

So, God gives the Egyptians all the frogs they could possibly ever want to worship. Even when the magicians duplicate this plague, they don’t make the frogs go away, but bring forth MORE frogs, (which didn’t really help any.)

9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, “Glory over me: (other translations say “You can have the honor over me.”) when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only?”

10 And he said, “Tomorrow.”…

If I were sleeping with frogs, I would want them removed right now. Pharaoh is trying to maintain a sibilance of control.

 …And he said, “Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God.

11 “And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.”

12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto 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 upon heaps: and the land stank.

The sudden death of so many “holy” frogs would have been seen by the Egyptians as a very bad omen.

15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

16 And the LORD said unto Moses, “Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.”

This time there is no announcement beforehand.

17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

Individuals who were lice-infested were not allowed to worship in any Egyptian temple. Nor were lice-infested sacrifices allowed. God has totally stopped all worship to false gods. If these gods were real, they would have been able to fight back and keep worship going for themselves. Obviously they have no power whatsoever.

18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.

Maybe they were too busy scratching to bring forth lice?

I don’t know whether their reproduction of the previous plagues was through “smoke and mirror” slight of hand, or through satanic power, but either way, they have met their match in the LORD God of Israel!

19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God:” and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

The magicians had figured out they were up against the Real Thing. But Pharaoh won’t even listen to them.

20 And the LORD said unto Moses, “Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, ‘Thus saith the LORD, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

21 “‘“Else, if thou wilt not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.

Ewwww!

This was probably a mixture of different kinds of biting flies.

As with the lice, fly covered people could not worship, nor could fly covered sacrifices be offered in the Egyptian temples.

They also worshiped the scarab beetle as a god, and had a separate “Lord of the Flies” they worshiped. But obviously they had no control over insects.

Some commentators have translated this as “swarms of animals.” In other words, large numbers of wild, dangerous animals. This would make this plague more distinct from the lice, and Egyptians worshiped many different animals, including ones that would love to have them for supper.

22 “‘“And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.

23 And I will put a division between My people and thy people: tomorrow shall this sign be.”‘“

The previous plagues had affected Israel also. Now God is making it even more obvious who His people are by not allowing them to be affected by all the remaining plagues.

24 And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.

There have been similar occurrences to these plagues in history, all following earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. God is telling Moses when to predict each event and then bringing it along just in time to prove He is controlling them.

25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, “Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.”

Pharaoh permitted them to worship their God, but only in their homeland.

26 And Moses said, “It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?

The animals God wanted sacrificed were gods to the Egyptians. They would not be happy to witness this ceremony. Compromise was not possible.

27 “We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as He shall command us.”

28And Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.”

“Whatever! Just get rid of these flies!”

Pharaoh really knew who was in charge.

29 And Moses said, “Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow: 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 intreated 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; there remained not one.

32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

I don’t know if he lied or just changed his mind, but either way, he is setting his people up for more trouble.

Remember, God has already told Moses He will destroy Egypt and kill their firstborns. Since that hasn’t happened yet, Moses must know that they aren’t done, though he can hope Pharaoh will yield and God will change His mind.