Frogs In The Kitchen

Exodus 8:1-15

The sign of the stick turning to a snake had established Moses and Aaron’s power as superior to that of Pharaoh’s magicians, but it had little physical impact on anyone. The turning the water to blood impacted everyone, but they were familiar with techniques that enabled them to minimize the effects, as if it were just another flood like they were used to. While inconvenient, it really didn’t affect them very much.

“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. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: 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: And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.” (Exodus 8:1-4)

Since Egyptian culture revolved around the river. God would use it again, but they had never been inundated with frogs. Living along the river with abundant water the Egyptians maintained a very high standard of cleanliness. They despised those from drier areas as dirty because they had trouble maintaining such a standard of sanitation. The frogs would mess up the whole system. Pharaoh couldn’t conceive the effects and refused to allow them to go, and besides that no one could make frogs.

“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. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 8:5-6)

When the frogs began to come out of the river, in vast quantities, Pharaoh was shocked by the invasion, but called his magicians to see if they could do the same thing. Apparently God had caused the frogs to lay a lot of eggs that had hatched and matured enough to come out when Aaron stretched out his rod over the water.

“And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. 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 do sacrifice unto the LORD.” (Exodus 8:7-8)

A second batch of frogs crawled out when they did whatever they did, so Pharaoh concluded it wasn’t anything special and sent Moses and Aaron away. A day or so later, Pharaoh and his people were really getting upset by the unsanitary conditions the frogs were causing and he called Moses and Aaron back to get rid of them, because they didn’t know how to deal with the situation and his magicians had no answers.

“And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I entreat 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?” (Exodus 8:9)

The Hebrew word translated “glory” here means to boast about or to give credit to someone. Moses is simply asking Pharaoh to acknowledge that the Egyptians couldn’t solve the problem without his help. Moses asked when he wanted it done, and Pharaoh postponed it until the next day, hoping the frogs would disappear and he wouldn’t have to give Moses or God the credit. I imagine the people would have preferred it that day.

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

And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 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. And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.” (Exodus 8:10-14)

When Moses prayed, the frogs all died. The people spent hours gathering up the dead frogs and piling them in huge piles where they began to rot,. The stench would last for weeks.

“But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.” (Exodus 8:15)

A person who gets in trouble for drinking or using drugs may temporarily stop to get out of trouble or a government may cut taxes to stimulate economic recovery, then resume what they were doing that caused the problem in the first place. Pharaoh responded the same way, promptly forgetting his promise when the pressure eased. This hardening of the heart or refusing to take the lesson to heart is far more common than we usually realize.