Crawling With Frogs

For a week the Egyptians had been forced to dig pits and drink the wwater that filtered in, and had been unable to catch fish for food.  Unfortunately Pharaoh was able to order others to do the work for him and escaped the frustration.  When God sent Moses to him again, in Exodus 8:1-4 he still didn’t take it seriously.  “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.” 

Pharaoh refused to even think about what Moses was telling him, so God directed Moses to make a production of bringing frogs out of the river, in Exodus 8:5-7.  “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.  And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. “ 

Because the Magicians were able to get more frogs to come out of the water, Pharaoh initially paid no attention.  After having frogs in his own house, he became aware of the problem and asked Moses to get rid of them, in Exodus 8:8-10a.  “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.  

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?

And he said, To morrow.”

With people to take care of cleaning out the frogs Pharaoh still wasn’t overly upset.  He opted to wait until the following day to have the frogs gone, probably hoping they’d go away by themselves and prove it wasn’t God’s doing.  Moses agreed to his request in Exodus 8:10b-14.  “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.”

When the frogs all died, there were huge piles of rotting bodies left, stinking up the whole country to remind them, but there was less pressure so Pharaoh decided not to keep his promise to let the people go, according to Exodus 8:15.  “But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.”