Exodus 8

Exodus 8:1-15

Frogs (the second plague) 8:1-15 Before the second plague, Moses gave Pharaoh a warning, for the first time, and for the first time the plague touched Pharaoh’s person.

“The god Hapi controlled the alluvial deposits and the waters that made the land fertile and guaranteed the harvest of the coming season. These associations caused the Egyptians to deify the frog and make the theophany of the goddess Heqt a frog. Heqt was the wife of the great god Khnum. She was the symbol of resurrection and the emblem of fertility. It was also believed that Heqt assisted women in childbirth. .. . The frog was one of a number of sacred animals that might not be intentionally killed, and even their involuntary slaughter was often punished with death.” [Note: Davis, p. 100.

The goddess Heqt “. . . who is depicted in the form of a woman with a frog’s head, was held to blow the breath of life into the nostrils of the bodies that her husband fashioned on the potter’s wheel from the dust of the earth .. . .” [Note: Cassuto, p. 101. “This second plague was not completely unrelated to the first, for the Nile and the appearance of the frogs were very much associated. The presence of the frogs normally would have been something pleasant and desirable, but on this occasion quite the opposite was true. The frogs came out of the rivers in great abundance and moved across the land into the houses, the bedchambers, the beds, and even moved upon the people themselves (Exodus 8:3). One can only imagine the frustration brought by such a multiplication of these creatures. They were probably everywhere underfoot bringing distress to the housewives who attempted to clear the house of them only to find that they made their way into the kneading troughs and even into the beds. It must have been a unique experience indeed to come home from a long day’s work, slip into bed only to find that it has already been occupied by slimy, cold frogs!

Whatever popularity the goddess Heqt must have enjoyed prior to this time would have been greatly diminished with the multiplication of these creatures who at this point must have tormented her devotees to no end.” [Note: Davis, pp. 100-101. “Since the frog or toad was deified as the Egyptian goddess Heqt, who was believed to assist women in childbirth, there may be a touch of irony in the statement that large numbers of frogs would invade the Pharaoh’s bedroom and even jump on his bed (Exodus 8:3).” [Note: Youngblood, p. 54. The Egyptian magicians were able to bring up frogs, too (Exodus 8:7), but they seem to have lacked the ability to make them go away since Pharaoh asked Moses to get rid of them (Exodus 8:8). Satanic power does not generally work for the welfare of humanity but is basically destructive.

To impress upon Pharaoh that a personal God was performing these miracles (Exodus 8:10) Moses asked the king to set the time when the frogs should depart (Exodus 8:9). Yahweh was in charge of the very territory over which Pharaoh regarded himself as sovereign.

Exodus 8:16-19

Gnats (the third plague) 8:16-19 The Hebrew word translated “gnats” (kinnim) probably refers not to lice or fleas but to gnats. Kaiser suggested that mosquitoes may be in view. [Note: Kaiser, “Exodus,” p. 353. The frogs had invaded the Egyptians’ homes, but the gnats afflicted their bodies.

They were “. . . a species of gnats, so small as to be hardly visible to the eye, but with a sting which, according to Philo and Origin, causes a most painful irritation of the skin. They even creep into the eyes and nose, and after the harvest they rise in great swarms from the inundated rice fields.” [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 1:483. “The dust . . . became gnats” (Exodus 8:17) probably means that the gnats rose from the dust, resembled the dust in that they were so small, and were as numerous as the dust. Moses evidently used the language of appearance (here a metaphor).

The magicians failed to reproduce this miracle (Exodus 8:18). They had to confess that it was of divine origin and not the result of Moses and Aaron’s human ability. The “finger of God” (Exodus 8:19) is a phrase denoting creative omnipotence in Scripture (Exodus 31:18; Psalms 8:3; Luke 11:20). It is probably another synecdoche as well as an anthropomorphism (a depiction of God in human terms). Here the finger of God, a part, represents the totality, namely, all His power. See 1 Samuel 6:9 and Psalms 109:27 where the “hand of God” also pictures His power.

“The new element introduced in the account of the third of the mighty acts is the realization by Pharaoh’s learned men that God or a god is in the midst of what is happening in Egypt.” [Note: Durham, p. 109. “At this point in the narrative we, the readers, see that the Egyptian magicians were using tricks in their earlier signs. Their confession plays an important role in uncovering the writer’s real purpose in recounting these events.” [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 255. The magicians gave credit to “God” (Elohim), not Yahweh. They did not ascribe this miracle to the God of the Israelites but were only willing to say it had some supernatural origin.

“It is not clear against what specific deities this particular plague was directed. It is entirely possible, however, that the plague was designed to humiliate the official priesthood in the land, for it will be noted in Exodus 8:17 that these creatures irritated both man and beast, and this included ‘all the land of Egypt.’ The priests in Egypt were noted for their physical purity. Daily rites were performed by a group of priests known as the Uab or ‘pure ones.’ Their purity was basically physical rather than spiritual. They were circumcised, shaved the hair from their heads and bodies, washed frequently, and were dressed in beautiful linen robes. [Note: Montet, p. 177. In the light of this it would seem rather doubtful that the priesthood in Egypt could function very effectively having been polluted by the presence of these insects. They, like their worshipers, were inflicted with the pestilence of this occasion. Their prayers were made ineffective by their own personal impurity with the presence of gnats on their bodies. “The priests in Egypt were a group of people to be reckoned with not only religiously but economically and politically. They controlled to a large degree, the minds and hearts of the people.” [Note: Davis, p. 103. The Egyptian priests wore animal masks representing various gods to help the people understand the god the mask portrayed and his activities. [Note: Arelene Wolinski, “Egyptian Masks: the Priest and His Role,” Archaeology 40:1 (January-February 1987):22-29. This practice continues in some pagan religions even today.

Exodus 8:20-9

5. The fourth, fifth, and sixth plagues 8:20-9:12"As the Egyptian magicians saw nothing more than the finger of God in the miracle which they could not imitate, that is to say, the work of some deity, possibly one of the gods of the Egyptians, and not the hand of Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, who had demanded the release of Israel, a distinction was made in the plagues which followed between the Israelites and the Egyptians, and the former were exempted from the plagues: a fact which was sufficient to prove to anyone that they came from the God of Israel. To make this the more obvious, the fourth and fifth plagues were merely announced by Moses to the king. They were not brought on through the mediation of either himself or Aaron, but were sent by Jehovah at the appointed time; no doubt for the simple purpose of precluding the king and his wise men from the excuse which unbelief might still suggest, viz. that they were produced by the powerful incantations of Moses and Aaron.” [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 1:484.