Morning Light – Exodus 8

[Exodus 8] Patience in Confrontation. How do you conduct yourself when you are confronted by unreasonable people? Do you lose your temper? Do you throw up your hands in defeat? In our chapter, we observe Moses maturing under pressure as he maintains his trust in God in the battle of wills he is forced to enter into with Pharaoh.

[Exo 8:1-32 KJV] 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. 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. 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. 9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory 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, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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]. 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: to morrow shall this sign be. 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]. 25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. 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? 27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us. 28 And 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. 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, to morrow: 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.

In v. 1, the Lord instructs Moses to return again and again to Pharaoh. The demand he is to make is the same that was rejected previously. Einstein stated that doing the same thing more than once expecting a different result was his definition of insanity. In that context, the Lord is asking Moses to do something that the most intelligent man in history defined as mentally imbalanced? What about you? Are you willing to do something crazy for God?

If Pharaoh refuses, the Lord tells Moses that He will bring frogs abundantly on the land in all their borders. Moses is to tell Pharaoh the frogs will be in his bed, in his ovens, and where his meals are prepared. Furthermore, the frogs will be upon Pharaoh himself, and his servants and all the people of Egypt. Of course, Pharaoh refuses, and the Lord has Moses stretch his rod over the water sources of the land, and the frogs come forth abundantly just as the Lord God has said would happen. What does Pharaoh do? He looks to his sorcerers and magicians, and in fact, they produce frogs with their enchantments, and consequently, Pharaoh refuses to let the people go. Nonetheless, the frogs persist, and after a time, Pharaoh despairs of his miserable state and (v. 8) calls upon Moses to pray that the frogs will be removed, and he promises (falsely) that he will then let the people go.

Moses rejoices over this turn of events (v. 9) and prays that the plague of frogs be lifted, and that is the case. However, Pharaoh’s heart is then hardened again, and he will not let the people go. What changed his mind? Because after Moses cries out to the Lord for the frogs to be withdrawn, they all died in heaps, and the stench filled the land. Pharaoh takes this as an insult and refuses to honor his word (v. 15).

Having made a note of Pharaoh’s refusal, we observe that there is no mention of Moses complaining to God about this turn of events. He is learning. In the beginning, when Pharaoh drove them out of his court, Moses complained to God how could He let this happen? After the plague of frogs, however, Moses is silent. He just listens for the next set of instructions which come in v. 16. The Lord instructs Moses to have Aaron stretch out his rod and smite the dust of the land that it might become lice in all the land of Egypt. How about you? Are you willing to kick up a little dust at the Lord’s command? Things are changing now. Moses and Aaron understand that this isn’t going to be an open and shut case. Things will not happen as quickly as they had first hoped. They obey the Lord, and lice break out upon man and beast throughout Egypt. Again the king calls on his magicians, and to their dismay, they are unable to conjure up lice at the king’s command. They turn to the king and tell him that this plague is not some conjurer’s trick, it is the finger of God – yet Pharaoh’s heart is hardened yet again.

The Lord’s instruction comes to Moses (v. 20) to go early in the morning to meet Pharaoh on the banks of the Nile. Instead of lice now will come flies, swarms of flies upon the people in every house and upon every man and beast. The mention is made that while this plague rages, the land of Goshen will be spared as it has been from all the plagues because the Lord severs or places a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites to demonstrate God’s favor toward his people. This is an important point. When we come to Christ, there is a line drawn between God’s dealings with us and God’s dealings with those who decline and refuse to capitulate to the claims of Christ. Much teaching in Christianity ignores this great fact, purporting that the only benefit for us is to go to heaven when we die, yet in this life (they allege), we face nothing but suffering. That is contrary to the promise of God’s word foreshadowed in this chapter (v. 22-23). God puts a division between the people of God and those outside of Christ as a sign (v. 23) to the world that our God holds us as the apple (pupil) of His eye, while the wicked like the raging sea are without hope and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.

The flies fill the land, and Pharaoh, in exasperation (v. 25), calls for Moses and gives them leave to go sacrifice to God but to do so in Goshen. Moses, in effect, says, “not so fast…” He points out that the Egyptians considered the Hebrew sacrificial animals to be an abomination to them, and therefore Moses insists they must go three days into the wilderness to sacrifice. Pharaoh relents somewhat to allow them to go, just so they go no further than three days journey, and that when they sacrifice that they will intreat with their God for him. Moses warns Pharaoh from acting deceitfully and goes out from the king to implore that that the plague of flies be lifted. The Lord honors Moses’ prayer, and the flies disperse, and Pharaoh once again hardens his heart and will not let the people go.

If you as Moses were in such a situation, what would you surmise concerning these events as they have transpired? The people and their elders are silent now, even though in the beginning they accused Moses of making matters worse for them. Moses makes no complaint to God that these things are taking too long; he simply obeys, addressing Pharaoh multiple times with repeated refusals. Solomon, no doubt, considered these things when he penned the following:

[Psa 37:7 KJV] 7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

[Ecc 7:8 KJV] 8 Better [is] the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: [and] the patient in spirit [is] better than the proud in spirit.

When you go about to fulfill your call in God, there will be many opportunities to give up, get frustrated, or lose your temper. Remember Pro. 13:10, “contention only comes by pride…” Even when you are facing down a Pharaoh in your life, someone who thinks they are in control of what happens next in a given situation, just be patient and keep seeking the kingdom – God will see you through even as He does with Moses and the children of Israel.