Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Exodus-Chapter 8

Exo 8.1-32 will tells us about the second plague of frogs and it is duplicated by the magicians; Pharaoh wants help from Moses; the third plague of gnats; the magicians cannot duplicate this one; the fourth plague of flies; Pharaoh negotiates; Pharaoh’s false repentance.

v 1…Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs (this is against the god “Heket” the toad goddess; they catch their victims by their tongues, a symbol of false prophets and pride because they puff themselves up to croak; the frogs will obey God even to death; they sanctified the name of Yehovah and gave themselves up).

v 3…And the Nile will swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house and and into your bed room and on your bed, and into the house of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and in your kneading bowls.

v 4…So the frogs will come up on you (crawl on) and your people and all your servants,” ‘ “

v 5…Then the Lord said to Moses , “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers (canals), over the streams (dug out) and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt. ‘ “

v 6…So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt (all at once).

v 7…And the magicians did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up on the land of Egypt (this was adding to the plague, they would have done better to stop the plague; they made it appear that they brought forth frogs).

v 8…Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Entreat the Lord (Yehovah; Pharaoh knows his name now) that he remove the frogs from me and from my people and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”

v 9…And Moses said to Pharaoh, “The honor is yours to tell when (pick the time) when shall I entreat for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs may be destroyed from you and your houses, that they may remain in only in this river.’ “

v 10…Then he said, “Tomorrow (Pharaoh is a guy who likes precision, so he is being precise in time here).” And he said, “May it be according to your word, that you may know there is no one like the Lord God (the purpose for the plagues; Yehovah wants Egypt and the world to know who he is).

v 11…And the frogs will depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people; they will be left only in the river.”

v 12…Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried unto the Lord concerning the frogs which he had afflicted upon Pharaoh.

v 13…And the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out in the houses, the courts and the fields.

v 14…So they piled them in heaps and the land became foul (He could have caused them to g o back into the water or disappear, bu this proved that they were real and evidence).

v 15…But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heart (“chazak ha lev” meaning he looked for courage to stay in the fight with this God, after all, he thought he was a god, too).

v 16…Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth that it may become lice (Hebrew “kinnim”; against the god Geb, the god of the earth and vegetation) through all the land of Egypt.’ “

v 17…And they did so; and he stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were lice on man and beast. All the the dust of the earth became lice through all the land of Egypt.

v 18…And the magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth lice, but they could not; so there were lice on man and beast.

v 19…Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God (they are not saying this is the work of the creator God, but the work of a “god” meaning a power in their polytheistic society). But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said (in Exo 7.4).

v 20…Now the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, as he comes out to the water , and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me.

v 21…For if you will not let my people go, behold (see for yourself), I will send swarms of insects (against Khepfi the god of insects; this sign included beetles, the emblem of their sun god; it had to be detestable to them and they had to come to the creator God of Moses to get rid of them) on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses, and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of insects, and also on the ground on which they dwell (everywhere).

v 22…But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen (the Faiyum, meaning “near”) where my people are living, so that no swarms of insects will be there, in order that they may know that I, the Lord (Yehovah), am in the midst of the land (Now Yehovah is going to show Pharaoh precision in space, not only in time).

v 23…And I will a division between my people and your people; tomorrow this sign shall occur.

v 24…Then the Lord did so. And there came great swarms of insects into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was laid waste because of the swarms of insects in all the land of Egypt.

v 25…And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land (Egypt proper).”

v 26…But Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we shal, sacrifice to the Lord our God what is an abomination to the Egyptians (sacred to the Egyptians; Diodorus tells us that a Roman was killed for killing a cat, and Hindus have rioted over the slaughtering of cows by Muslims). If we sacrificed what is an abomination (sacred) to the egyptians, before their eyes, will tey not then stone us?

v 27…We must go a three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he commanded us.”

v 28…And Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord (Yehovah) your God in the wilderness, on ly you shall not go very far. Make supplication for me.”

v 29…Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you , and I shall make supplication to the Lord that the swarms of insects may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants , and from his people tomorrow; only do not let Pharaoh deal deceitfully (mock) again in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”

v 30…So Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord.

v 31…And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of insects from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people; not one remained.

v 32…But Pharaoh hardened his heart (“Chazek ha lev” meaning Pharaoh digs in with his heart; this “power” is stronger than he thought) this time also, and did not let the people go (the sad truth here is Pharaoh has not learned the futility of rebelling against the creator God; man’s deceitful heart in Jer 17.9 is capable of leading him into unbelievable folly).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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