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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 8:1 - 8:15
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The Plague of the Frogs
v. 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. This command became a formula in the course of the plagues and was intended to impress Pharaoh by its very repetition.
v. 2. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders, the entire country to the extremest boundaries, with frogs;
v. 3. and the river, otherwise the source of fertility and blessing, shall bring forth frogs abundantly, it would swarm with frogs, 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 kneading-troughs;
v. 4. and the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. As the frogs came up out of the water and the mire of the Nile, there was not a spot in Egypt safe from their clammy presence, not even the inner bedrooms of the houses, not even the large wooden vessels in which the Egyptian women kneaded the bread-dough, not even the very persons of the Egyptians: the frogs would persist in creeping everywhere.
v. 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, almost as in the first plague, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.
v. 6. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. There was one immense expanse of frogs as far as one could see.
v. 7. And the magicians did so with their enchantments, with their verses of incantation, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. They could imitate the miracle on a small scale, but they were unable to remove the plague.
v. 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. He was forced to admit, not only that Jehovah actually existed, but that this plague was His punishment, and that He was the only one able to remove its horror. And I will let the people go that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord. The promise was pressed from him by the great emergency which was upon him.
v. 9. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me, be magnified above me, an expression used by Moses to refer all honor to Jehovah; when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy, literally to cut off, to put away definitely, the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only? The fact that Pharaoh was even permitted to set the time for the deliverance from the plague was to direct his thoughts to the superior power of the God of the Hebrews.
v. 10. And he said, Tomorrow, thinking, perhaps, that it would be impossible to remove the frogs in such a short time. And he said, Be it according to thy word; that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord, our God. Moses hoped that the fulfillment of his definite promise would have some influence upon the king.
v. 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. As persistently as the clammy creatures had sought the company of men, so rapidly they would turn back to their natural haunts.
v. 12. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried unto the Lord, with a loud and insistent appeal, because of the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh.
v. 13. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses, He stood by His servant in granting his request; and the frogs died out of the houses, literally away from the houses, out of the villages, or courts, and out of the fields.
v. 14. And they gathered them together upon heaps, by the bushel; and the land stank from the odor of decay.
v. 15. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, there was relief from the pressure of the plague and he could once more get his breath, he hardened his heart and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said. Thus it happens even in our days that obstinate sinners will cry for help when the hand of God rests heavily upon them. But there is no real change of heart in their case, and as soon as they feel relief, they forget all their solemn promises.