Tyndale Open Study NotesExodus 8

The second plague was the plague of frogs (8:2). The Egyptians gave special honor to amphibians such as frogs. These animals can live both in water and on land. Because of this, Egyptians connected them with life and survival. Egyptians were very concerned about life after death.

Through this plague, God showed that frogs do not control life. They do not have special power over survival.

Some people suggest that this plague happened naturally after the Nile River became unfit for life. However, the size and intensity of the plague were far greater than what would normally happen in nature.

The magicians were able to duplicate the plague in some sense, but Pharaoh did not ask them to rid the land of the frogs. Instead, he begged Moses to ask God to take them away. He already knew where the real power was.

In this instance, the evidence of God’s power was not in the event per se but in the timing. God could keep the frogs alive or he could end their lives. Pharaoh needed only to say when.

you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God: Again, the story emphasizes that the Lord alone is God (see 7:17). These events were not primarily about rescue, but about the nature of reality.

Who was rescuing these people? Was it one of the gods, or the one true God, the Lord?

Moses requested: Moses predicted that the plague would stop the next day. God also predicted that Pharaoh would refuse to listen (see 8:15).

These statements show an important truth. The ability to predict the future is central to God’s lordship (his rule and authority). God does not guess about what will happen. He knows what will happen.

God sees the future clearly. He also directs events according to his will. Because he knows and controls the future, he is truly the Lord.

The third plague was the plague of gnats. The word translated gnats is very general. Technical Old Testament dictionaries often translate it as vermin. The English term bugs would come close. The whole land was infested with insects of one sort or another.

This is the finger of God: See study note on 7:11.

The fourth plague was the plague of flies. The Egyptians worshiped insects such as flies that seemed to be able to turn death into life, as their young seemed to emerge from decaying matter. If the Egyptians thought that insects had the secret of life, God would let them have all the insects they wanted. Some say that this infestation was the natural result of all the dead frogs, but there were no flies in Goshen (8:22), the northeastern delta area where the Hebrews lived. God’s miraculous power was clearly seen in his ability to infest one area while sparing another at will.

Pharaoh tried to make a bargain with God. He wanted to partly obey while keeping control. James describes such people as "a double-minded man" (James 1:8). This kind of person cannot receive anything from the Lord.

• Moses explained why Pharaoh’s request could not work. He said it would offend the Egyptians. The Egyptians looked down on the Hebrews and other Semitic peoples. They considered them uncultured and unclean (see Genesis 43:32).

• The Hebrews were leaving Egypt in order to worship the Lord (see, for example, Exodus 5:1; 7:16; 8:1, 20). God’s purpose in the exodus was not only freedom from slavery. He wanted to bring his people into a right relationship with him.

I will pray: Moses was learning the role of intercessor that would be so much a part of his life in future years (see, for example, 32:11–13, 30–32; Numbers 14:13–19). It must have been increasingly tempting to let the Egyptians continue to experience the results of their king’s stubbornness, but Moses was willing to plead with God not to leave them in a permanent state of grief and distress.