Exiting Egypt Chapter 9 P4

Exiting Egypt

“The Fifth Plague – Death of Livestock”

Exodus 9:1-7

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 9 P4

Something else also happened at this plague, and that is God specifically identified Himself as the God of the Hebrews. This is the first time God designates Himself like this. We have seen that God identifies Himself with His people. This is done in various formulas, like, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” or “The God of Israel.” But here He specifies to Pharaoh and all around, “The God of the Hebrews.” And this is the only time that God gives Himself this title.

And so what we have is another revelation of God’s divine name. God tells Moses to remind Pharaoh just who it was that was speaking to him.

Now, God is still the God of the Hebrews. God is still God of the Jewish people, and the Jews are still His people, and that’s because of God’s covenant with them, which means that God is still not done with them.

It is believed that the last seven years, that which is known as the Great Tribulation, that God will once again be dealing directly with the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. This is seen in Daniel’s prophecy that tells that 70 groups of seven years are determined upon the Jewish people for God to end their transgressions.

However, after 69 groups of those seven years, the Messiah the prince will come, but He will die. Which leaves one group of seven years remaining.

At this time, another prince will arise, one like the Messiah, but not, that who we know as the Antichrist, who will make his own covenant with the Jews for these last seven years, but will end up blasphemy the holy sanctuary and making the temple a desolate place to the Jews.

But God is not only the God of the Jews, but also the God of all those who by faith believe in Him like Abraham did. Paul referencing Abraham said that He believed God, and it was counted, or credited to him as righteousness (Gal. 3:6). And to the Romans Paul said that not all Israel is the Israel of God just because they are the children of Abraham; that there are also the children of the promise (Rom. 9:6-8). The prophet Hosea said,

Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!' (Hos. 2:23 NKJV)

By faith we are of the seed of Abraham, and thus God’s people.

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:29 NIV)

Exiting Egypt Chapter 9 P3

Exiting Egypt

“The Fifth Plague – Death of Livestock”

Exodus 9:1-7

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 9 P3

Another deity whose worship would have been affected was Hathor, the goddess of love, beauty, and joy. The cow represented Hathor. This deity is depicted often as a cow suckling the king giving him divine nourishment. In other representations Hathor was a woman whose head was adorned with two cow horns with a sun disc between them.

Amenhotep II, the Pharaoh during this time, was said to be fanatical in his devotion of worship of these animals, especially the bull. Archeologist have uncovered a statue that was made of Amenhotep II leaning his head under the head of Hathor as represented by the cow, and in another it has him kneeling under a cow drinking its divine milk.

So, you can see how unhappy Pharaoh would have been of this plague and how personally involved he got when the plague hit.

And so, this plague could be seen as directly attacking the animals that the Egyptians held sacred, thus letting Egypt and Pharaoh know that it is the Lord, not their false gods that is in control of the animals and livestock.

This is further seen in that none of the Jewish cattle were affected at all.

Beyond that, what is see is that this word all means all, but with this condition, “in the field.” Why is that important? Because in the seventh plague, the plague of hail, it says that every animal in the field that is not brought under shelter will die. Well, if all the animals died at the fifth plague, what animals is being talked about with this plagues.

Now, going back to the plague itself, it is often thought that such a pestilence would surely come, because anthrax and the like are spread by flies, and since the fourth plague was one of all sorts of flies, then it would be a natural conclusion.

But we must be careful not to try to put our natural explanations to the miracles of God. If the flies of the fourth plague brought the disease, then it would affect not only the animals in the fields, but also the animals that are in stables.

Further, it has been noted that during this time that the Nile River was in its flood stage. Historians have noted that during the flood season, normally Egyptian cattle were stabled. And so, it would seem that the word all refers to the livestock that was in the field.

Exiting Egypt Chapter 9 P2

Exiting Egypt

“The Fifth Plague – Death of Livestock”

Exodus 9:1-7

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 9 P2

But Pharaoh didn’t listen and so the Lord sent a plague against the livestock of Egypt that was in the field.

The word God uses here is Pestilence. The English word is “Murrain,” which comes from either the French word, “to die,” or from the Greek meaning, “to grow lean and waste away.” This is a very contagious disease among cattle. The symptoms include the swelling of the head, gum in the eyes, a rattling in the throat, difficulty in breathing, palpitation of the hearts, staggering, hot breath, and a shining tongue.

Now, the nearest English word to the Hebrew would be the word, “mortality.”

Most commentators feel that the disease was some form of anthrax, which is an infectious disease among warm-blooded animals.

Now, this was a particular nasty plague, not only because it attacked the Egyptian livestock, but it also attacked and would have wrecked havoc on the Egyptian economy. It would have greatly affected the day-to-day life of the Egyptians, as their livestock, horses, donkeys, and camels were used for transportation and work, while the oxen, cattle, and sheep were used for clothing and food.

Now, God used this plague, as in the plagues of the past, to rebuke and ridicule the Egyptian’s false worship of animals.

A large number of bulls and cows were considered sacred in Egypt. Often they would choose as their emblems various types of bulls and cows. In an ancient record, the Egyptians lost a battle because their enemy put a herd of cattle in front of their advancing troops; and the Egyptians would not shoot at the opposing army for fear of accidentally killing these sacred animals.

The Apis bull was the sacred bull of the god Ptah, who was the Egyptian god who is said to have called the world into being, later to become the king of the underworld. The Apis bull was thus worshiped as deity and was entitled, “the renewal of the life.” This animal was linked to Pharaoh because it symbolized the king’s courageous heart, virility, and fighting spirit.

To bad it couldn’t protect it’s own, and could not renew the life of it’s kin as God’s plague was taking away the life of Egypt’s cattle.

Exiting Egypt Chapter 9 P1

Exiting Egypt

“The Fifth Plague – Death of Livestock”

Exodus 9:1-7

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 9 P1

To say that the ancient Egyptians were idolatrous would be an understatement. They worshiped just about everything and anything, from four-footed animals, bugs that creep on the earth, inanimate objects, as well as then sun, the moon, and the stars of heaven. They believed that the spirit of some god lived in every thing and in every area of life.

And because of this, they rejected the idea of the only One and True living God, the God of the Bible, and God of the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Hebrews. And this is what the Lord needed to make known to them in this fifth plague.

Read Exodus 9:1-7

First we see the warning that Moses gave to Pharaoh of impending judgment to come if He didn’t set Israel free to worship and serve the Lord. And yet after all of this, after hardening his heart against God once again and not following through on his previous promises to Israel go, God is still extending his hand of mercy towards him.

What a merciful God we serve. We see that in how merciful God is towards us, in that while we were yet steeped in our sin, enemies with God, that Jesus came and died for us. That God in His mercy loved us and gave His only begotten Son.

And I love how many times He gave and gives us to repent. You know, we often don’t understand how Pharaoh could allow this to continue, why didn’t he just acknowledge God and his stubbornness and let the Israelites go free. But to understand Pharaoh all we have to do is to look at ourselves, and our own rebellion against God and His word.

And so through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, God let’s us know, warns us of our need to repent, to turn away from the way we are going and to turn back towards serving and worshipping Him.

And so we need to heed the warnings of God and of His impending judgment, because judgment is coming. The Bible says that we must all give an account for what we have done.

Each of us will give an account of himself to God (Rom. 14:12 NKJV)

And if we refuse to repent, if we continually harden our hearts towards God, then like Pharaoh and Egypt, judgment is what we can expect as well.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God (Heb. 10:25-26 NKJV)

Therefore, it makes no sense to ignore, deny, or neglect God’s warning signs. It makes no sense for us to bring God’s judgment down upon us and to experience suffering God’s wrath against sin. Let’s then take the leading of the Holy Spirit and no longer harden ourselves to God

So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion… I was angry with that generation… I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest’ (Heb. 3:7-11 NIT)

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P 2 C

Exiting Egypt

The Fourth Plague – Flies Swarming

Exodus 8:20-32

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P 2 C

This plague challenged and exposed the Egyptians idolatrous worship. The god who is on the chopping block now is Khepara (Khepri), the Egyptian god of the sun, who like the dung beetle which depicts him, pushes the sun across the sky. Khepara was represented by a flying beetle or the dung beetle, which is also known as scarab.

What these beetles would do is roll up dung into a big ball and then lay their eggs inside of them, not only as an incubator, but as food for the young. Therefore, the Egyptians regarded these dung rolls as symbols of the world, and considered the scarab to be symbolic of resurrection and immortality.

And so in this fourth plague of divers sort of flies, since the Egyptians believed in the resurrection power of the scarab, or the flying or dung beetle, God would infest them with flies, and then let the Egyptians see if their god of the flies could deliver them.

And there were so many of them that the Bible uses the word “grievous” which means thick and heavy. You might say they were oppressive.

God then says that He was going to “sever” the land of Goshen from the land of Egypt, so that there will be no flies upon the land where Israel dwelt. This word “sever” literally means that God made a difference was made between the Egyptians and the Jews. Further, the reason for this separation can be seen in the next word used in verse 23, and that is the word “division,” which means to redeem.

God made a distinction that day. He distinguished between Egypt and Israel. He separated them in order to redeem and deliver His people, the Jews. And while God has yet to physically deliver them from their Egyptian bondage and deliver them into the Promised Land, God was at this time beginning the process.

Why is this important to us is because as believers in Jesus Christ we are redeemed as well. And while we are waiting for our ultimate redemption and deliverance into the Promised Land of heaven, we are to be a separated people, separate from the world.

Goshen was an area within Egypt where Joseph settled his family. God had provided a place for His people. But while Goshen was in Egypt, in spiritual terms it was not of Egypt. And that well describes us, that while we are in the world, we are not to be a part of it.

God’s will is for us to be separate and distinct from the world, while at the same time living in this world as a difference maker for Christ. You see, God separates us to redeem us and for us to be redeeming agents to the rest of the world.

And yet, God wants us to be separate, and this doesn’t sit well with the rest of the world. That is why the Jews are so hated in whatever nation they reside. They are literally a nation within a nation. Well that is what we as believers are suppose to be, a people who are not a people and a nation that is not a nation.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy (1 Pet. 2:9-10 NKJV)

Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!' (Hos. 2:23 NKJV)

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P 1 C

Exiting Egypt

The Fourth Plague – Flies Swarming

Exodus 8:20-32

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P 1 C

The Egyptians were worshipping the imaginations of their own minds. They and all the other peoples of the world had their own gods: gods who favored one nation, and gods that favored another nation. There were gods that delivered from one problem and other gods who could deliver from another problem.

All over the word there was the worship of many gods, just as there is in our world today. The idea that there is just one God, the Lord God of the Bible, had long ago been rejected by the Egyptians and this was the lesson that the Egyptians now had to learn, which is no different than today.

This brings us to our fourth plague of swarming flies, which was the prove that there is only one true and living God and He resides not only in heaven, but also in the midst of the earth. And this is seen in the fact that the Lord now is making a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

Read Ex. 8:20-32

Again we see Moses going back to Pharaoh of the judgment that was to come, giving Pharaoh another chance to repent and let God’s people go. But as it would seem, Pharaoh ignored the warning, and so God’s judgment fell in the form of a fourth plague to strike the land, a plague for swarming flies.

The flies were so thick that they literally filled the houses, covered everyone, and blackened the atmosphere that surrounded a person.

Flies are horrible creatures. The word, “swarm,” literally means in the Hebrew “divers sorts of,” and so in this case, it wasn’t just our common housefly, or as Jewish tradition tells us that it was the dog fly, but what it seems is that this plague wasn’t limited to just one particular kind, but a whole lot of different types.

There is estimated over 240,000 species of flies, but only half have been described. Besides the various types of flies, from houseflies, to black flies, fruit flies, horseflies, dogs flies, dragonflies, fireflies, snake flies, scorpion flies, just to name a few, also in this category are mosquitoes, gnats, and midges.

And not only are they bothersome, but they contaminate what they touch, and are carriers of disease. Some species destroy crops, or live as parasites under the skin of animals. They carry such diseases as typhoid, anthrax, cholera, and dysentery. Mosquitoes carry malaria, dengue fever, and encephalitis. Today, we have been hit with the West Nile virus, which infects both animals and humans.

Maybe to see just how many diseased ridden flies there truly are, we can go to the Scriptures and see that Satan is called Beelzebub, which means, “lord of the flies.” This term symbolized the myriad of demons at his command, and thus the filthiness of his nature and those that follow him. So, in a way we can say that there are as many demons as there are flies. That’s a whole lot.

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P6

Exiting Egypt

The Third Plague – The Finger of God

Exodus 8:16-19

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P6

2. The Finger of God Addresses our Conduct

This comes from the story found in Daniel where Belshazzar, the king of Babylon was having a great feast and was drinking from the holy vessels from the Temple of God, that which his father had taken as loot from Jerusalem when he burnt it to the ground. And then God’s finger came and shook Belshazzar to the core.

In the same hour the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote (Dan. 5:5 NKJV)

Literally, Balshazzar went to the bathroom in his pants. That what is meant when it says the joints of his hips were loosened. Daniel interpreted what was written on the wall, and this is what it said,

“God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it. You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting. You kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians” (Dan. 5:25-28).

What this episode reveals is how a person will behave without God in their lives. Belshazzar was the king of a pagan empire. He didn’t think much if anything about the Lord God, especially seeing how his dad pillaged God’s temple and took His sacred vessels.

By bringing them out and drinking from these vessels, Belshazzar was putting on a display of his own might and power, that he was a great king and above the God of the Jews.

But what Belshazzar hadn’t reckoned upon was God showing up. And through God’s finger writing these words upon the wall, it reveals that Belshazzar was really in God’s hands, and that his father was only carrying out God’s chastening upon a wayward Jewish people.

Like others, Belshazzar gave himself to excess and gloried in his own greatness, and seeing that God did nothing to stop him with all that he had done, he reckoned that God was a myth, and therefore would not judge him.

God, who is king forever, will hear me and will humble them. For my enemies refuse to change their ways; they do not fear God (Psm. 55:19 NLT)

In other words, because everything remains the same, and that nothing bad happens for their misdeeds, people assume that nothing is going to change in the future and that God will not act. This is what will happen in the last days, and then, like with Balshazzar, God will show up and recompense.

While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape (1 Thess. 5:3 NIV)

Today men have ruled out the possibility of Jesus’ return. They consider themselves more sophisticated than those back in the day when the Bible was believed as truth. And therefore they have thrown out the very idea of the judgment of God. But like Belshazzar they are going to be in for a shock. And like Belshazzar, then faced with God’s judgment for their conduct, they’ll soil themselves.

3. The Finger of God Addresses our Conscience

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground (Jn. 8: 6b-8 NIT)

When a woman was caught in adultery and brought to Jesus for judgment, he knelt, scratched something into the dirt, and then stood up and said, “Let him without sin cast the first stone.” It says that they all left, from the eldest to the youngest.

We have no real idea about what Jesus wrote in the sand, some have suggested that there’s always two that commit adultery, so where’s the guy. Or it was the sins of those who were poised to stone the woman. Whatever he case, the finger of God pricked the consciousness of these men.

It’s always easy to examine the sin in other people’s lives than it is to examine our own. It’s easy to point fingers at other people’s lives, than it is at our own. But when God points His finger, it isn’t at others, it at us.

The writer of Hebrews says,

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Heb. 4:13 NKJV)

When the finger of God searches our hearts, and it reveals our lives and exposes our motives. And so, if we would have been standing there in that crowd that day, then we would have feared no better. We would have left with our heads bowed, because we would have been accusing others of what we ourselves are guilty of.

4. The Finger of God Addresses Our Condition

But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you (Lk.11:20 NKJV)

In this passage, Jesus had been accused of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, which is another name for Satan. But Jesus points out that Satan isn’t going to dismantle his own kingdom, as he said that a kingdom divided against itself will not be able to stand.

And so, Jesus said that deliverance from the human condition of sin is done only in and through the finger of God, His finger.

The same finger that turned the dust into lice as a judgment against Israel, the same finger that etched the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, the same finger that wrote of Belshazzar’s doom because of his blasphemy, and the same finger that wrote in the sands Jerusalem pricking the consciences of those accusing the woman caught in adultery, is the same finger that delivers you and I out from under the human condition of sin.

It is nothing less than the finger of God.

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P5

Exiting Egypt

The Third Plague – The Finger of God

Exodus 8:16-19

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P5

Read Ex. 8: 16-19

Now, what changed the minds of Pharaoh’s magicians was nothing other than the power, or finger of God, could turn the dust into lice. It revealed their weakness, and it scared them, and they realized the hopelessness of opposing God.

Let’s take a moment and look at the Finger of God throughout the Bible, and how it calls us to address aspects of our sinful human existence.

1. The Finger of God Addresses our Character

Then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly (Deut. 9:10 NKJV)

God wrote the Ten Commandments with His finger. But what we see is that no one can live up to them, but rather they were written to reveal the basic flaw of human character. In other words, the whole purpose of the law was to expose our sin.

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful (Rom. 7:12-13 NIT)

The Commandments were given to expose that we are nothing more than sinners, because while the law is holy, righteous, and good, we are not, and it exposes this flaw of the human character known as sin.

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor (Gal. 3:24-25 NIT )

Therefore, the law brings us to our need for a Savior, Jesus Christ, and that it is by God’s grace that we have been saved through faith, and not by works lest anyone should boast (Eph. 2:8-9).

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P4

Exiting Egypt

The Third Plague – The Finger of God

Exodus 8:16-19

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P4

Read Ex. 8: 16-19

I once read about a young woman who took a college science course. They were discussing evolution and considering how each part of the human anatomy must have evolved. When they got to the eye, after much discussion, it was seen that such a simplistic argument would suffice. Well, this girl, who was not a Christian, suggested that evolution might not be the best way of explaining the phenomenon of human sight. The professor became irritated and responded “Young lady, we’re not here to talk about God.”

Although the existence of God had not entered into the conversation, or entered into this young lady’s mind, what she ended up realizing is that God is required.

The Bible tells us the result of removing God from our lives. Look at what the Apostle Paul says,

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them (Rom. 1:18-19 NIT)

And as a result, the Apostle Paul said,

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised (Rom. 1:25 NIT)

And then he talks about their end, how God gave them over to their lusts, and to a depraved mind, seeing that they were filled with every kind of wickedness imaginable.

Time Magazine in 1994 had an article talking about this rejection of God and how it leads to an overall increase in unrighteousness.

“An excuse for adultery is available now at the hands of a supposedly scientific discipline known as ‘evolutionary biology’ which goes from the premise that we are ‘human animals’ and can look to the realm of other animals for reasonable models for the underlying rational for how we behave.”

This is what now forms the basis for understanding infidelity and promiscuity in the human race. Gee, isn’t it special that the human race has so evolved to this higher form?

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P3

Exiting Egypt

The Third Plague – The Finger of God

Exodus 8:16-19

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P3

Read Ex. 8: 16-19

And so now we see the magicians becoming troubled, but Pharaoh became hardened, Why? You might say that the magicians were the scientists of that day. They analyzed what was going on and then reported their findings as fact. Well their findings were that this was beyond the natural and into the supernatural, that nothing but the finger or power of God was able to perform this miracle.

And so, Pharaoh’s heart became hard because if he were to acknowledge what these magicians were saying, what the scientists of that day were saying, then he would have to admit that he had been wrong, and that their whole religious system was a sham.

What is sad is that Pharaoh just heard and saw a strong testimony concerning God and His power. But Pharaoh refused to repent. He shut his ears and his heart and wouldn’t listen.

And again I must point out that we must not be too quick to judge Pharaoh, because in doing so we are then judging ourselves. How many of us have heard God’s message over and over again and refused to listen because it didn’t fit into our schedule or in to our designs. Like Pharaoh, we’ve shut our ears to God’s counsel and refused to listen. Listen to what the Lord says,

But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels. Oh, that My people would listen to Me (Psm. 81:11-13a NKJV)

And God promises that if we should just listen and walk in His ways, then He would subdue our enemies, and given us all that we would ever need to satisfy.

But Pharaoh hardened his heart because he didn’t want to admit that he was wrong and that his whole belief system was a sham. But that is no different than with people today, especially with the scientific community.

This attitude is seen in much of what is called science today. For many scientists, there is a basic underlying philosophy that rejects God as a possible force in the world. This is seen way back in 1987 when a member of the National Academy of Science was speaking as a Friend of the Court in Louisiana’s Creation case. The representative rejected Creationism because,

“It fails to display the most basic characteristic of science: reliance upon naturalistic explanations.”

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P2

Exiting Egypt

The Third Plague – The Finger of God

Exodus 8:16-19

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P2

Read Ex. 8: 16-19

What I find interesting in this plague is that no warning, no chance to repent and turn is given. But what we can deduce is that Pharaoh would have rejected it anyway because He had just reneged on his promise to let God’s people go.

Such suddenness would have been another punch to the gut of the Egyptians, and the reason God did so, I believe, is that He will not be mocked, and no one will ever escape His judgment until they have repented, that is turned away from their sins and turn to God.

And so, Aaron stretched out the rod and smote the earth, or the dust, and the entire land of Egypt was swarmed with billions upon billions of insects. The entire land of Egypt became infested.

Now, the King James Version has the word in the Hebrew that means lice, but most commentators prefer fleas or gnats. I like lice, because the last thing that you want to start building a nest in your scalp or have crawling on your skin is lice. One person talked about seeing somebody whose scalp was so infested with lice, they said they saw the person’s hair come alive.

But whether it was lice or gnats, the Lord sent the plague, and it wasn’t pretty. They swarmed over all the people and animals, and they were so thick that no one could escape being attacked, bitten and infected by them.

Lice were extremely repulsive to the Egyptians, as they are to us as well. And while the Egyptians valued cleanliness, they couldn’t prevent the lice from residing on their person. But the lice also attacked the beast, and probably drove them crazy, not to mention preventing the priest not only from performing their priestly duties, seeing that they were unclean, but they also couldn’t offer up animals in sacrifice, seeing that they were unclean as well.

Beyond stopping their worship of these false gods, it also challenged on god in particular, Seb, the god of the earth. This god was worshipped in the hope that he would bless the earth by making it productive and by protecting the earth and the land of Egypt from natural catastrophes.

But it would seem that he couldn’t protect it from the finger of God, from God’s judgment against such idol worship.

The magicians attempted to imitate the miracle, but to no avail: they failed. Their only hope was to acknowledge the existence and the power of the Lord.

What made these magicians believe that? Well, after they duplicated all the previous miracles, that is, turning their staffs into snakes, the water into blood, and bringing the frogs out of the water, now they were confronted with something they couldn’t duplicate with their magic enchantments, or with their deceptions.

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P1

Exiting Egypt

The Third Plague – The Finger of God

Exodus 8:16-19

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P1

Dust is the minutest thing visible to the naked eye. The point is this: the finger of God controls all things within the universe, even the most minute things, the very building blocks of matter and energy.

Whatever the minutest particle or energy is that forms the very first building block of existence or being, it is controlled by the finger of God. God created it, and it is under the control of God’s finger. God’s finger controls the very dust of the ground, and if it controls the minutest particle, then His finger controls all things.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him (Psm. 8:3-4 NKJV)

This was the lesson that Pharaoh and the Egyptians needed to learn. There are not many gods. There is only one God, and He saves, redeems, and delivers us. And His finger doesn’t even come close to the fullness of His power, and His finger alone that controls all things, even the very dust of the earth. And so His finger, cannot just create lice from the dust, but can save, redeem and deliver sinful humanity.

This was the lesson that God was now going to teach the Egyptians, and this is the lesson that we also need to learn. And so this third plagues proves that

The Finger of the Lord Controls All Things

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P5

Exiting Egypt

“The Second Plague – Frogs Everywhere”

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P5

No one is like the Lord, who is both just and merciful. Who executes judgment upon the sinner, but also will have mercy upon the sinner who cries out to Him for salvation. Solomon said,

Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts (1 Kings 8:23 NKJV)

The deliverance is stunning. Moses interceded with God for Pharaoh and the people, and God heard his prayer and stopped the judgment.

But notice something, neither Pharaoh nor Moses asks for how the frogs would depart, only that they would, and so the next day all the frogs died, leaving quite the stench. Imagine a million plus frogs dead, plied up and rotting.

What this speaks to me is that sometimes we need to add a caveat to the request. I remember how our church in Vegas went on a 40 day fast for God to move and so that we could get out of our lease on a building that was literally falling around our ears. But we never asked God specifically that when He got us out of our lease that we would have new facility to move into.

So, after we found out that the building was uninhabitable, the next thing you know we were out in tents, and it took us around 8 months before we were able to move into something more permanent.

Maybe they should have said for the frogs to go back to their water source, and die of natural causes. Instead they all died at once. They died in the homes, in the food bowls, in people’s underwear. And so they heaped up the bodies of these frogs throughout the country and the country stank. If it wasn’t bad enough when the dead fish stank up the country, now a whole lot dead frogs are adding to that stench.

But, God answered Moses prayer on behalf of Pharaoh and the Egyptian people.

Thinking about this, we often will find ourselves in situations that we feel absolutely powerless. But, whatever your experience may be, it cannot match the power of God’s mercy to deliver. So, what’s the key? We need to be in the will and purposes of God, as Paul said,

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28 NKJV)

Let me just say that we are never truly powerless in this world we are living in when we are living in the will of God and serving the Lord. And so, whatever the situation may be, health, job, family, relationship, whatever, instead of trying everything else, which seems to be our M.O., try prayer, because God hears the cries of His people.

Now, Pharaoh forgot his promise, or he never really intended to keep it, but what we have here is the sin of turning back, as Pharaoh hardened his heart, that is, he made his heart heavier with sin and unrighteousness. What Pharaoh did was shamelessly abused God’s mercy.

But before we condemn Pharaoh, how many of us do much the same thing. We cry out to God for deliverance only to renege on our promise to follow more closely, and to obey Him.

How often to we renege on our promises to God? How many of us shamefully abuse God’s mercy and patience towards us, that while we deserve judgment, we ask for and receive mercy only to turn our backs on God once we get what we want.

So what happened; did the pain fade from our memories? Did the conviction wear off? Were the promises forgotten? And as a result, have our hearts hardened?

Look at this last verse with me, and contemplate

For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world (2 Tim. 4:10a NKJV)

Demas served with Paul, but the cares of this world choked out the good seed.

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P4

Exiting Egypt

“The Second Plague – Frogs Everywhere”

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P4

Now look at this second plague. It says that the river will bring forth frogs abundantly and that the frogs will cover the land.

The magicians imitated the miracle and brought up more frogs on the land. They used their secret arts and seemingly caused some frogs to flee to higher ground. But again I point out that this was a deception, because if they truly had the power, then they would have removed the frogs, instead they made the situation more miserable.

And so Pharaoh cried out for deliverance. He asked Moses for relief from the plague, and while it may have been more of an annoyance than something deadly, it caused a whole lot of grief. And so he promised to let God’s people go.

There are times throughout life when we cry out for God’s deliverance and mercy. We become keenly aware of our failures and sins. We realize that no one but God can help us. So we cry out for God’s mercy and help. What we need to make sure of at these times is that these are true professions of faith, and not a quick fix remorse like that of Pharaoh. Look at what the Bible says,

So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain (Ezek. 33:31 NKJV)

He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me (Mk. 7:6 NKJV; cf. Isa. 29:13)

Moses now challenges Pharaoh to test the power of God. He says,

And Moses said to Pharaoh, "Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only (Ex. 8:9 NKJV)

By setting the time, Pharaoh would know that their removal was not by chance, but by the hand of the Lord Himself.

Now, whether it was because he wanted the frog plague over as soon as possible, or if he was indeed testing to see if God was the one who truly brought the plague, he asked for it to be over tomorrow.

The purpose of the test, to show that God has no equal, and that there is no one like the Lord, that God is Jehovah, Yahweh, that is, the Great Deliverer, who is also the God of Great Mercy, and will save all who cry out to Him.

Pharaoh needed to learn both lessons, that not only is God just, as He brings forth His judgments, but that God is also merciful. Jeremiah made this observation,

The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction (Lam. 3:22 NLT)

Exiting Egypt Chapter 8 P3

Exiting Egypt

“The Second Plague – Frogs Everywhere”

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 8 P3

And so the judgment came – frogs everywhere. They swarmed into the homes, bedrooms and even in the people’s beds. They swarmed on the people themselves and were in their kitchens, in their ovens and in their cereal bowls. They would stick out their heads when the people would take a bite of their favorite sandwich, Bacon Lettuce and Frog. They were in their underwear, in their clothes when they put them on in the morning and when they took them off at night.

Now the Bible doesn’t say where so many of them came from, only that there were an awful lot of them, which says that God may have multiplied them.

But why did I say that such a plague was comical? Well for one thing, can you imagine bringing down a whole government by frogs? Instead of a snow day, they had a frog day. And these guys really didn’t have a name in the Hebrew language. They were called swamp-jumpers.

Others have interpreted the word as literally calling them “croakers.” And so, God conquered Egypt with croakers.

But there is judgment here and this cannot be forgotten.

First this is seen in the wording found in verse two. God said that He would “smite” the land with frogs. This word is not used again until chapter 23 and is used three times as God smites the firstborn. It is a strong word, often meaning a fatal blow that has been struck, and is used

elsewhere in the bible in speaking of divine judgment (Isa. 19:22; Psm. 89:23).

The use of frogs could very well have been God’s statement against the false gods of the Egyptians. Frogs were associated with the Egyptian gods, Hapi and Heqt. Heqt was actually considered the goddess of fertility and was often pictured as a squatting frog. She was supposed to be a good luck charm to increase the fertility of the people.

We also see in this judgment a sort of payback for what Pharaoh did to Israel a little over 80 years earlier. God was paying back, through their goddess of fertility, or the frog, Pharaoh’s attack on the children of Israel’s male children, upon the Israelites ability to give birth to make children. It’s like God was saying, “You attempt to strike at the fertility of My people, well I’ll take it out on your god of fertility.”

Further, what I found interesting is the language of this plague. In the beginning, that which brought on the Israelites slavery was that they were very fruitful and multiplied.

But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them (Ex. 1:7 NKJV)