1 And the I AM spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘This what the I AM says, 'Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
We have no way of knowing how long Moses was in Egypt before he first went to Pharaoh, how long between the snake/rod event and the water turning to blood, or how long after the water went back to being water before Moses went back to Pharaoh. Moses was so eager to free his people, I wouldn’t think he would let much time go between visits, and the plagues would have had a greater impact if they were closer together. So it’s entirely possible Moses has only been back in town less than two months.
2 “'And if thou refuse to let them go, look, I will attack all thy borders with frogs:
Again, Moses knows well in advance what is going to happen.
3 “'And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and on thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and on thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs:
4 “'And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and on thy people, and on all thy servants.'”
Can you imagine having frogs everywhere? Even hopping into your food? Yuck!
And since frogs were sacred, the Egyptians wouldn’t be able to kill them and would have to be careful not to step on them.
5 And the I AM spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out 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.
The extra stress from the blood-water could easily have caused a hormone release that would have made all the tadpoles in the river mature faster and all at once (we’ve seen it happen in modern times).
Whatever the mechanism God used, hordes of frogs everywhere! And at the exact moment God told Moses it would happen.
7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.
How could they tell Moses’ frogs from the magicians’ frogs? Anyway…
8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat the I AM, 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 to the I AM.”
Obviously this “I AM” that Moses is talking about is more powerful than the Egyptian goddess Heqt. She had the head of a frog and because of her, it was illegal to kill frogs (a symbol of fertility and life.) We don’t know how long the frogs covered the land; how long it took Pharaoh to call for Moses. I wouldn’t think it would be very long.
So, God gives the Egyptians all the frogs they could possibly ever want to worship. Even when the magicians duplicate this plague, they don’t make the frogs go away, but bring forth MORE frogs, (which didn’t really help any.)
9 And Moses said to Pharaoh, “I'll give thou the honor of setting the date for the frogs to leave, that they may remain in the river only?”
10 And he said, “Tomorrow.”…
If I were sleeping with frogs, I would want them removed right now! Pharaoh is trying to maintain a semblance of control.
…And he said, “Be it according to thy word, so that thou may know that there is none like to the I AM our God.
11 “And the frogs shall leave thee, and thy houses, and thy servants, and thy people; they shall remain in the river only.”
12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried to the I AM because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.
13 And the I AM did as Moses asked, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields.
14 And they gathered them together in heaps: and the land stank.
The sudden death of so many “holy” frogs would have been seen by the Egyptians as a very bad omen.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart, and listened not to them; as the I AM had said.
16 And the I AM said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and hit the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.”
Geb is “lord of the earth” in Egypt. Obviously, Moses’ “I AM” has control of the dust, not Geb.
This time there is no announcement beforehand.
17 And they did so, for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and hit 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.
Individuals who were lice-infested were not allowed to worship in any Egyptian temple. Nor were lice-infested sacrifices allowed. God has totally stopped all worship to false gods. If these gods were real, they would have been able to fight back and keep worship going for themselves. Obviously they have no power whatsoever.
18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice on man, and on beast.
Maybe they were too busy scratching to bring forth lice?
I don’t know whether their reproduction of the previous plagues was through “smoke and mirror” slight of hand, or through satanic power, but either way, they have met their match in the I AM God of Israel!
19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God:” and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he listened not to them; as the I AM had said.
The magicians had figured out they were up against the Real Thing. But Pharaoh won’t even listen to them.
2 Timothy 3:8 Mentions a Jannes and Jambres who opposed Moses. Jewish legend says these were the two chief magicians of Pharaoh’s court. It also says they converted to Judaism and left Egypt with Israel at the Exodus. They would have died in the wilderness, since everyone over twenty at the Exodus died before the nation entered Canaan, except Joshua and Caleb.
20 And the I AM said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh. He will come out to the water. Say to him, ‘This is what the I AM says, 'Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
It never says the lice were removed.
21 “If thou wilt not let My people go, look, I will send swarms of flies on thee, and on thy servants, and on thy people, and into thy houses, and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground where they are.
Ewwww!
Khepri was an Egyptian god with the head of a fly. He was their “creator god.”
This was probably a mixture of different kinds of biting flies; quite painful. And flies carry disease, so this would be dangerous also.
As with the lice, fly covered people could not worship, nor could fly covered sacrifices be offered in the Egyptian temples.
They also worshiped the scarab beetle as a god, but obviously these gods had no control over real insects.
Some commentators have translated this as “swarms of animals.” In other words, large numbers of wild, dangerous animals. This would make this plague more distinct from the lice, and Egyptians worshiped many different animals, including ones that would love to have them for supper, such as the crocodile.
22 “And I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people live, that no swarms of flies shall be there, for the purpose of showing thou that I am the I AM in the middle of the earth.
23 And I will put a division between My people and thy people. Tomorrow shall this sign be.”
The previous plagues had affected Israel also. Now God is making it even more obvious who His people are by not allowing them to be affected by all the remaining plagues.
24 And the I AM 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.
There have been similar occurrences to these plagues in history, all following earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Seems the earthquakes upset the bugs and cause them to go looking for new homes. God is telling Moses when to predict each event and then bringing it along just in time to prove He is controlling them.
25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, “Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.”
Pharaoh permitted them to worship their God, but only in their homeland.
26 And Moses said, “We can't do that, for we shall sacrifice things that insult the Egyptians to the I AM our God. If we sacrifice things that insult the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?
The animals God wanted sacrificed were gods to the Egyptians (i.e. cows). They would not be happy to witness this ceremony. Compromise was not possible.
27 “We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the I AM our God, as He shall command us.”
28 And Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the I AM your God in the wilderness. Only ye shall not go very far away. Pray for me.”
“Whatever! Just get rid of these flies!”
Pharaoh really knew who was in charge.
29 And Moses said, “Look, I'm going out from thee, and I will ask the I AM for the swarms of flies to leave Pharaoh, his servants, and his people, tomorrow. But don't let Pharaoh deceive us any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the I AM.”
30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to the I AM.
31 And the I AM did just what Moses asked. He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. There remained not one.
32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.
I don’t know if he lied or just changed his mind, but either way, he is setting his people up for more trouble.
Remember, God has already told Moses He will destroy Egypt and kill their firstborns. Since that hasn’t happened yet, Moses must know that they aren’t done, though he can hope Pharaoh will yield and God will change His mind.