Day 980: No turning back - Exodus 8 vs 1 – 15.

1-4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in 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 plague all your country with frogs. The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.”’” 5-6 And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt!’” So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 7 But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 9-11 Moses said to Pharaoh, “Be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile.”

12 So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh. (or, which he had brought upon Pharaoh) 13-14 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Exodus 8:1-15 English Standard Version

The plagues God struck Egypt with weren't just random events. The excellent website 'GotQuestions' explains that the Egyptians, like many pagan cultures, worshipped a wide variety of ‘nature-gods’ and attributed to the powers of these gods the natural phenomena they saw in the world. There was a god of the sun, of the river, of childbirth, of crops, etc. And events like the annual flooding of the Nile, which fertilized their croplands, were seen as evidence of their gods’ powers and good will.

The first plague, turning the Nile to blood, was likely a judgment against Apis, the god of the Nile, Isis, goddess of the Nile, and Khnum, guardian of the Nile. The Nile was also believed to be the bloodstream of Osiris, who was reborn each year when the river flooded. The second plague, bringing frogs from the Nile, was a judgment against Heqet, the frog-headed goddess of birth. Frogs were thought to be sacred and not to be killed. So God had frogs invade every part of the homes of the Egyptians, and when the frogs died, their stinking bodies were heaped up in offensive piles all through the land.

One again, however, the Egyptian magicians were able to copy this sign up to a point. But what happened next showed that it was only Israel's God who was in charge. Moses wisely asked Pharaoh to nominate the day when the frogs would be removed. This was so that there was no mistaking that the plague had come from the God who had sent Moses and Aaron. But what is the striking incident in vs 15 which is sadly all to common in the world?

In vs 8 Pharaoh said to Moses “Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” But, we read that “when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them.” There are times when someone may seek God because they are in a desperate situation. And God may, in grace, send relief in their circumstances. But, rather than turn more fervently to God, they begin to back off. Or, as Jesus said, some initially believe the gospel, “but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word.” (Matthew 13 :22) May God grant us to never go back on the commitment we made at conversion to carry whatever cross Jesus might call us to bear in this life.