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Exodus 8:1–7
“Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt” (vv. 6–7).
Unmoved by the transformation of the Nile waters into blood, Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let the Israelites go (Ex. 7:14–24). Seven days passed before the second plague (v. 25), which we find described in today’s passage.
This time when Moses speaks and Aaron stretches out his hand, the land of Egypt is inundated with frogs. Ancient Egyptians saw frogs as a sign of fruitfulness, since they were closely associated with the Nile and its annual flooding, when the frog population would temporarily increase. One Egyptian goddess, Heqt or Heket, was depicted as a woman with a frog’s head, and she was believed to have helped her husband, the god Khnum, create human beings. So frogs were revered as sacred, and they were not to be killed even when they became more numerous when the Nile River flooded.
But while the frog population was higher than normal whenever the Nile overflowed its banks, what occurs when Aaron stretches out the staff of God is far more than the normal uptick in the number of frogs throughout Egypt. As Exodus 8:3 notes, frogs show up everywhere, even filling Egyptian beds and kneading bowls, two places where one would not find frogs even during those annual periods when there were more frogs than usual as a result of the flooded river. The whole picture, in fact, is rather comical, as one commentator points out. Wherever the Egyptians go, there are frogs, frogs, and more frogs hopping on the furniture, finding their ways into cupboards and under feet, filling the roads, and otherwise making themselves a nuisance impossible to escape. What has happened is clearly a miraculous increase in the number of frogs.
As in the case of the Nile waters’ turning to blood, the Egyptian magicians are able to reproduce the sign of the frogs (v. 7). Again, we should not think that the sorcerers cause a miracle to take place. One commentator notes that when frogs are everywhere already, it is no big feat to gather some together in a box or other container and then produce them at will through trickery. This would be enough to convince any onlooker who does not want to believe that Moses and Aaron have been sent by the one true God. Times have not changed much since Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, for we know that if people do not want to believe, not even a miracle will convince them (Luke 16:31). Only the Holy Spirit can change a heart hardened against the Lord.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The ancient Egyptians revered frogs, so there is a certain poetic justice in God’s giving them too much of what they thought was a good thing. Sometimes God will take idols away from people, but at other times He will give them more of the thing they love than they can handle. He will do whatever it takes to break people’s reliance on their idols.
For Further Study
- Exodus 16:14–21
- Psalm 78:44–45
- Psalm 105:30
- Revelation 16:12–16