Exodus 8, Frogs, Gnats, Flies, Oh My!

Moses and Aaron have turned a staff into a threatening snake and then turned the Nile waters into blood. Pharaoh is unperturbed. The pair of Israelite leaders, under YHWH's instruction, will ratchet up the dramatic signs.

Exodus 8:1-4, "Let my people go!"

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, `This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

"If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. The frogs will go up on you and your people and all your officials.'"

This is the second plague. Once again, Moses warns Pharaoh. The language of Genesis 1 is used here -- just as God created animals on Days 5 and 6, so that the land and seas "teemed" with them, the Egyptian land will "teem" with frogs. Imes and Fretheim argue for a "de-creation" here -- just as God changed chaos into order in Genesis 1, the ensuing plagues will reverse the process, changing order into chaos.

One might wonder how bad a plague of frogs could be. But this sounds pretty horrid.

The Masoretic text (according to Alter) has a chapter break at this point, ending chapter 7 after the plague of frogs.

Exodus 8:5-7, Frogs

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, `Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, 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.

    

But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

This seems to be another "trick" that the Egyptian magicians can also do. They have repeated the "sign" with serpents and then the two plagues of blood and frogs. (Do the Egyptians really want a double plague of frogs? It would be much more impressive if the Egyptian magicians waved their hands and the frogs disappeared!)

Exodus 8:8-15, Pharaoh begs for frogs to be removed

Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD."

    

Moses said to Pharaoh, "I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile."

      

"Tomorrow," Pharaoh said. 

Moses replied, "It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the LORD our God. The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile."  

    

After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the LORD about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. And the LORD did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them.

     

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

        

Moses lets Pharaoh have the "honor" of choosing the moment that the frogs would leave. Unlike the court magicians who cannot make the frogs leave, Moses, acting on God's behalf, can make them leave and also have them leave at any set time.

In a pattern that will become annoying, the Pharaoh will express sorrow, ask for help and then change his mind. These actions give the impression of a juvenile tantrum, with negotiations only when things seem bad. Note that although the court magicians seem to be able to create a mess of frogs, they are unable to undo that. Only Moses (through YHWH) can turn the chaos back into order.

Exodus 8:16-19, Dust to gnats

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, `Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,' and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats." They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came upon men and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats.

    

But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals. The magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the LORD had said.

This is the third plague. This time Moses does not warn Pharaoh. The magicians cannot duplicate this plague and say (finally) "This is an act of God." The court magicians are impressed. But Pharaoh continues to stubbornly resist.

Alter suggests that "lice", not "gnats", may be a better interpretation of this plague.

Exodus 8:20-23, Swarm of flies promised

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the water and say to him, `This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.  If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and even the ground where they are.

`But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the LORD, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This miraculous sign will occur tomorrow.'"

Moses is to confront Pharaoh on his (daily?) walk to the water. Once again, Moses will warn the king. In this case, the Israelites will not experience the plague; this is a new step, an advancement in the level of the signs and plagues.

Alter suggested there is wordplay here (and in a number of similar places in the plague confrontations) as Moses says, "Let go of my people" and then, using the same verb, threatens to send a plague (such as flies) into Egypt. The Hebrew verb shalach ( שָׁלַח) appears in both places, in different sentence structures (apparently Piel and Hiphil verb stems.)

Fretheim alerts us to the "knowing" passages. Once again, YHWH says, "this will be done so that you will know Me."

Exodus 8:24-28, Flies descend on the Egyptians

And the LORD did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials, and throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies. 

    

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land."

    

But Moses said, "That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? We must take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, as he commands us."

    

Pharaoh said, "I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in the desert, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me."

  

The fourth plague is a horrible swarm of flies. (The Hebrew does not describe the insects that are swarming, but an identification with flies is a natural one.)

Moses continues to insist on a three-day journey for the Israelites to sacrifice together. There is a reason that the Israelites want to go into the desert -- they are to worship their god, the God of their forefathers. 

Does Moses really intend just a short retreat for worship?  The three-day journey is likely intended as a simple request. This simple request is denied so many times that when the last plague comes, the Pharaoh expels the people from Egypt so that they must leave permanently, as was planned all along.)

Exodus 8:29-32, But Pharaoh hardens his heart

Moses answered, "As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the LORD, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only be sure that Pharaoh does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD."

    

Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD, and the LORD did what Moses asked: The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained.

    

But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.

Repeatedly the king hardens his heart. We see that, in a sense, this is part of God’s plan. We have a repetitive story-telling theme -- again and again, as things get worse and worse, Pharaoh cycles through repentance and then a "hardened" heart.

 

In the first four plagues, Pharaoh has been warned, warned, then not warned, then warned again. Imes, in her class on Exodus, points out a cyclical nature of these plagues, in cycles of length three. In each cycle, the first two of the plagues are given after a warning; in the third, the plague comes unannounced.  (She observe additional patterns, as the plagues increase in their effect, but that probably takes me away from my goals to keep reading....)

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is kabad,

כָּבַד

a verb meaning "to be honored, glorified, heavy, burdensome." It is used in Exodus 5:9 to describe the burden placed on the Israelites. But in verses 15 and 32, above, it describes Pharaoh's heart. His heart is "heavy, burdensome," that is, it his heart is sluggish, "hardened", and unchanging.

Some Random Thoughts

The three plagues (signs of God's power over creation) in this chapter are:

• Frogs,
• Gnats,
• Flies.

Psalm 78:43-51 only mentions two of these plagues; the plague of gnats/lice is not mentioned. In the list of plagues in Psalm 105:27-36 all three plagues are mentioned.

Years ago I experience a swarm of biting black flies in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This was not a trivial problem.

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First published March 9, 2023; updated March 9, 2026

Polygamy and Slavery in Old Testament Times

The Old Testament confronts us with an ancient culture.  Although there are a variety of good things about that culture, the modern reader will be repulsed by the violence, including a number of stories of rape and slaughter.  The author of the Torah adds almost no commentary to the history, merely reporting them.  (Be alert for those rare insertions of commentary into the historical accounts.)

Most of us realize that the violence is merely reported, that it is certainly not promoted and is rarely justified.  But there are several disturbing parts of the ancient culture that seem to be clearly accepted by the author of the Torah.  Are they justified?  Since many of us view the Torah as Scripture, there is a tendency to believe that the historical reports somehow validate the ancient culture.  But that is not so -- the ancient culture is merely reported, in historical context.  The author of the Torah neither condemns nor promotes these cultural beliefs, probably because they themselves were embedded within that culture.

There are three Old Testament cultural practices that I find particularly abhorrent: Polygamy, Slavery, and the treatment of women. The third in the list is pervasive enough that others have written copiously about it -- the ancient Old Testament society is patriarchal, with men often treating women as possessions. The patriarchy is pervasive enough in the ancient near east that those women who break out of it in various ways -- Tamar, some Israelite midwives, a pharaoh's daughter, Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Esther... -- are memorable. Since patriarchal attitudes and misogyny appear in every culture, including my own, it may not leap out from the text as sharply as the stories of polygamy and slavery.

Polygamy

Polygamy occurs throughout the Old Testament and is never condemned.  However, as at least one commentator (Dr. James Allman, class on Genesis) has stressed, it is also never promoted.  Polygamy is the source of conflict: there are numerous stories of a favorite wife (often not fertile) and a less favorite wife (who seems to be fertile) and even women who are "concubines", who do not quite have the status of "wife" but are available as potential sex partners and mothers.  The Old Testament Law, as given to Moses, does not abolish polygamy but insists on a structure, forbidding adultery and "coveting" of women other than one's wife.

The ancient near east (ANE) emphasis on polygamy is a natural result of the ancient need for large families, where the children were eventually the work-force. Polygamy was also often used to create alliances with other family groups. This Wikipedia page elaborates further on polygamy, giving the term polygyny for marriages with one man and many wives.

In the New Testament, some 15 or more centuries closer to our time than Abraham, polygamy appears to be much less common.  And church leaders are instructed in several places (eg. here) to have (no more than) one wife.  See this article on Polygamy in the Bible (and what Jesus said about it.)

Slavery

Slavery is also a natural part of the ANE culture.  It appears as a natural part of that ancient culture and thus appears throughout the Old Testament. The Old Testament Law, as given to Moses, does not abolish slavery but insists on modifying it so that the ebed (עֶבֶד) is more of an indentured servant. Kidnapping was prohibited (Exodus 21:16), as was the sale of human beings, so one could not capture an ebed nor trade one. This means that slaves in Israel were bond-servants: presumably out of desperate poverty, they offered themselves in servitude in exchange for housing and food. (See Deuteronomy 15: 12-15.) The ebed was to be treated with care and had the opportunity (on a Sabbath year) to be free. If one were a slave in the ANE one would wish to be a slave in Israel.  

My American Twenty-first Century culture certainly finds polygamy, slavery, and misogyny repulsive. And so I react to the Old Testament stories with a bit of disgust. (This is especially strong in reading the book of Judges where even the ancient culture seems horrified by the violence, murder and rape!) There is nothing really wrong with my reaction to the Old Testament stories; it is after all history. The Torah and other writings do not promote polygamy or slavery, but simply appear to modify them.  

Slavery was common in New Testament times also and, indeed, one New Testament letter is written to a former slave-owner.  Like the Old Testament law, there is no aggressive opposition to slavery but it is clear that Paul (in his letter to Philemon) would prefer that Philemon give his slave his freedom.

Wikipedia has a web page on The Bible and Slavery.

When we get to Exodus and Deuteronomy, we will emphasize the importance of reading the Old Testament Law in light of the ancient near eastern culture it was modifying. If one reads through the ancient Code of Hammurabi, translated here, it is obvious that slavery was a significant part of the ancient Near East.

Justice

Even as I recoil to some of the Old Testament stories, I am reminded that my insistence on justice, my beliefs that one must speak and act out against oppression (including slavery and the racist aftermath), my advocacy for refugees and immigrants -- all of these beliefs come from Old Testament teaching. I want to quote Psalm 82:3, "Give justice to the weak...", Isaiah 1:17, "Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression...", Micah 6:8, "He has told you, O man, what is good, ..."  Martin Luther King Jr., among others, will quote from the Old Testament in their sermons on justice.

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First published February 12, 2023; updated March 9, 2026

Exodus 7, Two Signs: Serpents and Blood

Moses continues to resist his assigned role in freeing the Israelites.

Exodus 7:1-5, Go to Pharaoh

Then the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.  But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. 

    

Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it."

Part of YHWH's plan is that the Egyptians will know Who, which king, is truly the God of the universe.

What does it mean to "harden" Pharaoh's heart?  Commentators point out that during the first half of the upcoming plagues, Pharaoh hardens himself, his own heart, against Moses and the Israelites. After that, YHWH seems to hold Pharaoh to this hardening, as Pharaoh becomes more and more obstinate.

Exodus 7:6-7, Moses and Aaron obey

Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them.

Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

God has a long-term plan; Moses and Aaron are just playing some assigned roles. Aaron is three years older than Moses, possibly born before the cruel decision, by a former Pharaoh, to kill male Hebrew babies.

Exodus 7:8-12, Serpents

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "When Pharaoh says to you, `Perform a miracle,' then say to Aaron, `Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,' and it will become a snake."

     

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.

    

Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. 

    

But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

What a strange passage! We have a magical competition, appropriate for Hogwarts!?

The serpent (says Imes) was a classical Egyptian symbol, often accompanying images of the Pharaoh. Here the word translated "serpent" is commonly used for dragons or monsters or venomous snakes. These are scary beings!  Although the magicians appear to duplicate this, the serpents of YHWH swallow the serpents of Israel, a clear statement and warning of things to come.  (Freitheim says that the word used for "swallowed up" appears only one other time in Exodus, when the sea "swallows up" the Egyptian army.)

Exodus 7:13-19 Next to come: water turned to blood

Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

    

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.    

    

Then say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened. This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.'"

    

The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, `Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt--over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs'--and they will turn to blood. Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in the wooden buckets and stone jars."

Moses's request is to take his people for a short trip into the desert to worship.  Pharaoh resists even that.  

The Nile will be turned to blood. The effect of this on the people of Egypt will be painful. The Nile river is the major source for Egypt's prosperity.

The second sign, of leprosy (see Exodus 4:6-8), is not used with Pharaoh, at least according to this account. Was it used with the Hebrew elders?

YHWH is identified here as "God of the Hebrews". The covenant with Abraham is entering a new phase.  YHWH again says, "Know Me!" He will show Himself to Moses and to Israel, to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians.

Exodus 7:20-25, Nile turns to blood

Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

    

But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.

    

And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river. 

    

Seven days passed after the LORD struck the Nile.

In this sign, Pharaoh is warned in advance. The king's magicians can duplicate the plague but apparently cannot reverse it. No clue is given as to how the Egyptian magicians achieve their results.  So far they have (roughly) matched the signs of Moses and Aaron.  Pharaoh is apparently unimpressed and his heart "becomes hard", resistant to the claims of Moses.

The king rejects YHWH and turns back into his palace.  The "hardening" of his heart is stressed with the insistence, in verse 23, that the king would not even "take this to heart" -- he will not even consider surrendering to Moses or YHWH.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is tannin,

תַּנִּין

a masculine noun, meaning "dragon, sea monster, serpent". The word is often translated "dragon" by the King James Version. It first appears in Genesis 1:21 where the NIV translates it as "sea creature."

Some Random Thoughts

There are, in this chapter, two signs of God's power over creation:

• Serpents
• Blood

We will now enter a cycle of plagues in Egypt. In the standard counting of the plagues, only the episode of blood is considered a plague. (The competition with serpents is a sign of God's power, but it is not a plague of Egypt.) The river turning to blood is the first plague. Nine more will come.

First published March 8, 2023; updated March 7, 2026

Exodus 6, The Covenant Gospel of Exodus

The oppression of the Israelites has only gotten worse.

Exodus 6:1, "Now you will see"

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country."

YHWH tells Moses to watch and see what He will do to the powerful Egyptians. His actions will lead the Egyptians to expel the Israelites from the country.

Alter argues that verse 1 really belongs at the end of the previous chapter. A new message begins in the next verse.

Exodus 6:2-5, "I have remembered my covenant"

God also said to Moses, "I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they lived as aliens. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

Notice the emphasis on a longterm relationship (covenant.) And this is indeed long-term -- over decades and centuries. God does not react on human timetables.

   

If YHWH did not give His name to Abraham then the name YHWH, possibly given in Exodus 3:14-15, is new for this stage of the covenant. (Verse 3 here is translated as a strange negative statement, "I did not make myself known...". The NIV footnotes indicate that it could be translated as a question, "Did I not let myself be known to them?")

The not-human aspect of God comes through in these passages -- He, El-Shaddai, is NOT human, not like we expect or require.

Exodus 6:6-8, The Gospel of Exodus

"Therefore, say to the Israelites: `I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.'"

Fretheim calls this paragraph "The Gospel of Exodus". The covenant gives Israel a special place in Creation and a special promise. The promise, "I will bring you out, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm", is a theme of the exodus and will be recounted by Israel throughout their history. That sentence also confronts a boast of the Egyptians. They often claimed to have a powerful hand and outstretched arm.

Imes argues that a common drawing of the Egyptian pharaohs is to show them with a powerful hand and an outstretched arm. (See the Narmer Palette for an example; a photo of the might pharaoh is on left side here and attached below.) YHWH is making it clear here that it is He (and He alone) who has the mighty hand and outstretched arm.

One side of the Narmer Palette

Exodus 6:9, Reaction of Israelites

Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.

The Israelites are discouraged and oppressed. They feel abandoned -- a rather natural reaction to their oppresive situation.

Exodus 6:10-13, Sons of Israel

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country." 

    

But Moses said to the LORD, "If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips".

    

Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

NIV footnotes: In verses 12 and 30, the Hebrew translated here "I speak with faltering lips", is literally "I am uncircumcised of lips".  The ancient (and strange) cultural emphasis on the importance of circumcision leads to Hebrew expressions in which "uncircumcised" means to be incomplete, to falter.

We follow this passage with digression into some record keeping, in preparation for the importance of what is to follow.

Exodus 6:14-27, The lineage of Moses and Aaron

These were the heads of their families: The sons of Reuben the firstborn son of Israel were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans of Reuben.    

 

The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.    

    

These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

    

The sons of Gershon, by clans, were Libni and Shimei. The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.  The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of Levi according to their records.

     

Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

    

The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg and Zicri.

     

The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.

    

Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

    

The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These were the Korahite clans.

     

Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These were the heads of the Levite families, clan by clan.

     

It was this same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, "Bring the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions." They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron.

We have a brief comment about the clans of Reuben and Simeon but the emphasis here is on the clan of Levi, leading to Moses and Aaron. Amram, the father of Moses and Aaron, married his aunt. We note that the lineage of Moses given here is Jacob-Levi-Kohath-Amram-Moses, a total of five men, four generations. (NIV footnotes: In verses 14 and 25, the Hebrew for "families" refers to units larger than clans.)

Exodus 6:28-30, Faltering lips (again)

Now when the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt, he said to him, "I am the LORD. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you."

    

But Moses said to the LORD, "Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?"

Moses repeats his complaint. Moses believes he is the problem. God's frustrated response will be the next chapter.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is mishpachah,

 מִשְׁפָחָה

a feminine noun meaning "families" or "clans" or "tribes." The word appears six times in this chapter and just over 300 times in the Old Testament.

Some Random Thoughts

Biblical scholars ask, "When, in Old Testament history, does God introduce Himself as YHWH?" -- as opposed to Elohim (a generic word for "god") or some name like El Shaddai (אֵל שַׁדַּי, "God Almighty".) In chapter 3 of this book, God gives a version of the name YHWH to Moses and the name is emphasized again at the beginning of this chapter, as a special name for the nation of Israel. But the name Yokebed (יוֹכֶבֶד), of the mother of Moses, possibly carries the abbreviated "Yah" in the name, meaning "God honored" or "YHWH honored." (See this Britannica Encyclopedia article on the name YHWH.) If so, some version of YHWH was known prior to the events in this chapter.

First published March 7, 2023; updated March 6, 2026

Exodus 5, Confrontation with Pharaoh

Moses and Aaron have arrived back in Egypt. They are to confront Pharaoh and demand the freedom to take the Israelites on a three day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to God (Exodus 3:18.)

Exodus 5:1-2, Who is this YHWH?

Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.'"

    

Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go."

Moses and Aaron meet with the Egyptian king and he asks, "Who is this YHWH?" This is the question he needs to ask, for YHWH is prepared to answer it, displaying Himself to both Egyptians and Israelites alike.

Exodus 5:3-5, Go back to work!

Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword."

    

But the king of Egypt said, "Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!"  Then Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working."

Moses and Aaron ask for a three-day journey into the desert, not a particularly long retreat, but Pharaoh is opposed to any negotiation or reconciliation. He accuses them of trying to slow down labor.

Exodus 5:6-11, Pharaoh doubles down

That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and foremen in charge of the people: "You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, `Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies."

    

Then the slave drivers and the foremen went out and said to the people, "This is what Pharaoh says: `I will not give you any more straw. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.'"

This is a bitter and short-sighted order from this pharaoh. Despite previously complaining that Moses is slowing their work, Pharaoh deliberately adds steps to their work, clearly slowing them down.

Exodus 5:12-18, "You are lazy!"

So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, "Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw."

    

The Israelite foremen appointed by Pharaoh's slave drivers were beaten and were asked, "Why didn't you meet your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?" 

Then the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: "Why have you treated your servants this way? Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, `Make bricks!' Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people."

    

Pharaoh said, "Lazy, that's what you are--lazy! That is why you keep saying, `Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.' Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks."

There is a racist, stereotypical element to Pharaoh's view of the Israelites. Like all oppressors, Pharaoh blames the ones he oppresses.

Exodus 5:19-23. Moses is blamed

The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, "You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day."

     

When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, and they said, "May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."

     

Moses returned to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all."

The oppressor blames the oppressed, and, should someone speak out, he blames that "troublemaker".  Here, for a time, Pharaoh's ploy leads the Israelites to blame Moses. Fretheim, in his commentary on Exodus (p. 85), quotes Martin Luther King, Jr., 

"The Pharaohs had a favorite and effective strategy to keep their slaves in bondage: 

keep them fighting amongst themselves. 

The divide-and-conquer technique has been a potent weapon in the arsenal of oppression."

This is the first of many times that the Israelites express doubts about Moses and question his leadership.

The people of Israel (and Moses) must decide whom they will serve. They can be servants of Pharaoh. Or servants of YHWH. If they choose YHWH, He will offer them a Covenant, a contract, outlining their relationship. That will happen in the desert trip that Moses is trying to arrange.

Alter argues that this conversation continues into the first verse of chapter 6, so we include that verse below.

Exodus 6:1, "Now you will see"

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country."

YHWH tells Moses to watch and see what He will do to the powerful Egyptians. His actions will lead the Egyptians to expel the Israelites from the country.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is raphah

רָפָה

a verb meaning "to be idle, lazy", "to faint", "to fail." In this chapter and the next, it will be used by Pharaoh to describe the Israelites. But it is also used in passages that describe God, where it is combined with the strong negative lo (לֹ֥א) to say that God does not fail. (See, for example, Deuteronomy 4:31.)

Some Random Thoughts

The language of the oppressor has not changed. The words and the actions of the Egyptian tyrant resonate in our world today. In chapter 1, we saw an Egyptian king panicking because of a "Great Replacement Theory"; he worried that the Israelites would overwhelm his people. In this chapter he calls them "lazy" and takes advantage of their hardships in an attempt to divide them. He insists on placing greater burdens on them, even though that is counterproductive.

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First published March 6, 2023; updated March 5, 2026

Exodus 4, Preparation

YHWH has appeared to Moses in the desert.  He has an assignment for Moses.  Moses raised two objections to YHWH's plan in the previous chapter; more objections are coming.

Exodus 4:1-5, Moses is timid

Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, `The LORD did not appear to you'?"

    

Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" 

    

"A staff," he replied.

    

The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." 

    

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

    

Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." 

    

So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

    

"This," said the LORD, "is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has appeared to you."

YHWH demonstrates his control over nature by performing a supernatural trick.  The serpent is significant in the culture of Egypt and appears in myriads of Egyptian artwork of that age. Many of the images are of a cobra. 

Exodus 4:6-9, One more sign

Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." 

    

So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.

    

"Now put it back into your cloak," he said. 

    

So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

    

Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."

Moses is given three signs, one of a serpent, one of a skin disease (translated "leprous" here) and finally a river turned to blood.

(In verse 6, the Hebrew word translated here as "leprous" was used for various diseases affecting the skin. It need not indicate modern leprosy.)

Exodus 4:10-12, "But I am not eloquent!"

Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."

    

The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Now God does not appear to be quite as “human” – he reminds Moses that He is the Creator. Creator of all things. Moses should not worry the Creator about the mouth He gave Moses!

Exodus 4:13-17, Desperation

But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."

    

Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.

    

But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."

The debate is coming to an end.  YHWH has already anticipated Moses's objection and has Aaron on his way.

Exodus 4:18-23, Moses to return to Egypt

Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive." 

    

Jethro said, "Go, and I wish you well."

    

Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."

    

So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

    

The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, `This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.'"

Moses clearly sees himself as part of the Hebrew people.

YHWH's instructions include the eventual death of the first-born son and, eventually, the Passover (Pesach.) The statement about the death of the firstborn prepares us for the event that follows.

Exodus 4:24-26, Circumcision of Moses's son

At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met [Moses] and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched [Moses'] feet with it."Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said.

    

So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)

This is a strange passage!  Moses must circumcise his (firstborn) son. This description is both brutal and, in the text, confusing and unmotivated. A Hebrew pronoun "him" in verses 24 and 25 is translated as "Moses" but it is possible that in one or both incidences, it refers to Moses's son. If it is the son of Moses, not Moses, that is threatened, then we see a need for the protection of Moses's firstborn. 

Imes, in her class on Exodus, also suggests the word "foot" is sometimes a Hebrew euphemism for penis.  Replacing the word "feet" by "penis" seems to fit better in this context, for it is possible that by circumcising her son, Zipporah is putting herself, and her son, under the Covenant. (See this note on feet and erotica in the Bible.) The Midianite, Zipporah, by saying "you are a bridegroom of blood to me", is saying, "This bloody circumcision makes you and your son parts of the covenant -- and I am also part of that covenant since you are my husband."

Imes argues that this entire chapter is a tightly constructed literary unit, preparing Moses and his family for the confrontations to occur in the next chapters.

Exodus 4:27-31, Moses and Aaron arrive in Egypt

The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." 

    

So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.

    

Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the miraculous signs he had commanded him to perform. Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

Moses communicates both the words and the miraculous signs given him. The Israelites are awed, and enthusiastic – at the moment.  They worship the God of their forefathers.

This sequence, first seeing signs and then worshiping, will recur later in various ways, including in the New Testament.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is nachash,

נָחָשׁ

a masculine noun, translated "serpent". That word first appears in Genesis 3:1-5 describing the creature that tempted Adam and Eve.

Some Random Thoughts

The nachash is one of three Hebrew words (the other two being tannin תַּנִּין, leviathan לִוְיָתָן) that, in places, represents the "chaos dragon." The serpent that appears in this chapter might remind one both of the temptation in Genesis 3 and also prepare one for the coming confrontation with the empire of Egypt, represented by the cobra. The Bible Project has a number of videos on the Chaos Dragon. Here is a short summary video of their study.

In Egyptian mythology, the deity Apophis was a snake that represented the underworld. 

A drawing of Apep, from the tomb of Rameses I, found at Wikipedia here.

Apophis (or Apep) was "the Lord of Chaos" and in Egyptian mythology was opposed by the sun god, Ra. Recall, from Genesis 41:45, that Joseph's father-in-law was a priest Potiphera, whose name meant"he whom Ra has given." As Joseph's father-in-law opposed this serpent deity, YHWH will use the serpent/staff to display His power over Egypt.

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First published March 4, 2023; updated March 4, 2026

Exodus 3, A Bush That Does Not Burn

Moses is an exile in Midian, having fled from the previous pharaoh. Back in Egypt, the Israelites continue to plead to God to rescue them from the oppression of the Egyptians.

Exodus 3:1-6, A burning bush

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the LORD appeared to him flames of fire from within a bush.  Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.  So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight -- why the bush does not burn up."  

When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses!  Moses!"

    

And Moses said, "Here I am."

    

"Do not come any closer," God said, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."  Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."  

    

At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

A strange site in the desert -- a bush (or tree) on fire. And the bush continues to burn, without being consumed.  YHWH has previously appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, confirming a covenant with them and their descendants. Suddenly, after a break of several centuries, He appears to Moses in the desert and identifies Himself as the same God.

Imes, in her class on Exodus, notes an Eastern Orthodox tradition of equating the burning bush with Mary, the mother of Jesus, for Mary too possessed the image of God within her womb, but was not consumed. I include, below, a mural from an Eastern Orthodox church in Greenville, South Carolina, painted by Seraphim O'Keefe.

The mother of Jesus painted as a burning bush

In this chapter Moses' father-in-law is named Jethro. He is named Reuel in the previous chapter. The "mountain of God" is called Horeb; it is probably the same as Mount Sinai of Exodus 19:1-2.

Exodu 3:7-10, Go to Pharaoh!

The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 

So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

Notice how “human” God is, in a way. He listens, reacts to cries that reach him. Although the Israelites have been oppressed for some time, only recently do we hear of their cries to YHWH and now Moses will be part of YHWH's response.

Alter identifies "milk and honey", with goats milk and "a sweet syrup extracted from dates." He suggests that the phrase is a pair of synecdoches representing good herds and successful crops.  Thus a land overflowing with milk and honey is a land with large flocks and bountiful harvests.

Exodus 3:11-14, Moses argues

But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

    

And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

    

Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, `What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

    

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.'"

Moses, despite his strong sense of justice, does not want this assignment! He echoes the questions others have asked, "Who am I?" (that is, who is Moses?)

(NIV footnotes: In verse 12, the Hebrew in "you will worship" is plural -- in the future many more than just Moses will worship YHWH on the mountain at Horeb. In verse 14, God's name might be translated "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE.")

Moses has an identity crisis -- YHWH does not. YHWH's answer is almost a trivial, "I AM" the only One that matters, the only One who created all things. He will give a similar answer to Job in Job 38-39. culminating in Job 40:2, when the answer (essentially) to the existence of suffering and evil is "'I AM' beyond you, beyond anything you can conceive."

Exodus 3:15-18, The conflict to come

God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, `The LORD,  the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

    

"Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, `The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-- appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--a land flowing with milk and honey.'

    

"The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.'

   

YHWH identifies Himself to both Moses and the Hebrews as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is the significance of the Genesis story already told -- it explains the covenant setting that prepares the people of Israel for a return to their own land.

(NIV footnote; In verse 15 the Hebrew for LORD may be derived from the Hebrew for I AM in verse 14.  I will use YHWH or YaHWeH to represent the name given by the four Hebrew consonants in that name.)

Exodus 3:19-22, The conflict to come 

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians."

But Pharaoh will resist. YHWH describes what will happen next.

These answers will not satisfy Moses, who has various objections.... We look at his objections in the next chapter.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is hayah,

הָיָה

the verb "to be", appearing more than 3500 times in the Old Testament. In the first person singular this becomes ehyeh  (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה). YHWH's answer to Moses, in the Hebrew of verse 14 is ehyeh asher ehyeh, (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁר אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה), I am who I am or I will be who I will be. (There is no distinction in the Hebrew between present tense and future tense.) In verse 15 the name is explicitly given as YHWH/Yahweh (יְהוָֹה). Alter (p. 321) suggests that this name comes from “the causative or Hiph’il form” of hayah.

Some Random Thoughts

Let's look at the Name that God gives Himself. The phrase "I am who I am," carries primality and distinction. He is "The One" and there is no other. He will be Whoever He chooses to be. There is a good Wikipedia article on this phrase. In Exodus 6:2-5, we will learn that in this statement God is revealing more about himself than he did to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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First published March 3, 2023; updated March 3, 2026