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