Exodus 8:9–10: “And Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only.’ So he said, ‘Tomorrow.’ And he said, ‘Let it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.'”

November 12th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

God brought a second plague against one of the idols of Egypt. Frogs were the symbol of the goddess of reproduction, Heket. Archeological digs have yielded many frog amulets from this time in Egypt. So once again, since the symbol of a frog was their god, it was abundantly clear that the God of the Hebrews was mightier than their frog god. Just as when God turned the water into blood, Pharaoh’s priests were called to duplicate the supernatural act. But for a second time they could only duplicate the plague and call out more frogs, but could do nothing to stop the river of frogs swarming Egypt.

A few frogs around the Nile were common, but now frogs were everywhere. They “covered the land” like no one had ever seen. Men were forced to step on them as they walked down the street. No doubt it was a stinking mass of slick and slimy crushed amphibian carcasses. If someone slipped and fell, they undoubtedly fell into a mass of putrid dead frog bodies. If someone sought to find clean water to wash off, that water was overrun with frogs, so there was no relief there. Again the sacred Nile River was a source of pollution impacting the land.

Since the priests were incapable of removing the plague, the few million frogs improved Pharaoh’s theological perspective. He begrudgingly recognized the power of the God of the Hebrews and temporarily relented, saying that the people could go out and sacrifice to the Lord. Moses asked Pharaoh to name a time when he should ask God to remove the frogs. At first glance it seems strange that Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.” It seems like he would say, “Right now!” Maybe Pharaoh hoped they would go away by themselves before Moses prayed, proving that Moses didn’t really have any power. Or more likely it was because he didn’t want to let go of his sin right away, like us. Do we pray stuff like, “Lord, forgive my sin. Take it from me . . . tomorrow,” because we love our sin and don’t want to give it up. God sees sin as a stinking pile of dead frogs. We wouldn’t kiss or even touch a dead frog. Why do we sometimes love and cling to our stinking sins?

“LORD, cleanse us, forgive our sins and change our hearts. We need You to not only cleanse and forgive, but to help us see sin as You see it.”