The Frog, Gnat and Fly Plagues

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.”’” (Exodus 8: 1 to 4)

In order to convince Pharaoh to let Israelites go, God commanded Moses and Aaron to perform multiple plagues. We might think that seemed to be redundant. If God wanted to get it done, no man could resist. However, God not only wanted to achieve the goal, but also to convict the heart. Because ever since man has sinned and possessed the knowledge of good and evil, God was no longer the one and only Lord. The deceitful sinful soul would tell men otherwise. So, God's plagues were to prove His almighty and righteousness to convict men to repent. By learning from the plagues, we could understand and be submissive to God. The water turned to blood plague was just a starter. God continued to use the ordinary and common frogs to convey the message. Frogs are the amphibian creatures that could live in the water and land, especially in the Nile. Now, the creature which survived the first plague became the next curse to the Egyptian. Frogs may seem to be harmless to us. Yet in the Bible it is symbolized as unclean, demonic spirits and the spiritual batter with God as described below.

And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. (Revelation 16: 13 14)

The frog was created by God like other creatures. However, the Egyptians made it a symbol for one of their many idols. That's why God was using frogs to show the Egyptians that their idols were nothing in front of God. God could easily summon them to cover the land of Egypt. Also when they died, the land stank. The same metaphor is applied to the evil spirit in Revelation. Since Pharaoh still won't let the Israelites go, God sent another plague to Egypt as described below.

And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. (Exodus 8: 17)

Some Bibles describe gnats as lice, a blood sucking tiny parasite insects. It will not kill you but would cause skin rash and itches. It was no longer just inconvenience but attacking the body. The gnats or lice usually meant that there were hygiene issues. So, the plague was a message for the Egyptians that they couldn't even control the basic hygiene in life. It was the first plague that the Egyptian magicians couldn't reproduce. However, that didn't convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go even though the magicians said to Pharaoh that this was the finger of God. So, God sent the plague of flies as described below.

Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. (Exodus 8: 21 to 22)

We might think that flies couldn't cause too much damage. However, it did in this case as described below.

And the Lord did so. There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by the swarms of flies. (Exodus 8: 24)

Furthermore, if it showed in one part of Egypt but not the other as Moses commanded then it conveyed a clear message that this could only be from a divine power because the flies could fly to anywhere, only the divine power could control them. So, Pharoah got the message and promised to let the Israelites go. However, after it's all over, he hardened his heart again. That's why God needed to send more plagues to Egypt to let Egyptians know that He is the Lord. Emmanuel.

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