God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the Israelites leave or He will send a plague of frogs. Pharaoh refuses and God sends frogs. They are everywhere. Frogs get into in people’s homes, bedrooms and kitchens. The magicians also make frogs appear by their secret arts.

Pharaoh pleads with Moses to get rid of frogs. He even promises to let the people go. Moses and Aaron pray to God, and all of the frogs outside of the Nile die. They are piled in stinking heaps. Pharaoh again denies passage. 

On God’s direction, Aaron strikes the dust and it becomes gnats. The magicians cannot replicate the gnats. They’re on all the people and animals. Pharaoh acknowledges this is the “finger of God,” but won’t let them go. 

God directs Moses to meet Pharaoh by the river and warn him about flies. The Egyptians get flies. The flies are everywhere except in Goshen, the delta valley where the Israelites live. 

Pharaoh offers a compromise, they may sacrifice to God, as long as they stay within the land. Moses counters that the Egyptians see them and their practices as an abomination and will stone them (throw rocks at them). He wants three days to travel, Pharaoh tells them they can’t go far. He asks Moses to plead for relief from the flies. Moses agrees, but Pharaoh refuses to let them leave. 

What is happening here? They’re getting frogs, gnats and flies. In Revelation, frogs are a symbol for unclean spirits, while the gnats and flies are a symbol of decay, feeding on fruit and flesh that has died.

Also two changes occur, the magicians can’t replicate the gnats and flies, and the Israelites are spared the plagues. 

Despite seeing power beyond his own, Pharaoh doesn’t want to give an inch. He knows that if the Israelites leave, they won’t come back to be slaves again. Why is fairness so impossible for the powerful to endure? Pharaoh sees himself as a god with domination of others as his birthright. 

The true God is patient, giving chance after chance, after chance. While the text was written as a history, it has been preserved as a warning. As a society we have been blessed with abundance and protection, yet nature itself has been sending us warnings. Like the Egyptians a time may come when we will held be accountable for our actions and inactions. God is patient, but for how long?