1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto
him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve ME. 2
And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders
with frogs:3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which
shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon
thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and
into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs:4 And the frogs shall
come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.
5
And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand
with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and
cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. 6 And Aaron stretched
out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and
covered the land of Egypt. 7 And the magicians did so with their
enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.
(In the OT we see many examples of God stretching out HIS hand and bringing judgment. Then when "it is enough" in the sight of God, HE withdraws HIS hand.)
8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.
(Though
the magicians copied Moses and Aaron and brought frogs upon the land,
there is no evidence the magicians were able to cause the frogs to go
away.)
9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh,
Glory over me:when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and
for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they
may remain in the river only? 10 And he said, To morrow. And he said,
Be it according to thy word:that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God.
11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from
thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.
12
And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh:and Moses cried unto the Lord
because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 13 And the
Lord did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the
houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields. 14 And they gathered
them together upon heaps:and the land stank.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.
(This is like people who say to God: "If only YOU will stop this, I won't ever do this again." Then when they are safe, they return to doing their ways again.)
16
And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and
smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the
land of Egypt. 17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with
his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man,
and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the
land of Egypt.
18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not:so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. 19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God:and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.
20
And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand
before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus
saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 21 Else, if
thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon
thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy
houses:and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies,
and also the ground whereon they are. 22 And I will sever in that
day the land of Goshen, in which MY people dwell, that no swarms of
flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in
the midst of the earth.
23 And I will put a division between MY people and thy people:to morrow shall this sign be.
24
And the Lord did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the
house of Pharaoh, and into his servants 'houses, and into all the land
of Egypt:the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.
25
And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice
to your God in the land. 26 And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for
we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our
God:lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their
eyes, and will they not stone us? 27 We will go three days' journey
into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall
command us.
(One thing the devil often tries to do is to get us to compromise the instruction given by God ... just do part of the word ... But we must do all the word given us and that is what Moses held to in this.)
28 And Pharaoh said, I will
let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the
wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away:intreat for me.
29
And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the Lord
that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants,
and from his people, to morrow:but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any
more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.
30
And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the Lord. 31 And the
Lord did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of
flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there
remained not one.
32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also,
neither would he let the people go.
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Comments by Joan Boney
23 And I will put a division between MY people and thy people
God has put a division between us and the people who are not of HIM.
Later there was darkness over Egypt but the people of God had light.
It is the same now. The world walks in the darkness of their own mind, their own thinking. But we, who are of God, HIS children walk in HIS light of HIS Word. Therefore division comes because they can't see because of the darkness and we can see because of the light of God but we can't make them see, only God can do that by HIS own will.