CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exodus 8:2. Frogs] Heb. צפרדעים “marsh-leapers” (Gesenius): “marsh-croakers” (Ewald, Fürst, Davies).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 8:1-7
THE PLAGUE OF FROGS; OR, THE SOCIALLY GREAT SMITTEN WITH THE SUPREMELY CONTEMPTIBLE
The great River of Egypt has now been smitten for seven days, and has rolled in one vast torrent of blood, indicative of the wrath of God against an impious king. But this did not move the heart of Pharaoh, as probably a sufficient supply of wholesome water was obtained for him by digging round about the river, and as long as this might be the case, he cared not for the affliction of his nation. But God was more merciful than the king, and caused the river to return to its usual pure and welcome condition. But though this judgment was removed, the Divine requirement was not withdrawn, the freedom of Israel was still demanded. And to urge this, the messengers of God are sent again to the king with the threat of new penalty if he refuse. Now the plague of frogs is sent, and the sacred river is again the scene of dire retribution. Out of its bed and numerous water-courses, Moses called up an overwhelming swarm of frogs, and upon the stretching forth of Aaron’s rod these creatures issued forth in such numbers that the land was full of them. This was evidently a miracle, for they came and departed suddenly at the command of Moses and Aaron, and their advent in such numbers could not be accounted for on any other supposition. It is evident that Pharaoh regarded it as such, for he besought its removal from the servant of God. The Egyptians considered it a necessary part of their religion to purify themselves by frequent washings in the river. But now these ablutions would be rendered impossible. There is no doubt that frogs were in Egypt the objects of superstitious regard; they were numbered among the sacred animals of the Egyptians. They were often regarded as omens of evil. This punishment was not a mere inconvenience, it was a destruction. (Psalms 78:45.)
I. That the socially great sometimes provoke the judgments of God.
1. That the socially great provoke the judgments of God by rejecting His claims. Pharaoh had held Israel in dire bondage for a long time, when God had commanded their freedom. He had refused to need the Divine voice in this matter. And all the great potentates of the earth who hearken not to the requests of heaven, as they are from time to time made known, are involving, and will bring unwelcome retribution upon themselves and the people they govern. And not only kings, but all, whatever their social rank, who slight the claims of God, either in reference to themselves or their companions, will be visited with punishment.
2. That the socially great provoke the judgments of God by slighting His servants. The king of Egypt had slighted Moses and Aaron, had rejected their word, had derided their mission, had disobeyed their God, and had doubted their unmistakable credentials. He will not be held guiltless for so doing. Men cannot illtreat the messengers of God and be blameless. He will defend the rights, and give emphasis to the message of those who speak in His name, and by His authority. He will not allow, even the socially Great to illtreat his ministers; they are the representatives of heaven’s King, and must be received as such. Nations and individuals have brought severe retribution upon themselves by their wicked persecution of the messengers of God.
3. That the socially Great provoke the judgments of God by rejecting His credentials of truth and duty. Pharaoh had not merely slighted the message of God, and the servants of God, but had done so after the clearest evidence of Divine authority and duty. And all those who neglect the inspired word and its holy teaching, the providence of God and its sacred indications of duty, are likely to be visited with dire retributions.
II. That the socially Great have no means whereby to resist the judgments of God. Pharaoh had no means whereby to resist the inroad and march of these slimy and croaking frogs. They came into all his borders, into his house, and into his bedchamber; his food was not free from their intrusion. He could not protect himself from these contemptible creatures. In this service his army was useless, and strategem was without avail. Hence this judgment was
(1) afflictive,
(2) loathsome,
(3) extensive,
(4) irresistible. Pharaoh was a proud man, but now his pride is humbled. His armaments are great and numerous, but the armaments of God are seen to be far more numerous, more capable of woe, and more readily at command. And so there are times when God afflicts men with judgments that are the result of contemptible agencies, and even the greatest kings are thus visited and tormented. Their power is defeated by frogs; not by lions. They are the prey of the worthless and despicable. They are not stricken by an overwhelming pestilence; they are troubled by some trivial malady which under ordinary circumstances would yield to easy remedy; but which now defies all skill. God can soon humble the sinner, even though it be the proud monarch of Egypt. These judgments yield
(1) not to social position,
(2) not to wealth,
(3) not to authority.
(4) not to force. If the frogs are to depart from the land of Pharaoh, it must be upon the express command of God; until this is uttered they must remain as a plague.
III. That the socially Great often involve others less guilty. in the retributions they invite. These frogs came not merely upon Pharaoh, but upon his people and nation. The socially Great are seldom alone in their retributions, they have so many dependants, and sustain so many relations to those by whom they are surrounded, that they generally involve a multitude in their sins and condemnation. The frogs covered the land of Egypt. Every home was afflicted by them, and every individual was annoyed by them. And so, the socially Great who are guilty of disobedience to the claims of God bring suffering upon multitudes.
IV. That the socially Great are always surrounded by those who are willing to strengthen them in opposition to the Divine claims. The magicians were called and by their enchantments brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. It would have been far more to the point if these sorcerers had done something to remove the frogs, but in this they were utterly impotent. There are always those who are willing to strengthen the wicked in their evil doings. LESSONS:—
1. That the socially Great ought to be in sympathy with the requirements of God.
2. That the socially Great ought to know better than provoke the wrath of the Great King.
3. That social position will not avert the retributions of God.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exodus 8:1-2. Jehovah orders new dispatches unto his enemies upon their obstinacy.
God doubles and trebles His demands upon His enemies to persuade them.
God warns His adversaries against refusing His message.
God’s goodness warns sinners before He brings vengeance on them.
It is God’s work to smite with frogs and plague sinners by His creatures.
Exodus 8:3-4. At God’s word the waters which produce creatures to nourish, abound with creatures to destroy.
Prodigious are the armies of frogs when God raiseth them.
Houses and persons are easily overcome by poor frogs when God commands them.
But it strikes one as a strange thing to speak of frogs going into ovens. As our ovens are, of course, the approach of a frog would be impossible from the intensity of the heat with which the oven is charged, and its height from the ground. But an Egyptian oven was a hole in the earth, in which they put wood for fire, over which they put an earthen pitcher, and the bread was placed inside that, and baked by the action of the fire in the hole beneath. It seems to us a barbarous mode, but it was the Egyptian one. And you can conceive that when this hole was filled with frogs, the preparation of bread would thereby become utterly impracticable.—(Dr. Cumming.)
Exodus 8:5-7. God’s command for execution surely follows that of His threatening.
God’s word of execution has its extent and bounds.
God’s executioners are ready and obedient.
Aaron’s arm stretched out with God’s word works mighty plagues.
The devil by his instruments may find frogs, but can make none.
God makes magicians to afflict His enemies, but not to ease them.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Frogs! Exodus 8:2. A frog sitting upon the sacred lotus was symbolical, says Millington, of the return of the Nile to its bed after the inundations. Seated upon a date stone, with a young palm leaf rising from its back, it was a type of man in embryo. Mungo Park describes the lively sensations of gratitude and joy with which he was affected during one of his excursions in the desert, on hearing the croaking of innumerable frogs at a short distance from him. By such sounds the traveller, when nearly perishing with thirst, was guided to the spot where the life-restoring water was to be found:—
“For as he wandered in the burning plain
Fainting, he heard a low amphibious strain,
And guided by the hoarse refreshing sound,
Came to the place where, from the reedy ground,
The cooling waters spread their life around.”
—Anthol Grec.
Divine Finger! Exodus 8:3. The plagues have an Egyptian groundwork. They present to Pharaoh no utterly new and unknown phenomena, but show the obstinate despot that the various natural agencies at work in the land were under the sole and entire control of Jehovah, and that He was as much the God of Egypt as of Israel. The low, marshy ground in the neighhourhood of the Nile naturally abounds in frogs, and at the time of the inundation in September, their numbers become formidable. These leave their haunts at God’s command, and swarm over the land a great army. Pompey boasted that, with one stamp of his foot, he could rouse all Italy to arms; but God, by one word of His mouth, can summon the creatures of the earth and sea and sky to do His strange work of judgment.—Therefore
“Let not guilt presumptuous rear her crest,
Nor virtue droop despondent.”
—Bally.
Frog-symbols! Exodus 8:5. On the ancient coat-of-arms of the French kings was a curious heraldic device of three frogs from the Gallic swamps. In Revelation 16; Revelation 5:13, we have three frogs, the unclean tenants of fenny ground, those vermin which love the glimmering twilight, coming forth from the marshy lands bordering the great river of spiritual Rome. Those loathsome frog-demons are represented as tormenting and disturbing the “despotic autocracy of Christendom. But, they are the judgment of God upon the tyrant-spirit of absolutism; and His servant summons them fearlessly.—
“Such is the fearless confidence of love,
And such amazement fearless love compels—
So Moses stood unmoved ’fore Pharaoh’s face.”