Bed, Bath, and Bowls

O.T. #150  "Bed, Bath, and Bowls
Oct. 18, 2013
Exodus 8-Part 1
Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD."
Exodus 8:8 NIV

LET IT GLOW

When I was a child, my neighbors had a secluded pond I the woods next to us. My brother and friends would go frog giggin' at night to kill bull frogs. He used a long handled wooden pole with three metal prongs, a spear, on the end. Off they would go frog hunting in the hot summer night with the moonlight, a flashlight, and a burlap sack. They would clean the catch by cutting off their hind legs and skinning them. Mom would fry the for supper the next night. Mmmm. Lest you say yuck, frog legs taste like a white piece of chicken. In fact, some catfish restaurants around here have them on their menu.
That's my experience with frogs, croaking on a hot summers night. I can't imagine green, slimy frogs croaking and hopping in your bed, bath, and bowls like the Egyptians had.

Plague #2-Frogs

God sent Moses and Aaron back to Pharaoh so he would let the Hebrew slaves go to serve Him. Pharaoh was given another chance to repent, for he was forewarned about the frogs, but refused the request again. Maybe the plague of water turned into blood didn't effect the king very much. Perhaps he had milk or fruit juice to drink. The Word doesn't say.

According to verse 3, frogs were hopping everywhere:

• in the bedroom,
• their beds,
• servants' houses,
• upon the people,
• in the ovens,
• in the bowls, kneading troughs for bread,
• and of course in the Nile River where they bathed, though Scripture doesn't say so in this verse, but does in verse 11.

Ladies, can you think of having these critters in your house and kitchen? What a noise! It would be worse than a cricket in the house. You couldn't sleep, eat, or even talk without frogs.

These sacred frogs were not killed either. Yes, I said sacred. The Egyptians worshiped the frog. God showed them the foolishness of worshiping a frog-god. If they wanted to worship frogs instead of Him, God would give them all the frogs they wanted. Doesn't God have a sense of humor.

Here's what David Guzik had to say about this frog-god:

• It was a female goddess named Heqt.
• Frogs reproduced rapidly.
• Frogs were common around the Nile River.
• Being amphibians, they are a part of two worlds, land and water.

I can't figure out why Pharaoh's magicians would want to duplicate the act, making more frogs for them to endure. I suppose it was to prove their power.

LET IT GROW

What happened next? Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. He said it all in our key verse 8 above.
Did he just acknowledge that God had the power to take away the frogs when he told them to pray to the Lord? Did he make a deal with God-take away the frogs and he would let the Hebrews go to offer sacrifices unto God?

Do we make deals with God-if You will...then I will ...? Isn't it a dangerous thing to do? Can we make a deal with God? Perhaps God knows and understands our finite minds and reasoning.

Back to the story-Moses left it up to Pharaoh as to when God should rid them of the frogs.
Tomorrow. Really? Why not today? Why not now? Tomorrow get rid of the frogs. How ridiculous is that when the opportunity is the present?
Aren't we like Pharaoh? Instead of taking advantage of God's blessings by obeying Him now, we put it off until tomorrow. Ouch! Pardon me while I spend time on my knees confessing my sin of half obedience.

Moses asked Pharaoh to set the time for the termination of the frog plague so that Pharaoh would know that it was God who ended it. (Falwell)

It happened as Pharaoh said, so he would know that there is no one like the LORD our God (verse 10).  The sudden death of millions of frogs. What a stinky stench all over the land. Only frogs remained in the Nile River, where they should be.

Pharaoh did not keep his word to release Israel, but he hardened his heart instead.
Do we keep our word to others, to the Lord Jesus? How merciful our Lord is! It doesn't take frogs in my house to show me my disobedience, just on a page.

How about you friend? Have you told the Lord you would do something when He asked you, but you have yet to do it, like me?

By the way, Revelation 16:13 mentions three evil spirits that look like frogs.
Revelation 11:6 mentions the waters being turned into blood when the two witnesses prophesy for Jesus. some of these plagues will occur again in the end times.

LET IT GO

of worldliness and pride and turn to God for mercy.

Obey what He asked of me, not tomorrow, but today.

Maybe I should buy a ceramic frog to remind me that half obedience is actually disobedience.