...pray boldly!

7 “25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

The Second Plague: Frogs

8 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “Thus says the Lord: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. 3 The river shall swarm with frogs; they shall come up into your palace, into your bedchamber and your bed, and into the houses of your officials and of your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. 4 The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your officials.”’ 5  And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, the canals, and the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.”’ 6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 7 But the magicians did the same by their secret arts, and brought frogs up on the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, ‘Pray to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 9 Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘Kindly tell me when I am to pray for you and for your officials and for your people, that the frogs may be removed from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.’ 10 And he said, ‘Tomorrow.’ Moses said, ‘As you say! So that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God, 11 the frogs shall leave you and your houses and your officials and your people; they shall be left only in the Nile.’ 12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs that he had brought upon Pharaoh. 13 And the Lord did as Moses requested: the frogs died in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 14 And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said” Exodus 7:25-3:15.

Dear friends, some have suggested over the years that the frog epidemic had occurred as a predictable result of the pollution of the Nile, since whatever killed the fish likely would have driven the frogs as well from the river, even if not accounting for their enormous multiplication. But I see no indication that this is true. It’s just speculation! This is a more severe plague because the frogs don’t just point to harder work to get potable water for your family or neighbors; it is quite another messy challenge to have undesirable animals infesting all the ground surfaces of your living areas. So, the plague of frogs has traditionally, and with good reason, been judged as a more discomforting plague than the one that preceded it.

But don’t forget that the demand of Yahweh is to “let my people go so that they may worship me.” And remember that the the first plague and God's announcement of the second might seem trivial, or even awkwardly placed. 

But it seems particularly significant to Pharaoh that God promised that this plague would affect him to the same degree that it affected all other Egyptians. The first plague was presumably of little personal hardship for Pharaoh; others brought him water from the freshly dug wells, so all he missed was his usual bath in the Nile. Now, however, he would quite possibly encounter just as many frogs and be just as repulsed by them as anyone else.

Two characteristics of this plague make it more than a mere natural result of the pollution of the Nile as described in the first plague: the number of frogs was enormous beyond all natural explanation, and they did not merely leave the Nile and then stay nearby; they covered the land. So Pharaoh begs for relief. But how are we to understand the ability of the Egyptian magicians to replicate what God had done (v. 7)? The answer must be essentially the same as it was in the case of the prior two plagues: the magicians duplicated by magic, on a small scale, with slight-of-hand tricks, compared what God had done on a nationwide scale.

But I am struck by God's gracious willingness to respond to Moses' intercessory prayer (vv. 12–13). The power of prayer is strong, when a faithful servant of the one true God prays in accordance with God’s will. Moses might have had good reason to assume that the frogs would eventually go away on their own, but he had certainly not been notified by God that they would die off on the day Pharaoh specified. So, he prayed earnestly for a result that from his point of view, at least, was not guaranteed but in faith that the Lord would do what he asked if his prayer were proper.

I hope you are as encouraged as I am about the power of prayer in this story. Never step away from praying because you fear “the ask” may be too much for God. No! Always pray! When we pray, it is God drawing us to pray. So pray boldly and consistently!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.