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\nExodus 8:1\u00a0 <\/span>Then the LORD said to Moses, \u201cGo in to Pharaoh and say to him, \u2018Thus says the LORD, \u201cLet my people go, that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs. The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.\u201d\u2019\u201d And the LORD said to Moses, \u201cSay to Aaron, Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt!\u2019\u201d So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, \u201cPlead with the LORD to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.\u201d Moses said to Pharaoh, \u201cBe pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.\u201d And he said, \u201cTomorrow.\u201d Moses said, \u201cBe it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile.\u201d So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the LORD about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh. And the LORD did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
God threatened a plague of\u00a0frogs<\/b>\u00a0for a specific reason. The Egyptian goddess\u00a0Heqet\u00a0(or,\u00a0Heket) was always pictured with the head of a frog. Among the ancient Egyptians, frogs were considered sacred and could not be killed. Egyptians worshipped the frog as a female goddess because frogs were common around the Nile, because they reproduced rapidly, and because being amphibians they are part of two worlds, creatures of both land and water. The ability of the magicians to do the same\u00a0with their enchantments<\/b>\u00a0points to a supernatural power present; this wasn\u2019t the work of a skilled illusionist, this was occult power at work. For all their occult powers, all the magicians could do was make\u00a0more\u00a0frogs! They could only make the problem worse; yet their work gave Pharaoh an excuse to further harden his heart. Pharaoh increased his guilt, and hardness of heart until he was utterly beyond hope of remedy. (Guzik)<\/p>\n
Pharaoh is plagued with frogs; their vast numbers made them sore plagues to the Egyptians. God could have plagued Egypt with lions, or bears, or wolves, or with birds of prey, but he chose to do it by these despicable creatures. God, when he pleases, can arm the smallest parts of the creation against us. He thereby humbled Pharaoh. They should neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep in quiet; but wherever they were, they should be troubled by the frogs. God’s curse upon a man will pursue him wherever he goes, and lie heavy upon him whatever he does. Pharaoh gave way under this plague. He promises that he will let the people go. Those who bid defiance to God and prayer, first or last, will be made to see their need of both. But when Pharaoh saw there was respite, he hardened his heart. Till the heart is renewed by the grace of God, the thoughts made by affliction do not abide; the convictions wear off, and the promises that were given are forgotten. Till the state of the air is changed, what thaws in the sun will freeze again in the shade. (Henry)<\/p>\n
After an interval which there are no means of estimating, the second plague followed the first. Again, while the main purpose of the plague was to punish the nation by which Israel had been so long oppressed, the secondary object of throwing contempt upon their religion. Frogs were among the Egyptian sacred animals. One of their deities, Heka, was a frog-headed goddess; and they seem to have regarded the frog as a sacred emblem of creative power.\u00a0(Unknown)<\/p>\n
The verse that shouts the most to me is; \u201cBut when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.\u201d How often do we promise God we will change something, stop doing, or start doing more to gain respite from a trial or trouble that is a heaven burden on us or our loved ones? We promise to read scripture more, and stop affairs, pornography, cursing, hating, gossiping, lying, and free running with our sinful nature leading the way. What causes us to think this way? – \u201cHardened Heart\u201d. What blinds us to things of God? – \u201cHardened Heart\u201d. What closes our ears to the quiet whispers of God into our lives? – \u201cHardened Heart\u201d. What makes us think God cannot see our sins? – \u201cHardened Heart\u201d. What makes us follow after things of this world? – \u201cHardened Heart\u201d. What causes us to become neglectful and complacent to things of God? – \u201cHardened Heart\u201d. What keeps us from growing and maturing in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding? – \u201cHardened Heart\u201d. What keeps us from honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do? – \u201cHardened Heart\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
How hard is your Heart?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Exodus 8:1\u00a0 Then the LORD said to Moses, \u201cGo in to Pharaoh and say to him, \u2018Thus says the LORD, \u201cLet my people go, that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs. The Nile shall swarm with frogs that … Continue reading “41.t. “Let My People Go” 2. Frogs”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5417,4651,16393,1059,4566,10459,16394,796,16387,219,13411,5418,4518,344,16388,430],"class_list":["post-162169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-aaron","tag-behold","tag-but-if-you-refuse","tag-egypt","tag-frogs","tag-hardened-his-heart","tag-i-will-let-the-people-go","tag-lord","tag-magicians","tag-moses","tag-nile","tag-pharaoh","tag-plague","tag-plead","tag-secret-arts","tag-would-not-listen"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162169"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162174,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162169\/revisions\/162174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}