The Flies attack only the Egyptians

God, through Moses, commanded Pharaoh to let His people go, or else He would send a plague of flies on the Egyptians. As a sign of His sovereignty, God told Pharaoh the flies would only affect his people in Egypt, the Israelites wouldn’t be bothered by the flies. It is like a preserved little ark through the plagues. In Psalm 78:45 it refers back to this and the frogs. It says that “He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.” There was a “No-fly zone” over the land of Goshen where the Israelites dwelt. God makes a distinction to reinforce His point of letting them go.

The next day, God sent a massive swarm of flies that covered the Egyptians, their houses, their animals, and the ground on which they walked. The flies “ruined” the land. The flies don’t seem to come out of the ground. They are in the air, and they land on things and ruin everything. The plagues are moving up towards the heavens from the ground – water, frogs, lice (from dust) and now flies. The entirety of creation is being consumed.

Pharaoh told Moses he would let the people go into the wilderness to sacrifice if God would take away the flies. He doesn’t want them to go far away. The “abomination” to the Egyptians would be that the Hebrews sacrificed cows which represented a sacred god to the Egyptians. They would be stoned if they didn’t do it away from Egypt. Pharaoh agrees but he is warned against being deceitful. God removed every fly from the land of Egypt, but Pharaoh hardened his heart and did not let the people go.

There is a sense in which it might be thought that believers are exempt from pain and suffering. They are not. Having 100% empathy all the time for those going through difficulty may be no better than those who act like Job’s “friends” and say you must be sinning to cause this. There are victims and injustice, but we need to be open to the burning bush in our own life. If the person thinks they are a victim any everyone is saying the same thing to them, then there is no pathway forward through this to a miraculous revelation. This may not be a cure. It is better to not to hide your face in shame like Adam and Moses. The person needs to get to the burning bush which is transformational. The biggest problem to our life is ourselves. The world today wants to blame the world, government, society, or parents.

There is a movement up the heavenly hierarchy Water -> Frogs -> Lice -> Flies. You have quality above and quantity below. The quantity invades and overruns the quality. They are drowning in frogs, lice, and flies. The unity of the quality is broken up and creation order is turned upside down. The Egyptians have lost control, and their own “gods” are powerless and seemingly attacking them. With the lice it becomes specifically the Egyptians who are suffering and not the Hebrews  another miracle.

God Spares Israel from the Plagues (8:23-24)

It is with the plague of flies that God specifically targets the Egyptians and protects the Hebrews. In the first three plagues everyone in Egypt suffered together. With the fourth plague, Pharaoh can see that the God of the Hebrews is protecting His people and inflicting only that Egyptians and their livestock and land.

Don’t Compromise with Pharaoh (8:28-32)

Pharaoh constantly seeks to bargain with Moses and Aaron throughout the plagues to get an upper hand. There are times when we can compromise and other times when we should never compromise. Pharaoh may be stubborn and arrogant, but God will eventually force him to his knees.

1. The Israelites didn’t sacrifice in the land of Egypt as Pharaoh had proposed; they left Egypt.
2. They didn’t only leave Egypt with their women and children, they also went with their livestock
3. Pharaoh tried to dictate how far they should go but they went away from Egypt through the Red Sea.
4. They didn’t only go with some of their belongings but took that and more. The Egyptians gave them parting gifts – silver, articles of gold, and clothing. The LORD gave them favour in the sight of the Egyptians so that they granted them what they requested (Exodus 12:35-36).
5. Aa mixed multitude went with them (Exodus 12:38) as they left

Moses listened to God and refused to compromise with Pharaoh. Our object should be not to see how close we can walk to the world and still call ourselves Christians but rather how far can we walk away from the world.

Categories: Exodus

Tags: bible, Exodus, god, moses, pharaoh