seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 8:20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 21 If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.
22 “‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23 I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”
24 And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.
25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”
26 But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? 27 We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.”
28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”
29 Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
30 Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, 31 and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained. 32 But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.
Here's the link to the commentary I use.
I will make a difference between My people and your people: God wanted Pharaoh to know that there was something special about the people of Israel. Pharaoh refused to recognize this, so the plagues continued.
Into the house of Pharaoh, into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: No one was spared this terrible plague — except for the people of Israel, who largely lived in the land of Goshen (Exodus 8:22).
The land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies: This shows that the point of this plague was probably the same as the plague of lice. The Egyptian gods could not be worshipped amidst this uncleanness.
If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not stone us: Moses reminded Pharaoh of the social uproar this would cause, and held to the original request, refusing to compromise. Moses’ character has grown strong before Pharaoh.
“Moses refuses on the grounds that to sacrifice in Egypt would be like killing a pig in a Muslim mosque, or slaughtering a cow in a Hindu temple… In the sense that the Egyptians would consider the sacrifice of a sacred animal as blasphemous.” (Cole)
Well, yesterday I read about the maggots, lice, and/or gnats. Maggots, lice, and gnats turned into flies. There must have been a few horse flies in the swarms, because the commentary says there were biting flies... and I know for a fact.... horse flies will bite a human if they want to!
So, God turned the last plague into the next plague. It's the same only different. It's not water that has been turned to blood, or nasty stinking dying frogs, or maggots, lice, or gnats.... This time it's flies.
Check out verse 22. There would be no flies in the Land of Goshen. The Land of Goshen was given to the Israelites through Joseph. The Israelites were shepherds, which the Egyptians had no stomach for, so they were in Egypt but they were segregated.
Isn't it astonishing... those Egyptians worshipped their pharaohs... but their pharaoh gods died... just like humans! Still, the Egyptians kept having new pharaoh gods.... gods could die???? ok then...
This is not the same pharaoh as the one who told Joseph to take his family to the Land of Goshen. This is the new god [better than all the other little gods before him??? ]. Anyway... This Pharaoh didn't want the Israelites to leave.
Remember there's a supply chain issue if they take off for who knows where for a few days. There would be no one to make bricks. Without bricks construction would stop. If construction stops, the Egyptians could suffer an economic downturn. Pharaoh could not allow that.
So, Pharaoh came up with a compromise. The flies must have been bugging the fire out of him... lol. They could worship in Goshen.
Moses told Pharaoh the Egyptians would not like the sacrificing the Israelites would do. So, the compromise failed and the flies came.
Swarms of flies would take off from the billions or trillions of dead maggot infested frogs that were rotting everywhere.
The sky, the ground, even the dishes the Egyptians would be eating off of.... was black with flies. Need to use the bathroom? Swipe the flies away first. Need a drink of water? Swipe the flies away first. Want to sit on a stoop? Swipe the flies away first. Want to work... swipe the flies while you try to work.
Can you imagine who the Egyptians looked? They must have had big whelps all over their bodies from the biting flies.
I googled it. According to the report, Egyptians smeared honey on themselves to attract the flies away from Pharaoh. Also, according to the report, Egyptians made fly swatters out of giraffe tails.
These verses are about the 4th Plague.
Plague 4... Flies
