Exodus 8:1-7
The Plague of Frogs
Part I
Introduction: The second plague, that of frogs, is what we’ll be looking at this week and next week. It’s filled with interesting tidbits from the Hebrew and we’ll try to fit in every one of them that we can. But it’s filled with marked rebellion by the leader of Egypt as well.
He was given an advanced warning of what was ahead and he chose to refuse to listen. When the frogs come, they will infest everything, even down to the kneading troughs where bread is made. The same is true for later in Israel’s history.
God warned Pharaoh in advance that the very place where his bread was made would be defiled by this curse. Knowing this to be true because they had actually witnessed it, the Israelites were warned that their own kneading troughs would be cursed if they didn’t pay heed to the word of the Lord.
They didn’t and God’s judgment came upon them…
Text Verse: “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: … 17 “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Deuteronomy 28:15 & 17
The word for kneading trough is only used four times in the Bible. It is used twice in the exodus account and twice in Deuteronomy – once in the promise of blessing for obedience, and once in the promise of a curse for disobedience. In Egypt, the kneading troughs of the Egyptians were cursed, but the kneading troughs of the Israelites were spared.
It was to be a sign to them and a warning. The two times in Deuteronomy let them know this is true. Oh, how good it would be for God’s people to read the words of the Bible and to heed them! If only we would humble ourselves and be obedient to His superior word.
The way to do that is to read it, study it, cherish it, and apply it to our lives. And so let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.
I. Let My People Go that They May Serve Me (verses 1-4)
1And the Lord spoke to Moses,
The last verse of chapter 7 said, “And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river.” This is generally agreed to be tied to the time the waters were as blood, not specifically the time between the first and second plagues.
However long the time was between these plagues isn’t said, but the Lord now again speaks to Moses his words of instruction. The second plague is coming, but before it does, He will give Pharaoh an opportunity to be released from it by heeding His word.
However, we will see that Pharaoh won’t do so. The Lord knew this in advance and so it’s a good time to contemplate the natural nature of these plagues, even if of divine origin. In other words, at least some of these plagues can be logically tied to one another as the result of the first plague, that of blood.
The river which turned to blood will naturally lead to the second plague of frogs. The second of frogs will naturally lead to the third plague of lice, etc. Though directed by God, He is using natural and normally occurring means to effect His desired outcome.
If this is so, and I believe it is, then it still shows us a few things. First, the miraculous nature of the plagues isn’t diminished at all. The miracle of them is that Moses is able to pinpoint the moment the plagues would start or cease.
As soon as Aaron stretched out his staff, thus initiating the cycle, the plague of blood began. This will be the same for the starting of each of the plagues and for the ending of some of them as well. Moses even allows Pharaoh to choose the set time when the plague of the frogs would cease.
Second, even if the plagues follow naturally one after another, and were certain to happen whether Pharaoh yielded or not, it means that the Lord knew, in advance, that Pharaoh would harden his heart. He also knew when that would happen, and He knew when to instruct Moses concerning the next plague to come.
Regardless as to whether any of the plagues stem logically from a previous plague or not, the miracle of those plagues remains because of God’s advanced knowledge of every detail that would come about in the unfolding of them. The time for the second plague has arrived, and so the Lord now speaks to Moses…
1 (con’t) “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
This is the standard demand that is made time and time again throughout the unfolding drama. It was made in Chapter 5, it was made in Chapter 7, it is made twice in this chapter, it will be made twice in Chapter 9, and once again in Chapter 10 as well.
Each time the Lord states this, He includes a reason. Once it was to hold a feast to Him in the wilderness. Once it was to sacrifice to Him. And six times, as in this verse, it is said so that they may serve Him. Though it is a demand, it is still a merciful offer because in the next verse he will explain the consequences if His request isn’t granted.
The implication is that if he obeys, there will be no negative consequences. If he doesn’t, then there will be. But the choice is left up to Pharaoh. This is how the Lord works. He speaks His word and then allows those who hear it to receive it or to reject it.
In Leviticus 26 and in Deuteronomy 28, He offered prosperity and blessing to Israel if they obeyed His laws. And in the same chapters, He notes the curses that would come upon them if they disobeyed. He does the same for us in the New Testament. His word is an offering of peace to those who hear and obey it, but it is an assurance of destruction to those who refuse to listen.
And this is how he expected His people to act as well. Israel was told to act this way towards the surrounding nations whom they encountered. See how the pattern of speaking to Pharaoh fits with His directions to Israel in Deuteronomy 20 –
“When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. 11 And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. 12 Now if the city will not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. 14 But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the Lord your God gives you.” Deuteronomy 20:10-14
Throughout the Bible in such an instance, just like the one here between Moses and Pharaoh, the people of a land suffer or are blessed because of the decisions of the leader. When the leader accepts such an offer, there is peace. When he refuses it, everyone alike suffers.
This is something we need to remember as well. There is no reason to assume that God works any differently today. For the nation who elects a godly leader, blessing can be expected. For those who elect people like we have in office now, we can only expect judgment to come with a strong and punishing hand.
Pharaoh will continue to learn this lesson; we will learn it soon…
2 But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your territory with frogs.
An offer of mercy has been made and the results of the refusal are now stated. Pharaoh’s choice will determine the result. As I said earlier, the plague of frogs is most probably a naturally occurring, logical result of the first plague of blood. The river died, including all the fish in it and the result is an explosion of frogs.
Because there was nothing to gobble up the tadpoles, the inevitable result is for frogs to multiply in an amazingly immense fashion. Despite the inevitable nature of the plague, the offer is still made to Pharaoh, thus showing the Lord’s pre-existing knowledge of his hardened heart.
Knowing that a refusal would come from Pharaoh doesn’t in any way demonstrate wrongdoing in the Lord. Nor does His knowing that we will refuse to obey His word demonstrate any wrongdoing towards us. We, like Pharaoh, are accountable for our actions towards His commands.
Pharaoh is now given his choice though. If he refuses to let Israel go, the land will be smitten with frogs. And in fact, the land will be smitten, just as the Lord already knows. He said as much already when He told Moses –
“And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” Exodus 7:3-5
Knowing in advance the heart of Pharaoh, all of the land of Egypt will suffer. In this verse, the term for “territory” is gebul. It properly means “borders.” In other words, the land within the borders is what will be infested. Wherever people are under his domain, they will be plagued with frogs.
The word for “frogs” is tsephardea. It is a word that is only used in connection with this plague. It is used 11 times in this chapter and twice in the psalms, referring to this chapter, and nowhere else. It comes from an unused word meaning a swamp or a marsh-leaper, and hence it indicates a frog.
It is believed that the species of frog which would have come in the plague is known as the Rana Mosaica. It is a large frog which apparently resembles a toad and it crawls more than it leaps. What is probably one of the most dreadful aspects of this particular frog is that it croaks perpetually.
This plague is actually an attack on the false gods of Egypt because they regarded the frog as a symbol of the power of procreation. Their goddess Heqet was represented as having a frog head. Because they were considered sacred, no one could voluntarily kill one.
But even the involuntary killing of a supposedly divine animal could lead to punishment, including death. Therefore, such a plague would be a burden almost beyond imagination. Every step would have to be taken with care as they trudged through a sea of croaking noise.
This is, however, the natural result of worshipping the creature rather than the Creator. Anytime we place the creation, or any part of it, above Him the inevitable result will be upheaval in the natural order of things. When a state forbids the hunting of deer because environmental wackos think it’s wrong, then the natural order is upset.
Suddenly deer take over and become an enormous problem on numerous levels. Not only do they become a physical nuisance, by impacting vegetation, soils, and other environmental features, they also become a health hazard because eventually the ticks and other parasites they carry can cause diseases to spread.
Both humans and livestock can be at risk because of increased numbers of them. Highways can have significant increases in accidents and death, and so on. One things leads to another and there are always consequences for our dismissal of the Creator as we interact with His creation.
This second verse of chapter 8 is one of warning against such things, but by the time we reach verse six, the warning will have become a reality. Pharaoh’s hard heart will see his false god of procreation become a life force which has procreated into a state of destruction.
3 So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly,
The river which the Egyptians adored in worship, giving it undue divine honors, will be the source of their coming agony. The same river which had died from the plague of blood will come alive with a most horrendous plague. The frog embryos survived through that first plague, but the predators of those embryos didn’t.
Frogs and other amphibians normally lay an immense number of eggs. This is done in order to counter the large range of predators that eat frog spawn and tadpoles. It is normally considered that at best not more than one in fifty of the eggs laid in a pond will actually make it to becoming a frog.
All of the rest will be eaten by predators such as fish and the like. However, it was seen in the first plague that all those natural predators died. Not only would one of many survive, almost all of them would. The availability of food and the lack of predators would render their birthrate at close to 100%.
The balance of nature had been upset and now there would be a reaction to it. Life which would otherwise have been measured through God’s use of natural forces was to be unleashed in an almost violent upheaval.
The frogs will come out in such a large fashion that it will appear that the river will literally vomit them out. And frogs, like all life, will look for a little space to exist and prosper. Because the banks of the river couldn’t hold them all, they would have to find other places to relax and croak away the hours…
3 (con’t) which shall go up and come into your house,
Frogs generally stay in wet areas. They look for places that have reeds or grass. This is where the tasty frog treats would live. But the sheer volume of frogs would force them to separate according to the sound of the croak. With every near croak, they would look to move a hop or two further away.
As people stepped around them, trying not to squish their little gods, the frogs would continue to move along. Houses, which were previously devoid of frogs, would be filled with them as they looked for their own space to fill. The lack of the croak would tell them that there was free space for them to move in.
But the sheer numbers of them would mean that many would move in at the same time. Because all human life in Egypt is close to the Nile or the branches which the Nile flows into, there would be a mingling of the homes of the Egyptians with the millions of frogs looking for their own pad to croak the time away.
And so Pharaoh is told, in advance, that these noisy little gods would come even b’beitekha – into your house. Pharaoh’s house may actually have had it worse off than many others because he surely would have lived close to the Nile so that he could rest his eyes upon its supposedly divine waters.
But the sight his eyes would soon behold would turn horrifying to him. His own home would become a den of loathsome, noisy, and indescribably numerous little gods that he would learn to hate rather than revere.
3 (con’t) into your bedroom,
u-bakhadar mishkavekha – into your room of bedding, namely your chamber. The very place where you found solace, intimacy with another, or rest will now become a place of constant commotion, a complete lack of intimacy, and a place where rest would be utterly impossible.
The sheer number of frogs would mean that stepping like a man would be exchanged for sliding the feet like a snake. Even in the spot of what was normally the greatest ease would be the mental turmoil of noise and personal stress. “Because you have denied My people rest, you will be denied your rest.”
3 (con’t) on your bed,
v’al mi’tatekha – and yes, even on your bed, be it a mat strewn out on the floor, or a divan or couch which was raised off the floor, your little frog gods will find you there and torment you. Not only would the noise be continuous as they croaked away incessantly, but to merely roll over while sleeping could cause the wrath of the frog-god to descend on you.
There would be terror in sleeping, terror in working, terror in any activity because of the possibility of squishing one’s hope of eternal bliss and being consigned to eternal pain. Such is the life of one who worships the creation. Knocking on wood will quickly lose its appeal for the one who whose knuckles fill with splinters as they realize the consequences of their actions.
3 (con’t) into the houses of your servants,
u-b’beit abadekha – I have asked that you allow Israel to come into the wilderness to serve me. If you deny this request, your servants will suffer the affliction of the plague. They will be so overcome with the frogs, that they will not be able to serve you.
Should you choose to deny Me what I request, I will ensure that you are also denied your service. When it becomes known that they have suffered because of you, their own hearts will harden towards you, just as your heart is hardened toward me.
It is an indication of divine reciprocity. And it will not be limited to Pharaoh’s servants…
3 (con’t) on your people,
u-b’ammekha – Yes, the people in your kingdom will suffer the consequences of your denying to let My people go. I have asked for their release, but if they are to continue to suffer under you, then your people will suffer from My hand.
3 (con’t) into your ovens,
u-b’tannurekha – These ovens, or tannur, are basically small firepots or even portable earthenware furnaces. After bread was kneaded, it would be flattened out into a circular shape and hand pressed against the inside of the oven. It would bake while adhering to the wall and then be removed to enjoy.
This type of oven is actually still used in parts of the world today. The same word for them is used to describe the smoking oven which represented the presence of God in the vision Abraham beheld in Genesis 15 when the covenant with him was made.
In Isaiah and Malachi, this oven represents divine judgment. In Lamentations, it represents destructive famine. The parallels to this account are obvious. God’s presence would be felt through the plague. The ovens, being filled with frogs, couldn’t be used to make bread, thus it is a metaphor for His divine judgment. And this judgment would then result in hunger because of the lack of bread.
Pharaoh would have to consider all of this before making his decision to accept or reject the demand of Yehovah.
3 (con’t) and into your kneading bowls.
u-b’misharotekha – What is worse than not being able to eat bread from the ovens is that even the kneading bowls would be defiled. The mishereth was a small household vessel of wood and shaped like a trough where flour would be mixed with water. Normally, there would be a piece of already-fermented dough as well so that the yeast would spread to the entire new batch of dough.
These same bowls will be mentioned again in Exodus 12 as the people prepare to leave Egypt. They were small enough to be wrapped in a person’s clothing and carried right on the shoulder. In the case of the plague, the slimy frogs would even get into these most-personal of household appliances.
They would ooze their slime into them or maybe relieve themselves as they sat croaking in them. The Egyptian culture was known especially for its exceptional cleanliness. Such a plague would be as loathsome and revolting to them as just about anything we could envision today.
Just imagine the thought of being plagued with such slimy, noisy creatures that were just small enough to get into everything and to be a hindrance to any sort of normal mobility. But they were also creatures which couldn’t be killed because they were considered divine.
Imagine trying to open a door or do whatever normal work needed to be done! You would fear that you might crush one of your little gods in the process! The very religion that they espoused would become as loathsome to them as the creatures themselves were. As the Pulpit commentary wisely notes –
“Their animal-worship was thus proved absurd and ridiculous. They were obliged to respect the creatures which they hated – to preserve the animals they would fain have swept from the face of the earth.” Pulpit Commentary
4 And the frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants.”’”
Although it isn’t explicitly stated here as it will be in later plagues, the words of verse 1 imply that the plague will only fall on the Egyptians. In verse 1, He said, “Let My people go that they may serve me.” Now it is repeated that the frogs would come upon “your people, and on all your servants.”
An implicit distinction is being made. And so not only would the homes and all of the home life associated with the homes of the Egyptians be infested, but even the people themselves. The frogs would be so numerous that as people slept, they would crawl right up on them, maybe stopping on an arm or a cheek for a little rest.
As they took their baths, the frogs would join in for a swim. As they ate their food, the frogs would be there ready to crawl onto the plate or into the cup. The Lord has taken this minute-sized creature and turned it into a giant-sized problem. Adam Clarke notes that –
“In the present instance he shows the greatness of his power by making an animal, devoid of every evil quality, the means of a terrible affliction to his enemies.” Adam Clarke
The frogs would have become offensive to the eyes, harsh on the ears, grating to the weary mind, and repulsive to the touch as they brushed against them, stepped on them, or had them hopping around on them in the dark of the night.
A little rest and a little ease as I lay me down
But it never comes: I fear rolling over on my bed
If I do, I may squash a god! Oh how heaven would frown!
All these terrible thoughts keep running through my head
What can I do? Nature has taken a stand against meThe very things I worship have become my enemy
If there were but one God, the Creator of all
Then I wouldn’t have to serve the creation, wouldn’t that be nice!
On such a marvelous God, surely I would callIt would be great because after these frogs will come the lice
Oh No!
II. Stretch Out Your Hand with Your Rod (verses 5 & 6)
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses,
What is unstated, but implied in verse 5 is that Pharaoh declined the merciful offer of Yehovah. He may not have believed Him at all, or He may have actually believed Him, but misjudged the scope of the plague.
No matter what is true, Yehovah now speaks to Moses once again. The words will contain the divine direction to strike the mighty land of Egypt with a sorrowful plague for a second time…
5 (con’t) “Say to Aaron,
In Exodus 4:16, the Lord said this to Moses about Aaron –
“So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.” Exodus 4:16
As has already happened, and as will continue to occur, God speaks to Moses words which are to be relayed on to Aaron. He is the spokesman, but he is also the one who is often tasked with assuming the action to be taken as well. Such is the case with the second plague…
5 (con’t) ‘Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.’”
The same bodies of water are mentioned here that are mentioned in Exodus 7:19 – the streams, rivers, and ponds. However, there is one difference. In 7:19, it also included miqveh or “pools” which we noted were probably manmade and used for storing water.
Thus we have an amazing confirmation of the surety of the truth of this passage. The one place that tadpoles wouldn’t flourish is not mentioned. These cisterns would have been kept clean for healthy drinking water and so frog spawn and tadpoles wouldn’t find them suitable habitats.
And so when the Lord directs the rod to be stretched out over the waters, the miqveh are left out of the description. Even the scholars and commentators that I read for this plague missed this, showing that it isn’t something readily noticeable, but once it is seen, it is a sure sign of the truth of the account.
How can it be that people so quickly dismiss the word of God! It is an inexhaustible source of wisdom and a reliable witness to what it puts forth. And yet so many just ignore it without giving it due consideration.
The miqveh aside though, all of the naturally flowing waters of Egypt will now bring forth frogs. But the miracle isn’t the frogs so much as the timing of their coming. The frogs are a natural result of the first plague and they were sure to come, but the timing of them coming is right as the word of the Lord directs Moses to have Aaron speak and act.
This is the marvel of what has come about. It is natural enough to further harden Pharaoh’s heart, but it is also unusual enough to warn him that the Divine hand is certainly behind the occurrence. He will see enough to understand, but not understand enough in order to act.
6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt,
As instructed, Aaron complied. The hand holds the rod, and the rod symbolizes the power of God with which to effect the miracle. At the stretching forth of the rod, the frogs heed the divine call and move to this inner urge instilled by their Creator. It beckons them to the great display of which they have been designed for and destined to participate in…
6 (con’t) and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
It’s funny how people who don’t believe the Bible never argue that the plagues didn’t happen. Instead, they always try to find ways of explaining them from a natural rather than a divine perspective. By doing this, they show that they implicitly believe the story to be credible, at least from a historical perspective.
But even if there is someone who was to say this simply never occurred, all they need to do is look elsewhere in history to show that it very well could have. The Pulpit Commentary provides us with this record of the past –
“In Paeonia and Dardania,”says Phoenias, a disciple of Aristotle, “there appeared once suddenly such a number of frogs, that they filled the houses and the streets. Therefore – as killing them, or shutting the doors, was of no avail; as even the vessels were full of them, the water infected, and all food uneatable; as they could scarcely set their foot upon the ground without treading on heaps of them, and as they were vexed by the smell of the great numbers which died – they fled from that region altogether.”
And so we have an extra-biblical account which shows us the same type of occurrence has happened in the past. The difference is that the biblical account presupposes that it is an act of God and that it is directed by Him to meet His purposes at the exact moment that He proclaims it will occur.
I can’t wait for dinner and for a moment these frogs to forget
I wonder what the wife has prepared for me to eat
Before I sit down, I’d better wash my hands
And then check that there aren’t any frogs in my seat
What is that you cooked, my dear, it sure smells nice
How did you fare while cooking with all these frogs around
Mmmmm, that is yummy, just the right amount of spice
I just wish we could get some peace from that horrid croaking sound
These bones sure are little, but tasty is the meat
Wait, this can’t be… did you cook us frog stew?
Now we will never get to heaven and paradise so sweet
My dear, what is this thing that to me you did do?
You have cooked our god
No heavenly streets will we trod!
III. False Signs and Lying Wonders (verse 7)
7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.
This verse actually tickles me because the full force of the plague hadn’t yet arrived and Pharaoh didn’t see all that was coming in the hours ahead. But in order to demonstrate that this wasn’t beyond their capabilities, the magicians of Egypt brought up frogs as well, thus only exacerbating the scope of the dilemma they would face.
What they probably did was something similar to the rabbit in the hat trick of magicians today. They were able to make frogs appear supposedly at will and thus demonstrate that they were effective workers on behalf of Egypt’s gods. However, any decent magician can not only make rabbits appear, but they can also make them disappear.
But the magicians of Egypt couldn’t undo the great plague of the Lord. Thus, even though they could supposedly replicate His miracle on some smaller scale, they had no ability to undo the work which He had wrought.
For a second time though, their actions are enough to get Pharaoh to consider that Yehovah was like his own false gods. For him, it will be a stinky and cumbersome lesson that he will have to endure for a season. But it will be a lesson that he will also fail to take to heart.
This second plague and its results are not unlike what is noted in Revelation. In the 16th chapter, we read this –
“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Revelation 16:13-14
The frogs of the magicians of Egypt became a false sign and a lying wonder to Pharaoh. In the same way, there will be false signs and lying wonders which will be accomplished by unclean spirits that appear like frogs in the end times.
It should be noted here that this is the last sign or wonder accomplished by the Lord through Moses and Aaron which can be copied by the magicians of Pharaoh. There was the rod which became a serpent; there was the water which turned to blood; and there are the frogs which are brought forth.
Just as there were three unholy replicas of the Lord’s work, there will also be three unclean spirits which come forth in the end times. Three were sufficient to harden Pharaoh just enough to keep him on his wayward course, and three will be sufficient to work their evil in bringing about the final great battle in the end times.
If you are like me, then you probably feel that those end times are just around the corner. All of the signs of the end are here. The world has turned from the true message of God, and even His church has gone far, far off course. The word is no longer held in high esteem and this world is a cesspool of that which is vile.
Jesus is probably coming soon. When He does, He will only be coming for those who have received Him as Savior. For those left behind, a terrible time of trial, pictured by these plagues of Egypt, will come on a global scale. It is my hope that you’ll be on that heavenly train out of here.
In order to do so, let me tell you what you need to know…
Closing Verse: “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: … 5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Deuteronomy 28:1, 2 & 5
Next Week: Exodus 8:8-15 (The Plague of Frogs, Part II)
The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. Even if a deep ocean lies ahead of You, He can part the waters and lead you through it on dry ground. So follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.
The Plague of Frogs
And the Lord spoke to Moses this word
“Go to Pharaoh and say to him with My authority
“Thus says the Lord:
“Let My people go, that they may serve Me
But if you refuse to let them go, behold
I will smite all your territory with frogs
Unless you do as I have to you told
So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly
Which shall go up and come into your house, as you will see
Into your bedroom, on your bed
Yes, they will be there when you try to lay your head
Into the houses of your servants, as I have said
Even on your people, they won’t stop
Into your ovens, where you bake your bread
And into your kneading bowls, they will hop
And the frogs shall come up on you
On your people, and on all your servants too
Then the Lord spoke to Moses this word
“Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand
With your rod over the streams, as you have heard
Over the rivers, and over the ponds throughout the land
And cause frogs to come up on Egypt the land
Do this now just as I command
So Aaron stretched out his hand
Over the waters of Egypt
And the frogs came up and covered Egypt the land
And the magicians did so with their enchantments
And brought up frogs on the land of Egypt
And it was through these accomplishments
And by these lying wonders that his heart was tripped
Surely God looks upon each heart
Knowing whether it will be soft or not
He knows which will desire a new start
And for that one a he has reserved a heavenly spot
The choice is up to each one of us
And God will lead the heart as it is so disposed
He will lead it toward life in Jesus
Or away from it, if that heart is hard and closed
So let your heart be open and tender to His call
Allow Him in and let Him work salvation in you
And upon you His grace and mercy shall fall
What a God! What a friend! Ever faithful and true
We praise You, O Lord our God
Our hearts sing joyous hallelujahs to You!
And they shall forever more as we trod
In Your glorious light when, behold, You make all things new
Hallelujah and Amen…