FROGS!
Part 2
of 3 in What’s the Deal, Pharaoh? Series
Exodus
8:1-12
Exodus
8:6: “So Aaron stretched out his hand
over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land.”
We can see Moses and Aaron getting
red-faced when Pharaoh’s magicians performed the same miraculous acts as God commanded
they do (Exodus 8:7). People get
embarrassed when something they plan goes terribly wrong. But God wasn’t surprised, nor was He embarrassed. We can imagine God chuckling at Pharaoh.
People also get embarrassed when made
to look a fool, which is what Pharaoh is.
But Pharaoh thinks that he’s
awesome. Pharaoh thinks that he’s holding
the trump card that will keep Israelite slaves in Egypt. Egyptians never had it so good. Israelites did the dirty work. They weren’t paid for their efforts. They were overworked and abused. But the Israelites had a trump card that beat
Pharaoh’s.
Their trump card is Almighty
God. YHWH. LORD. Elohim.
Frogs were the second plague that
God sent Pharaoh for another chance to let His people go. Pharaoh didn’t even blink. Despite there being frogs in the bed, on
Pharaoh’s head, in his nose, on his toes, frogs were jumping everywhere! In fact, that was a children’s song.
Cute.
Not so cute. The original Hebrew Scripture said, “So Aaron
stretched out his hand … and the frog came up and covered the land.” Frog singular. One frog.
That one frog covered the whole land somehow!
Apparently, when the Egyptians
struck this frog, instead of dying, the frog multiplied into two. When two frogs were hit, they became
four. Four became eight…until this one
frog covered the whole land.
Why didn’t the Egyptians stop
hitting the frogs when they saw what was happening? See lesson linked below
Anger.
Anger is self-destructive. Anger never helps a situation, but works the
opposite of what is intended. Anger
didn’t stop the Egyptians trying to kill frogs that they saw were multiplying
in front of their eyes. Anger stops people
from seeing truth. The power of anger is
that it destroys everything and everyone that comes in its path.
Take Home Nugget
Maimonides
was a medieval philosopher. He taught
that every character trait (like generosity) has a middle road. It’s okay to be generous, but don’t give away
everything. There is a middle ground.
However, there are two character
traits—arrogance and anger—where Maimonides admits there is no middle ground. It’s best to avoid both at all costs. In fact, arrogance and anger both reduce
people from how they’re originally created in God’s image. Their anger, their arrogance hurts themselves
most of all.
The answer to “What do I have to
lose from being angry?” is EVERYTHING!
Father,
warn me to flee from anger and arrogance immediately, I ask in Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Adapted from “The Frog that
Covered the Land” by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.
January 26, 2017. www.holylandmoments.com
J.D. Griffith
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