The Lord told Moses to tell Pharaoh to, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” If Pharaoh refused God would plague the country with frogs. The Lord told Moses to tell Aaron to stretch out his hand with his staff over the rivers, canals, and pools and make the frogs come up. Aaron did and frogs covered the land. Pharaoh’s magicians did the same and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. Pharaoh asked Moses and Aaron to plead with the Lord to take the frogs away and he will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. Moses agreed and said, “Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.” Moses cried to the Lord about the frogs, and the Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out and they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. But Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. The Lord told Moses to tell Aaron to stretch out his staff, strike the dust of the earth, so it becomes gnats. They did and all the dust of the earth became gnats. Pharoah’s magicians couldn’t do this. The magicians told Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he wouldn’t listen to them. The Lord told Moses to rise up in the morning, present himself to Pharaoh, and as he goes in the water to say, the Lord says, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on all Egypt, except Goshen where Israel dwelled. Then the Lord did this. Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” Moses refused saying sacrifices to the Lord are an abomination to the Egyptians – they’ll stone us. We must go 3 days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He tells us. Pharaoh said he’d let them do this, and to plead for Pharaoh too. Moses said he’d plead that the swarms of flies depart. Moses exhorted Pharaoh not to cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. The Lord did as Moses asked and removed the flies. But Pharaoh hardened his heart and didn’t let the people go.
God saves His people through judgment. Notice the patience of God. He knows Israel has been enslaved for hundreds of years. And He judges Egypt in plagues, but He doesn’t utterly destroy them. He is kind to send Moses and Aaron to again and again plead with Pharaoh to turn from His sin and let Israel go. And consider God’s kindness in the driving motivation of letting Israel go – worship. God is securing their release from bondage to slavery so that they might serve the Lord, and sacrifice to the Lord. We are undeserving, yet God is relentless in liberating us from our bondage so that we might be free to come and worship Him in an acceptable way.