The Fourth Plague: Flies

                                                                   Exodus 8: 20-32

 

August 26, 2025

 

The Fourth Plague: Flies

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “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 you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand.  But on that day, I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.  Thus, I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen. ”And the Lord did so. There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt, the land was ruined by the swarms of flies.

Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.”  But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us?  We must go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us.” So, Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. Plead for me.” Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”  So, Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord.  And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained.  But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.

As a follower of Christ, are you more like Moses or Pharaoh?  I hope you did not answer before giving a lot of thought to both men.  Our first account of Moses as a man was watching an Egyptian mistreat a Jewish person, and Moses killed that dude, and his next encounter was with two Jewish men in some kind of fight, and Moses broke it up, and one of them said Are you going to kill us as you did the Egyptian?  That was when he got out of town, in fear that Pharaoh would hear and kill him.  Is that Moses, you're like, the one that trying to help God out by using the tools of this world?

What about Moses the shepherd, a shepherd who was despised by the Egyptians, but as a son of Pharaoh's daughter, he was a prince.  He left that life and married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, a priest of Midian.  Our next encounter with Moses the shepherd is, he sees a bush on fire, but not consumed.  Now that our first view of Moses is that God could use him to be His Messenger.  As he approached the bush, Moses heard the voice of God, saying, Moses, take off your shoes, for the ground is holy ground.  Would you have heard that voice? A better question would you be willing to cut off the noise and listen to God’s voice?  Moses was in a quiet place, a pasture; he left the sheep to see the bush that was burning but not consumed.  Are you willing to put yourself in a quiet place with the word of God and listen for God to tell you His plans for your life?

The next time we see Moses is asking his father-in-law if he can leave, being subject to the authority God had put over him.  Are you willing to do that?  That is the kind of man or woman God will use.

What about Pharaoh? He's the top guy. Is that your goal?  He had people doing what He desired to be done. Is that your goal?  He was not to be trusted; he said one thing and did another. Is that the person you are?  He began to fear what God might do, but refused to bow down to a Holy God. Is that you?

John 21 20-22 is a good word to us; ^“Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”  When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”  Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice