Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends and welcome to the weekend!
Have you ever seen a rainstorm where it’s not raining on you but you can see the rain on the other side of the street, right in front of you! These days we’re in a very exciting journey with Moses as God is working His strategic plan to rescue nearly 1 million Hebrew slaves from Egyptian bondage. Despite remarkable power demonstrations from God, Pharaoh’s heart remains rock solid, immovable. He absolutely refuses to acknowledge Moses’ God or give any consideration to releasing his slave workforce.
Once again Moses is receiving instructions from God, so let’s join him. The Exodus record says: “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh, say to him: ‘This is what the LORD says, ‘Let My people go so that they may worship Me. If you refuse I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials and your people and into your houses…. 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. I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This miraculous sign will occur tomorrow.” (Ex. 8:20-23) Look at the scowl on Pharaoh’s face, but the wide eyes of astonishment on his officials’ faces who stand in his throne room to assist him in governing this great land of Egypt. This will now be the fifth time something beyond explanation occurs with advance warning from Moses. Oh how well these men remember…
First it was snakes in the Pharaoh’s throne room, remember? (Ex. 7:10-13)
Then it was the great Nile river turned to blood, remember? (Ex. 7:14-24)
Then, a week later, it was a nationwide invasion of frogs, remember? (Ex. 8:1-15) As bad as the frogs were, it was even worse when they all died and the people of Egypt were left dealing with finding ways of collecting and disposing of millions of dead, decomposing frogs!
Then it was swarms of gnats, remember? (Ex. 8:16-19)
I doubt any magicians or sorcerers were in the throne room on this day when Moses predicted flies will invade the land of Egypt, do you remember why? These demonically empowered sorcerers had duplicated God’s miracles of the snakes, the blood and the frogs, but their powers failed them when it came to the gnats, and they declared to the Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God”. (Ex. 8:19) I suspect from that moment of surrender, the Pharaoh may have expelled them from his presence. He was intolerant of weakness, of failure, of surrender. While these sorcerers had been helpful to Pharaoh in the past, he had no use for them now.
I doubt Pharaoh had any trouble imagining swarms of flies. Egypt, as many parts of our world with warm climates, is home to some flies year round, and with the invasion of innumerable frogs and suffocating swarms of gnats, Pharaoh would have no problem imagining clouds of flies descending upon Egypt. But Moses was right, homes in those days had open windows and doors. It would be virtually impossible to keep the flies out of the palace or any home in Egypt. What was most intriguing to Pharaoh was Moses’ prediction that NO flies would be found in Goshen, the region of Egypt where the Hebrew slaves lived. In the Pharaoh’s mind that would be impossible. No force on earth can control the flight of flies nor the direction of wind. This Pharaoh would have to see for himself! Evidently Moses delivered this startling message to Pharaoh and left without discussion. Pharaoh had a few hours to prepare. I imagine Moses went to Goshen ready to call as many people as he could tell, to watch for a remarkable miracle tomorrow! Now I ask you my friends, how do you imagine God could keep flies out of Goshen??
The record says in Exodus 8:24: “Then the LORD did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials, and throughout Egypt the land was ruined by flies!” Can you picture it? I see Pharaoh out in the early morning watching a beautiful sunrise, talking with his officials about the ridiculous prediction of Moses, and then over there, look at what appears to be a big dark cloud coming from the east. As it gets closer Pharaoh and his officials hear a sound, a buzzing sound, and then before they can do anything but run, they are engulfed in a thick, dense cloud of swarming, buzzing flies. They can’t open their mouths to shout, flies will fill their mouths. They squint trying to protect their eyes, and they run. But as they run they need to breathe and with each breath they take flies into their mouths! Spitting the flies out they cover their mouths and faces with their sand scarfs which they always wear to protect from blowing sand…only now it’s protection from thick clouds of buzzing flies!!
As they arrive into the palace they are shocked to see the walls, tables, chairs, beds...every surface is covered with flies! In the kitchen the cooks have quickly spread sheets over the food, there will be no eating anytime soon, for no one will risk opening their mouth! Screams can be heard throughout the palace and all across Egypt. The plague of flies is beyond description. There is no escape…anywhere. But for those Egyptians who live on the border of the region of Goshen, they see an amazing phenomenon. It appears an invisible curtain reaching from the ground high into the sky separates Goshen from the rest of Egypt for not one fly can be seen in Goshen, not one! Word is sent to the Pharaoh… Goshen has no flies! How can it be that Egypt is being deluged by swarms of flies, even in the palace, but where the Hebrew slaves are, not one fly can be found? Pharaoh sends word to Moses… ‘come quickly, we are dying in the flies.’
It’s a short meeting. It’s almost impossible to speak when swarmed with flies! Pharaoh says: “Go, sacrifice to your God here in this land of Egypt.” But Pharaoh is in no position to negotiate. Moses declines declaring they must take at least a three day journey away from Egypt. Pharaoh concedes, sort of: “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in the desert, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.” (Ex. 8:26-28) Pharaoh and his officials are hiding under sheets covered with flies. The magicians and sorcerers are nowhere to be found. Guards stand at the post literally covered with flies. The buzzing sound of the flies would sound to us like a dentist drill!! Can you hear it?
As Moses turns to leave the fly infested palace he has both a promise and a warning for Pharaoh, listen: “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the LORD and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh, his officials and his people. Only be sure that Pharaoh does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD.’ Then Moses left Pharaoh’s presence…” (Ex. 8:29) I can imagine Pharaoh cried out after Moses demanding that the flies be removed immediately! It would be inhumane for God to allow the flies to continue swarming Egypt all through the night and into the next day!! But Moses is resolute, there will be no further negotiations. Pharaoh will suffer the constant buzzing and the thick cloud of flies in his palace all through this night and into tomorrow. He’ll not be able to get out from under the sheet where he hides like a frightened child for several more hours. Meanwhile Moses walks through the cloud of flies, through the invisible curtain, and into Goshen and sits down to eat a simple meal with other Hebrew slaves, but not one fly!
Because Pharaoh had to wait until tomorrow to see what God would do, I think we’ll do the same! And wherever you live around the world, if you happen to see or hear a fly, look closely and imagine you were swarmed with millions of them for the next several hours… but for the Hebrew slaves, clear air, simple but good food, a quiet night’s rest. I think it’s time to thank God for His miraculous power that you and I experience everyday… Here’s a song to help us all thank God, my friends!
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 8:20-29.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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