Does Pharao let the people go after the frogs and flies are removed?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

No. He promises permission during the plagues, but after relief he refuses again. The chapter also records the magicians’ failure to produce sciniphs and God’s promise to spare Gessen from flies.

Chapter breakdown

Does Pharao let the people go after the frogs and flies are removed? No. He promises permission during the plagues, but after relief he refuses again. The chapter also records the magicians’ failure to produce sciniphs and God’s promise to spare Gessen from flies.

God tells Moses to go to Pharao and demand that he let God’s people go to sacrifice. If he refuses, God will strike all his coasts with frogs. The river will bring forth many frogs. They will enter his house, bedchamber and bed, the houses of his servants, his people, his ovens and the remains of his food. They will come upon him, his people and all his servants.

God tells Moses to have Aaron stretch his hand over the streams, rivers and pools and bring frogs onto Egypt’s land. Aaron stretches his hand over Egypt’s waters, and frogs come up and cover the land. The magicians also bring frogs onto Egypt’s land by their enchantments.

Pharao calls Moses and Aaron and asks them to pray to the Lord to remove the frogs from him and his people. He promises to let the people go to sacrifice. Challoner’s note says the magicians could bring frogs with the devil’s help but could not remove them because God limited Satan’s power in this. The note also points to their later failure to produce the lesser insects and their acknowledgment of the finger of God.

Moses asks Pharao to set a time for prayer for him, his servants and his people, so the frogs may leave them and his house and remain only in the river. Pharao answers, “To morrow.” Moses says he will do as Pharao asks, so the king may know that none is like the Lord their God. The frogs will leave the king, his house, his servants and his people, remaining only in the river.

Moses and Aaron leave Pharao. Moses cries to the Lord concerning his promise to the king about the frogs. The Lord acts according to Moses’ word: the frogs die out of the houses, villages and fields. They are gathered into immense heaps, and the land is corrupted. Seeing that rest is given, Pharao hardens his own heart and does not listen, as the Lord had commanded. Challoner’s note says Pharao himself causes his heart to be hardened, rather than God. The note points to the repetition in verse 32 and also cites Exodus 9:7, 9:35 and 13:15.

God tells Moses to have Aaron stretch out his rod and strike the dust, so there may be sciniphs throughout Egypt. Challoner’s note gives the alternative name Cinifs and the Hebrew Chinnim, explaining them as small flying insects very troublesome to people and beasts. Aaron stretches out his hand holding the rod and strikes the dust. Sciniphs come upon people and beasts, and all the dust throughout Egypt turns into sciniphs.

The magicians try by enchantments to bring forth sciniphs but cannot. The sciniphs are on people and beasts. The magicians tell Pharao, “This is the finger of God.” His heart is hardened and he does not listen to them, as the Lord had commanded.

God tells Moses to rise early and stand before Pharao as the king goes out to the waters. He must demand that God’s people be allowed to go and sacrifice. If Pharao refuses, God will send all kinds of flies upon him, his servants and his houses. The Egyptians’ houses and the land where they are will be filled with flies. God will make Gessen, where his people live, wonderful that day: no flies will be there, so Pharao may know that he is the Lord in the midst of the earth. God will put a division between his people and Pharao’s people. The sign is to be tomorrow.

The Lord does so. A very grievous swarm of flies comes into the houses of Pharao and his servants and throughout Egypt; the land is corrupted by these flies. Pharao calls Moses and Aaron and tells them to go and sacrifice to their God in this land.

Moses says this cannot be done: they will sacrifice what the Egyptians consider objects of worship to the Lord, and if they kill those things in the Egyptians’ presence, the Egyptians will stone them. Challoner’s note explains the “abominations” as things worshipped as gods, such as oxen and rams. It says Scripture calls idols and false gods abominations to express how God’s people ought to detest them. Moses says they will go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice as the Lord commanded. Pharao says he will let them sacrifice in the wilderness, but they must go no farther, and asks Moses to pray for him.

Moses says he will leave Pharao and pray to the Lord, and that tomorrow the flies will leave the king, his servants and his people. He warns Pharao not to deceive them again by refusing to let the people go to sacrifice. Moses leaves and prays. The Lord acts according to his word, taking away every fly from Pharao, his servants and his people; not one remains. Pharao’s heart is hardened, and this time too he does not let the people go.

The story inside

The frog and fly episodes each join a promise of permission with requested prayer, relief and renewed refusal. With the frogs, Pharao chooses tomorrow as the time; Moses prays, the frogs die outside the river, and the king hardens his own heart when rest is given. With the flies, the king first proposes sacrifice in Egypt. Moses refuses because killing the things the Egyptians worship in their presence would bring stoning, and insists on the commanded three-day journey. After Pharao offers limited permission, Moses promises prayer but warns against deception. The flies are entirely removed, yet Pharao again refuses. Between these episodes, the magicians fail to produce sciniphs and acknowledge the finger of God without gaining the king’s attention. (Exodus 8:8–32.)

Lessons worth keeping

1
The promises must be read with the responses after relief. Pharao promises permission during the frogs and later during the flies. After the frogs he hardens his own heart; after the flies he still does not release the people. The promises do not become a completed departure here. (8:8–15, 28–32.)
2
The magicians’ success and failure are different events. They bring forth frogs by enchantments, but cannot bring forth sciniphs. They then name the finger of God. Challoner separately explains the inability to remove frogs and the restraint of the devil’s power. (8:7–8 and note, 18–19.)
3
Moses gives a specific reason for refusing sacrifice within Egypt. He says killing what the Egyptians worship in their presence would lead them to stone the Israelites. He asks for the commanded three-day journey into the wilderness. Challoner’s identification of oxen and rams remains a note on that response. (8:25–28 and note.)

Test your recall

Why does Moses ask Pharao to set a time for prayer about the frogs? He offers prayer so the frogs will leave Pharao, his house, servants and people and remain only in the river; Pharao chooses tomorrow. Why does Moses refuse sacrifice in Egypt? He says the Egyptians will stone them if they kill the things the Egyptians worship in their presence. What happens after prayer removes every fly?

Show answer

Pharao still does not let the people go. (8:9–11, 25–32.)

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 6683–6689
Exodus Chapter 8 The second plague is of frogs: Pharao promiseth to let the Israelites go, but breaketh his promise. The third plague is of sciniphs. The fourth is of flies. Pharao again promiseth to dismiss the people, but doth it not.
Lines 6690–6703
8:1. And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. 8:2. But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will strike all thy coasts with frogs. 8:3. And the river shall bring forth an abundance of frogs; which shall come up and enter into thy house, and thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the houses of thy servants, and to thy people, and into thy ovens, and into the remains of thy meats: 8:4. And the frogs shall come in to thee, and to thy people, and to all thy servants.
Lines 6704–6713
8:5. And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron: Stretch forth thy hand upon the streams, and upon the rivers and the pools, and bring forth frogs upon the land of Egypt. 8:6. And Aaron stretched forth his hand upon the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. 8:7. And the magicians also, by their enchantments, did in like manner, and they brought forth frogs upon the land of Egypt.
Lines 6714–6724
8:8. But Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Pray ye to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. Pray ye to the Lord, etc.... By this it appears, that though the magicians, by the help of the devil, could bring frogs, yet they could not take them away: God being pleased to abridge in this the power of Satan. So we see they could not afterwards produce the lesser insects; and in this restraint of the power of the devil, were forced to acknowledge the finger of God.
Lines 6725–6737
8:9. And Moses said to Pharao: Set me a time when I shall pray for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs may be driven away from thee and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and may remain only in the river. 8:10. And he answered: To morrow. But he said: I will do according to thy word; that thou mayest know that there is none like to the Lord our God. 8:11. And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and shall remain only in the river.
Lines 6738–6755
8:12. And Moses and Aaron went forth from Pharao: and Moses cried to the Lord for the promise, which he had made to Pharao concerning the frogs. 8:13. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses: and the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields: 8:14. And they gathered them together into immense heaps, and the land was corrupted. 8:15. And Pharao seeing that rest was given, hardened his own heart, and did not hear them, as the Lord had commanded. Pharao hardened his own heart.... By this we see that Pharao was himself the efficient cause of his heart being hardened, and not God.—See the same repeated in ver. 32. Pharao hardened his heart at this time also: likewise chap. 9.7, 35, and chap. 13.15.
Lines 6756–6767
8:16. And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron: Stretch forth thy rod, and strike the dust of the earth; and may there be sciniphs in all the land of Egypt. Sciniphs.... Or Cinifs, Hebrew Chinnim, small flying insects, very troublesome both to men and beast. 8:17. And they did so. And Aaron stretched forth his hand, holding the rod; and he struck the dust of the earth, and there came sciniphs on men and on beasts: all the dust of the earth was turned into sciniphs through all the land of Egypt.
Lines 6768–6775
8:18. And the magicians with their enchantments practised in like manner, to bring forth sciniphs, and they could not: and there were sciniphs as well on men as on beasts. 8:19. And the magicians said to Pharao: This is the finger of God. And Pharao’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had commanded.
Lines 6776–6791
8:20. The Lord also said to Moses: Arise early, and stand before Pharao; for he will go forth to the waters: and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. 8:21. But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will send in upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy houses, all kind of flies: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with flies of divers kinds, and the whole land wherein they shall be. 8:22. And I will make the land of Gessen wherein my people is, wonderful in that day, so that flies shall not be there: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. 8:23. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.
Lines 6792–6798
8:24. And the Lord did so. And there came a very grievous swarm of flies into the houses of Pharao and of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt: and the land was corrupted by this kind of flies. 8:25. And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go and sacrifice to your God in this land.
Lines 6799–6814
8:26. And Moses said: It cannot be so: for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: now if we kill those things which the Egyptians worship, in their presence, they will stone us. The abominations, etc.... That is, the things they worship for Gods: oxen, rams, etc. It is the usual style of the scriptures to call all idols and false gods, abominations, to signify how much the people of God ought to detest and abhor them. 8:27. We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness; and we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. 8:28. And Pharao said: I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but go no farther: pray for me.
Lines 6815–6829
8:29. And Moses said: I will go out from thee, and will pray to the Lord: and the flies shall depart from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people to morrow: but do not deceive any more, in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. 8:30. So Moses went out from Pharao, and prayed to the Lord. 8:31. And he did according to his word: and he took away the flies from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people: there was not left so much as one. 8:32. And Pharao’s heart was hardened, so that neither this time would he let the people go.