Read with Me
Exodus 8:16-19 (HCSB)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, and it will become gnats throughout the land of Egypt.” And they did this. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and when he struck the dust of the earth, gnats were on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats throughout the land of Egypt. The magicians tried to produce gnats using their occult practices, but they could not. The gnats remained on man and beast.
“This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
Listen with Me
The third plague is hard to define by modern translations, which translate the word Moses used as gnats, lice, ticks, fleas, flies, or mosquitoes. But mosquitoes is probably the most accurate translation. Like the frogs, mosquitoes were a common occurrence in Egypt with all the ponds and canals that had been constructed and that contained standing water nearly all year.
But, similar to the frogs, when Aaron struck the dust to the ground with his staff, instead of a manageable number that was mostly just annoying and could be escaped by staying further away from the standing water, massive clouds of mosquitoes rose from the ground and descended on the people no matter where they were, biting them and leaving great welts on every inch of their bodies.
The magicians were called on to duplicate the effect, but this time, they couldn’t figure out a way to accomplish it. At that point, they realized that this was no trickery, but the finger of Yahweh, the God of Moses and Aaron. But even though they warned Pharaoh about what was really going on, Pharaoh’s heart remained as hard as a rock.
Pray with Me
Father I am amazed at Pharaoh’s hardness of heart, even when the evidence was clearly before him that it was You who was behind these plagues. I am also amazed at Your patience. Even though You can see the end from the beginning, even though You knew that Pharaoh would never give in, You didn’t just wipe him out immediately. Instead, You gave him nine opportunities to turn away from his ruinous course of action and surrender before You let the hammer fall. Looking back, I can see in my own life that you were just as patient. There were so many times that You could have just destroyed me completely. But You continued to push, to prod, to urge until I finally came to the end of myself and surrendered to You. Thank You, lord, for Your unfailing love that goes so far to draw us back before You are willing to punish. Amen.