And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.
Exodus 8:14 belongs to the plague of frogs, which came up from the Nile and spread throughout Egypt as a nuisance and torment. That plague turned the revered river, a sacred object of worship, into a source of pollution, showing that the true God has power over the Nile and that the Egyptian gods could not protect their worshipers.
At the appointed hour the living frogs were removed in answer to prayer, but the effect remained, for the frogs died where they were and were gathered together into heaps. Their rotting bodies lay in sight to be seen and smelled while they polluted the atmosphere and corrupted the air so that the land stank. The magicians with their enchantments could appear to bring up frogs, but they could not remove them.
God could have caused the dead frogs to disappear and return to dust in a moment, but He deliberately left them instead of doing this. He did this on purpose lest Pharaoh and the Egyptians should say their removal was the result of magic like the work of the magicians. By leaving the dead heaps, Pharaoh and all Egypt were given visible evidence that vain philosophy could not dispose of or explain away. That evidence proved that the work was not accomplished by magic or enchantment but was a judgment from the God of heaven.
The need for such proof was great because the magicians had led Pharaoh to believe that the rod becoming a serpent and the river turned to blood were performed by magic, and their influence only increased his hatred of Israel. The power displayed through Moses before Pharaoh in this context was meant to convince Pharaoh that the great I AM had sent him to command Pharaoh to let Israel go so that they might serve Him. Moses in breaking the yoke of bondage prefigured the first advent of Christ to break the power of Satan over the human family and deliver his captives.
Satan knew Moses was chosen by God and knew Christ would come with mighty miracles proving the Father sent Him, so he trembled for his power and consulted with his angels to destroy the influence of God's work through Moses by counterfeiting it through his agents the magicians, and to reach down through all ages to destroy true faith in the miracles of Christ. At Pharaoh's call Satan aided the magicians to show signs and wonders in order to harden Pharaoh against God's power, to stagger the faith of Moses and Aaron, and to keep Israel from serving God. But God's work was shown superior because the magicians could do only a few miracles by the power of their god the devil and not by human science alone. God would not suffer Satan to proceed further but cut off the channel through which Satan worked, so the magicians failed to produce the lice and could no more imitate Moses and Aaron and were compelled to acknowledge to Pharaoh that this was the finger of God, and they could not save themselves from the plagues.
The frogs overspreading Egypt picture the flood of periodicals and books overspreading the land. Like those frogs a large share of this printed matter is commonplace, idle and enervating, and worse, unclean and degrading. Its effect is to intoxicate and ruin the mind and to corrupt and destroy the soul.
Exodus 8:14 belongs to the plague of frogs, which came up from the Nile and spread throughout Egypt as a nuisance and torment. That plague turned the revered river, a sacred object of worship, into a source of pollution, showing that the true God has power over the Nile and that the Egyptian gods could not protect their worshipers.
At the appointed hour the living frogs were removed in answer to prayer, but the effect remained, for the frogs died where they were and were gathered together into heaps. Their rotting bodies lay in sight to be seen and smelled while they polluted the atmosphere and corrupted the air so that the land stank. The magicians with their enchantments could appear to bring up frogs, but they could not remove them.
God could have caused the dead frogs to disappear and return to dust in a moment, but He deliberately left them instead of doing this. He did this on purpose lest Pharaoh and the Egyptians should say their removal was the result of magic like the work of the magicians. By leaving the dead heaps, Pharaoh and all Egypt were given visible evidence that vain philosophy could not dispose of or explain away. That evidence proved that the work was not accomplished by magic or enchantment but was a judgment from the God of heaven.
The need for such proof was great because the magicians had led Pharaoh to believe that the rod becoming a serpent and the river turned to blood were performed by magic, and their influence only increased his hatred of Israel. The power displayed through Moses before Pharaoh in this context was meant to convince Pharaoh that the great I AM had sent him to command Pharaoh to let Israel go so that they might serve Him. Moses in breaking the yoke of bondage prefigured the first advent of Christ to break the power of Satan over the human family and deliver his captives.
Satan knew Moses was chosen by God and knew Christ would come with mighty miracles proving the Father sent Him, so he trembled for his power and consulted with his angels to destroy the influence of God's work through Moses by counterfeiting it through his agents the magicians, and to reach down through all ages to destroy true faith in the miracles of Christ. At Pharaoh's call Satan aided the magicians to show signs and wonders in order to harden Pharaoh against God's power, to stagger the faith of Moses and Aaron, and to keep Israel from serving God. But God's work was shown superior because the magicians could do only a few miracles by the power of their god the devil and not by human science alone. God would not suffer Satan to proceed further but cut off the channel through which Satan worked, so the magicians failed to produce the lice and could no more imitate Moses and Aaron and were compelled to acknowledge to Pharaoh that this was the finger of God, and they could not save themselves from the plagues.
The frogs overspreading Egypt picture the flood of periodicals and books overspreading the land. Like those frogs a large share of this printed matter is commonplace, idle and enervating, and worse, unclean and degrading. Its effect is to intoxicate and ruin the mind and to corrupt and destroy the soul.