Exodus 8:20-32

Exodus 8:20-32

[20] And the LORD  said  unto Moses,  Rise up early  in the morning,  and stand  before  Pharaoh;  lo, he cometh forth  to the water;  and say  the LORD,  Let my people  go,  that they may serve  [21] Else, if thou wilt not let my people  go,  swarms  of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants,  and upon thy people,  and into thy houses:  shall be full  of swarms  of flies, and also the ground  whereon they are. [22] And I will sever  in that day  the land  of Goshen,  in which my people  dwell,  that no  swarms  of flies shall be  there; to the end  thou mayest know  that I am the LORD  in the midst  of the earth.  [23] And I will put  a division  between my people  to morrow  shall this sign  [24] And the LORD  did  so; and there came  a grievous  swarm  of flies into the house  of Pharaoh,  and into his servants'  houses,  and into all the land  of Egypt:  the land  was corrupted  by reason  of the swarm  [25] And Pharaoh  called  for  Moses  and for Aaron,  and said,  ye, sacrifice  to your God  in the land.  [26] And Moses  said,  It is not meet  so to do;  for  we shall sacrifice  the abomination  to the LORD  our God:  lo, shall we sacrifice  the abomination  before their eyes,  and will they not stone  [27] three  days'  journey  into the wilderness,  and sacrifice  to the LORD  our God,  as he shall command  [28] And Pharaoh  said,  I will let you go,  that ye may sacrifice  to the LORD  your God  in the wilderness;  very  intreat  for me.  [29] And Moses  said,  Behold, I go out  from thee, and I will intreat  the LORD  that the swarms  of flies may depart  from Pharaoh,  from his servants,  and from his people,  to morrow:  but  let not Pharaoh  deal deceitfully  any more  in not  letting the people  go  to sacrifice  to the LORD.  [30] And Moses  went out  from Pharaoh,  and intreated  the LORD.  [31] And the LORD  did  according to the word  of Moses;  and he removed  the swarms  of flies from Pharaoh,  from his servants,  and from his people;  there remained  not one.  [32] And Pharaoh  hardened  his heart  at this time  also, neither would he let the people  go. 

What does Exodus 8:20-32 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Moses announced this plague to Pharaoh like the first, in the morning near the Nile River ( Exodus 8:20; cf. Exodus 7:15).
These insects were very annoying, even more bothersome than the gnats.
"When enraged, they fasten themselves upon the human body, especially upon the edges of the eyelids. ... [1] not only tortured, "devoured" ( Psalm 78:45) the men, and disfigured them by the swellings produced by their sting, but also killed the plants in which they deposited their eggs ...." [2]
"The blood-sucking gadfly or dogfly was something to be abhorred and may in part have been responsible for the great deal of blind men in the land. ... It might also be noted that the Ichneuman fly, which deposits its eggs on other living things upon which its larvae can feed, was regarded as the manifestation of the god Uatchit." [3]
God demonstrated His sovereignty over space as well as nature and time by keeping the flies out of Goshen and off the Israelites ( Exodus 8:22). The exact location of Goshen is still unknown, but its general location seems to have been in the eastern half of the delta region of Egypt (cf. Genesis 46:28-29; Genesis 46:33-34; Genesis 47:1-6; Genesis 47:11). [4] Some of the commentators assumed that the first three plagues did not afflict the Israelites either, though the text does not say so explicitly (cf. Exodus 7:19; Exodus 8:2; Exodus 8:16-17). God distinguished between the two groups of people primarily to emphasize to Pharaoh that Israel"s God was the author of the plagues and that He was sovereign over the whole land of Egypt ( Exodus 8:23).
For the first time Pharaoh gave permission for the Israelites to sacrifice to Yahweh ( Exodus 8:25), but he would not allow them to leave Egypt. Pharaoh admitted that Yahweh was specifically the God of Israel ("your God"), but he did not admit that he had an obligation to obey Him. [5]
The Egyptians regarded the animals the Israelites would have sacrificed as holy and as manifestations of their gods. Consequently the sacrifices would have been an abomination. [6]
". . . we know from excavations that this Pharaoh, Amenhotep II, worshipped bulls." [7]
The abomination that the Israelites" sacrifice would have constituted to the Egyptians also may have consisted in the method by which the Israelites would have sacrificed these animals. The Egyptians themselves practiced animal sacrifices, but they had rigorous procedures for cleansing their sacrificial animals before they killed them, which the Israelites would not have observed. [8]
Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites leave Egypt to sacrifice temporarily in the wilderness after Moses reminded him of the problems involved in sacrificing in Egypt ( Exodus 8:28). Yet they were not to go very far from Goshen. Again Pharaoh asked Moses to pray that his God would remove the plague ( Exodus 8:28; cf. Exodus 8:9-10).
"What is new in this fourth of the mighty Acts , apart from the nature of the miracle itself, is the separation of the land of Goshen from the effects of miracle (there has been no mention of Goshen"s fate in the earlier accounts), the negotiations between Pharaoh and Moses, with each of them setting conditions, and the allusion to the antipathy of the Egyptians to Israel worhsip [9] (or to Israelite ways, and to Israelites in general)." [10]