Plague of Frogs: Miracles, Mayhem, and a Defiant Pharaoh

The Warning

The plague of blood had just ended, and the land of Egypt was still awash in blood. The Egyptians had a lot of work ahead: scrub away the blood, wash the walls and furniture, launder every garment. And right in the middle of the cleanup, Moses walked into Pharaoh's palace without permission, bypassing the elite security, and spoke to Pharaoh firmly: 'Thus says Hashem: Send out My people so they may serve Me. And if you refuse to send them out, I am going to strike your entire land with frogs.' Despite the suffering of the blood plague, Pharaoh hardened his heart and declared he would not send out the Israelites. Moses heard and left the palace.

The next day the scene repeated itself, and the third day, and the fourth... Day after day, for 23 days, Moses returned to warn Pharaoh—and Pharaoh refused. The last time, Moses entered at midday before Pharaoh and delivered the warning in front of all his ministers and servants. When Pharaoh ignored even that, Aaron went and stretched out his hand over Egypt's waters, and behold—frogs began rising from the water! Little by little the frogs spread throughout Egypt. First they swarmed Pharaoh's palace, and then they fanned out until they filled the whole land.

Frogs, Frogs, and More Frogs....

From the lifeless Nile—which, during the blood plague, had killed all the creatures in it, including the frogs—there suddenly poured out masses of croaking frogs!! And some say that a single frog came up from the Nile; the Egyptians struck it, and it sprayed out swarms upon swarms. The croaking rising from the Nile cried out the silent scream of all those babies who were thrown into the river!

The Egyptians were stunned. Once again their god, the Nile, struck them! It spewed forth frogs in staggering numbers! You threw those on land into the water—now those from the water will come onto land to exact retribution from you!

But Pharaoh hardened his heart and said to Moses: You come to me with sorcery? I'll call little schoolchildren and they too will produce frogs! He immediately summoned his magicians, and they did as Moses and Aaron had done. But they could not get rid of the frogs—so what did the 'wise men' really accomplish with their 'wisdom'??

Picture it: the wicked Pharaoh sits on his royal throne in royal garments, with the ministers before him. Suddenly, cold, slick green frogs come bounding straight at Pharaoh and, croaking, slip into his orifices and come out of his mouth! A mouth producing frogs! What a humiliation! From him the frogs move on to his ministers and servants. They leap onto them, burrow into them, and croak in their ears. When an Egyptian tries to kill a defiant frog, the frog bursts open—and out of it come six more!

From Pharaoh's palace the frogs spread over all Egypt. They hopped with glee and speed through doors and windows, swarming into Egyptian homes. Without hesitation they went to the bowls of dough, the breads, the pots, clung to the food, and gnawed at it. They even dared—against their nature—to enter the blazing ovens! So many frogs poured into the ovens that they cooled the heat of the fire. Hot food was now a thing of the past for the Egyptians. Pharaoh! You denied the reality of Hashem and said, 'Who is Hashem?'—learn from the frogs, who know Hashem and enter the ovens to be burned in order to sanctify Hashem's Name!

An Egyptian sits down to eat—and surprise, dinner has company. Frogs jump in his plate. When he goes to drink, he gets a kiss from the frog waiting in his cup!! There's no escaping them! After he manages a sip, his joy turns to sorrow: in the water inside his belly, frogs begin to develop! You demanded that Israel bring you abominations and creeping things, and their souls recoiled from them. Now you will be revolted by the vermin yourselves!

No Escape!

There was no shelter or 'safe room' protected from the frogs; they entered the most secure homes. Even the wealthy Egyptians who locked their houses behind bolt and bar did not escape the plague. The frogs descended to the depths and rose from there all the way to the homes of the rich. They tapped on the marble floors and said to them: 'Make room for us to come up and fulfill our Creator's will.' The marble floor did indeed split, and into the house the frogs burst in, in droves.

Even if the Egyptians hid themselves underground, the frogs came there and ruined them. When the Egyptians went into the bathroom, the frogs would bite and castrate them. You prevented Israel from being fruitful and multiplying—now you too will be prevented from being fruitful and multiplying.

Deafening Noise

The frogs were everywhere: on the chairs, in the beds, in the ovens, inside cups and plates, on the Egyptians—and worst of all—inside their bodies! Of course, they didn't sit still; they kept jumping and croaking nonstop. What a horrible feeling, to 'host' croaking frogs in your belly! The sound of the croaking was harder on the Egyptians than the damage caused by the frogs themselves—especially the croaking of those inside their bodies. The pain from the noise was so intense that everyone wept. Some Egyptians even died from the noise! You used to terrify the Israelites with your shouting—now you will be tormented by the frogs' cries!

The frogs' cries recalled the cries of the wretched parents who cried and pleaded when their sons were taken and thrown into the Nile!

No Rest!

Picture it: an Egyptian wants to rest at home, but every chair is teeming with frogs. They jump from the floor to the chair, from the chair to the table, and from the table—hop!—onto the Egyptian's head. Not one frog, not two, not ten or twenty, but thousands upon thousands. The Egyptian is exhausted and must sit, but no matter how hard he tries to clear off a chair, the frogs are quicker and cover it again. He tries a trick—he lifts the chair to dump them off—but while he attempts to set it down amid the sea of frogs, they again leap up and blanket the seat. No choice: he has to sit on the frogs. The frogs 'take advantage' of the seated posture to hop onto his knees, too.

The frogs also filled the beds, leaving the Egyptian unable to sleep—or even to rest. He comes to his bed and finds it full of frogs. Realizing it's impossible to chase them off because they are so many, he collapses on top of them from sheer exhaustion. But it's no simple thing to fall asleep when creatures are hopping and croaking beneath you and above you—especially when those creatures are assaulting your body. Some frogs are big and heavy, and when they climb on his belly they make it hard to breathe. The little ones do their job faithfully too: they stick their mouths into the Egyptian's ear, and even push their tiny feet into his eyes and nostrils. How can anyone rest like this?? You didn't let the Israelites rest. After an exhausting day's labor you piled on extra work and deprived them of sleep; in the morning you woke them early again for labor. Now feel what it's like to go without sleep for days.

Watch Your Step: Frogs Ahead!

Cold, wet, slippery frogs jumped on the Egyptians in droves; wherever they walked, they stepped on them. And because the frogs were slick and damp, the Egyptians slipped and fell. Needless to say, once down, a person would tumble and roll in a sea of frogs. And when he opened his mouth to cry for help, a frog would leap into it! To get back on his feet, he'd have to plant his hand on a cold, slimy, disgusting layer of frogs!

When a frog saw a Jew, it fled from him; after an Egyptian, it chased and leapt on him. The frogs swarmed throughout Egypt, but—wonder of wonders!—they did not go beyond the country's borders. One benefit did come of this for Egypt: at long last, peace settled between the land of Cush and the land of Egypt, which for many years had disputes over the exact location of the border. The frogs came and showed the borders precisely.

How did the frogs know to tell Jew from Egyptian, or the border of Egypt from the border of Cush and the other lands? Once again the Egyptians realized that nature has no power of its own; it is governed and directed by the Creator of the world, who can completely overturn the ways of nature.

Perhaps some Egyptians tried to flee to neighboring lands. Did they succeed? Picture the scene: an Egyptian family climbs into a chariot and sets out. Even with two mighty horses pulling, the wagon lurches along, weighed down by the hordes of frogs hopping on the road. The frogs also climb into the chariot and torment the riders. The Egyptians whip the horses, and the horses try to run faster. Then disaster: one horse suddenly drops dead—from a pestilence that accompanied every plague. After a few more minutes of desperate attempts to move forward, the second horse suddenly steps on a particularly juicy frog—large and slimy—slips, and falls. The wagon overturns; its riders sprawl on the ground, struggling to get up and shake off the frogs. Continuing on is no longer possible; getting anywhere is agonizingly hard in a roaring sea of frogs.

A Stubborn, Twisted Heart

This terrible nightmare continued day after day—each day like an eternity! Many Egyptians fell dead. It was a great miracle that anyone survived at all, with frogs croaking inside their bellies for a full week.

When Pharaoh felt he could no longer bear it, he called Moses and Aaron and said to them: 'Plead to Hashem, and may He remove the frogs from me and from my people, and I will send out the people and they will offer sacrifices to Hashem.' Moses asked (shouting into Pharaoh's ear so he would hear): For when shall I plead for you? When do you want the plague to end? We'd expect Pharaoh to say: right now, this very moment—I can't stand another second! But the slick politician in Pharaoh thought to himself: If Moses asks when to remove the plague, then perhaps the plague of frogs came by the constellations, and Moses knows the time has now come for it to fade. He expects me to say 'immediately,' and then he'll take the credit. I'll outsmart him and say 'tomorrow'—but in truth it will already end today by the stars, proving Moses has no control and it's all just nature. Moses said to him: 'As you say, so that you will know there is none like Hashem, our God'—I will pray to Hashem that only tomorrow the plague will cease, and you will see that everything is guided by Hashem.

Over—But Not Really Over. Praise to the Creator!

The frogs that were in the bellies of Pharaoh and his ministers spoke among themselves: When will we get out of here? And they answered one another: Until the son of Amram comes and prays for us. And indeed, following Moses's prayer, the plague ended, and in a moment all the frogs died. Picture it: in an instant, silence! Billions of frogs, all still at once—and it took the Egyptians time to adjust to the roaring quiet. Only those frogs that had entered the blazing ovens to sanctify Hashem's Name returned alive to the Nile and did not die on land, for they trusted in Hashem and gave up their lives to fulfill Hashem's command.

The plague ended, but the story wasn't finished. Now all of Egypt was covered in layers of frogs. The sanitation department of the City of Egypt launched a special removal operation, but the city workers could not keep up; every Egyptian joined the grueling work—the work of clearing frogs. Each Egyptian piled at least ten enormous heaps! Where would they take them? A real problem. With no practical solution for such colossal quantities, they left the heaps throughout Egypt's streets. The land reeked from the horrific stench. The terrible odor led to severe infectious diseases for a long time, and for an extended period people continued to die as a result of the plague.