The reading for Wednesday, January 18, 2023 , is Exodus 8 - 10

Exodus 8-10 

The plague of frogs. If all the Nile was turned to blood and everything in it died, where did the frogs come from? I know frogs don't stay in the water. Maybe the blood is part of why they got out. Who knows? Sometimes I do like to consider possible natural, rather than miraculous, explanations. For me, that doesn't make them any less wonderous. How did the magicians get frogs to come up? I'm still curious about how they did these things. 

So if the frogs were to only be in the Nile, was it no longer turned into blood? When did that happen? Why? 

Also, when Moses has Pharaoh appoint the time for the frogs to be gone, why does Pharaoh say tomorrow instead of right now? 

The magicians could not produce gnats. Why not? Why frogs, but not gnats? If the magicians were using an evil power wouldn't that power be able to produce gnats? The magicians say, "This is the finger of God." To  me, this says there was something different this time, but I don't understand quite what. God is a beautiful mystery. 

The next plague is flies. Does that mean the gnats grew up, lol? There's also something different again. This plague of flies will not affect the Israelites. So the Israelites endured all the plagues that had come before?? That sucks. 

I also notice that the Israelites still live in the land of Goshen. Joseph had secured that for them when his father and brothers came to Egypt during the famine. Reminds me of various ethnic neighborhoods today. 

Now Pharaoh tries to switch it up and tells Moses and Aaron to offer sacrifices to God, but do it in Egypt. 

I am also struck by the amount of patience Moses has with Pharaoh. Moses confronts Pharaoh but Moses also continues to pray for Pharaoh when Pharaoh seeks relief from these plagues.

Not 1 fly remained. Where do I sign up for that? I guess, for me, it's called Winter. 

For the plague of boils, Moses throws soot in the air. Why? Is there some significance to this? Were the Israelites spared from this plague? How did boils break out on animals? The previous plague killed the livestock of the Egyptians. 

Now the hail is gonna fall on the livestock? I thought they were killed in the plague on the livestock?

By now, some, but not all, of Pharaoh's officials feared the Lord. They brought there livestock in. 

For hail, Moses stretches his hand toward the sky. He had to do something again. It did not hail in the land of Goshen.

Finally, Pharaoh's officials are getting a bit mutinous and tell Pharaoh to let the Moses and the Israelites go. 

For the plague of darkness, Moses does the something as for hail. He stretches his hand toward the sky. Today, this makes me think of the "polar night" places above the Arctic Circle where the sun doesn't rise from November until January. 

Pharaoh tells Moses to never appear before him again. I wonder if Moses was relieved?