The Second Plague – Frogs out of the Nile (against Heket – Goddess of Fertility, Water, Renewal)
Heket the Egyptian Goddess, had the head of a frog.
Still, Pharaoh refused to let the children of Israel go from the presence of Egypt.
The second plague that was extended upon Egypt, from the “rod” by Aaron, was that of frogs. The frogs came up from the river and were in their houses, in their food, in their clothing, in every place possible. From the greatest to the least, no one in Egypt escaped the plague of frogs. Pharaoh’s magicians were able to bring more frogs in their attempt to imitate the power of God, but only Moses was able to make the frogs go away.
The second plague God sent on Egypt was closely related to the first, since the frogs came out of the Nile. First of all, it wasn’t unusual for frogs to come out of the Nile. Each year after the Nile flooded, frogs would begin to appear. The Egyptians welcomed them as a symbol of fertility and of new life springing forth from the Nile River.
God’s judgment on Egypt was to bring forth more frogs than they wanted… more than they could stand. There were frogs in their homes, their beds and their food. The frogs were everywhere. And the goddess of the frogs was powerless to remove them! Sometimes God judges people by giving them the what they’ve been seeking, until they can’t stand it anymore!
A parallel example that happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness was when they lusted for flesh to eat, and God sent them so much flesh in the form of quails that they couldn’t stand it any more. (Read the story in Numbers 11.)
The goddess associated with frogs was Heket. She was a goddess of childbirth, creation and grain germination. As a water goddess, she was also a goddess of fertility and childbirth particularly associated with the later stages of labor. She was thought to be the wife of Khnum, the god who creates men on his potter’s wheel. The Egyptians believed she gave a child the breath of life before it was placed in the mother’s womb.
The Egyptians worshipped Hapi and Khnum as the source and sustainers of life and Heket as the goddess who insured a future generation. Midwives worshipped Heket as the one who would help them to give a safe birth to children. It’s interesting that the Hebrew midwives were known to “fear God” rather than Heket, and would not kill the male children born to the Israelite women. (Exodus 1:15-21).
It was fear that drove the Egyptians to worship Heket… fear for their children and the future generations.
To avoid the trap the Egyptians had fallen into, we must get rid of all fear concerning our children. If we are not sure that God is enough to protect them, we will hold them back from things God has for them to do. We will arrange our lives based on how we think we can best protect or provide for our children.
If we fail to overcome this, then our fears concerning our children will become as numerous as the plague of frogs! When you go to bed at night, your fears will be waiting for you. When you step out of bed in the morning, your fears will already be there. Everywhere you look you will see a new possibility of danger.
Psalm 127 is great for gaining a Biblical perspective on children. It says that children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. They are sent to be a blessing not a burden. It also says that except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
In other words, unless the Lord is watching over and guarding our homes, all of our efforts are in vain.
So ask the Lord to expose any fear we may harbor concerning our children. We should commit our children to the Lord and trust Him to provide for their safety.
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