The ten plagues of Egypt

The Plague of Flies

The fourth plague · Exodus 8:20-32 · The book of Exodus

The fourth plague sent grievous swarms of flies into the houses of Pharaoh and all Egypt, corrupting the land. For the first time God drew a line, sparing the region of Goshen where Israel lived, so that Pharaoh would know the LORD was in the midst of the earth and was setting his people apart.

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 of flies.Exodus 8:24 (KJV)

What happened

Again Moses rose early and met Pharaoh at the water with the LORD's word: Let my people go, that they may serve me. When Pharaoh refused, the LORD sent a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt, and the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm. The insects filled the palaces and the streets and ruined the ground, a spreading defilement over everything the Egyptians touched.

But this plague carried something new. The LORD declared that he would sever, or set apart, the land of Goshen where his people dwelt, so that no swarms of flies would be there. On the appointed day it happened exactly so: the flies filled Egypt, and Goshen was clear. God said the reason plainly: to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.

The word the LORD used was pointed: he would sever, set apart, put a division between his people and Pharaoh's. From this plague forward there would be two Egypts, one under judgment and one under shelter, and the boundary between them would be as plain as the swarming flies on one side and the clear air on the other. God was no longer only striking Egypt; he was openly claiming a people out of it, and letting the whole land see the difference.

The gods and the corruption of the land

Some readers connect the swarms with insect deities such as Khepri, pictured with the head of a scarab beetle, or simply see in the plague the collapse of every Egyptian claim to keep the land pure and ordered. Both are reasonable readings, offered as interpretation rather than as something Exodus states. The text's own emphasis falls elsewhere, on the word corrupted. Egypt's whole religion was obsessed with order against chaos, cleanness against defilement, and here the LORD let chaos pour in through the smallest of creatures. No god of Egypt could hold the line. The land that prided itself on order was overrun.

The line through Goshen

The dividing of Goshen is the heart of this plague. Up to now the plagues had fallen on everyone; from here God begins to distinguish, openly and unmistakably, between Egypt and the people he has claimed. It was not that Israel deserved the sparing; it was that God had set his love on them and would make the difference visible. This is the first clear sign that the plagues are not blind disaster but a targeted rescue, that God knows exactly where his people are and will keep them under his hand while judgment falls around them.

The sparing was not hidden away; it was announced beforehand and then displayed for all to see, so that Egyptian and Israelite alike would have to reckon with it. God was teaching the whole land, in the plainest way he could, that he had a people of his own in its midst, and that he was able to keep them safe under his hand while the swarms filled every other house in Egypt.

Pharaoh's hard heart

Pharaoh began to bargain. First he offered to let them sacrifice within the land; Moses refused, since their sacrifice would offend the Egyptians. Then Pharaoh said they might go, only not very far, and begged for prayer. Moses warned him plainly, Let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more. And sure enough, when the flies were removed, Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go. The pattern holds: relief brings a promise, and relief withdrawn brings the breaking of it. His heart bends under pressure and springs back the moment it lifts, choosing bondage over surrender every time.

What it revealed about the LORD

The swarms of flies revealed a God who is Lord in the midst of the earth, present and active in the heart of a foreign land, not confined to the borders of his own people. He said so plainly, that the sparing of Goshen was so Pharaoh would know the LORD was in the midst of the earth. The gods of Egypt were thought to rule their own territory; the LORD showed that the whole earth, Egypt included, was his to command.

It revealed, too, a God who makes distinctions. Up to now the plagues had fallen on everyone alike, Egyptian and Hebrew together. From the flies onward, God draws a line, and the line is drawn by his choosing, not by any merit in Israel. This is the beginning of a theme that will reach its height on the night of the Passover: that God knows exactly where his people are, and will keep them under his hand while judgment falls all around them.

In all of this the flies were only the instrument; the revelation was the point. Egypt learned, swarm by swarm, that its order and its cleanness were nothing before the God who could pour chaos through its streets and yet keep one corner of the land untouched. The difference was not magic and not chance. It was the LORD, drawing a line around the people he loved, and refusing every half-measure a frightened king could offer.

The shadow of redemption

The line drawn through Goshen is one of the clearest foreshadows of the gospel in the whole book. God makes a difference between those who are his and those who are not, and the difference is his doing, not their merit. It points ahead to the greatest dividing line of all, the blood of the Lamb, and beyond that to the safety of all who are hidden in Christ while judgment passes over. To know that the LORD is in the midst of the earth is to know that he sees where his people are, and that no plague, and finally no death, can reach those he has set apart for himself.

This is the deepest comfort the plague can give. The safety of God's people never rested on their being better than the Egyptians, for the same swarms could have fallen on them too. It rested wholly on God's choice to set his love upon them and to mark them as his own. So it is with all who are hidden in Christ. We are not spared because we deserve to be, but because God has claimed us and drawn his line around us in the blood of his Son. The line through Goshen, invisible to Egypt but perfectly clear to God, is a picture of the security of everyone who belongs to Christ, known by name, kept by grace, and untouched at last by the judgment that falls on the world. To know that the LORD is in the midst of the earth is to know that wherever his people are, there his eye and his hand are also, and that no swarm and no sword and finally no death can cross the line he has drawn around his own.

A note on reading the plagues: this account follows Exodus faithfully and does not add to it. The idea that each plague confronted a particular Egyptian god or power is a widely held and often persuasive reading, and it is presented here as an interpretation, not as a certainty. Except on the final night, where Exodus itself says the LORD executed judgment against all the gods of Egypt, the text names no specific deity. What Scripture states plainly is that the LORD alone is God, that he heard the cry of his people, and that he brought them out with a mighty hand.

Related: The plague of gnats · The death of the livestock · The ten plagues