The Story of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, Continued (Exodus 8)

Plague Number 3 – Lice. Pharaoh promised to let the people go if Moses would pray for God to take away the frogs. When the frogs died, Pharaoh broke his promise and would not let the people go. Maybe that’s why the third plague was not announced. Moses and Aaron did not appear before Pharaoh and warn him what would happen as they did with the first two plagues. The Lord told Moses to have Aaron stretch out his staff and touch the dust of the ground, and when he did lice came upon all the people and animals in Egypt. Actually, we are told that the Hebrew word for the third plague could be translated as body-lice or mosquitoes or gnats or ticks or fleas. Whatever they were they were bad, and they were everywhere. A couple of pictures enter my mind that might help us get a feel for the third plague. Sometimes kids in our public schools can get head lice from other kids. The lice hop from one head to another until an entire classroom or even the whole school can become infected. It’s not a pleasant experience. If it ever happened to you, you know what I mean. Also, sometimes fleas can be carried into homes by cats or other animals. The fleas can then multiply until they are everywhere in the house. They take over the carpet, the beds, the cupboards, even the ductwork in the house, and the only way to get rid of them is through an exterminator. As bad as that sounds, it was much worse in Egypt. Another thing to remember about this plague was that the magicians could not make lice with their enchantments as they had done with the other plagues. They told Pharaoh that this plague was the finger of God, but he still would not let the people go.