Estimated reading time: about 15-20 minutes
Exodus 7:25 Seven days after YHVH had struck the river, 26 (8:1) YHVH said to Moshe, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Here is what YHVH says: “Let my people go, so that they can worship me. 27 (8:2) If you refuse to let them go, I will strike all your territory with frogs. 28 (8:3) The river will swarm with frogs. They will go up, enter your palace and go into your bedroom, onto your bed. They will enter the houses of your servants and your people and go into your ovens and kneading bowls. 29 (8:4) The frogs will climb all over you, your people and your servants.”’”
Frogs? Really?
Couldn’t Abba have thought of something a little more edgy? What about bats flying into people’s hair, or hornets stinging everyone, or even small rocks in everyone’s shoes? I mean, frogs don’t really say, “Hey, I mean business, pal!”
Or do they? Weirdly enough, I think they do. To make sense of this, it may help if we explore the background of the role of frogs in the culture to see if we can understand what exactly Abba was up to.
In ancient Egypt, frogs were far more than mere creatures of the swamp. They were deeply woven into the culture’s religious imagination, representing life, fertility, and divine blessing. Understanding this background shows why God’s second plague cut so deeply into Egypt’s worldview.
Each year the Nile River overflowed its banks, covering the fields with rich silt that made Egyptian agriculture flourish. With those floodwaters came frogs in abundance, multiplying in staggering numbers across the land. To the Egyptians, this wasn’t just a natural occurrence -- it was a sign that the gods had blessed them again with fertility and provision.
Because frogs appeared with every flood, they became natural symbols of life, fertility, and renewal. Their very presence meant survival. A healthy crop of frogs meant a healthy cycle of crops, food, and prosperity.
Frogs were evidence the Nile gods had in fact smiled upon the inhabitants of the land. If the Nile was their tree of life, the frogs represented its fruit.
Frogs were so significant that they were deified in the goddess Heket. Heket was usually depicted as a woman with the head of a frog, or sometimes entirely as a frog. She was revered as the goddess of fertility, childbirth, and new life.
In Egyptian myth, Heket worked alongside Khnum, the ram-headed god of creation (remember him?). While Khnum shaped human beings on his potter’s wheel, Heket was believed to supply the breath of life, animating the clay figures into living beings.
Because of this, Heket’s name was invoked in childbirth, and frog-shaped amulets were worn for protection by women during pregnancy and labor. To the Egyptians, frogs were not pests -- they were sacred. Killing them was taboo, for they embodied divine blessing.
But what happens when blessing grows out of control?
When Abba unleashed the second plague, it struck at the very heart of Egyptian religion. Frogs poured out of the Nile in numbers beyond imagination -- swarming into houses, ovens, bedrooms, and even kneading bowls.
Ironic, isn’t it? They very thing that was the evidence of a life full of, well, life, was invading every corner of their life. Frogs that were normally celebrated as symbols of fertility became agents of chaos. Egyptians revered Heket as the giver of life, yet the frogs she embodied now filled the land with stench and death. She wasn’t just in the fields, she was now in their homes. She was in their bowls. She was in their beds.
What Egypt had worshiped as sacred was now unbearable, a curse rather than a blessing. This wasn’t just an inconvenience, it was a spiritual humiliation. Egypt was forced to destroy and discard the very creatures they considered sacred. The proof of abundant life had to be destroyed. The blessing had outgrown its welcome. Too much of a good thing, I suppose.
Heket was the god every person wanted to please. If she would just be so kind as to open the gates just a little, and then maybe a little more, life would be oh, so comfortable. In the eyes of the inhabitants, up until this event she had been very stingy with her blessings. Then, out of nowhere, she opened the gates in full. Everyone won the lottery -- which of course meant no one won the lottery.
As the number of frogs began to grow, imagine the joy that camped in every home. At first, modest numbers as in times past, then all of a sudden it begins to grow. “Hey kids, this could be our year!” And indeed it was. It was a year they had never experienced in all their generations, and most certainly one they would never forget. It’s almost as if Heket wasn’t as much in control as they thought.
What would water-cooler talk have been like in those days?
“Hey Greg, is your house full of frogs too? Bonnie and I can’t even get a minute of sleep because of these things all over our bed. She goes to make a little bread for dinner and there they are again. I’m not sure what’s going on with Heket. Last year I had to dance on the edge of my roof just to convince her to get us through winter. And this year I had planned on sacrificing little Jimmy because I’ve really been wanting that new speedboat. Then all of a sudden, I’m literally swamped with these things. I’m starting to think Heket is off her rocker…”
The overrun of frogs showed all of those in Egypt that Heket was powerless, and that life and fertility belong not to Egypt’s gods, but to YHVH, the God of Israel. What once was a highly sought-after life goal, became a frustrating and invasive reality. Those average folks out there just trying to make living had been pressed to the point of questioning the competency of this unstable god.
If only this were enough for Pharaoh.
The plague of frogs reveals a disturbing and timeless reality: idols often betray those who trust in them. What Egypt thought would bring life instead overwhelmed them with death. What they revered became revolting. Too much of a good thing, I guess…
Abba used a symbol of life in Egypt to demonstrate His power over life itself. He sent a very clear message and that message is that only YHVH gives true life, and all other gods are powerless to deliver. The Egyptians loved their frogs, yet what they worshiped soon invaded every corner of their lives. Idols once welcomed as blessings became unbearable curses.
Does this sound familiar at all?
The principle of the frogs is simple and clear: what you idolize will multiply until it dominates your life. You simply cannot reach the delicate balance between having too little and having too much.
The very thing you look to for security, meaning, or pleasure can quickly overrun your peace, just as frogs filled every corner of Egyptian homes. Yeshua echoed this truth in His teachings. He warned that no one can serve two masters -- whatever you serve will eventually master you:
Matthew 6:24 No one can be slave to two masters; for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first. You can’t be a slave to both God and money (mammon).
He also told the parable of the sower, where desires and worries grew like thorns, choking out life itself:
Mark 4:18 Others are those sown among thorns — they hear the message; 19 but the worries of the world, the deceitful glamor of wealth and all the other kinds of desires push in and choke the message; so that it produces nothing.
And He described the rich fool whose barns overflowed with possessions until greed consumed his soul:
Luke 12:15 Then to the people he said, “Be careful to guard against all forms of greed, because even if someone is rich, his life does not consist in what he owns.” 16 And he gave them this illustration: “There was a man whose land was very productive. 17 He debated with himself, ‘What should I do? I haven’t enough room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and I’ll store all my wheat and other goods there. 19 Then I’ll say to myself, “You’re a lucky man! You have a big supply of goods laid up that will last many years. Start taking it easy! Eat! Drink! Enjoy yourself!”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night you will die! And the things you prepared — whose will they be?’ 21 That’s how it is with anyone who stores up wealth for himself without being rich toward God.”
In each case, what people valued most did not remain balanced or contained -- it multiplied until it suffocated their lives. So too is our life when we call upon Heket ourselves.
Our modern frogs may not hop across our kitchens, but rest assured that they still invade our homes and hearts. Career ambitions can grow until they consume family and rest. Entertainment can seep into every quiet moment. The pursuit of wealth can spill over into sleepless nights of anxiety.
Yeshua’s warning and the plague of frogs together remind us that idols never stay small. They grow, they multiply, and eventually they demand our worship -- unless we surrender them to the One who alone gives life.
Before we look at the state of our lives today, we need to know just how strong the pull of this spirit really is. Let’s take a moment and look ahead so we can see that the influence of this god withstands the test of time. Maybe that will help us shed the shame we may try to pick up when we finally see the frogs in our own lives.
Since any good deception works on all people for all of time, we see that a greater measure of these frogs will visit us at the End of the Age. Of course, their true origin will be exposed for all the earth to see but even then, people will align themselves with this spirit. The promise of its blessing is just too great to ignore.
In Revelation 16, John sees a vision:
Revelation 16:12 The sixth one poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water dried up, in order to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs; they came from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are miracle-working demonic spirits which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited world to assemble them for the War of the Great Day of YHVH-Tzva’ot. 15 (“Look! I am coming like a thief! How blessed are those who stay alert and keep their clothes clean, so that they won’t be walking naked and be publicly put to shame!”) 16 And they gathered the kings to the place which in Hebrew is called Har Megiddo.
Did you catch that? The great river dried up. The perceived source of life itself we saw with the first plague gets exposed for what is truly behind it. In the Last Days the river will not simply turn to blood but it will be vaporized altogether. And so the frogs will be forced to come from their true source -- the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the false prophet. The exact same seat from which all lies permeate is the launching point of this very plague.
The imagery deliberately echoes the plague of frogs in Egypt. Just as Egypt was overrun with frogs that represented false fertility and life but instead brought stench and death, the End Times will see a new flood of frog-like spirits -- deceptive miracle-working powers that multiply across the nations, filling the world with lies and drawing people toward rebellion against God.
While we’re here, let’s take a moment and inspect the placement of these mouths so we are not confused as to what’s behind it.
Recall that it is the promise of life that Heket provides. In much the same way, the Adversary makes these exact same claims. And that is precisely what John is telling us here. Even though our enemy uses covert methods to deceive us, a day is coming where it becomes clearly overt. Counterfeits will make an unapologetic appearance in those days and we need to know how to navigate those troublesome times. If we struggle today, you can only imagine how hard it will be when it matters the most.
The imagery here is reflective of the false source of life:
Counterfeit: The Dragon (Rev 12:9; 20:2) is explicitly identified as “the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” He is the source of rebellion and counterfeit authority.
Truth: As God the Father is the source of all authority, so the dragon claims to be the ultimate ruler, giving authority to the beast (Rev 13:2).
Counterfeit: The Beast (Rev 13:1–10) represents worldly political power under Satan’s control. It looks like a composite of Daniel’s four beasts (Dan 7), symbolizing empires/kingdoms that dominate through violence and blasphemy.
Truth: Yeshua embodies the Father’s authority and rule; the beast is Satan’s false messiah, exercising the dragon’s authority and receiving worship (Rev 13:4).
Counterfeit: The False Prophet (Rev 13:11–18; 16:13; 19:20) is the second beast, who looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. His role is religious deception -- leading people into false worship, legitimizing the first beast’s authority, and performing lying signs.
Truth: The Spirit glorifies the Son and draws people into true worship (John 16:13-14). The false prophet mimics this, performing signs to draw people into worship of the beast (Rev 13:12-15).
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In the last days, the world’s devotion to false gods -- power, pleasure, wealth, control -- will be given over to a suffocating flood of deception. These “frogs” will not be slimy creatures, but seductive spirits that fill every arena of life -- politics, culture, even religion -- croaking out messages that sound like life but lead only to death. The plague in Egypt was local, but Revelation warns that the whole world will experience this infestation before the final judgment.
For us believers, the relevance is urgent. If we allow idols to rule our hearts now, we train ourselves to listen to the croak of deception when it comes in force. But if we learn from the Exodus to cast away idols and cling to Yeshua as the only true source of life, then we will not be overrun when the frogs of Revelation multiply.
The call is upon you today is to prepare your heart, guard your worship, and don’t let the false promises of this world multiply into the very spirits that will one day unite the nations in their final rebellion against God.
Ok, so we’ve looked directly into the face of the spirit behind this god, but the question upon us now is: what exactly are these frogs?
What “frogs” of idolatry or distraction have crept into your home, habits, or heart? I think we can see traces of things we know are broken but it may still live under the cloak of justification. And to be fair, we kind of like some of these frogs even if they do present themselves uncomfortably.
Egypt loved frogs but when God gave them frogs in abundance, they realized how destructive their worship really was. In the same way, our idols often give us what we want, but never what we need. We crave success, and soon our lives drown in work. We want pleasure, and it overruns our homes. We long for control, and anxiety fills every room. The frogs we once cherished become unbearable.
There is an old saying that captures this principle very well: “Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.”
Egypt revered frogs as symbols of blessing. So God gave them what they revered -- in overwhelming, suffocating measure. The warning for us is that things we measure as blessings in our own lives may not be blessings at all. As a result, Abba sometimes allows us to be overrun by our own idols, to show us they really are curses, not saviors.
At this stage of life, it’s probably important that we confront these “blessings” before they in fact, become judgments. And we need to learn to see the frogs for what they are. So what are they?
We want success, recognition, or financial security -- which isn’t wrong in itself. But when career becomes an idol, it spills into every room of life: late nights, strained marriages, neglected children, no rest. Like the frogs in the ovens and beds, work invades even the places meant for peace and intimacy.
Phones, streaming, gaming, social media -- harmless in moderation. But when elevated, they overrun our time, fill every quiet moment, and even shape our identity. We say we want connection or relaxation, but soon it’s frogs in every bowl -- dinner, bedtime, family time.
The Egyptians tied frogs to fertility through Heket. Today, the idol of sexual freedom and pleasure promises happiness, but it floods everything: marriages collapse, people are objectified, addictions take root. What was meant to bring intimacy instead becomes invasive and suffocating.
Wanting comfort or nice things seems innocent. But when consumption becomes our identity, it overruns our homes (clutter), our finances (debt), our values (envy). Like frogs in kneading bowls, consumerism infects even the bread of daily life.
The idol of being in control of our reputation, appearance, or plans is incredibly subtle. At first, it feels empowering. But eventually, it floods into anxiety, obsessive routines, constant comparison, and exhaustion. The “frog” we wanted (control) becomes the pest that won’t let us rest.
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These are just a few of the frogs that encourage misplaced worship. There are literally thousands more. Anything, and I do mean anything, that has you convinced it is bringing you life, should be brought into the light so you can finally be set free.
We were most certainly commanded to be fruitful and multiply. But it is life, not frogs, that fulfill this command. For some reason though, we seem to struggle with separating the two.
All we have to do to sort this out, however, is to simply inspect the flow of life in this equation. If what we do results in first, a flow towards us then we should take the time to dig in and see if frogs are attached. A measure of “me first, then others” is a strong clue that a frog is nearby.
The overflow of the Nile in our own lives could mean abundance has made an appearance. But have you noticed that life seems to get harder when overflow hits? The bills seem bigger, the quest to hold onto more seems to occupy our thoughts a little bit more, and the image of “having it all” runs front and center in nearly every interaction we have with others.
Sad, right?
“Oh, boo-hoo, poor rich people…I would love having the problem of having ‘too much’!”
No you wouldn’t. Interestingly enough, the fear of having too little sparks this exact same life obsession. In fact, you can have an abundance of frogs and still be worried you don’t have enough. The issue here is not how many frogs you worship, but the fact that you worship even one.
These things are NOT the evidence of an abundant life!
It’s time for Heket to be kicked to the curb. The only thing in abundance you should be seeking is life. And life in full. That only comes from one place and <<spoiler alert>> it’s not from the overflow of the Nile.
John 10:6 Yeshua used this indirect manner of speaking with them, but they didn’t understand what he was talking to them about. 7 So Yeshua said to them again, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All those who have come before me have been thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate; if someone enters through me, he will be safe and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.”
It’s our Bridegroom that gives us abundant life. Of course, all of us professional believers know this to be true. But where is the evidence?
Choosing to follow after idols that lead you straight to death is madness! The stress, striving, and continual pursuit of “more” will eventually fill your house with these annoying little frogs. No matter where you look in your home, you will see the evidence of these slimy swamp creatures overrunning your life: the kitchen, the living room, and worse of all, the marriage chamber.
I strongly encourage you to turn your worship away from the Nile, and place it firmly at the feet of our God. The purpose of your life is not to hope and pray for prosperity. Nope, it’s for something far greater:
Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call on heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have presented you with life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, so that you will live, you and your descendants, 20 loving YHVH your God, paying attention to what he says and clinging to him — for that is the purpose of your life! On this depends the length of time you will live in the land YHVH swore he would give to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.”
Amazing! The purpose of our life is to love Abba, pay attention to what He says, and cling to Him. Yeshua echoes exactly this when He says, “I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.” It’s in deep intimacy with Abba and Yeshua that we find purpose.
What’s more amazing, however, is what isn’t listed as our purpose: make lots of money or make little money, become wealthy or be poor, become powerful or have no power, have great influence or no influence at all, be beautiful or be ugly, be popular or be ignored, to be envied or to envy, and so on. These measuring sticks are not evidence of life or lack thereof.
These are merely frogs.
And whatever pulls your worship tells the tale of what you see as your purpose.