In the sixth conflict between the Lord and Pharaoh, the Lord sent upon Pharaoh and all the Egyptians swarms of flies (8:20-32). It is difficult to determine what kind of flies these were. The dictionary in Strong’s Concordance says that there were diverse kinds of flies. In his translation Darby uses the word dog flies, whereas the Amplified Bible says blood-sucking gadflies, flies that bit the cattle and sucked the blood of the cattle. Whatever kind of flies these were, swarms of them came upon Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. All the houses of the Egyptians were filled with swarms of flies.
These swarms of flies signify the pollution in the atmosphere of the world today, pollution caused by immorality that pervades the atmosphere. Consider, for example, how polluted is the moral atmosphere in a city such as Las Vegas. Whenever I visited that city to contact some seeking saints who were there, I had the sense that the atmosphere over the city was foul. The atmosphere of today’s world is teeming with “flies.” Spiritually speaking, there is no fresh air in the worldly places. Because of the fall of man, the moral atmosphere of the world has been polluted; it is full of noisome swarms of insects. Thus, the fourth plague indicates that the air is not filled with clean things or positive things, but filled with all manner of unclean and evil things.
By means of the exposure in the first four plagues, we see the blood, the frogs, the lice, and the flies. What a detailed picture of the living of fallen man in the world! However, the people in the world today do not realize the actual situation of their life in the world. In order for them to realize this, God must come in to expose it to them thoroughly, just as He did to the Egyptians through the plagues.
The next plague was a pestilence that came upon all the cattle of the Egyptians (9:1-7). I believe that this pestilence was caused by germs spread by the swarms of flies.
Exodus 9:3 says, “Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous pestilence” (Heb.). According to Leviticus 11, horses, asses, and camels were unclean. They could be used for transportation, but not for food. However, the oxen and the sheep were regarded as clean and were fit for the children of Israel to eat. Hence, the animals that were subject to the plague were of two categories: those used for transportation and those used for food. God judged both the transportation and the food in Egypt. This indicates that the means of transportation and the way of eating in the world today will also be judged by God.
Once again we see that God judged the Egyptians in a very fine way, destroying their livelihood item by item. The Egyptians depended upon the Nile, but the Nile was judged. They depended upon the earth and the air, but the earth and the air were also judged. Furthermore, the Egyptians depended upon their cattle for transportation and food, but in the fifth plague even the cattle were judged.
Since the cattle were not sinful, you may wonder why they were judged by God. According to Genesis 3, the earth was involved with Adam’s sin, even though the earth itself was not sinful. After Adam sinned, the earth came under the curse (Gen. 3:17-18). Thus, Adam’s fall implicated the whole earth. In the same principle, the cattle of the Egyptians were judged, not because they themselves were sinful, but because they were implicated by the sin of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Because these cattle belonged to the Egyptians, they were involved in the sin of the Egyptians. Here we see that God’s righteous judgment also deals with the implications of a sinful situation. Because the cattle in Egypt were related to Pharaoh and served Pharaoh, they were subject to the righteous judgment of God upon Pharaoh.
The principle of implication applies today. If we love the Lord and serve Him under His blessing, everything related to us will be blessed also. Even such things as animals or material possessions will be blessed. If we love the Lord, even our environment will be blessed. Our relatives, friends, and neighbors will be positively implicated in the blessing that is upon us. Under God’s righteousness, we who love the Lord become a factor of blessing to others, even to society as a whole. Those who do not know the Lord may enjoy the benefits of such a positive implication.
My experience of traveling in the interior of China during World War II illustrates this. Often those who were traveling with me, even though they did not believe in the Lord Jesus, told me that they received benefit because of me. During wartime it was difficult to travel. But when trouble came, I prayed, and the Lord preserved me. This caused my traveling companions to realize that they were blessed because God had blessed me.
In the case of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, we see that the cattle were implicated negatively. Because of Pharaoh’s stubbornness and hardness of heart, the cattle were subject to the plague of pestilence. This should teach us not to become involved with those who are sinful, but to stay away from them. Otherwise, we may become negatively implicated in their situation.
For the sake of His people, God may withhold His judgment from the world. Even when He comes in to judge the world according to His righteousness, He still takes care of His people in order to fulfill His desire to have a dwelling place on earth. We have seen that in the plague of the flies, God put a redemption between His people and Pharaoh’s people. Likewise, in the plague of the grievous pestilence upon the cattle, 9:4 says, “And Jehovah shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children’s of Israel” (Heb.). According to verse 6, none of the cattle belonging to the children of Israel died. The messengers sent by Pharaoh saw that none of their cattle had died (v. 7).
Because the people of the world were hindering God’s people from fulfilling His purpose, God came in to judge the way of living in Egypt. Not even the children of Israel understood the true nature of Egyptian life. They also needed a revelation of the nature, the living, and the result of life in Egypt. The more the Egyptians were judged, the more the children of Israel were enlightened regarding the living of Egypt. Therefore, God used plagues to accomplish two things: to punish the Egyptians so that they might release His people and to open the eyes of the children of Israel to the nature of the life of usurpation in Egypt. The enlightenment they received through the plagues made them willing to flee out of Egypt and to go into the wilderness where, at the mountain of God, they could receive God’s revelation concerning His dwelling place.