Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

FROG

A class of amphibians (generally of the family Ranidae) or watery creatures. Frogs (Heb. ṣĕpardēaʿ; Gk. bátrachos) lack fins and scales and thus are unclean for food (Lev. 11:9-12); they may also qualify as “swarming creatures,” also unclean (Lev. 11:41).

All OT appearances relate to the 10 plagues. Frogs are the second plague after the Nile has been turned to blood (Exod. 8:2-14[MT 7:27–8:10]). They are the third plague in Ps. 78:45 — after the bloody Nile and flies — and 105:30 — after darkness and the bloody Nile. The Wisdom of Solomon also mentions this plague (Wis. 19:10). One explanation for the phenomenon is naturalistic: frogs were driven from the Nile earlier than usual in the year because receding waters left rotting, insect-ridden fish in ponds and pools next to the river. The insects carried diseases, which killed the frogs. Another explanation is literary: frogs are a fertility symbol, associated with the frog-headed goddess Heqt (Heket), consort of the god Khnum, who fashioned human beings from clay. That Heqt assisted women in childbirth has been linked with Pharaoh’s command that midwives kill the Hebrew male children (Exod. 1:16); the plague would be a response to that command. In Rev. 15–16 the seven bowls of divine wrath are modeled on the plagues; from the sixth bowl (16:13) the angel unleashes a plague of frog-shaped unclean spirits.

Victoria Andrews

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

FROG

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)