Hebrew Word Study: Frogs

HEBREW WORD STUDY – FROGS : HATSEPHAREDE’IM
Exodus 8:2,7 “And if thou refuse to let [them] go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: (7) And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.”

I have always wondered about this matter of the plague of frogs brought upon Egypt. Why frogs? Did it symbolize something? I mean frogs are harmless creatures, they tend to keep to themselves, they give off a joyful chirping sound and they eat flies and other insects so an abundance of them would be beneficial.

I read something interesting in the Midrash Rabbah this morning which shed some light on this age old question. According to the Midrash Rabbah Egypt was in a bloody border dispute with Ethiopia. Note what Scripture says: I will smite all thy borders with frogs: The word smite is nagaph which means to strike a blow, to shut down and to render a judgment. God would cover the entire land of Egypt with frogs up to the borders but the old hoppers would not become illegal immigrants in Ethiopia. In other words God would not only declare the Egyptian’s goddess Heqt who is picture with a frog’s head as a fraud, but would end a bloody border dispute as well. God Himself would show that the Egyptians were violating Ethiopian space because no frogs would come upon the Ethiopians. Note what the Egyptians accomplished: “they brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.” They brought – ‘alah frogs upon the land of Egypt. The word ‘alah means to go up, come up to rise as in a natural way. They simply produced the frogs, where God smote nagaph – rendered a judgement with His frogs. He declared Himself the real creator of life, declared Heqt a fraud and established the boundary of Egypt all in one swoop.

There is a little more here. The word for frog in Hebrew as it is found in the text is interesting. It is hatsepharede’im. The first letter is an article, it is the frogs. So what is so special about these frogs than any other frogs coming down the pike? God is associating these frogs with the religious beliefs of Egypt and God is shattering their faith in this pagan goddess.

The word for frog is also a compound word. The first word is tsaphar which is the word for leaping. It also means to cover and in extra Biblical literature we find it is used for the covering or hiding of a diadem or the royal dignity and authority. The second word is yada’ which is an intimacy in knowing. I believe this to be a play on words. God sent these tsapharede’im to mock, insult and make fun of not only the goddess Heqt but Pharaoh himself.