Note: This article is an AI-generated adaptation of a spoken transcript and may not fully capture the nuances of the original presentation.
The passage from Exodus 8:22-32 introduces a crucial turning point in the plague narrative: the plague of flies. The Lord instructs Moses to rise early and confront Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, delivering God’s familiar demand: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me.’”
But this time, God adds something new. If Pharaoh refuses, swarms of flies will fill the houses of the Egyptians and cover the ground they stand on. However—and this is the critical difference—God declares: “But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Thus I will put a division between my people and your people.”
The plague unfolds exactly as God predicted. Great swarms of flies invade Pharaoh’s house, his servants’ houses, and throughout Egypt. The land is ruined by the flies. But Goshen, where the Israelites live, remains untouched.
Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron, attempting to negotiate: “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” Moses refuses, explaining that their sacrifices would be an abomination to the Egyptians, who might stone them. He insists they must go three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord as God commands.
Pharaoh adjusts his offer: “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far away. Plead for me.” Moses agrees to intercede, warning Pharaoh not to cheat again by refusing to let the people go.
Moses prays, and the Lord removes every single fly. Not one remains. But once again, Pharaoh hardens his heart and refuses to let the people go.
The Main Message
The central truth of this passage is that the Lord draws a clear line between His redeemed people and the rebellious world, shown here by Egypt. We are saved by His distinguishing grace, fulfilled ultimately in Jesus who makes us His own.
This pivotal moment in the Exodus narrative reveals three essential truths about God’s relationship with His people.
1. God Sets Apart His Own People
This plague marks a dramatic shift in the narrative. For the first time, a plague falls on Egypt while Goshen—where Israel lives—is kept separate and free from judgment.
The difference is not that Israel has suddenly become worthy of God’s protection. The distinction is entirely due to God’s covenant grace. He has set aside Israel as His chosen people, a choice He made and promised all the way back in Genesis. Their protection comes not from their merit, but from God’s mercy.
In verse 22, the verb translated as “set apart” highlights God’s active choice to separate His people from others. Verse 23 declares, “I will put a division”—a deliberate separation that God initiates and maintains.
The narrative is already signaling a profound truth: belonging to the Lord is what determines one’s fate.
This is critically important for us to understand. Our hope does not rest in how strong we are, how worthy we feel, or how valuable we think we are to God. It rests purely on God’s sovereign choice to separate His people out as the elect, to place us under His mercy in Christ.
We can rest securely in that distinction because it doesn’t depend on us. We are marked out by God’s grace alone. Our salvation is secure. Our separation—in fact, our holiness, which literally means “to be set apart”—is secure because of what God has done in Christ Jesus, not because of anything we have achieved.
Just as the Israelites woke up that morning to find their land free of flies while Egypt suffered, we too have been rescued from judgment not by our own doing, but by God’s gracious choice to make us His own.
2. Worship Must Be on God’s Terms
When Pharaoh sees the devastation, he attempts to negotiate. First, he offers: “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” When that fails, he adjusts: “You can go, but you must not go very far away.”
Moses rightly refuses both compromises. Why? Because worshipping God must happen on God’s terms, not ours. Holiness cannot be bargained away. To be set apart by God and to worship Him properly means accepting His conditions, not negotiating our own.
Moses gives a practical reason for the refusal—that their sacrifices would be an abomination to the Egyptians, who might stone them. But the deeper truth is that they must worship God in the way He determines. The three-day journey echoes God’s prior command that they would leave Egypt properly in order to worship Him.
This truth has direct application for us today. In Christ, we are fully accepted before God always. But it’s often the case that Christians think of worship as something we get to determine ourselves—that our obedience to God is somehow optional because we’re now “free in Christ.”
The apostle Paul addresses this misunderstanding extensively in Romans. We are not free to live however we would like. Rather, we are free to live in obedience to God in ways we weren’t free to before. Our sinful nature enslaved us; Christ has freed us for obedience, not from obedience.
Our worship of God is still conducted on God’s terms. He has freed us in Christ to now obey and worship Him in the way that pleases Him. We don’t get to customize our faith to suit our preferences, keeping the parts we like and discarding the parts that challenge us.
Pharaoh wanted the blessing of relief without the surrender of control. Many people today want God’s benefits—forgiveness, peace, purpose, heaven—without submitting to His lordship. But that’s not how it works. God sets the terms of relationship with Him, and worship happens on His terms or not at all.
3. Relief Without Repentance Leads to Further Hardening
Once again, we see a disturbing pattern. Pharaoh pleads for Moses to intercede with God for him. Relief comes—the Lord removes every single fly—and yet Pharaoh again hardens his heart.
There’s a temporary sincerity here. Pharaoh wants God’s blessing, but he doesn’t want to give God his life. Ironically, God’s grace in taking away the plague ultimately makes things worse for Egypt. The cycle repeats: plague, plea, intercession, relief, and then refusal.
The text demonstrates that without the intervening power of God in someone’s life, genuine change cannot occur. Pharaoh experiences relief repeatedly, but it never produces transformation. Each time mercy is extended, he uses it as an opportunity to return to his rebellion.
This should serve as a warning to us. We must ask the Spirit to change our hearts so that we don’t fall into this destructive cycle: committing a sin, praying to God for forgiveness, receiving that forgiveness gladly, and then repeating the same sin over and over.
This pattern reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what redemption means. Our redemption in Christ isn’t just repeated forgiveness for repeated failures with no expectation of change. Rather, because Jesus has already paid for our sins completely, we are free from that enslaving cycle of sin. We’re free to actually change and grow.
The gospel doesn’t just offer us forgiveness; it offers us transformation. The same Spirit who convicts us of sin also empowers us to overcome it. If we find ourselves in Pharaoh’s cycle—experiencing God’s mercy but never allowing it to change us—we need to examine whether we’ve truly surrendered or whether we’re just seeking relief from consequences while maintaining control.
Living as Set-Apart People
This passage challenges us to consider several questions:
First, do we recognize that our standing before God is entirely due to His grace? We didn’t earn our place in Goshen. We didn’t make ourselves worthy of protection from judgment. God chose to set us apart and place us in Christ. This should humble us and fill us with gratitude.
Second, are we trying to worship God on our own terms? Do we pick and choose which aspects of obedience suit us? Do we want to stay “in the land” or “not go very far” rather than fully departing from our old way of life? God calls us to worship Him completely, on His terms, not on a negotiated compromise.
Third, is God’s mercy producing genuine change in us, or are we in Pharaoh’s cycle? Do we experience conviction, seek forgiveness, receive it, and then immediately return to the same patterns? The Spirit’s work in us should produce transformation, not just temporary remorse.
God has drawn a line. He has put a division between His people and the world. We are set apart—not because we’re better, but because He is merciful. May we live as people who are truly His own, worshiping on His terms and allowing His grace to genuinely transform us rather than merely relieve us.
Prayer: Dear Holy Father, You speak and You bring both judgment and redemption, and yet You are the one we are to worship. We pray that You will not allow our hearts to become hard because of the forgiveness we have received. May Your grace rather stir us to deeper and deeper devotion to You because of what You’ve already done for us in Jesus. May we not be like Pharaoh, experiencing Your mercy but never being changed by it. May we be the people You have truly set apart to be Your own. Thank You that in Jesus we are part of Your covenant. In His name we pray. Amen.