Today we find the Lord telling Moses to set his alarm clock, 'cause he's got a breakfast date with Pharaoh. Well, to be exact, the Lord tells him to "rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water." I just have to say - I feel bad for Moses. I mean, I hate getting up early at the best of times! Poor Moses had to get up early to catch Pharaoh "as he goes out to the water," i.e. catch him on the way to the showers. But Moses did it. He went down to the waters, met Pharaoh and gave him the "let My people go ... or else" speech and then warned him that if he didn't let the Israelites go there would be ... not blood ... not frogs ... not gnats ... but flies! (Exodus 8:20-21) Swarms of flies, that is. Millions of flies. But there's a twist to this familiar exchange.
Suddenly, Goshen, where the Israelites live, will not be affected by the plagues! (Exodus 8:22-23) We see the Lord making a distinction between His people and the Egyptians. From now on, His people will be protected from the plagues. I think the Israelites must have been thinking something along the same lines as the Psalmist thought later on: "For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners." (Psalm 69:33) The Lord does not forget His people; He does not close His ears to their cries. And this is just one example of His steadfast love and faithfulness.
Now, back to the story. Scripture doesn't record Pharaoh's answer to Moses and Aaron's plea, but we don't need to guess. Exodus 8:24 tells us, "And the LORD did so. There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by the swarms of flies."
Pharaoh had refused Moses and Aaron, so the Lord fulfilled His promise. Flies swarmed the land of Egypt, buzzing incessantly, "ruining the land," says the ESV. I can just imagine the chaos breaking out among the Egyptians. The anger, the panic, the frustration, the sorrow.
Well, the next part of our story turns to Pharaoh. This passage marks another change in this story that will carry through for the rest of the plagues. Pharaoh does not call his magicians. After they couldn't produce the gnats, who knows what Pharaoh did to them! But we never hear from them again. Interesting, huh? So now that he has no magicians, what's Pharaoh going to do?
"Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the LORD our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? We must go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as he tells us.”" Exodus 8:25-27So, to make a long story slightly shorter, Pharaoh said, "Okay, you can go, as long as you'll ask the Lord to take away the flies." Moses said, "Okay. I'll pray that the swarms of flies may be taken out of Egypt, as long as you promise not to cheat me again and refuse to let the Israelites go." So Moses went and prayed and the Lord got rid of the flies.
Now, unlike when He killed all the frogs, when the Lord removed the flies, "not one remained." (Exodus 8:31) This insinuates that the Lord made all the flies either a) disappear or b) fly away/disperse. To be honest, I think the second idea is more plausible, though, of course, we can't know for sure.
So what does Pharaoh do now? The flies are gone, so "[he] hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go." Surprise, surprise. Well, that's Pharaoh for you. A lying, deceptive cheat. But Moses doesn't even flinch. For he knows that Yahweh is greater than Pharaoh, and He is using all these circumstances to bring about His sovereign purposes for His glory, not Pharaoh's. Moses knew that He was and is Lord of the Flies ...