Exodus 8:21-24 "'If you do not let My people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them. (The Lord gives Moses the next message to give to Pharaoh because he still refused to let God's people go. This fourth plague of swarms of flies will severely afflict the Egyptians. The word flies in Hebrew may even refer to a mixture of insects that could include gnats, wasps, beetles, the cockroach, and the like. Each plague becomes progressively more offensive. When people refuse to listen to the Lord, He often increases the pressure just as He is doing here with the Egyptians, and the pressure He allows invades every aspect of our lives.) "'But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where My people live; (The Hebrew meaning of the phrase deal differently is that the Lord is saying He will do a marvelous thing in Goshen, the dwelling place of the Israelites, that He will perform a miraculous difference for His people. Today, He still proclaims to us that He protects us from His judgments.) no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. (Now for the first time, the Lord differentiates the two groups of people, and He will protect His people from this plague. Whether or not the Israelites had been besieged by the first three plagues, now they most certainly will not be subjected to this infestation, which would be a strong message to the Egyptians, since flies generally swarm in all parts of a region, that God was, indeed, sovereign over their so-called gods and that He held His people in special regard. Now the Egyptians would know beyond doubt that God Himself both sent the plagues, as well as set the boundaries for whom they would impact and where, that this God that Moses represented was the only God Almighty. He is always trying to provide a way for escape for us, even in our rebellion. His purpose always, even in judgment, even in difficult times, is to make us realize that God is God and that we need to acknowledge Him and turn to Him, the only way to be released from the penalties of disobeying Him.) I will make a distinctionbetween My people and your people. (The word distinction means deliverance. The Lord declares He will execute a deliverance for His people. Today, He still rescues and delivers us from catastrophes, some of which we aren't even aware lurk around us.) This sign will occur tomorrow.'"And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies. (Today, He still proclaims to us that He protects us from the results of our sin and His subsequent judgments, shielding us, as well as our assets, from the consequences of our and the world's choices. He provides in times of trouble in miraculous ways.)
