Exodus 8:30

I will pray: Moses was learning the role of intercessor that would be so much a part of his life in future years (see, for example, 32:11–13, 30–32; Numbers 14:13–19). It must have been increasingly tempting to let the Egyptians continue to experience the results of their king’s stubbornness, but Moses was willing to plead with God not to leave them in a permanent state of grief and distress.

The fourth plague was the plague of flies. The Egyptians worshiped insects such as flies that seemed to be able to turn death into life, as their young seemed to emerge from decaying matter. If the Egyptians thought that insects had the secret of life, God would let them have all the insects they wanted. Some say that this infestation was the natural result of all the dead frogs, but there were no flies in Goshen (8:22), the northeastern delta area where the Hebrews lived. God’s miraculous power was clearly seen in his ability to infest one area while sparing another at will.