Frogs in the Bible
Hebrew: tsepharde'a, meaning a “marsh-leaper”
This amphibian is mentioned in the Old Testament only in connection with one of the plagues which fell on the land of Egypt (Exodus 8:2-14; Psalm 78:45; 105:30).
God’s choice of using frogs as a plague on the Egyptians was a direct attack on their foolish belief in Heqet (Heqat, Heket), the Egyptian goddess of fertility, who was represented as a frog and was identified with false god Hathor.
As a fertility goddess, she was explicitly associated with the last stages of the flooding of the Nile, and so with the germination of their seed crops. Heqet’s name was part of the names of some high-born Second Dynasty individuals buried at Helwan, such as prince Nisuheqet, and was mentioned on a stela of Wepemnofret and in the Pyramid Texts.
Early frog statuettes are often thought to be depictions of her. Her supposed husband Khnum was said to be responsible for forming the bodies of new children on his potter’s wheel. In the Osiris myth, it was Heqet who breathed life into the new body of Horus at birth, as she was a goddess of the last moments of birth.
In the Law of Moses, frog are considered unclean animals. They were not to be eaten by the children of Israel. The biblical laws about uncleanness were removed in New Testament times.
In the New Testament this word occurs only in Rev. 16:13, where it is referred to as a symbol of gross uncleanness.
Then I saw coming out of the
first fruits mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs —Rev. 16:13
The only species of frog naturally existing in Israel is said to be the green frog (Rana esculenta), the well-known edible frog of the Continent.
More information
- Has it ever RAINED FROGS or fish or any other strange things?
- SOUNDS of frogs
- ANIMALS of the Bible
- PLAGUES in the Bible
- IDOLATRY AND FALSE GODS in the Bible
- About IDOLS in the Bible
- What is an idolatrous worshipper?
- Idol worshippers KISSED the idols