Frogs may well be the green slimy creatures that hop in swaps and feed on bugs. However, the Bible speaks about frogs in a way that takes them off from the physical realm into the spiritual expanse. Both in Exodus and Revelation, the Bible speaks of frogs in quite a significant manner. To help wrap your head around the mentioning of frogs in the Bible and their symbolism, read along.
What You'll Learn Today
Unclean Spirits
In the book of Revelation 16:13, John of Patmos or John the Elder wrote,
“Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”
From this passage of scripture, it is clear that the Bible mentions frogs in symbolic manner to refer to unclean spirits.
John speaks of the trinity of evil. The first member of the trinity is the devil, the second is the beast and the third is the false prophet. Frogs capture the essence of the trinity to the extent of their sliminess and cleanliness.
Frogs use the tongue to capture their prey. On the other hand, the devil and the false prophets also use the power of the tongue to convince their victims into doing as directed. In the Garden of Eden, the devil convinced Adam and Eve to disobey God by eating from the tree that they were not allowed to eat.
The gift of tongues resembles a supernatural ability. When used in the context of divine assignment from God, the supernatural manifestations bring glory to God. However, when used to spread malice and lies, the supernatural miracles lead to destruction of mankind.
When the seat of the Antichrist is being brought down, and the kingdom of darkness destroyed, there is bound to be a retaliation of some sort from the enemy’s territory.
In this instance, he sends his emissaries who could be people familiar to the victims. However, the intention is not just to stop the spread of the Good News but to destroy those at the center of the mission.
Uncleanliness in this context refresh to anything that is not of Christ. It could be secularism, false religion, or even radicalization. By nature, the devil takes pleasure in uncleanliness and the frogs exemplify that.
Frogs delight in dirt and filth in the same way the emissaries of the devil do. They love to talk in boastful ways, being troublesome and impudent much like the croaking of frogs.
A Mockery to the Egyptian gods
In the Egyptian ancient beliefs, Heket or the frog goddess appears as one of the oldest deities. Her responsibility was to protect dead people as they transit to the afterlife. Eventually her role expanded to include protecting life during childbirth.
Heket had the head of a frog and for this reason, Egyptian women wore frog charms and amulets to help them get through labor during childbirth. She was often referred to as the defender of the home.
However, during the Egyptian plague, it was Yahweh who showed total control over the frogs as opposed to the Frog goddess. This was not just a punishment to the Egyptians but a shattering defeat to the supremacy of their beliefs.
Heket couldn’t stop the God of Israel from penetrating to the sacred chambers meant to be guarded by Heket and went ahead to slaughter the Egyptian children. God sent frogs in the plague as described in Exodus 8 to display his power, truth, and sovereignty both to the Israelites and the Egyptians.
The Psalmist had this to say about the invasion by frogs in Egypt. Psalm 105:30,
“Their land teemed with frogs, which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.”
Sexual Promiscuity
Frogs were closely associate with fertility in the ancient cultures around Egypt and the Mediterranean. This was largely drawn from the sexual behaviors of the frogs.
In fact, a lot of cultures spread miles apart somehow shared these unique beliefs to the extent that they had, in their own religions, a form of a frog god to represent fertility.
For instance, in the pre-Colombian Mesoamerica, there was a goddess worshiped referred to as Ceneotl. She was the patron of fertility and childbirth. Her form was that of a frog that had many udders.
Among the Aztecs, the frog stood for the earth mother goddess who was the embodiment of the cycle of death and rebirth. Whether she appears in a quasi-human form or as a frog, the Aztec revered her as the controller of life and death.
She was always in a squatting position, to symbolize giving birth while also creating a passage through her fanged mouth for the souls f the dead t pass into the other world.
Among the Hindu, the frog has a special place. The Hindus perform marriage ceremonies so that natural events such as rain can be triggered to bring agricultural fertility.
The Bible, to a large extent, views all this as filthy and unacceptable. While it doesn’t mention some of these cultures, it confronts the general belief that frogs, or animate objects bring fertility.
It affirms the position that only the God of heaven and earth has control over who comes into this world and who exits and when.
Every time the gods and goddesses were confronted in the Bible, they never stood the test. These are the same cultures that the Bible sort to address though the few times it involved and mentioned frogs in scripture.
Conclusion
The mentioning of frogs in the Bible is largely symbolic and it brings about the Bible’s stance on uncleanliness, sexual promiscuity, and the worship of other gods.
In the book of Exodus, the story of the plagues including the one involving frogs was a clear demonstration that God has the power over life and death. Despite the frog representing the goddess of fertility, God of Israel showed that he alone wields the power over life and death.
The birth of children and the death of humans is all under his control. In revelation, the Bible reiterates the evil and uncleanliness of the frog as a representative of the trinity of evil-the devil, the beast and the false prophets.
If you want to learn more about other symbols in the Bible, here is an interesting article on scorpions.
