5 Bible Verses About Flies

Last night’s vice presidential debate left viewers with many questions: Would Mike Pence aid in a peaceful transfer of power should Donald Trump lose the election? Why do Kamala Harris and Joe Biden like fracking so much? Why was Susan Page denied a mute button? And why was that fly so drawn to Pence, plexiglass be damned? Perhaps it was the vice president’s hairspray, or his chilling stillness, or his pinkish eye. We may never know for sure. But in my search for answers, I turned to the Bible:

Exodus 8:21-23

For if you will not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, your officials, and your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies; so also the land where they live. But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I the Lord am in this land. Thus I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign shall appear tomorrow.

Psalm 105:30-31

Their land teemed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country.

Ecclesiastes 10:1

As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.

Matthew 23:23-24

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”

Exodus 8:18

The magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, but they could not. There were gnats on both humans and animals.