The redemption in this verse looks forward to the redemption accomplished by Christ. According to His righteousness God should have judged the heavens and the earth immediately after the fall of Adam. However, in order to fulfill His purpose to have a dwelling place among men, God put the universe under the redemption of Christ, which in His eternal view was foreordained before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:19-20 and note 1 Pet. 1:20^1a; Heb. 2:9 and note Heb. 2:9^3d). Hence, God has the freedom to either preserve the universe or to judge it and destroy it. Today, God extends His mercy by viewing all the people of the world under the redemption of Christ so that they might have the opportunity to repent and receive His redemption (cf. John 3:18). Pharaoh and the Egyptians rejected the redemption ordained by God and thus exposed themselves to God’s judgment (cf. 1 John 2:2 and note 1 John 2:2²). Because God covered the children of Israel with Christ’s redemption, God’s judgment did not touch them (Exo. 12:23).

The second group of three plagues dealt mainly with the air, another necessity for man’s life. The swarms of flies signify the pollution in the moral atmosphere of the world. The “air” in the world is filled with all manner of unclean and evil things.

See note Luke 11:20¹.

Formerly, the dust (soil) of Egypt produced grain that could be used for food, but in this plague the dust became lice that caused great discomfort to the Egyptians. This indicates that the source of the supply of the living in the world eventually becomes a cause of irritation.

In the first group of three plagues God exposed the nature of the fallen life of mankind. As He did so, He showed that the resources of man’s livelihood — the water and the earth — issue in death, trouble, and irritation.

See note Exo. 9:12^1a.

The plague of frogs revealed to the Egyptians that everything they gained from the Nile, the source of Egypt’s supply, was not an enjoyment to them but a “frog,” a nuisance, a cause of trouble. This is the meaning of the living in the world.

I.e., in Egypt. See note Exo. 5:2¹.