The significant element here is that God exercised His dominion by refusing to allow Goshen to be plagued by the swarms of flitting flies. The same thing occurred in regard to this murrain (which makes one think of the dreaded "mad cow disease" now that is plaguing Britain.) In this case again the murrain came upon the cattle of Egypt, but the murrain did not come upon the cattle of the Israelites. The Israelite cattle remained healthy. God exercised His dominion. He had power to stay the pestilence and said "this far, and no further." You see, He was selectively choosing to plague one people, and not another—and they lived side by side! Can you imagine God controlling flies? He did.
What is God doing? He is doing two things at the same time. He is calling the Egyptians to task because of the way they are treating the Israelites, and He is going to show them that He Himself rules this creation and that He is going to benefit the Israelites so that they go free while the Egyptians are held back from what they would like to do in killing.
The Egyptians dwelling in houses—houses with lots of bugs in them, at that time. But the Israelites were separated away. They were in the land of Goshen. That is where their houses were—that is, their fly-free houses!
God makes a difference. This will become a large portion of what I am going to be saying in this sermon. God is making a difference between His people and those who are part of the world.
