Read with Me
Exodus 7:14-24 (HCSB)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard: he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When you see him walking out to the water, stand ready to meet him by the bank of the Nile. Take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake. Tell him: Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness, but so far you have not listened. This is what Yahweh says: Here is how you will know that I am Yahweh. Watch. I will strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood. The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from it.”
So the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers, canals, ponds, and all their water reservoirs—and they will become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.”
Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile was turned to blood. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.
But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said. Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and didn’t even take this to heart. All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink the water from the river.
Listen with Me
Pharaoh had ignored God and his messengers, and now the consequences would begin to be felt. These “miracles” were not just wonders to amaze Pharaoh – they were the beginnings of God’s judgment that would ultimately lead to the death of every firstborn in the land of Egypt. Those judgments would increase in severity over the coming months. At every step, Pharaoh would have the opportunity to take an offramp by repenting, even though God already knew that he would not do that.
The first judgment was turning the Nile River to blood. And not only the Nile, but all the water throughout the land, even the water in canals, ponds, reservoirs, and even stored in wooden and stone containers. This was not a light judgment. The people could not live without water, and they could not water their crops with blood. They were able to dig holes along the banks of the Nile, which slowly filled with drinkable water as it seeped through the sand, but that did nothing to provide irrigation for the crops, which began to wither right at the start of the growing season.
In addition to the impacts on the lives and livelihoods of the people, this was also a frontal assault on one of the primary gods of Egypt: Hapi, the personification of the Nile. Even though the magicians of Pharaoh’s court were able to find a small amount of water in metal cups that had not been turned to blood, and even though they were able to turn that water red through their trickery, that did not cancel the fact that the god they prayed to and sacrificed to in order to keep the Nile waters flowing had been defeated by the God of the Hebrew, perhaps even slain by Him!
But even so, Pharaoh’s heart remained as hard as rock, and he would not repent.
Pray with Me
Father, we so often see this event as merely a “miracle” or a “sign”, and we miss the deeper significances of judgment, punishment, and the conquest of gods that were worshiped by the Egyptians. This conquest would not only be demoralizing to the people, but it also put their lives at risk. The people depended on Pharaoh, who was seen as a divine incarnation of the chief gods of Egypt, to keep them safe and prospering. And this represented a serious chink in the armor he supposedly possessed. Thank You, Lord, for helping me to see this event, and in the process to see You, more clearly. Amen.