And Moses and Aaron did so, as Jehovah had commanded; and he lifted up the staff, and smote the waters that were in the river before the eyes of Pharaoh, and before the eyes of his bondmen; and all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood.
Egypt's whole life ran through one river, and it was the river God struck first. Moses lifted the rod in full view of Pharaoh and his servants, and the water turned to blood — a blow against Israel's oppressor and against the god Egypt trusted.
The Nile was not one resource among many. Egypt watered its fields from it and worshipped it — and that is where the first blow fell.
The river watered the land through its many channels. It was the very sign that Egypt did not need heaven. They worshipped it as a god, and yet could claim it as their own making (Ezekiel 29:3) — two things that always go well together in idolatry. God turned that river into blood, so that they could not drink of it. What supports life becomes the very symbol of death — death by violence, the penalty carried out. This is not just nature rising up against them. It is penalty from the Creator of nature — death from the Life-giver.
Some say the water only looked red, as the Nile sometimes did on its own. The account answers that.
Was that a miracle, or was it red colouring matter that at times appeared in the river? It was a miracle. All the water of the river had become blood. The proof of that was abundant. The fish in the Nile died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river. The water was pleasant to drink, and in a moment it became disgusting. One important source of food, within reach of the poorest person, was cut off. The fish were clearly plentiful (Numbers 11:5), and they all died at once. Hapi, the Nile god, could not prevent it.
Moses struck the water in front of Pharaoh and his servants. Pharaoh had come down to the river that morning, and the timing matters.
Those who have studied the records of ancient Egypt tell us that the Egyptians worshipped the Nile as one of the chief gods of that land of idols. Remember that when the first plague struck the river, Pharaoh was going in the same direction that morning (Exodus 7:15). It gives us the impression that he was going out to worship the Nile-god, and at that very moment his god was struck.
Behind Pharaoh stood a greater enemy.
He dealt this way with Pharaoh because Pharaoh oppressed His people, and because Pharaoh pictured the god of this world. So His conflict was with Pharaoh and with everything Pharaoh trusted in. We therefore read that He executed judgment upon the gods of Egypt (Exodus 12:12; Numbers 33:4). It was the brilliant display of God's victorious power in the stronghold of Satan.
The court magicians copied the sign. Look at what their copy proved.
In a small way the magicians did what Moses had done. By their enchantments — that is, by calling on their gods — they turned water into blood wherever they could find it. Their actions say, "By the power of our gods we can turn life into death. We can add to the misery that comes from the judgment of God." But their power stopped there. They could not turn death into life. They could not pass from death into life. God does this work, and God alone.
God later sent Moses to bring water from a rock, and named the rod by what it had done here.
Here we have a picture of Christ struck for us, by the hand of God, in judgment. The reader will notice the expression, "the staff with which you struck the Nile." Why the Nile? Why mention this particular stroke of the rod? Exodus 7:20 gives the answer... The same rod that turned the water into blood would later strike the Rock — and that Rock was Christ — so that streams of life and refreshment might flow for us.
One river's fate previews a wider judgment still ahead.
All this points to a terrible second acting out of these things. The second angel pours out his bowl of the wrath of God on the sea, and it becomes like the blood of a corpse. The third angel pours his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they become blood. Death marked everything — not only the masses of nations and of men, but the springs and outflows of all human things in that day.
- River — Egypt's source of life became its symbol of death, struck by the same God who gave it.
- Real — the dead fish, the stench and the undrinkable water show a true miracle, not a seasonal discolouring.
- Rivals — the plague fell on the Nile-god as Pharaoh approached to worship, and the magicians could imitate death but never reverse it.
- Rock — the rod that turned water to blood later struck the rock, a picture of Christ struck in judgment so that life could flow out to us.
- Reckoning — commentators read the plague as a preview of a coming day when the springs of human life turn to blood again.
And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river; and the blood was throughout the land of Egypt.
Egypt's whole life ran along one river, and the first blow God struck fell there. Why did God aim His opening judgment at the very thing Egypt trusted most?
Nothing here took Pharaoh by surprise. God had told him every detail beforehand, and it came just as He said.
Then he announced to Pharaoh that he would strike the waters of the river so that they might become blood (v. 17). The fish would die, the river would stink, and the people would find it disgusting to try to drink from the river. The announcement apparently had no effect on Pharaoh, and the Lord commanded Moses to do just what he had warned (v. 19). When he did this, the result was just as he had said (v. 21).
Some would rather explain the change by natural causes. The facts in this verse rule that out — dead fish, a stinking river, water no one could drink, and blood beyond the riverbank.
Was that a miracle, or was it red colouring matter that at times appeared in the river? It was a miracle. All the water of the river had become blood. Proof of that was abundant. The fish in the Nile died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river. What a change in the Nile! The waters were pleasant to drink, and in a moment they became disgusting. One important source of support, within reach of the ordinary person, was cut off, for the fish — clearly plentiful (Numbers 11:5) — died at once. Further, all the water in the ponds and pools, and in containers of wood as well as of stone, became blood. Where Moses was not seen the plague was felt, and the Egyptians dug around the river for water.
Egypt's water supply was also Egypt's boast, and the same stream now carried the penalty.
The river ran in many channels and watered the land. It was the very sign that Egypt needed nothing from heaven. They worshipped it as a god, and yet they could claim it as their own making (Ezekiel 29:3) — two things that fit well together in all idolatry. That river was turned into blood, so that they could not drink of it. The support of life becomes the very symbol of death, and of death by violence, the infliction of the penalty. What we see here is not just nature rebelling. It is penalty from the Creator of nature — death from the Life-giver.
The colour of the plague carried a message Egypt's own religion could read.
The Nile was Egypt's god: they gave it the name "Osiris," which represented all that was good. Another god, "Typhon," represented all that was evil, and was regarded as blood-red. All Egypt would recognise that to turn water to blood was to make evil triumph over good.
The moment of the blow may have been pointed too.
It is also likely that when the first plague fell, Pharaoh was walking toward the river to worship the god that the Nile was thought to represent.
Pharaoh's advisers matched the sign, and his heart stayed hard. Copying a plague is not the same as ending one.
But again the magicians proved that they too could produce death and stink, so Pharaoh's heart stayed hard. It is no surprise that Satan could produce death, or something that stands for death. He is the author of sin, and death came in through sin. Pharaoh made light of this first plague, but the common people felt the weight of it, and it lasted seven days.
What happened to one river shows what happens to anything a person prizes apart from God.
The river is turned to blood; the means of life and refreshment becomes a witness of judgment (Exodus 7:14 etc.)... [These plagues show] how all that the world values, if separated from God, will in the end turn into plagues.
- Announced — God told Pharaoh the ruin in advance, detail for detail. It came just as He said. He warns before He strikes.
- Aimed — the blow fell on the Nile, the supply Egypt lived by and called divine. The support of life became the symbol of death.
- Exposed — in Egypt's own religion, blood-red water meant evil beating good. God struck their river-god as Pharaoh walked toward it to worship.
- Imitated — the magicians could add death but could not remove it. Pharaoh used their trick as an excuse to stay hard, and his people suffered seven days.
- Applied — whatever the world values, held apart from God, turns at last into a plague.
And the scribes of Egypt did so with their sorceries; and Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, neither did he hearken to them, as Jehovah had said.
Egypt's water had just turned to blood. The court magicians produced the same effect, and Pharaoh walked away as though nothing had happened. Two questions follow: how far can a copy of God's work go, and why does it leave a heart harder than before?
The magicians are not arguing against Moses. They are copying him, and one writer traces this back to the two men the New Testament names.
The New Testament names the chief of these magicians. We read, "Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth." (2 Tim. 3:8.) That reference matters, because it shows that one of Satan's own working principles shaped what the magicians did. What was its special character? In one word, IMITATION... So when the rod of God struck the waters of Egypt and they became blood, the magicians "did the same by their secret arts." (Ex. 7:22.) ... Timothy also describes the men who resist the truth as "having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power." If Satan can succeed in open opposition to the truth, he will not hide himself. But if that door is shut, he will transform himself into an angel of light.
The copying had a limit. One writer counts how far it went.
The magicians of Egypt could copy the servants of the true and living God in only three things: turning their rods into serpents, (Ex. 7:12) turning the water into blood, (Ex. 7:21) and bringing up the frogs. (Ex. 8:7) But the fourth sign called for life to appear, together with a display of nature brought low. There they were completely at a loss, and had to admit, "This is the finger of God." (Ex. 8:16-19)
The break came exactly where life had to appear. One writer names the reason, and the comfort in it.
Life belongs to God; He alone is its source; and so here Satan's efforts fail... So we can rest in confidence, whatever success the evil one seems to have now; for "the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." (Rom. 16:20.)
The magicians added to Egypt's trouble; they could not lift it. And Pharaoh missed what the sign meant.
The magicians used their secret arts to do the same thing. God had sent the trouble; and Satan shows he can bring trouble too, but he cannot take it away. Pharaoh regards the whole matter as if it was only magic... The Nile was Egypt's god: they gave it the name "Osiris," which represented all that was good. Another god, "Typhon," represented all that was evil, and was regarded as blood-red. All Egypt would recognise that to turn water to blood was to make evil triumph over good.
The verse says Pharaoh's heart stayed hard, just as the LORD had said. So did God harden him? Scripture gives the order of events.
It is true that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. But that came only after Pharaoh had shown extreme and shocking arrogance by saying, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice…?" (Ex. 5:2) — and only after he had hardened his own heart again and again. In fact the Spirit, using two different words in the original language, says seven times that Pharaoh hardened his heart (Ex. 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7) before saying that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh (Ex. 9:12).
Hardening from God is real. It never comes first.
God never forced a man to be an unbeliever. Unbelief never begins as the result of hardening sent from God in judgment. Is there no such thing as hardening, then? ... It is just as wrong to suppose that God hardens a person when He first sends a testimony as it is to deny that He hardens after that testimony has been refused. The fact is, both are true.
The lasting danger is not open denial. It is a copy good enough to make God's work look ordinary.
Nothing deadens the power of truth so much as this: people who are not under its influence at all do the very same things as those who are. This is Satan's agency just now. He wants everyone counted as a Christian. He would like us to believe that we are surrounded by "a Christian world." But it is counterfeit Christianity. Far from bearing witness to the truth, it is designed by the enemy of the truth to resist truth's power to purify and lift up.
- Imitation — The magicians never contradicted Moses; they copied him. Opposition that wears the appearance of godliness is the harder kind to spot.
- Limit — The copying ran to three signs and stopped. Where life itself had to appear, the imitators said, "This is the finger of God."
- Uselessness — A copy can add to the trouble but never lift it. Nothing in the magicians' act relieved a single Egyptian.
- Excuse — What the imitation gave Pharaoh was a reason to feel nothing. Seven times he is said to harden his own heart before God is ever said to harden it.
- End — The copy is allowed for a time, then it breaks. Life belongs to God, and "the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet."