Exodus 7:14-25
14 So the Lord said to Moses: “Pharaoh's heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water, and you shall stand by the river's bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. 16 And you shall say to him, “The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, ‘Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear! 17 Thus says the Lord: “By this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and they shall be turned to blood. 18 And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will loathe to drink the water of the river.” ’ ”
19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ ” 20 And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. So he lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21 The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said. 23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river. 25 And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river.
19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ ” 20 And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. So he lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21 The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said. 23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river. 25 And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river.
The first plague of judgement followed the sign of the staff becoming a serpent as God told Moses in the beginning (Exodus 3:20, 4:9). The water everywhere in Egypt was turned to blood, even in containers of water, and seven days passed like this to give Pharaoh the chance to heed God before the next judgement. These judgements are echoed in the end as the book of Revelation records concerning seal and bowl judgements, but here are to free God’s people, whereas in the end they will be toward final judgement. The blood in the rivers and other waters meant famine as well, for the fish died and the water could not be consumed to sustain life. It is ironic how four hundred years before Joseph rescued Egypt from a famine by God’s hand, and now that Egypt turned on God’s people, He gave them famine as a judgement. This was a plague to judge Egypt for enslaving God’s people who had once saved Egypt’s. But the magicians were able to imitate the supernatural work of God by making water appear to be blood, and led the king to once again harden his heart further in refusal to heed God’s word. The magicians, however, only would have been able to chemically imitate this in a small measure, while God used a word and staff alone to affect water all around; yet still the desire to ignore God and excuse the miracle of His works away led Pharaoh to remain unmoved. Even though people see and hear the work of Christ, many ignore and disbelieve to their own destruction instead of finding deliverance, but God’s hand is not shortened (Isaiah 59:1) so that He is unable to save those given ears to hear and eyes to see His work.
No comments:
Post a Comment