Exodus
7: The Conflict Begins: a Predicted Miracle & the First Plague
v.1-7
God Gives Moses Marching Orders to begin the Conflict
v.8-13
A Miraculous Sign: Aaron's Staff Becomes a Snake
v.14-25
FIRST PLAGUE: The Plague of Blood
v.1-7
God Gives Moses Marching Orders to begin the Conflict
v.1
Then
the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh,
and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
v.2
You
are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is
to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.
v.3,4
But
I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply
my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then
I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I
will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.
v.5
And
the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out
my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
v.6
Moses
and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.
v.7
Moses
was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to
Pharaoh.
[Notes:
Divine order: God – Moses – Aaron. A warning that [by
pressing on Pharaoh's pride] God will harden Pharaoh's [already
hard] heart, so it will become necessary to multiply the
signs and wonders [i.e. increase their intensity] but He WILL
deliver Israel.]
v.8-13
A Miraculous Sign: Aaron's Staff Becomes a Snake
v.8
The
Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
v.9
“When
Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,' then say to Aaron, ‘Take
your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,' and it will become
a snake.”
v.10
So
Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded.
Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials,
and it became a snake.
v.11
Pharaoh
then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians
also did the same things by their secret arts:
v.12
Each
one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron's staff
swallowed up their staffs.
v.13
Yet
Pharaoh's heart became hard and he would not
listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
[Notes:
The first of the signs that the Lord showed Moses [4:3,4]
and had then performed for the elders [4:30] now comes into play
with Pharaoh. Note the following:
i]
to this preliminary sign, no warning is given, the miracle is
just performed.
ii]
the magicians copy the sign.
iii]
even though Aaron's staff swallows the rest, Pharaoh is not impressed.
Development:
As we
move on to see the ten plagues that follow, significant things
to observe are:
i]
whether warnings are given,
ii]
the increasing intensity of the plagues and their effects,
iii]
the power of the occult initially seen but giving way under the
power of God,
iv)
the distinctions that will appear from the fourth plague on, Israel
being unaffected,
v)
Pharaoh's pride that will not give in and which seeks to manipulate
Moses by promising release and then recanting.]
v.14-25
FIRST PLAGUE: The Plague of Blood
v.14-18
Instructions what to tell Pharaoh
v.14
Then
the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses
to let the people go.
v.15
Go
to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront
him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that
was changed into a snake.
v.16
Then
say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to
say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the
wilderness. But until now you have not listened.
v.17
This
is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord:
With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the
Nile, and it will be changed into blood.
v.18
The
fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians
will not be able to drink its water.'”
v.19-21
Instructions for Aaron and blood in all waters
v.19
The
Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch
out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals,
over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.'
Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and
stone.”
v.20
Moses
and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff
in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water
of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood.
v.21
The
fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians
could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
v.22-25
Copycats & Hardening
v.22
But
the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts,
and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not
listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
v.23
Instead,
he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this
to heart.
v.24
And
all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because
they could not drink the water of the river.
v.25
Seven
days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.
[Notes:
The first plague – of blood – the Lord had warned about
back at Sinai [4:9]. Now he will confront Pharaoh as he goes to
the Nile to bathe. Note:
i]
Pharaoh is told what will happen and it does straight away with
no further warning.
ii]
the magicians copy the sign a second time.
iii)
Pharaoh stormed off to his palace and said nothing for seven days.]
Continue to Chapter 8