Plagues of Egypt: First Plague Water to Blood

Introduction

The ten plagues God used to smite Egypt were (1) turning water into blood, (2) the frogs, (3) the lice, (4) the flies, (5) the domestic animals, (6) the boils, (7) the storm, (8) the locusts, (9) the darkness, and (10) the death of the firstborn.

These plagues can be divided into pairs :

Plagues 1 and 10 mention the blood

Plagues 2 and 9 are associated with darkness (frogs and the plague of darkness

Plagues 3 and 8 both have a confession associated with them. The magicians in the third plague confessed, “This is the finger of God” (8:19); and Pharaoh in the eighty plague confessed, “I have sinned” (10:16).

In plagues 4 and 7 it is specifically mentioned that Goshen had been exempted from the plagues

And in plagues 5 and 6 animals are prominent in the plagues.

The Word of God is not a jumbled up mess of myths thrown together at rendom

It is a Divinely authored book put together intricately in a demonstration of literary excellence and spiritual inspiration.

You will never see the excellency of the Word if you do not believe the Word of God and do not diligently and faithfully study the Word.

This week we will look at the 1st plague of turning water into blood.

This included turning the water of the Nile and its associated streams, canals, and reservoirs into blood.

The Reproving Before The Plague

Before the first plague, Pharaoh had been corrected by Moses

Moses said,

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.

Pharaoh had already rejected the order to let Israel go twice.

It looked like Pharaoh’s contempt and and rejection would go uncontested

The Pharaoh is about to find out that he can no longer reject God’s demand for Israel’s freedom without incurring Divine judgment

Sin brings judgment, and that judgment is to begin in Egypt

Matthew Henry said

“God warns before He wounds.”

Pharaoh had been warned adequately about letting Israel go.

But since he rejected the warning

the wounding will not begin.

How much wounding we could escape if we heeded God’s commands promptly

The Revelation In The Plague

This is what Yahweh says: Here is how you will know that I am Yahweh. (7:17)

When Moses and Aaron first appealed to Pharaoh in the name of Jehovah to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron,

I know not the Lord [Jehovah} (Exodus 5:2)

God is going to give Pharaoh a crash course on the knowledge of Jehovah God

It begins with the first plague

and will continue through each of the plagues

He will learn that God is holy, all powerful, and is superior by far to any gods Pharaoh has ever known

Pharaoh’s increase in the knowledge of Jehovah God

resulting from the plagues

this is the first reason for the plagues to worship God

Everything God does is to reveal Himself to mankind

God is not performing these miracles of plagues to entertain

God is doing them to enlighten men in the most important work in their ministries

The Ruin From The Plague

Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord 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. (7:20-21)

This plague brought considerable ruin in at least three major areas of Egypt

It brought ruin to their eating, their ecology, and their economy

It ruined the ecology when the river turned to blood

It polluted their drinking water supplies and killed many fish, one of their main items of food (Numbers 11:5)

They had to dig wells (7:24) to keep from perishing quickly

The fish supply would take a long time to recover

when the Nile returned to water it would take a long time to grow the fish

So this plague was a major blow to their eating

It ruined their ecology

With the river turned to blood the fish died and the Scripture says “The river stank” (7:21)

The air would be putrid

The river would be a mess

It would give Egypt some major ecology problems

It ruined their economy

Fishing was a big business in Egypt and it was hurt by this plague

This hurt many businesses that were interrlated

The Egyptian economy would be hit hard

The Reaping In The Plague

This plague caused Egypt to reap what they had sown

It punished Egypt a nation that had sinned

Egypt had stained the river with the blood of Jewish male babies

Egypt was not bothered by the blood they put in the river, but they were bothered by the blood God puts in the river.

It was only fitting that Egypt reaped what they had sown

The Religion In The Plague

The plagues not only attacked the people and the land

But also the gods of Egypt were being attacked

God demonstrated His superiority over the god of the Nile by turning it into blood

F. B. Meyer said

“The Nile was worshipped as a beneficent deity, in whose honor hymns were chanted by the priests. The papyri furnish the very words of those ancient odes”

Others tell us a temple was built in most cities to honor this god

and the god was pictured as a man with his mouth open

and water issuing from it as the Egyptians did not know the source of the river.

This plague greatly diminished the glory of the river god

It made the river god inferior to Jehovah God

Sooner or later all the things we trust in and honor above God

will fail us as God judges us for our disloyalty to Him

The Repeating Of The Plague

“And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments” (7:22)

First it was a smaller work than Moses and Aaron had done

The magicians would not have much water left to turn into blood

Their water came from the wells the Egyptians had dug for water

Though they could duplicate the miracle, they were no match for Moses and Aaron

God is never second best

If only we always gave Him our best.

Second, the magicians work was stupid

Why did they not change the blood back to water?

That would have alleviated Egypt’s distress.

Changing the water into blood only aggravated the situation for the Egptians

There was not much good water around and the magicians made it even less.

What mercies Egypt had, they would take those away.

The Rejection Of The Plague

“Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them [Moses and Aaron]” (7:22)

There are three things we note about Pharaoh’s rejection

First, a cause for the rejection

Right after Scripture reports the magicians repeated the plague we are told

“Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them [Moses and Aaron].”

The Pharaoh accepted the magicians’ performance as and equivalent to what had been effected by the Israelites chiefs

Evil philosophies are accepted without proof while the Bible must be continually examined by the critics to see if it is true.

Pharaoh could accept an inferior performance by the magicians

but the great work of Moses and Aaron is found unconvincing to his heart

Second, there is a curse from the rejection

“All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink the water of the river.” (7:24)

Thanks to a government that rejected God,

the citizens were cursed to extra duty and deprived of a great convenience

The spiritual poverty of political leaders is a burden to the citizens of the land

Third, a copy of the rejection

The actions of Pharaoh describe our day

Great and mighty wonders are present, but they are rejected

God can send devastating storms and earthquakes and diseases

but many people today are like the Pharaoh

their hearts are hardened to the truth

So we end up digging instead of enjoying Divine blessings

Instead of repenting of our sins we are trying to invent better shovels for digging

Instead of turning from our vile morals

we get out the shovels and dig for better ways to combat the results of sin

Our age acts no better than Pharaoh