September 8, 2024
Reading: Exodus 7:14-25
Focus: Exodus 7:16-17 -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. This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord. With the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile and it will be changed into blood.
’Father God, Thank You for Your Word. Help us to see You in the events of these next chapters. Help us to see that You are the One, True God and that no other god can stand against you. In Jesus Name. Amen.
The gods of Egypt were basically gods of nature. Each had a particular facet of life and nature that they were responsible for. And as we learned before, Pharaoh believed he was descended from the supreme god. He believed that he had power over all facets of Egyptian life. He had magicians and wise men who could perform ‘miracles’. Whether these came by illusion or from demons is not told in the scripture. However, they could reproduce some of the things that God sent upon the Egyptians. But they could not reverse anything that God sent. God would soon show them that their gods had no power. One by one, the gods would fall.
There are some schools of thought that say that the plagues sent on Egypt were the result of natural events. Things like drought, volcanic eruptions and even the Egyptians sacrificing their firstborn to appease the gods. These theories want to apply natural reasons for the plagues rather than acknowledging that God, Who has complete control over all creation, brought them on the Egyptians. For example: the Drought Theory suggests that there was a severe drought in Egypt at the time that Moses was telling Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. It is said that the drought caused a red algae to grow that made the waters of the Nile look like blood. These algae would take up the oxygen in the water, killing fish and forcing frogs to come out onto the land. The dead fish drew flies. When the frogs died, insect life had no predators. The insects spread disease among animals and humans alike. Cattle died and humans developed boils. At the same time, locusts swarmed and ate what was left of the crops. Then, a strange sandstorm brought the fiery hail or there was possibly a volcanic eruption in the Mediterranean that spewed burning rocks into Egypt. The final plague is attributed to a lethal mold on grain that was used to make bread. In Egyptian society, the firstborn was given food first and thus would have been the first to die from the poisoned grain.
The first plague affected the central part of Egyptian life. The Nile. Let’s take a look at the river Nile. The river flows north toward the Mediterranean Sea. It begins in east central Africa and cuts a fertile path through the desert for over four thousand miles. It provides water, transportation, fertile soil and irrigation along its banks. This allowed cities to spring up on its banks. The people learned how to harness the natural flooding of the Nile. They developed technologies that improved agriculture, boating and shipping. The Egyptians developed irrigation methods, canals, and channels to move the waters farther from the river to expand the fields that could be planted and harvested. The Nile also had a role in the construction of the buildings.
The river also had a profound influence on how the Egyptians viewed themselves. It was believed to the be the lifeblood of the god Osiris, who was reborn each year when the river flooded. It shaped their world view and their religion. Their annual calendar began when the Nile began flooding (our August and September). But this flooding no longer occurs since the Aswan High Dam was built. The Nile ruled the lives of the Egyptians. A drought or very high flooding could make or break a years’ planting or harvest. It made a difference between living well or starving.
The god of the Nile was called Hapi. He was the god of the flooding of the Nile and was greatly celebrated by the Egyptians. His priests were located at the First Cataract of the Nile. A place called Elephantine. Here the priests carefully monitored the water level so that they could predict the level of the annual flooding. They had many rituals to ensure that the flooding was full and steady.
The first plague that God brought upon Egypt was on the river Nile. The literal lifeblood of the Egyptian nation. It was sacred to the vitality and agriculture of the nation.
Pharaoh would not listen and allow the Israelites to go and worship God in the desert. In Exodus 7:19, God told Aaron to take his staff and stretch it out over the waters. In front of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron did just that and struck the water with his staff. Immediately, the water turned to blood. Water in every stream, canal, pond and reservoir turned to blood all over Egypt. Even water in wooden buckets and stone basins turned to blood. There was no water anywhere in Egypt. The fish died and it stunk. I know how bad dead fish smell. It had to be horrendous.
Pharaoh’s magicians were able to do the same thing, and so Pharaoh shrugged it off and would not even speak to Moses or Aaron. He simply went back into his palace and ignored it. The Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water because they couldn’t drink from the river.
This plague attacked the lifeblood of Egypt and demonstrated that their god, Hapi, could not protect his own. It showed those who would pay attention the power of God over the gods of Egypt. I can’t imagine the stench of dead fish and the flies that it drew.
This plague of blood lasted seven days. God gave Pharaoh time to decide to allow the Israelites to go or not. God had told Moses that Pharaoh would not listen and would not let them go. Not even seeing a staff turn into a snake would convince him. Nor did seeing that same snake swallow those conjured by his magicians. He refused to see it as the miracle that it was.
The miracle of the staff turning into a snake in last week’s blog and now the water turning to blood are very visible miracles. Do you ever wish that you could see a miracle happen? Miracles can help people believe that God is Who He is. And it would be amazing to see a spectacular miracle but as Christians, we have already experienced out own miracle. Albeit a quiet one, but a miracle, nonetheless. God has given each one of us eternal life through Jesus Christ. Our souls have been freed from the curse of eternal death by our belief that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died and rose again.
Our acceptance of the salvation He provided gave us eternal life. Our bodies may die, but our souls, that part of us that is who we are, will live forever with God. I don’t know about you but that amazes me every time I spend any time thinking about it. I get excited about heaven. About being with Jesus and the freedom of being forever free from sin.
Do you?
Father God, Thank You for miracles. Thank You for those we see and experience and for those that we haven’t yet seen. Help us to know that You are greater than anything that affects us. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Food for Thought
- Why do you think that Pharaoh wasn’t convinced that God was mightier that his gods when the water turned to blood?
- What do you think went through Pharaoh’s mind when the water turned to blood?
- Do you truly believe that the water of the Nile was turned to blood? Why or why not?
- Look back over your life. Are there places where things occurred that could be termed as a miracle? How did that affect you?
- Do you believe that God still works miracles in our day and age? Why or why not?
