Exodus 7:14-25
The Plague of Blood
Introduction: One premise of a Creator God is that He is all knowing. Everything from the beginning to the end is known to Him immediately and intuitively. He doesn’t have to make deductions or conclusions. Rather, He simply knows.
And this doesn’t just mean mechanical things like 1 plus 1, or how birds are able to fly. It includes all things, including the secret things of the heart and mind. Every thought that we have, every thing we will do, and even what will prompt us to do other things, are all known to Him.
The Bible says He searches out our hearts in order to effect His purposes on earth, He searches us out in order to judge us, and He searches us out so that He can guide us. It is a way of saying that everything about us is known to Him. In this, there is nothing that we can keep secret from Him.
Why did you give to a particular charity? Though you may say it was to do good, it may have been for a reason that you’ve suppressed so deeply that you might not even realize the truth of the matter. The Lord, however, knows exactly why you did it.
Text Verse: “The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
10 I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17:10
Today, we will see the first plague that was brought upon the land of Egypt. It, like the miracle of the rod turning into a serpent, will be repeatable, at least in part, by Pharaoh’s magicians. Because of this, he will fail to see the plague in the proper context.
Not only is it on a completely different scale, but it is a precursor to more plagues intended to secure Israel’s release. If Pharaoh had heeded the Lord already, he would have saved Egypt and himself much grief. But in order for the Lord to be glorified, He selected this plague first.
He did it, not to obtain Israel’s freedom, but to further harden Pharaoh’s heart. And it will have its intended effect because it is the Lord who searches hearts and minds in order to effect His purposes. Let’s remember this and keep our hearts soft to the things of God and to the truths which are found in His superior word. And so let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.
I. You Shall Know that I Am the Lord (verses 14-18)
14 So the Lord said to Moses: “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go.
The last words we saw came after the miracle of the rods turning to serpents. Aaron had cast down his rod and it became a serpent, but the magicians of Egypt had done the same. In response it said, “And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.”
But, that wasn’t the only thing to bring hardening to his heart. In chapter 5, the Lord had instructed Moses to simply go and ask Pharaoh for permission to allow Israel to go into the wilderness to worship. By taking this avenue, and knowing the obstinate nature of Pharaoh, the Lord knew he would harden his heart, and he did.
Pharaoh felt he had gained a victory over Israel and the God of Israel by his refusal. In turn he laid a heavier burden on them. This too would have given him perverse satisfaction and a further hardening of his heart. Each thing done has been calculated to bring about a desired end, known to the Lord who created man.
The first miracle of the rods wasn’t a judgment on Egypt, but a display intended to lull Pharaoh into a greater state of dullness. It served that purpose well. He wasn’t convicted, but rather emboldened.
The light that was given was swallowed up by the darkness of his false magicians, thus closing his eyes to what lay ahead. Now the judgments would begin. Knowing this, the Lord says to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard.” However, a completely different word than in the previous verse is used.
It says, kaved lev paroh – “Pharaoh’s heart is heavy.” The previous word was khazaq – hard; this word is kaved; – heavy. There is dullness and a stupidity of response to the plagues which are coming. Unlike for example, a bird which flits away at danger, an ox will fail to see the disaster ahead and plod into it directly. This is the intent of the Lord’s words now.
15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water,
There is specificity here that we’re asked to look at. Two things in particular – it is morning time, and Pharaoh is going out to the water. Scholars have looked at various reasons for this, such as he was going to bathe, to pray to the Nile which is one of the deities of Egypt, to see how high the river was in order to determine when to plant crops, and so on.
I would suggest that it is for worship, and that the worship is two-fold. First he is there to worship the Nile, but secondly, to worship the sun as it first lights on the Nile. Pharaoh, believing he is the son of the sun-god Ra, would be there to honor his supposed father-god as well as the Nile which reflected the coming of Ra. This is speculation, but it fits the placement of both words.
15 (con’t) 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.
This seems straightforward enough that no commentary is really necessary, except that commentary is necessary. The word for “serpent” here is not what it was in the previous passage. When Aaron cast down the staff before Pharaoh, it says that it turned into a tannin. Here it says that it has turned into a nakhash.
This asks us to consider why. I have three possibilities. The first is that Moses and Aaron each had a different rod. The rod Moses threw down in front of the bush turned into a nakhash; the same rod that would have been seen by the Israelites. But the rod that Aaron threw down was his own and it turned into a tannin. And so now, the first rod is being used, which turned into a nakhash.
The second option is that the same rod was thrown down and one time it turned into a nakhash, and the second time it turned into something different, a tannin. Here in this verse then, the Lord’s words would be referring to the first account.
The third option is that the words are being used synonymously in one way, but are showing a distinction in another. The nakhash was revealing Christ as the giver of the miracle, but the tannin was assumed to be a false miracle by Pharaoh, and thus Christ was hidden from his eyes. Based on the use of the word nakhash elsewhere in Scripture, I believe this last option is correct.
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!
This refers right back to Exodus 5, especially verses 1-9. Rather than “The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you” it should say, “The Lord God of the Hebrews sent me to you.” He is reiterating what was said, not stating something new.
That first request was a mild one. It wasn’t a demand and it wasn’t requesting release, but rather simply a time of worship with an implied return to Egypt. But the obstinate nature of Pharaoh immediately set him at odds with the request of Yehovah, the God of the Hebrews. Instead, he wouldn’t hear.
17 Thus says the Lord: “By this you shall know that I am the Lord.
When Moses first spoke to Pharaoh in chapter 5, his response was, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” Now, Yehovah promises that Pharaoh will know who He is.
However, he will have to repeat this several more times to Pharaoh. It isn’t just this coming miracle then that will convince Pharaoh, but all of them combined and stored in his memory that will collectively cry out that He is Yehovah.
Pharaoh, like many of us, is a tough nut to crack. But we can thank the Lord that He is long-suffering as He waits for us to yield our stubborn hearts to Him. Unfortunately for Pharaoh, it will never truly transpire and he will be swept away by the Red Sea’s waters.
17 (con’t) 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.
In this we have the commonly accepted idea of Qui facit per alium, facit per se – “He who acts through another does the act himself.”
It is the Lord who pronounces anokhi makkeh ba’matteh asher b’yadi, “I will strike with the staff that is in my hand.” The action of the instrumental cause – the rod and hand of Aaron, is ascribed as the action of the principle cause, the work of the Lord.
In this verse though is one of the most difficult to determine aspects of any of the ten plagues upon Egypt. It requires care and contemplation; not belligerence. The words are, “and they shall be turned to blood.” Question: “Is this actually blood or is it not?”
The answer is one which haunts all scholars to some extent. Among other things, actual blood implies red and white blood cells, it implies DNA, and it implies platelets. It would be beyond the scope of the other miracles to produce all of these things. And yet, the word “blood” is used.
However, it is also used in a one-for-one comparative way many other times in Scripture. In Joel, it says this about the moon –
“The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.” Joel 2:13
It would be ludicrous to not see that as a metaphor. The blood moon is an eclipse. This is repeated in Acts 2:20 in the Greek and it again says, it “shall be turned into blood” there. It doesn’t say “like blood,” but simply that it will be turned into blood. However, this type of sign is explained in Revelation 6:12 where it says –
“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.” Revelation 6:12
Again, in Revelation 8:8, in the second trumpet judgment on the earth, it says, “Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.” It is again understood that this is “like blood” even though elsewhere it says it became blood.
Considering that the plagues of Egypt are given as pictures of the coming plagues upon the world, we see that the turning of the Nile into blood means blood in a figurative sense.
And yet, it is a figurative sense with a literal biblical meaning. At times in the Bible blood implies life, it implies death, and it implies judgment. The Nile being turned into blood is a demonstration of God’s ability to give life, to take life, and to judge.
Therefore, the description of blood, though not literal blood as we think of it, carries all the connotations of blood in the Bible. This is not a sign, but a judgment. Just as the house of Pharaoh judged that the Hebrew children were to be cast into the Nile to die, the Lord is now bringing judgment upon Egypt by bringing death to the Nile.
The Nile, this false “god” of Egypt, will come under the judging hand of the true God of the Hebrews. As Matthew Henry says –
“… the river of Egypt, was their idol. That creature which we idolize, God justly takes from us, or makes bitter to us.” Henry
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.”’”
The fish are singled out in this verse because it is known that at least three types of them were considered sacred to the Egyptians. But these supposedly sacred fish could not survive in the now- bloodied waters.
Fish are infrequently mentioned in the Old Testament, but a study on them will show marvelous patterns. The first time they’re seen is right in Genesis 1 at the creation of the various types of life. After the exodus, the people of Israel will complain in the wilderness that when they were in Egypt, they had fish to eat.
But they forgot that it is the Lord who created the fish and the Lord who destroyed the fish of the Nile. Later in Ezekiel which speaks of the time of the millennial reign of Christ, it says this –
“Then he said to me: ‘This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. 9 And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.'” Ezekiel 47:8, 9
The living waters of the Nile died at the hand of the Lord, and the dead waters of the Dead Sea will come alive by His hand as well. Such is the nature of the Lord who creates, sustains, and judges.
All life is bound up in the hand of the Lord
What He chooses for us is for Him alone to decide
For those who humble themselves to Him, there lies a reward
Eternal joy will be found in heaven at His side
Those who reject His life will remain eternally dead
But those who die through Him will be granted life eternal
Better to choose the Lord now and be reconciled instead
Than to suffer the flames of the land infernal
Oh wayward man, learn the lesson of Pharaoh
Don’t harden your heart to the sacred word
Instead, travel upon the path which is narrow
And call out for salvation to Jesus the Lord
II. Blood Throughout the Land (verses 19-22)
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.
In a direct command from Yehovah, the rod of God by which the plagues of Egypt are to be carried out is ordered to be stretched out over the waters of Egypt, and this directly in the presence of Pharaoh. When this is done, the water would become blood.
The waters of Egypt included the Nile itself, which is the lifeline of water throughout the country. To this day, it remains as such. The nahar or “streams” are the natural waterways which branch off from the Nile. Seen from above, they appear as fingers which branch out as the Nile progresses towards the north.
From there are the yeor which would be the lesser streams or canals. They may be natural or man-made and they would progressively rise and overflow during the wet season. After that are the agam, translated as ponds. These could be lakes or marshes that would particularly flood as the Nile’s high season arrived.
And finally are the miqveh, or “pools.” The word miqveh implies a gathering, such as when God gathered together the waters and called them “seas” in Genesis 1:10. These then would be cisterns, mostly were probably man-made, which could be filled as the Nile overflowed, or which could be filled by going to the Nile and manually carrying it to the cistern.
Everything that received the once-living waters of the Nile would be affected. They would now only receive the bloodied waters of judgment.
19 (con’t) And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’”
This final portion of the verse has to be considered based on the verses to come. The words “buckets” and “pitchers” are inserted and it makes it sound like any receptacles of water which were in a house were affected as well. But that can’t be the intent.
What it means is that any water collected in those things would be equally affected. The receptacles aren’t being tied to the spoiling of the water directly, but that the water which would be collected in either wood or stone was affected. In essence, subsequent methods of purifying the water wouldn’t work.
20 And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded.
In obedience to the word of the Lord, and showing no fear that the miracle may not happen, thus leaving them in a state of embarrassment, they did as requested. The fears of failing once noted in Moses have disappeared. Now only obedience is seen.
20 (con’t) 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.
Directly in the sight of all, the miracle is performed. In this, the waters of the river, meaning anything into which the river flowed, is singled out. Judgment has come upon the Nile and it serves as a double punch to Pharaoh. It is an attack against their supposed god of the Nile and the fish which they revered.
But it also would be an immense physical affliction upon the people of Egypt. This terrible plague is followed in type and pattern by the third trumpet and the third bowl judgments upon the world of the end times. In the third bowl in Revelation 16, it says –
“Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.” Revelation 16:4
After that, the reason for the judgment is given –
“You are righteous, O Lord,
The One who is and who was and who is to be,
Because You have judged these things.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
And You have given them blood to drink.
For it is their just due.” Revelation 16:5, 6
Just as the Egyptians shed the blood of the Lord’s Hebrew people, the unrepentant world has shed the blood of the Lord’s saints and prophets. In response, the Lord will give them blood to drink as is their just due. That which has been, will be again. Just as the Bible both depicts and proclaims.
21 The fish that were in the river died, the river stank,
As the Lord proclaimed, so it happened. The Nile and the life in it died. This then is not a normal seasonal occurrence which has at other times been documented in the Nile. Before the Aswan dam was built, the Nile fluctuated greatly.
In the time before the Nile started to rise, it would be greenish. However, eventually, as the waters increased, they would carry in microscopic organisms which would turn it reddish. It would also stink during the process. If this is all that occurred, it would be neither miraculous, nor unexpected. And it wouldn’t have killed everything in the Nile.
Rather, this is something that was far worse than normal. But it also was a plague which Pharaoh could mentally brush off as simply “worse than normal.” This is especially true because of what is coming concerning his magicians. Thus the Lord is passively continuing to harden Pharaoh’s heart through the order of the plagues that He is delivering to the land and people.
21 (con’t) So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
From the biblical perspective, this blood is judgment and this blood is death. And thus, judgment and the stench of death permeated all of the inhabited land of Egypt. Where the Nile flowed, there judgment was found.
The death of the fish would be an unusually difficult thing for the Egyptians because it was, and continues to be in modern times, a main source of food for the people. They would now lose this, and because the blood flowed to all places where the Nile flowed, it would mean that the entire stock of fish was affected.
Even after the clearing of the waters, it would be a long and difficult time to repopulate the Nile with enough fish to once again feed the people. The judgment is a harsh one indeed.
21 (con’t) and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river.
The waters that were in any capacity directly tied to the river truly become impossible to drink. Not only would it have been contaminated with the judging substance termed “blood,” but it also would have very quickly been further contaminated with the rotting fish which had died in the water. Within a very short time, the people would truly be suffering from the effects of this horrendous first plague.
Woe unto man who will not heed the Lord
Terrible are His judgments upon the unrepentant world
For man has forsaken the Holy and Precious word
And so upon their hardened hearts, His judgments will be unfurled
But there is escape from this terrible fate
There is hope found in the Lord Jesus
Don’t put it off – No! Please don’t hesitate
Call out to the One who died and rose again for us
In Him is found life eternal, sure and sweet
In Him is found the love of God
And so will be the joy there before our feet
A heavenly path which forever we may trod
III. Seven Days of Plague (verses 22-25)
22 Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments;
A stumbling block is placed right before the feet of Pharaoh. The Lord has chosen a plague which is repeatable by the magicians of Egypt. As God is the Giver of life and the life is in the blood, it is assured that the “blood” noted in the previous verses is not truly blood in the literal sense.
Whatever the magicians did, it was sufficiently comparable to that of what occurred in the Nile to be considered the same by Pharaoh. And this also demonstrates that the buckets and pitchers mentioned above are not those containing water that were in houses at the time of the plague. If they were, then how could these have contained water?
The arrogance of Pharaoh here is evident. Just because the magicians could reproduce the effects of this plague, they could not do so on the same scale as Moses and Aaron. The Nile was already converted to blood. Further, a portion of the miracle is the fact that the Nile died as Aaron stretched the rod over it.
The timing was exact and the scope of the event was total. Also, there is no note of an attempt to undo what the Lord had done by these guys. If Pharaoh were willing to simply pursue this path of understanding before turning away, he would see that the plague of the Lord was beyond the scope or control of his magicians. Despite this, Pharaoh willingly sides with that which is unreasonable. As a result…
22 (con’t) and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard,
From the Hebrew, it is apparent that the ability of the magicians to reproduce the same effect as the plague is what hardened Pharaoh’s heart. The two clauses are connected in such a way as to conclusively imply this.
As the Lord knew the magicians would be able to do so, and as the Lord knows the hearts of men, it is His actions which harden Pharaoh, even though Pharaoh has willingly hardened his own heart. Though this may seem nitpicking the subject to death, it is something we all need to continually remind ourselves about.
If we harden our hearts to the things of God, then the Lord will allow our hearts to be hardened against Him by those things that He sends in our direction. In the end, His purposes will always prevail, but they work in accord with His knowledge of how we will respond to Him based on the condition of our heart.
In other words, be soft, open, and forever willing to comply with the Lord and His word. In this, you will always know that He will deal well with you as you live out your days.
22 (con’t) and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.
Who did Pharaoh not heed? He didn’t heed Aaron and Moses. The word is alehem; it is plural. But in verse 17, the Lord said He would strike the waters. As Aaron and Moses are the designated representatives of the Lord, Pharaoh is not only rejecting them, but he is rejecting Yehovah. This same pattern is seen in the end times.
In Revelation 11, there will be two witnesses who will carry the authority of the Lord. Their testimony, like that of Moses and Aaron will be rejected and they will be killed, but before that happens, they will have the same type of authority granted to them by Jesus. In Revelation 11:6, we read this –
“These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.”
Their words will be a sign to the people of the world. If they are heeded, those who heed will be saved. If they are ignored, those who harden their hearts will be lost. The condition of the heart will dictate the outcome of the final destiny.
The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is attributed to the heart itself. It is not an active hardening by the Lord, but a self-willed hardening wrought by Pharaoh at the prompting of the Lord. Pharaoh could have yielded, but he chose not to. In this, the Lord’s knowledge of the heart and of the person’s response is revealed.
In 1 Kings 8:39, we are told that the Lord alone knows the hearts of all of the sons of men. In Revelation 2:23, this same attribute is ascribed to Jesus, thus it is one of the countless proofs that Jesus of the New Testament is the same as the Lord of the Old Testament. Here is what that verse says –
“…all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.”
Pharaoh’s heart has been searched out by the Lord, he has willingly hardened himself to the Lord’s passive promptings, and he alone is responsible for the judgment he will receive. The same is true with the people now and those in the end times too. The hardened heart is a terrifying and powerful source of eternally sad consequences.
23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this.
This takes us right back to Exodus 7:10-13 where the rod was changed into a serpent. At the end of that encounter, it said, “And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.” Two demonstrations before Pharaoh have been repeatable by his magicians.
Despite these being on a much higher order than that of his own people’s tricks, he was convinced enough to remain unchanged in his attitude towards the Lord. Unfortunately, we can make a very good comparison to this and to the Bible.
The Lord has spoken and His words are recorded there. But other books make many of the same general claims as the Bible. In Luke 6:31, we read what is commonly known as the Golden Rule –
“And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”
But this general precept is found in a host of other religions in one form or another. For example, Confucius said it this way –
“Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.”
Such knowledge will often lead the hardened heart to immediately assume that one religion is the just the same as another. However, just as the miracle of the Lord is on a completely different level than the false miracles of the magicians of Egypt, the word of the Lord, when studied and understood, is on a completely different level than that of any and all other religions.
We are each responsible for where we place our faith. To exercise it without checking the facts and then contemplating the sources of those facts, can have eternal consequences. Pharaoh, despite being the ruler of the greatest nation on earth, was actually a very shallow thinker.
24 So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river.
Those who know the layout of the land of Egypt are aware of the fact that apart from the Nile, there are no other natural sources of drinking water available in the land such as springs, fountains, or other rivers.
However, there is water underground which can be accessed, but it isn’t suitable for drinking because of the soil conditions of the land. Unlike other areas where wells are commonly dug, Egypt didn’t follow this practice because of it. However, with the only truly palatable water ruined, they were left with only this option.
Because of the record here, even the most liberal of scholars must admit that the author of the account had an exacting knowledge of the geography and water system of Egypt. It is a nice touch concerning the authenticity of Moses as the true author.
*25 And seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river.
Chapter 7 ends with a note of specificity concerning the duration of the plague, seven days. Some attempt to tie this 7-day period into the start of the next plague recorded in chapter 8 verse 1, but that is unlikely. Rather, the plague itself lasted seven days.
It has been documented that the normal period of discoloration of the Nile lasts for much longer. Therefore, this is again an evidence of the divine nature of the plague. The clearing of the blood from Egypt took less time than the normal flow of the river to do the same.
The question which I had to ponder for quite some time is “Why seven days?” After rereading the account, it seems to me that this goes back to the original request which was made in Exodus 4:3 which said –
“The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” Exodus 4:3
The request was repeated in verse 16 – that they wanted to go into the wildness to serve the Lord. But because of Pharaoh’s refusal, it was said that the plague of blood would immediately ensue. Thus it is a sign to Pharaoh.
They had asked for a trip which would require travel of three days in each direction. Thus, with the day of sacrifice, it would have been a seven-day journey. The plague of blood was given as punishment, a day for a day, for depriving the Lord of the honor He was due at the ceremony in the wilderness.
This appears to be a one-to-one comparison with the 7-year tribulation period coming in the end times. Daniel 9:27 shows that a 7-year covenant will be made between Israel and the antichrist. There will be a year of tribulation for each year of this covenant. And so there is a pattern reflected here.
The glory of the Lord is proclaimed throughout the Bible. It is man’s duty to recognize it and to proclaim it. From the intricate spider’s web, to the complexity of the cosmos, every part of creation cries out “Glory” and it tells us of infinite wisdom.
God created us as sentient beings because He desires us to share in His glory, to acknowledge it, and to rejoice in it. But from moment to moment we fail to do so. We set up idols in our hearts, we ascribe worship to the creation rather than the Creator, and we follow our own paths, rarely giving Him any regard at all.
Only when things get bad do we normally even think to give Him remembrance. Let us do our best every day to pursue Him, to consider His goodness in our lives, and to give Him the glory He is due. And in order to truly have a right fellowship with Him, we must deal with the sin in our life which separates us from Him.
Let me tell you how this can come about. He has done everything necessary to restore us to a happy and eternal relationship with Him once again. He did it in the giving of His Son, Jesus. Let me explain that to you…
Closing Verse: Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Extol Him who rides on the clouds,
By His name YAH,
And rejoice before Him. Psalm 68:4
Next Week: John 12:20-26 (A Grain of Wheat – Resurrection Day 2015)
The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. Even if a deep ocean lies ahead of You, He can part the waters and lead you through it on dry ground. So follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.
The Plague of Blood
So the Lord said to Moses about Pharaoh
“Pharaoh’s heart is hard
He refuses to let the people go
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
And you shall say to him, even so
“The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me for this address
Saying, “Let My people go
That they may serve Me in the wilderness
But indeed, until now you would not hear!
Thus says the Lord: “By this you shall know
That I am the Lord whom you shall fear
Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river…
Even I will do so
With the rod that is in my hand
And they shall be turned to blood throughout the land
And the fish that are in the river shall die
The river shall stink,
And of the water of the river
The Egyptians will loathe to drink
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron
‘Take your rod and stretch out your hand
Over the waters of Egypt – their streams, rivers, ponds
And over all their pools of water throughout the land
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, an overwhelming flood
And Moses and Aaron did, just as the Lord commanded so
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 it was done
And all the waters that were in the river
Were turned to blood, of fresh water, there was none
The fish that were in the river died; the river stank
And the Egyptians could not, we understand
Drink the water of the river, of it no one drank
So there was blood throughout all of Egypt the land
Then the magicians of Egypt did so
With their enchantments, a lie they spread
And grew hard the heart of Pharaoh
And he did not heed them, as the Lord had said
And Pharaoh turned and into his house went
Neither was his heart moved by this event
So all the Egyptians dug all around
The river for water to drink
Thus they searched for water in the ground
Which would not be foul and stink
Because they could not drink the water of the river
In it was a plague, of whom the Lord was the Giver
And seven days passed according to the word
After the river was struck by the Lord
This is the first terrible plague upon Egypt the land
But nine more will come because of Pharaoh’s hard heart
It is a lesson for us to hear and understand
And in our own lives, to make a new start
Let us soften our hearts to the word of the Lord
So that to Him we will be acceptable, each of us
And to the cross let our eyes look toward
Remembering always the work of Jesus
Yes, O God, keep us on the path that is true
May we keep our hearts soft, and be pleasing to you
And some day we know You will come again for us
We anxiously await Your return Lord Jesus
Hallelujah and Amen…