Chapter 7

Earlier, Pharaoh snubbed God by asking, “Who is Yahweh?” (Ex. 5:2) God took this challenge on himself. He is going to show Pharaoh and everyone else exactly who he is. Of course, God could’ve just pulled the Israelites out of Egypt, but he goes through the Ten Plagues instead. Why?

God uses the plagues to demonstrate his reality and his power. The concept of “plagues” can also be understood as “signs” or “blows” against Egypt. At first, Pharaoh’s magicians can duplicate the plagues (Ex. 7:11, 22; 8:7). But at a certain point, even the magicians show their inability to do anything near what God could do (Ex. 8:18), admitting that this was none other than “the finger of God” (Ex. 8:19).

God uses the plagues to dispense justice on the Egyptians. Pharaoh ordered infanticide for the Hebrew boys by drowning them in the Nile River (Ex. 1:22), and the Egyptians had grown rich by enslaving, torturing, and killing the Israelites for 400 years (Gen. 15:13). God promised to curse those who cursed Israel (Gen. 12:3). If God did not act, he would have been unfaithful to his promise to Abraham.

God uses the plagues to reveals that the Egyptian gods were false. Each of the plagues was an affront to the Egyptian deities (e.g. Hapi, Geb, Hathor, Isis, Amon-Ra, etc.). On the night of the Passover, we read, “I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD!” (Ex. 12:12 NLT) Elsewhere we read, “The LORD had defeated the gods of Egypt that night with great acts of judgment!” (Num. 33:4 NLT) According to Scripture, false-gods and idols are actually demons (Deut. 32:16-17; 1 Cor. 10:20). So, by exposing the Egyptian gods as false, God was defeating the entire worldview in Egypt, supplanting it with a biblical worldview. For a robust explanation of this view, see our article, “Were the judgments of the 10 plagues arbitrary?”

God used the plagues to bring people to faith in him. The Israelites came to faith through this series of events (Ex. 10:2; 14:31; 2 Sam. 7:23). A large number of Egyptians came to follow God from what they saw. Some began by following God’s word (Ex. 9:19-21), and eventually, many joined the Israelites as they fled Egypt (Ex. 12:38, 48). Moreover, Jethro came to faith this way (Ex. 18:11), and Rahab stated that news of this event spread throughout the nations of the ancient Near East (Josh. 2:9-11).

God uses the plagues to show that we cannot negotiate with him. There is a God, and you are not him! Pharaoh thought of himself as a deity, but he slowly crumbles as he faces off with Yahweh. As he negotiates with Moses, he learns the hard way that he has nothing to bargain with. Meanwhile, God asks Pharaoh, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?” (Ex. 10:3)

(Ex. 7:14) Why weren’t these 10 plagues recorded by the Egyptians? For one, this event occurred 3,500 years ago. Most events from that time period are not attested. Second, the Egyptians didn’t record their defeats in their history books. The Ten Plagues were a cataclysmic failure and public humiliation. There is no reason why the Egyptians would’ve recorded this. Third, some evidence exists for a record of the plagues (Ipuwer Papyrus, Papyrus Leiden 344 recto). However, this is hotly debated. Regardless, we don’t find this to be a good argument from silence.

(7:1-7) Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 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. ³ But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, ⁴ 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. 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.” ⁶ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

(Ex. 4:21) How could God harden Pharaoh’s heart?

“Moses was eighty years old.” This fits with a 40-year trip in the wilderness and Moses dying at the age of 120 (Deut. 34:7). This also confirms Aaron’s age when he died at 123 (Num. 33:39).

Moses shows the signs to Pharaoh

(7:8-9) The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 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.”

(7:10-13) 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. ¹¹ Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: ¹² Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The use of a serpent was a way to show God’s power over Pharaoh. Livingston writes, “The cobra or ‘urae’ was a symbol of ruling power. The cobra motif is frequently found in Egyptian ‘art.’ On the forehead of pharaoh’s crown there was a cobra ready to strike. On the throne of King Tut is a coiled cobra ready to strike. So, to overcome the cobra symbol is to overcome the power of pharaoh.”

(Ex. 7:11; 22; 8:7) How could the sorcerers perform supernatural signs, if they were not from God? Some commentators are reluctant to think that occult practitioners are capable of performing miracles of this caliber. However, Satan has the ability to affect the physical world. Consider Satan’s power in the book of Job. He had a supernatural power to bring a “fire… from heaven” to kill Job’s servants and sheep (Job 1:16); he could bring a “great wind” to kill Job’s children (Job 1:19); he could strike Job with “boils” (Job 2:7). Satan is also capable of empowering occult practitioners (Rev. 16:14; 2 Thess. 2:9; Mt. 24:24). Of course, God’s power is greater than the power of Satanic sorcery (Ex. 8:19; 1 Jn. 4:4).

Supernatural events do not imply that the source is good. We might see a spiritual event, but this doesn’t mean that this is good.

Plague #1. Nile turned to blood

The judgment of the Nile was a judgment against the god Hapi. Livingston writes, “This plague was against the god Hapi, spirit of the Nile in flood and ‘giver of life to all men.’ The annual inundation was called ‘the arrival of Hapi.’” Livingston notes that the Egyptians would make sacrifices to the Nile when it would flood each year and provide irrigation.

(7:14-18) Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 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. 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. 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. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”

(Ex. 7:14) Is there a feasible naturalistic explanation for the 10 plagues? Some commentators hold to a naturalistic explanation for the plagues. We reject this view on exegetical, rational, and scientific grounds.

“Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river.” This might be the time where Pharaoh was going to bathe in the Nile (cf. Ex. 2:5ff).

“Confront him on the bank of the Nile.” The Nile River was “Egypt’s greatest landmark and special source of life.”

This was the river that had previously drowned the Hebrew infant boys (Ex. 1:16, 22). It’s no wonder that God chooses to turn it into blood.

(7:19) 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.”

Was this literal blood? The term “blood” (dām) can also be translated as the color “red.” Stuart rejects the naturalistic explanations for the Ten Plagues. Yet, regarding the water turning to blood, he writes, “‘Blood’ is a color in Hebrew as well as a substance, just as in English, and no firm data exist for the interpreter to differentiate in this story between the possibility that the Nile and other surface water turned to actual blood from the possibility that the waters turned—for whatever reason—’blood’ in color.” The point is that God supernaturally polluted this water, turned it red, and killed the fish.

The word “vessels” isn’t in the text. It’s literally “wood and stone.” Therefore, this could refer to the idols of Egypt being soaked in blood. If so, this would be a vivid picture of God’s judgment over the gods of Egypt.

(7:20-21) 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. 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.

(7:22-23) 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. ²³ Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.

“The Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts.” Why did the Egyptian magicians mimic Moses’ miracle? This would’ve only resulted in bringing more blood! Cole writes, “One would have thought to reverse the effect would have been more helpful.”

“[Pharaoh] turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart” The “power” of the magicians comforted Pharaoh. He felt like he could still remain in control if his men could do the same supernatural acts as Moses. Consequently, he chose to ignore all of this and go back to his palace (v.23).

(7:24-25) And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river. ²⁵ Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.

“The Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water.” Cole comments, “Incidentally this shows that the water had not become literal blood (which could never be filtered), but some thick reddish fluid of a disgusting nature.” Yet, the text doesn’t say that this was a water filter. It could be that these tiny reservoirs caught rainwater. After all, how would dirt serve as a filter to remove “red clay” or “red plankton,” as Cole himself believes?

“Seven days passed.” This shows that the plagues took place over a long period of time—perhaps several weeks or even a couple months.