"Educating the Egyptians,II"
Exodus 7, 8

Exodus 7:14-25

14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.
15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
16 And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.
17 Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
18 And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.
19 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.
20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote 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.
21 And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said.
23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.
24 And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
25 And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.

Exodus 8:1-15

“1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:
3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs:
4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.
5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.
6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.
7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.
8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD.
9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only?
10 And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God.
11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.
12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.
13 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields.
14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.” (Ex 8:1-15 AV)

There are several things here that need to be said.

I. Moses and Aaron were validated by God as “gods” to pharaoh, possessed with divine authority by the “wonder” of the rod of Moses being turned to a serpent which devoured the serpents of the magicians. The true Lord of Egypt is Jehovah, and He is Lord over the nations whether or not the nations agree or not. The Lord does not enter into His kingdom by winning elections, but because He is God and the Creator of all things.

II. The water to blood.

A. Once again, the inscripturated word must not be suppressed by the imaginations of men.

1. The moon being turned into blood in the day of the Lord might very well be a figure of speech, but this is not a figure of speech. Something very dreadful happened that made the waters of the Nile unfit for drink, and unfit for fish.

2. The waters of the Nile have been famous from antiquity. The ancients say there was not water like them anywhere in the world. It never rains in Eqypt; the wells produce horrible water; there are no springs; all the drinking water and water for irrigation comes from the Nile which rises Southward in the middle of Africa. Clark says:

The forceof this expression cannot be well felt without taking into consideration the peculiar pleasantness and great salubrity of the waters of the Nile. “The water of Egypt,” says the Abbe Mascrier, “is so delicious, that one would not wish the heat to be less, or to be delivered from the sensation of thirst. The Turks find it so exquisite that they excite themselves to drink of it by eating salt. It is a common saying among them, that if Mohammed had drank of it he would have besought God that he might never die, in order to have had this continual gratification. When the Egyptians undertake the pilgrimage of Mecca, or go out of their country on any other account, they speak of nothing but the pleasure they shall have at their return in drinking of the waters of the Nile. There is no gratification to be compared to this; it surpasses, in their esteem, that of seeing their relations and families. All those who have tasted of this water allow that they never met with the like in any other place. When a person drinks of it for the first time he can scarcely be persuaded that it is not a water prepared by art; for it has something in it inexpressibly agreeable and pleasing to the taste; and it should have the same rank among waters that champaign has among wines. But its most valuable quality is, that it is exceedingly salutary

3. Blood: the life of the Nile, their god was cursed. The wonderful life-giving water of the Nile were made horrible and filled with death. The effect lasted for seven days before fresh water flowed again.

B. Barnes tells us that

“The Nile was worshipped under various names and symbols; at Memphis especially, as Hapi, i.e. Apis, the sacred bull, or living representation of Osiris, of whom the river was regarded as the embodiment or manifestation. If, as is probable, the king went to offer his devotions, the miracle would have special force and suitableness. It was also the season of the yearly overflowing, about the middle of June; and the daily rise of the water was accurately recorded, under the personal superintendence of the king. In early inscriptions the Nilometer is the symbol of stability and providential care.”

C. This is the beginning of the judgment upon the gods of Egypt. The first miracles and wonders did not involve any wrath upon the rulers or citizens of Egypt, unless you consider the eaten serpents as citizens of Egypt. But having established the authority of His ministers, as God always does—and no one should listen to anyone who has not been duly credentialed by God—God now sets His sights on the gods worshipped by the Egyptians and upon the people who worship them. The Scriptures, of course, come with divine authority no matter how or by what means they are spoken, read, or heard, but beware of those who quote Scripture for their own purpose, out of context and misapplied, as Satan did to our Lord.

D. All waters that had come from the Nile were affected: the pools, in vessels, for all water used for man and beast and irrigation was gathered by an intricate system of dams and devices to store up water until the next rainy season in the South.

E. It appears that the foul water from the wells was not affected. The bible says “blood” and I am content with that. It is true that there is a natural reddish tinge to the waters at certain seasons, but it does not affect the drinkability of the water, nor does it kill the fish. If Jesus could turn water to wine as a blessing for His people; then Moses could turn the life-giving waters of the Nile to blood as a judgment upon the enemies of His people.

F. The futility of idols and witchcraft. They could not make it better, they only made it worse.

1. What water they found, they turned to blood, also, perhaps with a desire to show that this was not a judgment from God, but just a natural occurrence. Where did this water come from; I think they digged wells; It appears the what ground water there was was not affected by the miracle: only the water directly derived from the Nile and the system of aqueducts. But the Bible only hints at it. Was there water in the land of the Israelites. Perhaps not, for it is only later that God specifically makes a difference between His people and the Egyptians.

2. If it was a natural occurrence, then those who had power of nature and the force of nature [sorcerers] were necessary.

3. The sorcerers at all cost, must deny that God rules over the world and all things come to pass by His hand; if this is true, then all sorcerers and not only unnecessary but a positive evil.

4. Arminianism is not a benign faith—it is rooted in sorcery; the idea that man’s will controls the power of God. It is pernicious and will devour up everything in its path, except the authority of the true God that will demonstrate His power over nature and all things in it.

5. Thus begins the education of Egypt: Judgment upon the chief deity of Egypt: the God of the River. The Sacred Bull was considered the living manifestation of Apis, or Osiris, or Hapi. In turn, the River was considered the living manifestation of the Sacred Bull. In the presence of Pharaoh at his devotions at the River, these things were done by Moses and Aaron. The king could not have missed the implication, except that his heart was hardened and his eyes blinded.

III. The water to blood was the first of the ten plagues on Egypt that are representative of God’s plagues and judgment upon all the world of idolatry in every age. They may come sooner, they may come later, but they surely will come. We will make application of this as we continue in this series.

A. The second plague was frogs, also worshipped by the Egyptians. They breed by the thousands after the waters begin to recede, but this was not normal.

B. They were found in their houses, their beds, their servants, even upon the people. They were found in the ovens and in the kneeding trough where the bread was made.

C. They plague of the blood had passed and the waters were running pure again; but God’s judgments were not over, for out of the river came these millions and millions of frogs.

D. Pharoah pleads with Moses to take away the frogs and promises to let the people go.

E. Moses says, “that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God.”

F. Once the plague had passed, Pharaoh hardened his heart again.

G. Also his people. It seems that the people and Pharaoh were one, for there is not complaint from the people or the rulers; all the will of the nation seems to be hardened right along with that of Pharaoh, as Calvin notes.

IV. Application:

A. The LORD is the Lord over all things. The rivers, the animals, the people, the nations, the kings, the sun, the moon, all the phenomenon of the universe. He can do what He pleases with it.

B. I will have more to say on this later, but the plagues that are sent upon Egypt were physical realities—it was blood in a real river; frogs in real baking troughs; Egypt knew what blood was and what frogs were. These were real; but in the book of Revelation there are very marked references to these plagues with this different: why these plagues were seen in the physical world and were upon flesh and blood; the plagues in Revelation are not strictly physical, but are spiritual in nature and are on Satan’s kingdom, which is only represented in Exodus by Pharaoh’s kingdom. I will perhaps have opportunity to speak of this in the future, God willing.

C. In the midst of trials we should remember the words of God through the prophet Isaiah 54. What a comfort to know that nothing in heaven or earth can be against the people of God, for His promises are yea and amen forever.

1. Read Isaiah 54

2. Close: “33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro 8:33-39 AV)

Amen and Amen
God bless you.