Key Verses: Exodus 7:3, 7:5, 7:17
The LORD tells Moses, “I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.” Moses is to speak all God commands, but the LORD will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply signs and wonders, so that ultimately the Egyptians will know that He is the LORD when He brings out His people. Moses is eighty and Aaron eighty-three when they speak to Pharaoh. As a sign, Aaron casts down his staff and it becomes a serpent; Pharaoh’s magicians do likewise by their secret arts, but Aaron’s staff swallows up theirs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, as the LORD had said. The next morning God sends Moses to confront Pharaoh at the Nile with the demand, “Let my people go,” and the warning that by this he will know the LORD. Aaron strikes the water with the staff, and all the water of the Nile turns to blood; the fish die, the river stinks, and the Egyptians cannot drink. The magicians imitate this with their secret arts, so Pharaoh’s heart remains hard and he turns to his house, unmoved, while the Egyptians dig along the Nile for water. The plague lasts seven days.
The first plague launches God’s judicial contest against the gods of Egypt, striking the Nile, which was worshiped as the very lifeblood of the nation, to demonstrate that the LORD alone is sovereign over creation and its false deities. The swallowing of the magicians’ serpents by Aaron’s staff visually proclaims that God’s power utterly overwhelms the counterfeit powers of darkness, a truth that will grow clearer as the magicians are progressively defeated. The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, ascribed both to God and to Pharaoh himself, reveals the mystery of divine sovereignty and human responsibility working together, as Paul explains that God raised up Pharaoh to display His power and proclaim His name in all the earth (Romans 9:17). The recurring purpose statement, “that you may know that I am the LORD,” shows that the plagues are not mere punishment but revelation, forcing a rebellious world to reckon with the living God. The turning of water to blood, a sign of death and judgment, stands in pointed contrast to Christ’s first sign of turning water to wine, the sign of joy and new-covenant blessing.
Key Terms & Words:
- חָזַק (chazaq) - Exodus 7:13 - “Strengthen/harden”; the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, a key theme of the plague narrative
- מוֹפֵת (mofet) - Exodus 7:3 - “Wonder/sign”; the signs and wonders that reveal God’s power and judgment
- דָּם (dam) - Exodus 7:17 - “Blood”; the Nile turned to blood, a sign of death and judgment on Egypt’s god
Cross-References:
- Romans 9:17-18 - God raised up Pharaoh and hardens whom He wills to display His power
- Exodus 12:12 - “On all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments,” the purpose behind the plagues
- 2 Timothy 3:8 - Jannes and Jambres who opposed Moses, likened to false teachers
- John 2:9-11 - Christ turns water to wine, the sign of blessing contrasting Egypt’s water to blood
- Revelation 16:4-6 - The bowls of judgment turning waters to blood echo the Exodus plagues
Discussion Questions:
- What is the significance of God’s repeated purpose “that you may know that I am the LORD” throughout the plague narrative?
- How do you reconcile the statements that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart with Pharaoh hardening his own heart, and what does this teach about God’s sovereignty and human responsibility?
- How does the first plague’s judgment on the Nile display God’s supremacy over false gods, and how does it contrast with Jesus’ turning water into wine?