God Commands Moses and Aaron
In this final scene in the offer of...
In this final scene in the offer of rescue, the Lord once again answered Moses’ fears of not being able to speak eloquently. He would allow Moses to speak through Aaron (see 4:16), but Pharaoh will refuse to listen regardless. God’s power, not Moses’ eloquence, was the important factor. Moses and Aaron then took the step of faith and did what God had commanded. The first crisis (see study note on 5:22–23) had passed.
1The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2You are to speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.
3But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4Pharaoh will not listen to you.
Then I will lay My hand on Egypt, and by mighty acts of judgment I will bring the divisions of My people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. 5And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
6So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded them. 7Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Aaron’s Staff
In the plagues, God showed that all the...
In the plagues, God showed that all the Egyptians’ so-called gods, supposed to be sources of life, were really sources of death apart from the life-giving power of the Lord (see 12:12; 18:11).
This section divides the events of rescue into...
This section divides the events of rescue into two parts: the plagues (7:8–11:10) and the Passover (12:1–30). God demonstrated that he is the Lord of life and death and nothing has any power against him (see Isa 43:13). The God of the patriarchs is also the God of the universe.
8The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 9“When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a serpent.”†
10So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.
11But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same things by their magic arts. 12Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the other staffs.
13Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,† and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
The First Plague: Blood
The first plague was the plague on the...
The first plague was the plague on the Nile, when the whole river turned to blood (7:20). The Egyptians correctly understood that without the Nile there would be no life in Egypt. They worshiped the Nile as the Mother of Egypt, but God showed that life is his to give or withhold.
14Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding;† he refuses to let the people go. 15Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD. Behold, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will turn to blood. 18The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’”
19And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and all the reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.”
20Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron raised the staff† and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was turned to blood. 21The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. And there was blood throughout the land of Egypt.
22But the magicians of Egypt did the same things by their magic arts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. 23Instead, Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and did not take any of this to heart. 24So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river.
25And seven full days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.