Exodus 7:14 - Meaning and Application

Here is the first of the ten plagues, the turning of the water into blood. It was a terrible and very painful judgment. The sight of huge streams of blood, bright and red, would have filled people with dread, and the effects were even worse.

Water is one of the most common things in the world, and that is part of God’s kindness in providence, his wise care for the world. Something so needed for life is made easy to find and cheap to use. But now the Egyptians had to choose between drinking blood or dying of thirst. Fish was a major part of their food (Num. 11:5), and when the waters changed, the fish died. It was like a pestilence in the water (Ex. 7:21): “The fish died.” In the great flood they escaped, perhaps because fish had not then become such a luxury for people as they later did. But in this judgment they perished (Ps. 105:29): “He slew their fish.” Long afterward, when another ruin of Egypt is foretold, the failure of those who made ponds and channels for fish is especially mentioned (Isa. 19:10). Egypt was a pleasant land, but now the stench of dead fish and blood, as it slowly rotted, would make it miserable.

This was also a righteous judgment, and the Egyptians deserved it. The Nile, the river of Egypt, was their idol. They gained so much from it that they served and worshiped it more than the Creator. Since they did not know the true source of the Nile, they gave all their devotion to its waters. God punished them there, turning into blood the thing they had turned into a god. Anything we make into an idol, God can rightly take from us or make bitter to us. What we set up against him can become a burden to us.

They had also stained that river with the blood of the Hebrews’ children, and now God made the river full of blood. So he gave them blood to drink, because they deserved it (Rev. 16:6). No one ever thirsted for blood without, sooner or later, getting enough of it.

It was also a meaningful judgment. Egypt depended greatly on its river (Zech. 14:18), so when God struck the river, he warned them that all the produce of their land could be ruined, until at last the blow reached their firstborn. That red river was also a dark sign of the ruin that would later come on Pharaoh and all his army in the Red Sea. This plague is also referred to in the warning of judgment on the enemies of the New Testament church (Rev. 16:3-4). There, the sea as well as the rivers and springs are turned to blood, because spiritual judgments reach farther and cut deeper than earthly ones.

In a broader sense, this plague also points to a contrast. One of Moses’ first miracles was turning water into blood, but one of our Lord Jesus’ first miracles was turning water into wine. Moses brought the law, and that covenant brought death and fear. Jesus brought grace and truth, which, like wine, bring joy to the heart.

Moses was told to warn Pharaoh before this plague came. “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened” (Ex. 7:14), so Moses was to see whether this judgment might soften him (Ex. 7:15). He may not have been allowed into Pharaoh’s audience chamber, so he was told to meet him by the riverbank. God knew Pharaoh would be there in the morning, perhaps for an early walk or for his morning worship of the river. People naturally follow their gods in their daily habits, and they do not fail to honor them each morning.

There Moses was to give Pharaoh another command to surrender, and if he refused, to tell him of the judgment coming on the very river beside which they stood. Pharaoh was warned in advance so no one could say it was an accident or blame it on some other cause. It was meant to show clearly that the God of the Hebrews was doing it, and that it was punishment for Pharaoh’s stubbornness. Moses was also told to take the rod with him, so Pharaoh would be alarmed at the sight of the same rod that had just defeated the magicians’ rods.

From this we learn, first, that God knows his judgments ahead of time. He knows what he will do in anger as well as in mercy. Every destruction is a destruction already planned (Isa. 10:23). Second, people cannot escape the warning of God’s wrath, because they cannot get away from the voice of their own consciences. The one who made their hearts can bring his sword near to them. Third, God warns before he strikes, because he is patient and does not want anyone to perish, but wants all to come to repentance.

Aaron, who carried the rod, was told to bring on the plague by striking the river with it (Ex. 7:19-20). He did this in front of Pharaoh and his servants, because God’s true miracles were not done in hidden corners like Satan’s lying wonders. Truth does not need secrecy. At once an amazing change took place. All the waters, not only in the rivers but also in the ponds, turned into blood.

See here the almighty power of God. Every creature is whatever he makes it to be, water or blood. See also how changeable everything under the sun is, and how quickly we may lose what we depend on. What is water today may be blood tomorrow. What is harmless now may soon become a burden. A river is always passing away, but divine justice can quickly make it harmful.

See too what sin does. If the things that have been our comforts become our troubles, we must blame ourselves. It is sin that turns our waters into blood.

Pharaoh tried to fight against the miracle because he was determined not to humble himself under the plague. He sent for the magicians, and by God’s permission they copied the miracle with their secret arts (Ex. 7:22). This gave Pharaoh an excuse not to take the warning seriously (Ex. 7:23), though it was a poor excuse. If they had turned the river of blood back into water, that would have meant something. Then they would have shown real power, and Pharaoh should have thanked them. But when water was already scarce, for them to turn more of it into blood just to display their skill only showed the devil’s aim. He wants to fool his followers and keep them amused, not to do them any true good, but to stop them from repenting and returning to God.

Meanwhile, the Egyptians tried to get relief from the plague by digging around the river for drinking water (Ex. 7:24). They likely found some, though with great effort, because God still showed mercy in the middle of judgment. He is full of compassion and would not let the people suffer too heavily for the stubbornness of their ruler.

The plague lasted seven days (Exodus 7:25), and during all that time Pharaoh’s proud heart would not even move him to ask Moses to pray for its removal. In this way, people with hard, hypocritical hearts gather more and more anger against themselves. They do not cry out when God restrains them (Job 36:13), so it is no surprise that his anger is not turned away and his hand still remains stretched out.