Exodus 7: Snakes and Blood

My Summary
Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh and tell him that God wants him to let Israel go. Pharaoh refuses and God causes the Nile to turn to blood.

Random Historical Things
1. There has been much debate among scholars and historians about whether the Nile river plague was natural or not. There is a natural occurrence which can cause the water of the Nile to turn red which occurs quite often. Some have said that God worked through this natural occurrence to accomplish His purposes. There are several reason to believe, however, that this was a completely supernatural action. God intended to show His power over the gods of Egypt, which would not be accomplished by something natural happened. The natural occuring even does not cause the fish to die while in this case the fish did die. The Bible also says that even the water held in jugs and jars turned to blood. So this was a miracle wrought by God.

2. The word for "snake" used here when Aaron throws down his staff down is a different word than is used when Moses does it at the burning bush. The word used here is a general word meaning "great reptile." There has been some speculation that it could have actually been an alligator. However, the symbol of Pharaoh's power was the snake, so a snake would have fit in better with God's plan of showing Himself greater than Pharaoh.

3. Christians are split is to whether the magicians of Egypt actually turned staffs into snakes with the power of Satan or whether it was a trick. Magicians in Cairo today know how to paralyze a snake by pinching a nerve near the head. The snake stays completely still and could be mistaken for a staff until woken up by being thrown on the ground. My personal belief is that it was a trick, since God intends for a miracle to be proof of His power and divinity. However, there are many Christians who think it was done by the power of Satan. Either way, God snakes ate up the magician's snakes so God wins.

And So What We Have Learned Applies to Our Lives Today...
1. The main point of the first plague, as well as all the others, is to show the supremacy of God over the gods of Egypt. God did not pick plagues at random. He embarks on a systematic assault on the realms and persons of the various gods of Egypt's pantheon. This first one was a big one. The Nile was the lifeblood of Egypt and was the most important of all the realms of the gods. For God to be able to take the life-giving Nile and turn it into something of death showed His power over many of Egypt's most powerful gods. Of course behind those gods is the power of satan and all of his fallen angels. Always remember brothers and sisters that God is ruler over all the realms and powers of the world. There is no foe He can not defeat and nothing that can hold you away from Him. The past, present and future of the world is in His hands. The battle is His and not yours!

2. An interesting side note in this chapter is the way we see Pharaoh's reaction to the miracle. He asks God for a sign, God gives him 2 signs (serpent and Nile) and Pharaoh still refuses to believe God. Pharaoh's heart is so hard (in the Hebrew literally his heart is too heavy) that he will not even believe after a miracle. So many people say," If God is real let Him give me a sign. Show me a miracle and then I will believe." We see here that even with a miracle people will not believe. They will find a way to explain it away even when God reaches down from the sky and causes a miracle right in front of their face. Without the working of the Spirit in our hearts, there is nothing that will cause us to believe in God.