Chapter Seven

1–9. Moses receives a command from God to go to Pharaoh. 10–13. The first sign — the staff transformed into a serpent. 14. The first plague — the water turned to blood.

Exodus 7:1. But the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. Exodus 7:2. You will speak everything that I command you, and Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh so that he releases the sons of Israel from his land. In response to Moses’ words: “How will Pharaoh listen to me?” (Exod 6:30) — the Lord says to him: “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh.” You need not fear Pharaoh. I have determined to give you, and indeed will give you, such power that he will fear you as his god. And if kings obey and listen only to God, recognizing His supremacy over them, so too he will eventually submit to you; your speech impediment, which you cite as the reason for the king’s disobedience, will also have no significance. Your brother Aaron will speak for you, your spokesman, your prophet (Exod 4:15).

Exodus 7:3. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will reveal many signs and wonders of Mine in the land of Egypt. Exodus 7:4. Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt and bring out My army, My people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt — with great judgments. Exodus 7:5. Then all the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand upon Egypt and bring the sons of Israel out from among them. Exodus 7:6. And Moses and Aaron did exactly as the Lord commanded them, and they did so. Exodus 7:7. Moses was eighty, and Aaron [his brother] was eighty-three years old when they began to speak to Pharaoh. Exodus 7:8. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, saying: Exodus 7:9. If Pharaoh says to you: “Perform a [sign or] miracle,” then say to Aaron [your brother]: “Take your staff and throw [it on the ground] before Pharaoh [and before his servants]” — and it will become a serpent. Exodus 7:10. Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh [and to his servants] and did as the Lord commanded [them]. And Aaron threw his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. From a comparison of verses 15 and 17 of this chapter with verse 19 of that same chapter, it clearly follows that Aaron’s staff (verse 10) is Moses’ staff, miraculously transformed into a serpent at Horeb (Exod 4:2-4) and appointed to serve as the instrument of subsequent miraculous works. If it is called Aaron’s, it is because it passes into Aaron’s hands, as Moses’ words pass into his mouth (Exod 4:30). The expression “serpent,” Hebrew “tanin,” into which the staff was transformed, signifies all sea or river monsters and is especially applied to the crocodile, as a symbol of Egypt (Isa 51:9, Ezek 32:2, Ps 73:13). In this place, the term means, as some think, a particular kind of serpent, perhaps an asp or uraeus, the royal serpent.

Exodus 7:11. And Pharaoh called the wise men [of Egypt] and the sorcerers; and these Egyptian magicians did the same by their sorceries. Exodus 7:12. Each of them threw down his staff, and they became serpents, but Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Opposing divine power, through whom Moses was the instrument, with the knowledge and craft of his magicians, Pharaoh summoned the wise men and sorcerers. The term “wise men,” Hebrew “hakamim,” literally — those skilled in arts — refers to representatives of one of the classes of the priestly caste, while “sorcerer,” Hebrew “mekashfim” (speaking softly, in whispers), indicates persons who performed sorcery, in particular the conjuring of harmful animals by means of obscure muttering of a magical formula. These persons, also named magicians (Hebrew “harogmim”), and named by the Apostle Paul by name — Jannes and Jambres (2 Tim 3:8) — accomplished by their sorceries — secret magical arts — the same thing that Aaron did, that is, transformed their staffs into serpents. How they accomplished this, the text does not indicate. Modern exegetes explain the transformation of staffs into serpents through analogy with the art of snake-charming known in ancient Egypt and mentioned in the Bible (Eccl 10:11) — the art of bringing snakes into a state of numbness in which they became as if sticks. But the Church Fathers attribute the magicians’ art to the power of the devil. If the magicians’ transformation of their staffs into serpents served for Pharaoh as clear proof that Moses had no advantage, then the next moment of the first sign — the swallowing of the magicians’ staffs by Moses’ staff — should have convinced him of the greater power of God’s messenger and of the Most High Himself, in whose name he acted. As evidenced by Egyptian monuments, the staff and serpents were symbols, emblems of deity and attributes of royal power. And if Moses’ staff devoured the staffs of the magicians, symbols of deity, then this is unmistakable proof that the power and might of the Lord, on whose behalf Moses appeared, is superior to the power of the Egyptian gods. Pharaoh, who had believed the Lord to be weaker than his gods and therefore saw no need to submit to His demand — to release the Hebrews — should now fulfill this command as coming from the name of the almighty God.

Exodus 7:13. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said [to him]. Pharaoh paid attention to the first part of the sign and did not take into account the second part, and therefore, finding no superiority in Moses over his magicians, continued to persist in his rebellion.

Exodus 7:14. And the Lord said to Moses: “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to release the people. Exodus 7:15. Go to Pharaoh tomorrow: see, he will go out to the water, you stand in his path on the bank of the river, and take the staff, which was transformed into a serpent, in your hand. Exodus 7:16. And say to him: “The Lord, God of the Hebrews, sent me to say to you: Release my people so that they may serve me in the wilderness; but see, you have not obeyed even now. Exodus 7:17. Thus says the Lord: “By this you will know that I am the Lord: with this staff, which is in my hand, I will strike the water that is in the river, and it will be turned to blood. Exodus 7:18. And the fish in the river will die, and the river will reek, and it will be loathsome for the Egyptians to drink water from the river. The Pharaoh’s disobedience, arising from his unwillingness to acknowledge the power of the Most High, His might and strength (Exod 5:2), leads to a whole series of signs and plagues that prove the superiority of the Lord over the Egyptian gods (verse 17, Exod 18:11). The first of them is the transformation of the Nile’s water into blood. The prediction of it was given to Pharaoh at the time when he was going “to the water” either for bathing or to worship the Nile as a deity. The transformation of the Nile’s water into blood, accompanied by the inability to drink it and the death of the fish (verse 18), should have convinced Pharaoh that the Lord — the Lord (verse 17). As is known, the Nile was one of the principal deities worshiped throughout Egypt (Plutarch), was considered an emanation of Osiris, and was deified under various names, in particular the name Hapi. In honor of him, “the father-life-giver of all existence, father of gods,” temples were erected (for example, in Nikopolis), sacrifices were offered (in the temple Djebel-Semeleh an image of Ramesses II is shown offering a sacrifice to the Nile), festivals were instituted, and so forth. In the first plague, this popular deity loses its beneficial properties (corruption of the water combined with the death of the fish) depending on the actions of Aaron and Moses (verse 17, 20) — submits, in other words, to the will of the God whom they represent. Once sacred, the Nile becomes now an object of abhorrence, is defiled, for blood, a symbol of Typhon, made, according to Egyptian beliefs, unclean everyone who touched it. All this together served as clear proof of the insignificance of the god Nile compared with the God of the Hebrews. Such meaning is given to the first plague by the blessed Theodoret himself. To the question: “why did the first plague consist of the transformation of water into blood?” — he answers: “because the Egyptians thought highly of the river and, as it took the place of clouds for them, called it a god.”

Exodus 7:19. And the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron [your brother]: Take your staff [in your hand] and stretch your hand over the waters of the Egyptians — over their rivers, over their streams, over their lakes and over every reservoir of their waters — and they will be turned to blood, and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in wooden and in stone vessels. Exodus 7:20. And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded [them]. And [Aaron] lifted [his staff] and struck the water of the river before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants, and all the water in the river was turned to blood. The widespread transformation of the water into blood is indicated, first, by reference to the “rivers” — Nile branches, “streams” — the numerous canals with which Egypt was crisscrossed for irrigation purposes, “lakes” — cisterns, and “every reservoir of waters” — marshy or silty places, as well as reservoirs constructed by Egyptians living far from the river; second, by the remark: “and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt” and finally by the mention of digging wells (verse 24).

Exodus 7:21. And the fish in the river died, and the river reeked, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. Exodus 7:22. And the Egyptian magicians did the same by their sorceries. And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Exodus 7:23. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house; and his heart was not moved by this either. Exodus 7:24. And all the Egyptians dug around the river to find water to drink, for they could not drink the water from the river. Exodus 7:25. And seven days were fulfilled after the Lord struck the river. On the basis of the expression: “and the Egyptian magicians did the same by their sorceries,” one can suppose that they produced in the water a like substantial change as Moses and Aaron accomplished. By imitating them, the magicians neutralized the impression that Pharaoh should have received from the miracle — “And they did the same. And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.” According to the narrative of the book of Exodus, and equally the understanding of other Old Testament writers (Ps 77:44), the first plague was a miraculous phenomenon accomplished according to God’s will. Yet not only naturalists, but even biblical scholars of the positive school consider it a natural phenomenon — the coloring of the Nile’s water observed annually at its flood. But such identification of the transformation of water into blood with the natural coloring of the water finds no basis in the text. According to the Bible’s indication, the first plague falls at the time of the normal level of the Nile’s water, when the Nile flows within its banks. Thus, Pharaoh receives the prediction of the coming of the plague at the moment when he is going to the bank of the river (verse 15), and the Egyptians are digging wells around the river (verse 24). Both communications are understandable only on the assumption that the land adjacent to the Nile is not covered with water. The time of the first plague’s occurrence also does not suggest an idea of the Nile’s flood. The flood lasts from July through September, and the first plague falls in January — this is evident from the following. According to the Bible’s indication, the 7th plague particularly damaged flax and barley: “the flax and barley were struck, because the barley was in the head and the flax was in bloom; but the wheat and spelt were not struck, because they are late” (Exod 9:31-32). Since flax flowers in lower Egypt at the end of February, the middle of March is when its harvest and barley harvest occur, it is evident that the seventh plague occurred at the end of February or beginning of March. From that time until the last plague, which falls at the beginning of April, passed a month; consequently, the four last plagues occurred within a month, separated from one another by almost weekly intervals. If the intervals separating the first six plagues were likewise determined, then for their occurrence a month and a half was required, with the first plague falling in January. Second, the Nile’s flood not only is not accompanied by the corruption of water, but even represents a cessation of the unhealthy state in which it exists at the preceding time, during the period of the so-called green Nile. Third, during the flood, fish in the Nile do not die, and the flood itself lasts not 7 days (verse 25), but from July through September. The sum of all these facts does not allow the transformation of water into blood to be identified with the coloring of the water at the Nile’s flood. The justification for such a view is supported, in particular, by the authority of the Church Fathers and teachers. “Water transformed into blood,” says the blessed Theodoret, “accused the Egyptians of committing infanticide.” “Moses,” remarks Ephrem the Syrian, “struck the water of the river, and the waters were transformed into blood.” Still more clearly expresses the thought of the substantial transformation of water into blood Cyril of Alexandria. “Can one understand,” he asks, “how water was transformed into the substance of blood?” * * * Their names with some variants are preserved in the Targum Jonathan, in the Talmud, and others.