1 And the IAM said unto Moses, “See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
He doesn’t mean Pharaoh will worship Moses, but that Moses appears mysterious and powerful.
2 “Thou shall speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.
3 “And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.
4 “But Pharaoh shall not listen to you, that I may lay My hand on Egypt, and bring out Mine armies, and My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
If Pharaoh had let them go worship when they first asked, nothing permanent would have been accomplished. Israel would have returned to slavery. Even if they had gone to worship and never come back, there were lessons Egypt and Israel both needed that would not have been learned.
5 “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the I AM, when I stretch out Mine hand on Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”
God intends to not only free Israel, but to teach Egypt about the One and Only True God.
God has always cared about all nations and wanted them all to serve Him.
6 And Moses and Aaron did as the I AM commanded them, so did they.
7 And Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron 83 years old, when they spoke unto Pharaoh.
There are some who think Moses’ ages are just round dates. That “forty years” just represents a large span of unknown time. If that were true, this verse would read “And Moses AND AARON were fourscore years old.” Since it is very specific about Aaron’s age, we can assume it is being specific about Moses’ also.
8 And the I AM spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
9 “When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, ‘Show a miracle for you:’ then thou shall say unto Aaron, ‘Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh,’ and it shall become a serpent.”
They are to repeat the wonders God had Moses do in the desert.
10 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the I AM had commanded: and Aaron threw down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Everywhere else Exodus is translated to say snake or serpent, the original uses "nachash" which is Hebrew for generic snake. These couple of verses use the word "tannin" which means "A marine, land monster, sea-serpent, jackal" and is often translated to "dragon" in the King James. So, evidently the rod here became a crocodile or some other critter that is scarier than just a plain ole snake.
11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
I understand there is a snake in Egypt that can be charmed or drugged to lay straight and stiff like a walking stick, and then released to act like a snake on command. This would have very much appeared to be what Aaron did.
12 For they threw down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
Tannin again.
11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
I understand there is a snake in Egypt that can be charmed or drugged to lay straight and stiff like a walking stick, and then released to act like a snake on command. This would have very much appeared to be what Aaron did.
12 For they threw down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
Tannin again.
Guess which snake/crocodile/rod was the most powerful.
13 And He hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he didn't listen to them; as the I AM had said.
It seems strange to us that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart, but He had a specific lesson He wanted to teach the Egyptians; one that would lead to some Egyptians finding salvation.
14 And the I AM said unto Moses, “Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go.
15 “Get thee to Pharaoh in the morning. He will go out to the river. Thou shall stand by the river's brink until he comes out. And the rod which was turned to a serpent shall thou take in thine hand.
16 “And thou shall say unto him, ‘The I AM, God of the Hebrews has sent me to thee, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness:” and, look, up until now thou would not listen.
17 “ ‘This what the I AM says, “In this thou shall know that I am the I AM:” Look, I will hit with the rod that is in mine hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
18 “ ‘And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.’ “
The River Nile was the life-blood of the land of Egypt. Now it is going to be literal blood.
This was a direct attack on the Egyptian gods Khnum (the guardian of the Nile), Hapi (the spirit of the Nile), and Osiris (who had the Nile as his bloodstream). They obviously did not have power against the God of Israel.
We got some insight into the physical mechanism God likely used to accomplish this a few years ago. There was an earthquake and volcanic eruption above a small village. The earthquake released iron ore which not only turned the local water the color of blood, its chemical makeup was nearly the exact match to our blood; mostly water with iron and other minerals. It is entirely possible that God caused an earthquake upstream that had this exact same result in the Nile; the river literally, chemically became blood. He then told Moses exactly when this would happen beforehand.
19 And the I AM spake to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand on the waters of Egypt, on their streams, on their rivers, and on their ponds, and on all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.’ “
20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the I AM commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and hit the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
God timed the earthquake so that the water would turn at the exact moment Aaron lifted his staff.
It has been said that miracles are usually natural occurrences with uncannily good timing. The order in which this happened could have been nothing but the hand of God. There is no way Moses and Aaron could have known ahead of time just when to stretch the rod over the waters. It had to have been God.
21 And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he listen to them, as the LORD had said.
I’m not sure what water they would have had left to turn to blood after God’s very thorough job.
23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he any attention to this.
24 And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
The dirt would have filtered out the parts of the blood that were undrinkable. Still would have tasted nasty.
25 And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.
This lasted a week.
13 And He hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he didn't listen to them; as the I AM had said.
It seems strange to us that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart, but He had a specific lesson He wanted to teach the Egyptians; one that would lead to some Egyptians finding salvation.
14 And the I AM said unto Moses, “Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go.
15 “Get thee to Pharaoh in the morning. He will go out to the river. Thou shall stand by the river's brink until he comes out. And the rod which was turned to a serpent shall thou take in thine hand.
16 “And thou shall say unto him, ‘The I AM, God of the Hebrews has sent me to thee, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness:” and, look, up until now thou would not listen.
17 “ ‘This what the I AM says, “In this thou shall know that I am the I AM:” Look, I will hit with the rod that is in mine hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
18 “ ‘And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.’ “
The River Nile was the life-blood of the land of Egypt. Now it is going to be literal blood.
This was a direct attack on the Egyptian gods Khnum (the guardian of the Nile), Hapi (the spirit of the Nile), and Osiris (who had the Nile as his bloodstream). They obviously did not have power against the God of Israel.
We got some insight into the physical mechanism God likely used to accomplish this a few years ago. There was an earthquake and volcanic eruption above a small village. The earthquake released iron ore which not only turned the local water the color of blood, its chemical makeup was nearly the exact match to our blood; mostly water with iron and other minerals. It is entirely possible that God caused an earthquake upstream that had this exact same result in the Nile; the river literally, chemically became blood. He then told Moses exactly when this would happen beforehand.
19 And the I AM spake to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand on the waters of Egypt, on their streams, on their rivers, and on their ponds, and on all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.’ “
20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the I AM commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and hit the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
God timed the earthquake so that the water would turn at the exact moment Aaron lifted his staff.
It has been said that miracles are usually natural occurrences with uncannily good timing. The order in which this happened could have been nothing but the hand of God. There is no way Moses and Aaron could have known ahead of time just when to stretch the rod over the waters. It had to have been God.
21 And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he listen to them, as the LORD had said.
I’m not sure what water they would have had left to turn to blood after God’s very thorough job.
23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he any attention to this.
24 And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
The dirt would have filtered out the parts of the blood that were undrinkable. Still would have tasted nasty.
25 And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.
This lasted a week.