DAWN
Daily Arts Web Nucleus
Discover the Arts! Each day a different image from the Literary, Performing, or Visual Arts representing a portion of Scripture plus an explanation with links and a discussion forum 2013 December 7
Image 1: Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh: An Allegory of the Dinteville Family (1537)
Master of the Dinteville Allegory (Netherlandish or French mid-16th century)
Mannerism Style
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA
Image Credit: Met Museum
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Image 2: Aaron Changing the Water of the Nile into Blood (1610)
Jan Pynas (1582-1631)
Dutch Golden Age Baroque Style
Rembrandt House Museum on loan from Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Netherlands
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Explanation: Exodus 7 contains the account of the first plague, preceded by the sign of the staff which turned into a serpent. The chapter opens with the LORD's answer to the question posed by Moses at the end of the previous chapter (Exodus 6:30): "And Moses said before the LORD, 'Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?'"; The LORD's answer was that he had made Moses a god to Pharaoh and made Aaron his prophet (1). Therefore the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron to speak all that he commanded them and to tell Pharaoh to let his people go (2). Nevertheless, said the LORD, he would harden Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh would not listen; but the LORD would deliver his people; and the Egyptians would know that he was the LORD by his judgments and by his deliverance of Israel (3-5). So Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, Moses being eighty years old, and Aaron being eighty-three (6-7). In answer to Pharaoh's challenge to prove themselves by working a miracle, Aaron cast down his rod, and it became a serpent, a feat duplicated by the Egyptian wise men, sorcerers, and magicians; however Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs; but still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen (8-13). The remainder of the chapter records the first of Ten Plagues which the LORD sent upon Egypt -- the Plague of Blood. The LORD sent Moses and Aaron to meet Pharaoh at the Nile, to demand the release of Israel, and to warn him of the coming plague of the waters of Egypt being turned to blood and the widespread death it would cause (14-19). Moses and Aaron did as they were commanded, the Nile turned to blood, the fish died, the river stank, the water became undrinkable, and the water in the rest of the land (even in the vessels of wood and stone) turned to blood. The magicians did likewise with their arts; Pharaoh's heart was hardened; and the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile to get water to drink (20-24). Seven days passed after the LORD struck the Nile (25).
Many commentators have noted that the Ten Plagues [blood, frogs, lice or gnats, flies or wild animals, pestilence upon cattle, boils, hail, locust, darkness, and death of the firstborn] come in groups of three, with the tenth being in a category by itself. The first and second plague in each group are preceded by a warning, the third in each group comes without warning. The LORD tells Moses to meet Pharaoh at the Nile before the first plague in each group. Before the second plague in each group the LORD tells Moses to meet Pharaoh in his palace. The third plague in each group has no meeting with Pharaoh and no warning.
As for the Tenth Plague, this came with the most elaborate and horrific of all the warnings (Exodus 11:4-8). The first mention of the Death of the Firstborn was in Exodus 4:21-23, where the LORD told Moses to deliver this warning after he did all the wonders which the LORD put into his hand (Exodus 4:20). The warning is then given, as mentioned, in Exodus 11:4-8, during Moses' last appearance before Pharaoh (Exodus 10:24 - 11:8), in which Pharaoh warns Moses not to come before him again on penalty of death, prompting Moses to retort that Pharaoh would indeed see his face no more, (followed, in Exodus 11:1-3, by some parenthetical comments about the LORD's instruction to Moses about the Exodus and a mention of the great status Moses had among the Egyptians and Pharaoh's servants), followed by the warning of the death of the firstborn and it's agonies -- after which Moses left Pharaoh in great anger.
Concerning the plagues in general, a number of commentators consider these to be against the gods of Egypt and have mentioned specific gods against which each plague was directed. However, Scripture simply says that it was the Tenth Plague which was directed against "all the gods of Egypt" (Exodus 12:12). Nevertheless, it may be that the significance attached to the Tenth Plague applies to the other nine, since the Tenth Plague brought to full measure the wrath of God begun in the previous nine. There is, among them, a unity of purpose and power that makes them a single (and singular) judgment. Thus, all can be viewed as a judgment against the gods of Egypt.
Exodus 7
1 And the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.
3 But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them."
6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them.
7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
9 "When Pharaoh says to you, 'Prove yourselves by working a miracle,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.'"
10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.
12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.
13 Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.
15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.
16 And you shall say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, "Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness." But so far, you have not obeyed.
17 Thus says the LORD, "By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood.
18 The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile."'"
19 And the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'"
20 Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.
21 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.
24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.
25 Seven full days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.
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