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 he 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 (tanniyn / tanniym - elsewhere translated as whale or dragon), a feat duplicated by the Egyptian wise men, sorcerers, and magicians, who also produced tanniyn / tanniym. The usual word for serpent is nachash, which indicates the average, generic idea of serpent or snake. But the serpents produced in Pharaoh's court by Moses and the magicians may have been large and ferocious, hence the specialized word for them. And they may have represented the god Apep (also called Apepi, Aapep, or Apophis), who represented darkness and chaos, and may have been a creator god. However, Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs, showing the power of God over the powers of the magicians and the powers of a chief God of Egypt. But still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen. (8-13).
     The remainder of the chapter records the Plague of Blood, which was the first of Ten Plagues which the LORD sent upon Egypt. 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 plagues 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. This is 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). Since this plague was against Pharaoh in particular, and his house and people in general, and since Pharaoh was considered to be the incarnation of all of the gods of Egypt, it is particularly appropriate to say that this Tenth Plague was against all of the gods of Egypt. Also, 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 ten can be viewed as a judgment against the gods of Egypt.
     [ Sermons: Charles Biggs. Various. ]
     [ Illustration: Today's paintings illustrate the two main events of today's chapter, the sign of the staff turning into a serpent, and the first of the Ten Plagues, water turning to blood. ]

     ²⁵ And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD smitten the river.

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