which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. 16. And thou shalt say unto him, the Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear. 17. Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in my hand upon 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 loathe to drink of the water of the river. 19. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon 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 Lord commanded; and he lift up the rod, and smote 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. 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 hearken unto them; as the Lord had said. 23. And Pharaoh turned, and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. 24. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. 25. And seven days were fulfilled, after that the Lord had smitten the river.
Here is the first of the ten plagues, the turning of the water into blood, which was, 1. A dreadful plague, and very grievous; the very sight of such vast rolling streams of blood, pure blood, no doubt florid and high-coloured, could not but strike a horror upon people: much more afflictive were the consequences of it. Nothing more common than water; so wisely has Providence ordered it, and so kindly, that that which is so needful and serviceable to the comfort of human life, should be cheap, and almost every where to be had: but now the Egyptians must either drink blood, or die for thirst. Fish was much of their food, (Numb. 11. 5.) but the changing of the waters was the death of the fish, it was a pestilence in that element; (v. 21.) The fish died. In the general deluge, they escaped, because perhaps they had not then contributed so much to the luxury of man as they have since; but, in this particular judgment, they perished; (Ps. 105. 29.) He slew their fish; and when another destruction of Egypt, long afterward, is threatened, the disappointment of those that make sluices and ponds for fish is particularly noticed, Isa. 19. 10. Egypt was a pleasant land, but the noisome stench of dead fish and blood, which by degrees would grow putrid, now rendered it very unpleasant. 2. It was a righteous plague, and justly inflicted upon the Egyptians. For, (1,) Nilus, the river of Egypt, was their idol; they and their land derived so much benefit from it, that they served and worshipped it more than the Creator. The true Fountain of Nile being unknown to them, they paid all their devotions to its streams: here therefore God punished them, and turned that into blood, which they had turned into a god. Note, That creature which we idolize, God justly removes from us, or imbitters to us. He makes that a scourge to us, which we make a competitor with him. (2.) They had stained the river with the blood of the Hebrews' children, and now God made that river all bloody; thus he gave them blood to drink, for they were worthy, Rev. 16. 6. Note, Never any thirsted after blood, but, sooner or later, they had enough of it. 3. It was a significant plague; Egypt had a great dependence upon their river, (Zech. 14. 18.) so that, in smiting the river, they were warned of the destruction of all the productions of their country, till it came, at last, to their first-born, and this red river proved a direful omen of the ruin of Pharaoh and all his forces in the Red-sea. This plague of Egypt is alluded to in the prediction of the ruin of the enemies of the New Testament church, Rev. 16. 3, 4. But there, the sea, as well as the rivers and fountains of water, is turned into blood; for spiritual judgments reach farther, and strike deeper, than temporal judgments do. And lastly, let me observe in general concerning this plague, that one of the first miracles Moses wrought, was, turning water into blood, but that one of the first miracles our Lord Jesus wrought, was, turning water into wine; for the law was given by Moses, and it was a dispensation of death and terror; but grace and truth, which, like wine, makes glad the heart, came by Jesus Christ.
Now,
I. Moses is directed to give Pharaoh warning of this plague. Pharaoh's heart is hardened, (v. 14.) therefore go try what this will do to soften it, v. 15. Moses perhaps may not be admitted into Pharaoh's presence-chamber, or the room of state, where he used to give audience to ambassadors; and therefore he is directed to meet him by the river's brink; whither God foresaw he would come in the morning, either for the pleasure of a morning's walk, or to pay his morning devotions to the river; (for thus all people will walk, every one in the name of his god, they will not fail to worship their god every morning;) there Moses must be ready to give him a new summons to surrender, and, in case of a refusal, to tell him of the judgment that was coming upon that very river, on the banks of which they were now standing. Notice is thus given him of it beforehand, that they might have no colour to say it was a chance, or to attribute it to any other cause, but that it might appear to be done by the power of the God of the Hebrews, and as a punishment upon him for his obstinacy. Moses is expressly ordered to take the rod with him, that Pharaoh might be alarmed at the sight of that rod which had so lately triumphed over the rods of the magicians. Now learn hence, 1. That the judgments of God are known to himself beforehand. He knows what he will do in wrath as well as mercy. Every consumption is a consumption determined, Isa. 10. 23. 2. That men cannot escape the alarms of God's wrath, because they cannot go out of the
