Verse 1 And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
Because of the many gods the Egyptians worshiped, Moses may have been viewed by Pharaoh as just another god. The Pharaohs believed that they were also gods, so it is quite possible that Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses initially because he viewed him as an inferior deity. But as the miracles Moses performed became greater and greater, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened by God so that he couldn’t give in to Moses’ demands to let the Hebrew people go.
Application: The believer needs to guard his/her heart as it is quite possible, over time, to lose the joy and faith of the Christian life. Trouble and hardships, losses and personal failures can all take a believer’s eyes off of the LORD and cause a drifting away from the one true source of help.
The word translated as “god” in the verse above is “Elohiym”, pronounced eloheem. It is the same word used in Genesis 1:1 which states, “In the beginning God (Elohiym) created the heaven and the earth.” Why is this important? Because Moses was just a man. He couldn’t create anything. He had no power. By the LORD saying to Moses that He had made him a god or Elohiym to Pharaoh, He was granting Moses the right and ability to stand in the LORD’s power, might and position when dealing with the enemy, Pharaoh. God was not just saying that Pharaoh would view Moses as a god. Moses was representing the real God in his human flesh. Therefore, Moses is a type of Jesus, pointing to the human body that God inhabited when He chose to come to Earth and live as a man. Just as Elohim in Genesis started all things that we are familiar with today such as time, light and dark, the earth and heaven, the plants and animals and people, Moses was to start all the things that would bring judgement upon Pharaoh and the pagan Egyptians. Then they would know who was the real God of this world and hopefully, repent and begin to know the LORD.
Verse 2 Thou shalt 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.
God only spoke to Moses. Then Moses spoke to Aaron, and he then spoke to Pharaoh. Aaron was the prophet or the spokesman. He was dependent upon Moses for the words to speak and for understanding the plan for rescuing the Hebrew people.
Application: Just as Aaron needed a Moses to function in his role in God’s redemptive plan, the believer today needs the Holy Spirit dwelling within him/her in order to understand the Bible and God’s plan for saving the lost and dying people in this world. It is His Spirit that guides a believer to share the Gospel message with different people and to find the words to do so. A believer does not need to be a polished speaker to reach people with the good news of the Gospel. A believer just needs to rely upon the LORD, just as Aaron relied upon Moses.
Verses 3- 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
Signs and wonders refer to the miracles of God. A sign is something visible, and due to its unusual nature, it produces wonderment. The word “lay” also means “to put,” and the word “hand” refers to power. The word “armies” is the Hebrew word “tsaba,” and can be also translated as host, war or battle. The word “people” can also mean “nation.”
God reminds Moses over and over that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart and that this ruler will refuse to let the people go. Nothing that Moses can tell Aaron to say or that Moses can do will change this man’s mind until God changes it. Why? Because God is going to use Pharaoh’s stubbornness to allow for the demonstration of His power to all the people of Egypt. God is fully aware that the Egyptians are pagan people worshiping devils and it is not His wish that they remain in their idolatry and false religion. By showing His power, the Egyptian people can know there is a different way to travel spiritually and choose the God of the Hebrews if they want to.
Application: Have you ever witnessed to a person over and over again and seen no results? Does it feel like your words are running into a brick wall and going nowhere? This is probably a person with a hard heart, and like Pharaoh, the more the person is warned and witnessed to, the more the person rejects the message of Jesus Christ and eternity in Heaven. It is easy to give up on that person. However, God may be hardening their heart for a reason. Never give up wanting to see the person saved from sin, death and Hell. That desire for their well being on your part is Christian love for that person. However, Christian love does not mean to keep “pestering” them with the Gospel. Sharing the Gospel and/or your testimony once or twice is more than enough for a person to understand who Jesus is and what He is offering. Always keep praying for the person and keep in fellowship if possible. Time may be what is needed for God to show them their need for him and to work on their hardened heart.
Verse 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
As stated above, God was on a rescue mission not only to redeem His people out of slavery, but to redeem the Egyptian people out of their polytheistic, demonic religion to a true understanding of who He is, God very God.
Verses 6-7 And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they. 7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.
A score in the Bible means twenty years. So Moses was 4×20 or eighty years old and Aaron was eighty three years old.
Application: Think you are too old to have a ministry for the LORD? Think again and look to Moses and Aaron who where old men on a difficult assignment to save a nation. God can use you regardless of your age or abilities. You just need to be available.
Verses 8-9 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 9 When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
The Egyptians believed that creatures had power over nature and that they controlled such things as the sun, the moon, and day and night. They had taken the work of the Most High God and given the creatures He created the credit for things in their environment. The most influential creature in Egyptian life was the snake. A brief examination of the carvings on Egyptian buildings and monuments shows a preoccupation with critters of all kinds. But the snake was the most feared critter and yet reverenced at the same time. Today in Egypt the horned viper and the cobra are still prevalent and very venomous. The cobra bite can kill an animal as large as an elephant by paralyzing the nervous system so that breathing is stopped. A man would most certainly die if bitten by one of these snakes in Moses’ day.
God could have had Aaron’s rod (symbol of power) turn into a lion or some other fearsome critter, but He chose a snake which would to go to the heart of the Egyptian religious beliefs.
Application: It would be useful to remember the critter form that the Devil manifested as when tempting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Since it has always been his desire to usurp God, if would seem that he influenced the people of the first one world government into worshiping a serpent, the very thing he would have liked Adam and Eve to do at the very beginning of the creation. God has a sense of humor, and He would use the serpent to show His power over men and devils.
Verses 10-11 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 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.
The word “sorcerers” occurs only six time in the scriptures and is the Hebrew word “kashaph.” It can also mean “witch” or “witchcraft.” The word “magicians” is the Hebrew word “chartom” and it occurs eleven times and can also be translated as “diviner” or “astrologer.” There is a battle started here, not only between Moses and Pharaoh in the physical realm, but between God and the Devil in the spiritual realm. Moses is using the LORD’s power and the wise men, sorcerers, and magicians are using the Devil’s power.
Verses 12-14 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. 13 And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. 14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.
By Moses commanding Aaron to cast his rod down, Pharaoh and all his men clearly saw that it was Moses who had the power over inanimate objects and therefore he would seem to them a god. Because Aaron’s rod ate the other rods, there was a clear victory over the powers of darkness. And of course, Pharaoh in his pride and hardness of heart chose not to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD has said.
Application: For the believer, an encounter with the Devil may seem frightening, but as a child of God the believer has more power than any devil and will always win the battle if faith in God and perseverance is present in the believer’s life.
Verse 15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
It is one thing to seek and be granted an audience with a ruler of a nation in a palace room or throne room, but it is quite another to invade that ruler’s private bath time. The River Nile was a common place to bathe, and the Pharaoh would go there in the company of his attendants and have a good soak. It is doubtful that any “common folks” would be allowed access to that part of the river when Pharaoh was bathing. But Moses and Aaron were going to be obedient to the instructions the LORD gave them because they knew He would make a way for the encounter to happen. The fact that the LORD already knew Pharaoh was going to take a bath the day before it happened must have been seen by Moses and Aaron as miraculous.
Verses 16-18 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 mine 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 lothe to drink of the water of the river.
God now identifies Himself as the LORD God of the Hebrews. Up until now, the miracles Pharaoh was seeing were purely for his benefit and that of his advisors and sorcerers. Now the miracles would begin to affect the people of Egypt.
Verse19 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.
Scholars and Bible critics have attempted to explain this miracle away as a red tide in the Nile River and other non-Biblical opinions. Again, the believer either believes all the scriptures or believes none. The Bible is either the Word of God and all of it is true or it isn’t. If God said He would turn the waters into blood, it was blood. The Hebrew word used here for “blood” is “dam,” translated as blood 342 times in the scriptures.
Application: The living waters became blood. Things died. Jeremiah 2:13 says, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” However, Jesus shed his blood and died so that the believer could have that living water restored; His life giving Holy Spirit. In John 4:10 Jesus says, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
Verses 20-21 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted 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.
Try and imagine a few days without water of any kind. The Egyptian people were placed in a terrible situation by their leader and they could do nothing about it because he was supposed to be a god and all powerful and they were powerless to influence him.
Verses 22-23 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.
The Devil mimics God as much as the LORD allows him to do so and therefore can deceive people into believing the sign and wonder they are seeing is of God. Perhaps Pharaoh expected his sorcerers to be able to fix the problem since they were able to replicate the event with the power of the Devil. Regardless, his attitude seems to indicate that he was not terribly concerned, and his heart just hardened a little more.
Verses 24-25 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.
It appears that the ground water was not affected as digging for water was the only way the people could drink and stay alive. It was not the LORD’s desire to destroy the people of Egypt, and therefore He left them a remedy for their troubles because He is a loving and caring God. It took seven days for the blood to wash away. Remember, seven is the number of God in the Bible.