The Nile Turned to Blood
14 Yahweh said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he is going out to the water. You shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him. You shall take the rod which was turned to a serpent in your hand. 16 You shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. Behold, until now you haven’t listened.” 17 Yahweh says, “In this you shall know that I am Yahweh. Behold: I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. 18 The fish that are in the river will die and the river will become foul. The Egyptians will loathe to drink water from the river.”’” 19 Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood. There will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’” 20 Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck 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 The fish that were in the river died. The river became foul. The Egyptians couldn’t drink water from the river. The blood was throughout all the land of Egypt. 22 The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken. 23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he didn’t even take this to heart. 24 All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they couldn’t drink the river water. 25 Seven days were fulfilled, after Yahweh had struck the river.
The first plague strikes the river Egypt worshiped and the river in which Hebrew infants were drowned.
Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he is going out to the water. You shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him. You shall take the rod which was turned to a serpent in your hand.
The king is intercepted at the riverbank, where he has business of his own; the morning attendance of Egypt's rulers at the Nile was a religious act. Moses is sent to meet him at the exact place where the claim to be disproved is being made.
The Nile was not a water supply. It was the country. Egypt has almost no rain, and the annual flood deposited the silt that made agriculture possible, so the river was worshiped, personified, and thanked. Striking it first is therefore not an arbitrary opening move. It is the announcement of a subject, and the subject is stated in advance: in this you shall know that I am Yahweh Exodus 7:17.
There is a second reason, and the narrative has already planted it. The last royal decree recorded before this is you shall cast every son who is born into the river Exodus 1:22. The river that swallowed Hebrew children is the first thing to be judged, and it is judged by being made to look like what was done in it.
20 Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck 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 The fish that were in the river died. The river became foul. The Egyptians couldn’t drink water from the river. The blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.
Attempts to reduce this to a red algal bloom carried down from the highlands run into the details the text supplies rather than the ones it omits. The change happens on command, at a named moment, in the sight of witnesses; it extends to vessels of wood and... vessels of stone Exodus 7:19, which no flood deposit reaches; and it ends on a schedule, after seven days. A natural process that begins when a rod is raised and stops a week later is not less miraculous for having a mechanism.
The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.
The imitation is now openly absurd, and the narrative lets the absurdity stand without remarking on it. Every drop of water in Egypt has already been ruined; the court's answer is to ruin some more. Not one of the magicians can reverse anything, and it never seems to occur to anyone that this is the ability worth having. Counterfeit power can add to a disaster and cannot lift it — which is precisely the difference the plagues are designed to expose, and by the third sign the magicians themselves will say so.
Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he didn’t even take this to heart.
The indifference is the most chilling line in the chapter, because of what surrounds it. All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink Exodus 7:24. His whole nation is on its knees in the mud along the bank, digging for something to give their children, and the king goes indoors. A hardening heart is not always dramatic. Frequently it looks like a man declining to be interested.
held with reason What this mark means