Exo 7.1-25 tells us that Yehovah reaffirms the work of Moses and to harden Pharaoh’s heart; Moses and Aaron appear before Pharaoh, and Aaron’s rod turns into a serpent; Pharaoh’s magicians imitate the sign, but Aaron’s rod swallows up the other two rods; Moses warns about the first plague; NIle is turned to blood and the magicians imitate it; Pharaoh’s heart grows hard.
v 1…Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have set you in God’s place to Pharaoh (a shaliach, a direct representative), and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet (spokesman; Aaron would say what God told Moses).
v 2…Yous shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.
v 3…But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt (this is a battle of Monotheism versus Polytheism; competing “powers” will show that Yehovah has all the power).
v 4…When (not “if”) Pharaoh will not listen to you, then I will lay my hand on Egypt, and I bring out my hosts (armies), my peoplee the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgements.
v 5…And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord (when everything I said was going to happen, happens), when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst (God wanted to take Israel out, but at the same time he wanted to introduce himself to Pharaoh and the people of Egypt).”
v 6…So Moses and Aaron did it; as the Lord commanded them, thus they did.
v 7…And Moses and eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
v 8…Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
v 9…”When Pharaoh speaks to you saying, ‘Work a miracle,’ they you shall say to Aaron, ‘Yake your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh that it may become a serpent (what is the purpose of a miracle? it is to draw attention to what is being said and taught-Deut 13.1-5; God will allow false prophets to do signs to test us to see if we follow the sign or are we listening to what is being taught).”
v 10…So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the LOrd had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
v 11…Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.
v 12…For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs (the staff is a dead branch and a type of the Messiah who swallows up death-1 Cor 15.54; Exo 14.13-16; Num 21.8; Isa 25.8; the Messiah will defeat the False Messiah).
v 13…Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened (Pharaoh did it to himself in v 7.13, 8.11, 15, 28; God does it in 9.12, 27, 34-35; 10.1, 20, 27; 14.4-5) and he did not listen to them as the Lord had said.
v 14…Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn, he refuses to let the people go (Pharaoh thought he was a god, so he was not going to let another “God” out do him or defeat him; that would make him look really bad).
v 15…Go and tell Pharaoh in the morning as he is going out to the water (in honor of the NIle-god; or to walk, etc) and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent (to make Pharaoh intimidated as to what else that staff can do).
v 16…And you shall say unto him, ‘The Lord (Yehovah), the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness (Yehovah will show them how to serve him through the Torah over the next 40 years). But behold, you have not listened until now.
v 17…Thus says the Lord, ‘By this you shall know that I am the Lord (Yehovah); behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it shall be turned to blood.
v 18…And the fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul (their life-blood); and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile (the ten plagues will be against Egyptian gods-Exo 12.12; Num 33.4).”
v 19…Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of egypt, over their rivers, over their streams (canals dug by man), and over their pools and over all their reservoirs of water, that there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.”
v 20…So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that is in the Nile (their life-blood) in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood (avenging the blood of the innocent babies killed in it).
v 21…And the fish that were in the Nile died (proving it was real blood not just red colored water, etc), and the Nile became foul so that the egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of egypt.
v 22…But the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts (probably had a little water in a vessel, or it rained, or dug for it, etc), and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened (Hebrew “chazak ha lev” meaning courage to stay in the fight with this God) and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
v 23…Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this (ignored the warning).
v 24…So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile.
v 25…And seven days (the time required for purification) passed after the Lord struck the Nile (the fresh waters from the upper Nile may have flowed and cleansed the Nile in Egypt
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