Exodus 7:20

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 7:14-25

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-colored, 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,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 7:20

And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded ,.... Moses delivered the rod to Aaron, who took it and went to the water side: and he lift up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river ; or "in that river" F9 ביאר εν τω ποταμω Sept. "in eo rivo", Junius and Tremellius, Piscator. , the river Nile, on the brink of which Pharaoh then stood: in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants ; his nobles and courtiers who tended him in his walk to the water;... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 7:20

All the waters - were turned to blood - Not merely in appearance, but in reality; for these changed waters became corrupt and insalubrious, so that even the fish that were in the river died; and the smell became highly offensive, so that the waters could not be drank; Exodus 7:21 . read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 7:20

Verse 20 20.And Moses and Aaron did so. He repeats that what God threatened as to the death of the fish, and the stinking of the Nile, actually took place; that he may aggravate the sin of the king, who was unaffected by the manifold power of God. Still he immediately adds that his counsellors witnessed it also. Hence we may conjecture, that the same infatuation had pervaded the whole court. It was also proper that so memorable a circumstance should not only be known generally, but that its... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 7:14-21

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 7:14-25

The Nile turned into blood. The first of the series of plagues which fell on Egypt was of a truly terrific character. At the stretching out of the red of Aaron, the broad, swift-flowing current of. the rising Nile suddenly assumed the hue and qualities of blood. The stroke fell also on the reservoirs, canals, and ponds. Whatever connection may be traced between this plague and natural phenomena (see Hengstenberg) it is plain that it stood on an entirely different footing from changes... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 7:14-25

The first plague: the water turned to blood. I. THE PLACE WHERE MOSES WAS TO MEET PHARAOH . Moses was not always to be put to it to find his entrance into the palace. God can arrange things so that Pharaoh shall come to meet him. The instructions given to Moses at once call to our minds how Pharaoh's daughter, eighty years before, had come down to the river to find and protect a helpless babe, and how that same babe—having passed through many chequered years, and many... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 7:14-25

The water turned into blood. I. THE PUNISHMENT . There were two elements in it. 1. The deprivation: water, one of the most essential of all God's gifts, was suddenly made useless. 2 . The horror. Had all the water of Egypt suddenly disappeared, the punishment had been infinitely less. Instead of water, there was blood and corruption. 3 . It was a judgment on Egypt's idolatry. The things we set in God's stead will be made an abomination and a horror to us. 4 . It was... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 7:17-20

God's punishments appropriate and terrible ( Exodus 7:17-20 ), There was something peculiarly appropriate in the first judgment falling upon the Nile. The Nile had been made the instrument of destruction to the Israelites by the first tyrannical Pharaoh (probably Seti I .). It had been defiled with the blood of thousands of innocent victims. Crocodiles had in its waters crushed the tender limbs of those helpless infants, and had stained them with a gore that in God's sight could never... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 7:20

He lifted up the rod . "He" must be understood to mean "Aaron" (see Exodus 7:19 ); but the writer is too much engrossed with the general run of his narrative to be careful about minutia. All that he wants to impress upon us is, that the rod was used as an instrument for the working of the miracle. He is not thinking of who it was that used it. In the sight of Pharaoh . See the comment on Exodus 7:15 . And of his servants. Either "his courtiers generally," or, at any rate, a large... read more

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