Exodus 4:9 - Exposition

If they will not believe also . " Even " would be a better translation than "also." The river is of course "the Nile." See the comment on Exodus 2:3 . Of the three signs given, the first would probably convince all those who were religious, well-disposed, and fair-minded; the second, acting upon their fears, would move all but the desperately wicked, who despised Jehovah and put their trust in the gods of the Egyptians ( Joshua 24:14 ; Ezekiel 20:7 , Ezekiel 20:8 ; Ezekiel 23:3 , Ezekiel 23:8 , etc.). The third sign was for these last, who would regard the Nile as a great divinity, and would see in the conversion of Nile water into blood a significant indication that the God who had commissioned Moses was greater than any Egyptian one.