Exodus 4:8,9; Exodus 4:29-31
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): God’s works have a voice to speak to us, which we must diligently observe.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Moses had said, “the people will not believe me.” But the question was not, as to whether they would believe him, but whether they would believe God.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The “elders” are always to be viewed as the representatives of the people—unto them Aaron recited all that Jehovah had said unto Moses, and Moses performed the two signs. The result was precisely as God had fore-announced in Exodus 3:18; the Lord had declared they would, and so it came to pass. They believed Moses was sent of God, and that he would be their deliverer. Believing this, they bowed their heads and worshipped, adoring the goodness of God, and expressing their thankfulness for His notice of them in their distress.
THE EDITOR: But wait. It appears to me that Aaron not only acted as Moses’ spokesman to the elders according God’s appointment, Exodus 4:14-16—but that it was also Aaron who did those first two signs before them.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Not Aaron, but Moses “did the signs.”
THE EDITOR: I disagree. The direct sense of verse 30 is quite plain: “And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.”
MATTHEW POOLE: Aaron did the signs as Moses’ minister, or by the command and direction of Moses.
THE EDITOR: Yes. And under Moses’ direction, it was also Aaron who performed this sign unto Pharaoh: “The LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 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,” Exodus 7:8,9.
And when Pharaoh didn’t believe that first sign, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in righteous judgment, verse 13. God’s voice in the sign accomplished the purpose for which He had sent it, in accordance with how people believe or reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ: “to the one it is the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life,” 2 Corinthians 2:16.
Notice that Pharaoh never saw the second sign, concerning the leprosy; surely that’s instructive—when a man rejects Christ’s death and resurrection, he cannot see his own natural heart as it really is, nor does he have a new heart born in the Spirit. Judgment now took hold on Pharaoh; at God’s command, Moses directed Aaron “to stretch out the rod of God over the waters, and turn them to blood,” Exodus 7:15-21.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: This was a solemn and most expressive figure of the consequence of refusing to bow to the divine testimony.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): There is great beauty in the expression, “the voice of the sign”—Words and signs had been hitherto unavailing with Pharaoh: Moses therefore is now commanded to stretch the awful rod of punishment over him; and to threaten him with such severe plagues, as should cause him to acknowledge Jehovah—of Whom Pharaoh had said so tauntingly, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?” Exodus 5:2.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The Egyptians had stained the river with the blood of the Hebrew’s children, and now God made that river all bloody. Thus He “gave them blood to drink, for they were worthy,” Revelation 16:6…The very sight of such vast rolling streams of blood—pure blood no doubt, florid and high-coloured—could not but strike a horror upon people.
THE EDITOR: The Lord had said unto Moses, “See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet,” Exodus 7:1. Now, note the exact wording of what was to be said to Pharaoh: “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,” Exodus 7:17. Here God takes ownership of the “rod of God;” yet this judgment is to be displayed by Aaron’s prophetic hand, the same man God that later appointed as the high priest to enter the holy place on the Day of Atonement, Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 16. So also, on the final Day of Judgment, Jesus will judge those who reject His atonement for sin. Listen to Christ’s warning, that the Father “hath committed all judgment unto the Son,” John 5:22. And God “hath commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead,” Acts 17:30,31.
A. W. PINK: The water turned into blood speaks of life giving place to death. It anticipates “the second death,” that eternal death—“the lake of fire,” which awaits every Christ rejecter.
THE EDITOR: In that day, the entire unbelieving world will realize that Jesus Christ is not only God’s appointed Priest and Prophet, but the King Who will stretch out the “rod of God” upon them in judgment—“He shall rule them with a rod of iron,” Revelation 19:15. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel,” Psalm 2:9.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): In Revelation 16:4, we read, “the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.” Thus the very sources of life are destroyed, as in Egypt when the river itself became blood.
THOMAS COKE: It is to be remembered, that none of these plagues affected the Israelites.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: It was, first, to be a sign to Israel, and afterwards a plague upon Egypt.
A. W. PINK: It therefore tells of the consequences of refusing to believe what the other signs so plainly bore witness to. If man rejects the testimony of God’s Word that he is under the dominion of Satan and is depraved by nature, and refuses the One Who alone can deliver from the one, and cleanse from the other, nothing but Divine judgment awaits him.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): God’s signs have a voice, and words. They speak not only to our eyes, but to our ears.
MATTHEW POOLE: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,” is an “epiphonema,” or a conclusion of a speech, by which Christ often shuts up grave and weighty discourses. “Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it,” Micah 6:9.
A. W. PINK: Be warned, unsaved reader. Flee to Christ for refuge, ere the storm of Divine wrath overtakes thee.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: Still, the door is open; still, in boundless grace, the forgiveness of sins is preached to thee. But, oh, beware—in righteousness, and no longer mercy, God may then harden thy heart, as He in righteousness hardened the defiant Pharaoh. Is it nothing that thou perish forever in everlasting fire?
THE EDITOR: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him,” Psalm 2:12.
