River That Ran Blood

Stories From The Hebrew Bible
THE RIVER THAT RAN BLOOD

After Moses and Aaron had spoken to the people of Israel the words which God had given them, they went to meet Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Do you remember? All the kings of Egypt bore the name of Pharaoh. At first, Moses and Aaron did not ask Pharaoh to let the people go out of Egypt, never to return, but they said:

Our God, the Lord God of Israel, has told us to go out for a journey of three days into the wilderness with all our people, and there to worship Him.

But Pharaoh said, “Who is God? I do not know Him and will not obey Him. I will not let Israel go. Get back to work.”

At that time, the work of the Israelites was mostly the making of bricks. To hold the bricks together they would mix straw with clay. So, to make their work more difficult, Pharaoh commanded: “Let them make as many bricks as before; but give them no straw. Let the Israelites find their own straw for the brick-making.”

Of course this made their work harder, because it took lots of time to find the straw, and the Israelites were scattered throughout the land looking for straw to make the bricks. What made it even harder was that Pharaoh demanded they make as many bricks each day as before. And when they could not do all their work, they were cruelly beaten by the Egyptians. Many of the Israelites now became angry with Moses and Aaron, who, they thought, had brought more burden and trouble upon them. They said: “May the Lord God judge you and punish you! You have caused Pharaoh to make our suffering greater!”

So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh again as the Lord commanded.

Then Aaron threw down his rod or staff, and it turned into a snake. And there were magicians in Egypt and they threw down their rods, and their rods became snakes.

However they did their trick, Aaron’s rod swallowed theirs. But still King Pharaoh refused to obey God’s voice.

So Moses then spoke to Aaron, by God’s command, “Take your rod and wave it over the waters of Egypt, over the river Nile and the canals and the lakes.”

Then Aaron did so. He lifted up the rod and struck the water, in the sight of Pharaoh. And in a moment all the water turned to blood and the fish in the river all died; and a terrible stench, a foul smell, rose along the Nile. And the people had to dig for fresh water along the river.

So, the people of Egypt dug to find water; and the wise men of Egypt brought some water to Pharaoh, and made it look as though they had turned it to blood. And Pharaoh would not listen or let God’s people go.

After seven days Moses took away the plague of blood, but he warned Pharaoh that if he refused to obey, another plague was coming. And because Pharaoh still would not obey, Aaron stretched out his rod again, and when he did all the land was covered with frogs. Like a great army they ran over all the fields and they also filled the houses. Pharaoh said: “Pray to your God for me; ask Him to take the frogs away, and I will let the people go.”

Then Moses prayed; and God took away the frogs. They died everywhere; and the Egyptians pilled them in heaps and the land smelled bad. But Pharaoh broke his promise and would not let the people go.

Then, at God’s command by Moses, Aaron lifted his rod again and struck the dust; and everywhere the dust became lice. But still Pharaoh would not hear, and so God sent swarms and clouds of flies. The flies filled their houses, and the sky was covered. But there were no flies where the Israelites lived.

Then Pharaoh began to yield a little. He said: “Why must you go out of the land to worship God? Worship Him here in this land.”

But Moses said, “When we worship the Lord, we must make an offering: and our offerings of animals could make the people of Egypt angry.”

“Well,” said Pharaoh, “you may go; but do not go far away.” But when Moses and Aaron had taken away the plague, Pharaoh broke his promise again and still kept the people as slaves.

Then another plague came. A terrible disease struck all the animals in Egypt, the horses and donkeys, the camels, the sheep, and the oxen. All over the land they died by the thousands in a day. But no plague came upon the flocks and herds of the Israelites.

But Pharaoh was still stubborn. He would not obey God’s command. Then God told Moses and Aaron to gather up ashes with their hands from the furnace and Moses threw it up like a cloud into the air. And then instantly, throughout the land, boils began to break out on men, on beasts and the magicians, too. God ruled once again!

Still Pharaoh refused to obey; and then Moses stretched out his rod toward the sky. At once a terrible storm burst forth upon the land; it was even more terrible because rain scarcely fell in that land. Sometimes there will not be even a shower of rain for years at a time. But now the thunder sounded, the lightning flashed, and the rain poured down. And with the rain came more hail than the Egyptians had ever seen. God’s hail was so powerful it “stripped every tree.” The hail hit all the crops growing in the fields and the fruits growing on trees and destroyed them. “The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.” God ruled again!

But Pharaoh still would not keep his promises. He kept the Israelites in slavery. So, after the hail, God sent great clouds of locusts, which ate up every green thing that the hail had spared. And after the locusts came the plague of darkness. For three days there was thick darkness, no sun shining, no moon; no stars. But still Pharaoh would not let God’s people go. Pharaoh said to Moses: “Get out of my sight. Let me never see your face again. If you come into my presence, you shall be killed.”

And Moses said, “It shall be as you say, I will see your face no more.”

And God said to Moses, “There shall be one plague more, and then Pharaoh will be glad to let the people go. He will drive you out of the land. Make your people ready to go out of Egypt; your time here will soon be ended.”