Exodus 7:25

_AND SEVEN DAYS WERE FULFILLED, AFTER THAT THE LORD HAD SMITTEN THE RIVER._ Seven days were fulfilled, after the Lord had smitten the river. The natural impression conveyed by these words is, that the plague continued for the space of a week; and Osburn ('Mon. Hist.,' 2:, p. 578) tries to explain it by saying, that in the flat plains of Lower Egypt, where the current in the various Nile branches is slow and sluggish, this is about the time the contents of the river would require to flow from the crown of the Delta to the sea. Others, as Hengstenberg, connect these words with the following section, as intimating that in seven days after the beginning of the first plague, without any reference to its close, the second plague was threatened. The words stand in this connection in our Hebrew Bibles, which continue until the close of Exodus 7:4 of the next chapter in our version. The f

14-25 Here is the first of the ten plagues, the turning of the water into blood. It was a dreadful plague. The sight of such vast rolling streams of blood could not but strike horror. Nothing is more common than water: so wisely has Providence ordered it, and so kindly, that what is so needful and serviceable to the comfort of human life, should be cheap and almost every where to be had; but now the Egyptians must either drink blood, or die for thirst. Egypt was a pleasant land, but the dead fish and blood now rendered it very unpleasant. It was a righteous plague, and justly sent upon the Egyptians; for Nile, the river of Egypt, was their idol. That creature which we idolize, God justly takes from us, or makes bitter to us. They had stained the river with the blood of the Hebrews' children, and now God made that river all blood. Never any thirsted after blood, but sooner or later they...

Verse Exodus 7:25. _AND SEVEN DAYS WERE FULFILLED_] So we learn that this plague continued at least a whole week. THE contention between Moses and Aaron and the magicians of Egypt has become famous throughout the world. Tradition in various countries has preserved not only the account, but also the names of the chief persons concerned in the opposition made by the Egyptians to these messengers of God. Though their names are not mentioned in the sacred text, yet tradition had preserved them in the _Jewish records_, from which St. Paul undoubtedly quotes 2 Timothy 3:8, where, speaking of the enemies of the Gospel, he compares them to _Jannes and Jambres, who withstood Moses_. That these names existed in the ancient Jewish records, their own writings show. In the _Targum_ o

SEVEN DAYS - This marks the duration of the plague. The natural discoloration of the Nile water lasts generally much longer, about 20 days....

EXPOSITION Necessity is the mother of invention. Finding the Nile water continue utterly undrinkable, the Egyptians bethought themselves of a means of obtaining water to which they never had recourse in ordinary times. This was to dig pits or wells at some distance from the river, and so obtain the moisture that lay in the ground, no doubt derived from the river originally, but already there before the change of the water into blood took place. This, it appears, remained water, and was drinkable, though probably not very agreeable, since, owing to the nitrous quality of the soil in Egypt, well-water has always a bitter and brackish taste. It sufficed, however, for drinking and culinary purposes during the "seven_ _days" that the plague continued (Exodus 7:25). Exodus 7:24

AND SEVEN DAYS WERE FULFILLED,.... Or there were full seven days, a whole week: AFTER THAT THE LORD HAD SMITTEN THE RIVER, and turned it into blood; here the miracle is ascribed to him; Moses and Aaron, and the rod they used, were only instruments, nothing short of almighty power could do such a miracle; it seems this lasted seven days at least. It began, as Bishop Usher o computes it, on the eighteen day of the sixth month, or Adar, part of February and part of March, and ended the twenty fifth of the same. It is not said that Pharaoh requested to have it removed, though Philo p says he did; his stubborn heart not being humbled enough as yet to ask such a favour, and therefore perhaps it was taken off without asking for it, to make way for another. o Annal. Vet. Test. p. 20. p Ut supra. (De Vita. Mosis, l. 1. p. 617.)...

4. THE NINE PLAGUES AND THE TENTH JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED CHAPTER 7:14-25 The First Plague _ 1. The plague announced (Exodus 7:14)_ 2. The judgment executed (Exodus 7:20) Nine judgment plagues follow, and after they had passed, the tenth, the great judgment, fell upon Egypt. There are striking and different characteristics of these plagues. Aaron uses his rod in the beginning of the plagues, while Moses stretches out his rod and hand in the last three, not counting the slaying of the firstborn. Some of them were announced beforehand, others were not announced and came without warning. We give them now in their order: 1. Water turned into blood; 2. Frogs; 3. Lice; 4. Flies; 5. Murrain; 6. Boils; 7. Hail; 8. Locusts; 9. Darkness (see

1°. WATER TURNED INTO BLOOD (Exodus 7:14 a J; Exodus 7:15 b E_ r_; Exodus 7:16 a J; Exodus 7:17 b, with the rod. hand, E; Exodus 7:17 c - Exodus 7:18 J; Exodus 7:19 a, commanded, P; Exodus 7:20 b, to servants, E; Exodus 7:20 c -...

Exodus 7:14 to Exodus 11:5 _The first nine Plagues_ The narrative of the Plagues, like that of the preceding Chapter s, is composite. The details of the analysis depend partly upon literary criteria, partly upon differences in the representation, which are not isolated, but recurrent, and which moreover _accompany_the literary differences and support the conclusions based upon them, the differences referred to often also agreeing remarkably with corresponding differences in the parts of the preceding narrative, especially in Exodus 3:1 to Exodus 7:13, which have already, upon independent grounds, been assigned to P, J, and E, respectively. N

AND SEVEN DAYS WERE FULFILLED— It seems to follow from these words, compared with the beginning of the next chapter, that, after this plague had continued one whole week, God removed it, in order to introduce another display of his power. REFLECTIONS.—God gives warning before he strikes. Vengeance is his strange work; but when admonition is vain, then he draws the glittering sword. The judgment is heavy: all the water turned into blood, their fish destroyed, their land thus threatened with dearth, and themselves to die with thirst. The waters of the Nile were the cause of Egypt's fruitfulness, but now they are its plague; so easily can God turn our comforts into curses. They had stained its streams with the blood of Hebrew children, and now they shall in return have blood to drink. Thus God will repay in kind; and this done openly for their greater conviction. Truth never needs or seeks...