The First Plague

The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood
The First Commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me." Exodus 20:3

“God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain” -C.S. Lewis

These posts will be a bit lengthy because I’m going to include all scripture so you can read the entire story; but push through and I think it will be well worth your time. I am hoping the key focus on these next ten posts will be on selfishness and how we are to rid this from our lives. I know, however, these posts will tie in many different ideas ranging over quite a spectrum. But now: onto the First Plague and Commandment. Thank you for reading.

The Plague of Blood Exodus 7:14-24

"14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”
19 The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.”

20 Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. 23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river."

The Verdict: When we put other gods before our Heavenly Father, we allow the water to be turned into blood.

So big deal, right? We don't put other gods before the One True God. That is just ridiculous! We are correct in saying this is ridiculous, but I would beg to differ that we never put other gods before God. In fact, I think this is one of the most common commandments we break. I, myself, am guilty of this one (in my opinion). I view this commandment in this way: whenever I give in and satisfy my selfish desires-which can range from laziness to just wanting pointless "stuff" to many others- I am putting that "god" before the God of Israel. I do not view it this way to make myself feel bad, I just think often times, we place "stuff" higher on our priority list that does not belong there and this is wrong. Again, this is just how I view this command. So we have talked about breaking this commandment, now what is all this nonsense about the water being turned into blood?

This is where I turn to the Bible: the first thing that pops into my mind when I hear "water turned to..." I think of Jesus turning water into wine in the Gospel of John.

Jesus Changes Water Into Wine

"1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to the servants “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

8 Then he told them “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him."


In this story, there is a wedding and the guests have run out of wine. Jesus comes in to "save the day" as he then turns 6 jars, each holding 20-30 gallons of water used for purification rites, into wine. It is important to note that this is not "normal" water. It is important water that was used for purification.

So what does this mean for us? For application’s sake, let us view ourselves, Christ followers, as the water used for purification for a moment. I believe that if we obey God and follow Him with best of our ability, God transforms us from the water into sweet wine that otherwise we cannot have. I believe that obeying God entails that we are constantly finding and completing Gods will. Also, when this transformation occurs, we must gravitate towards the change God is making within our lives even if it seems difficult. And as God changes us, I think we begin to understand more deeply the love of Christ. Now, if we choose to disobey Him (choose our will over God’s), particular His First commandment, we are instead turned into deadly blood. This transformation must be something hated by us, if we wish to avoid it. If we break this command, this smelly blood will be noticeable. The blood may even stain us, and then only God can wash us clean.

In the story of the plagues in Exodus, when the water is turned to blood, it is important to see that all of the water is turned to blood. It is everywhere. This stinky, deadly blood which kills the fish in the Nile... is everywhere. It leaves the Egyptians without water, the most essential element in human survival. It forces the Egyptians to dig holes to find other sources of water. Basically, there is absolutely nothing good that comes out of this. Now, I think this relates to our normal response when we choose to break the First Commandment. When we put other gods before God, we become something this blood that can destroy our lives along with the lives of others. We transform ourselves into this smelly blood that can cause damage on a large scale- and it is our fault. In this state, we often will search for other forms of satisfaction other than God (just like how the Egyptians resorted to finding other sources of water). These other forms of satisfaction may work for a short while, but they will not work forever.

So, what must we do now? We cannot break this commandment or we will be turned into blood rather than wine. Desiring to find and fulfill God’s will must consume us, but not because we are scared of this plague-but because we truly desire to love God with everything. When we do break the command, however, we must realize it, repent, and desire to be transformed into wine (which is something only Christ can do). My friends, let's stop putting our own selfish thoughts and desires before the Loving God who can transform us into wine if we just obey Him. Let us not even drift close to being turned into deadly blood. Instead, let’s be transformed into His wine by completely focusing on Him, putting Him in everything, and obeying Him to the best of our human capability.


2 Chronicles 7:14