Chapter 7
Verse 6:28 seems to sort of "take up the narrative" where it was before the long genealogy. This makes it seem like 7:1 is sort of starting over. It isn't really. It is just continuation. God says the relationship is like this: Moses will be as God to Pharoah - that is, Moses will speak the words of God to Aaron, who will be as a prophet, and then Aaron will tell Pharoah - in a prophetic role - what Moses has said. God tells Moses that Pharoah will say no many times before he relents. This verse:
6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them. [Exo 7:6 ESV]
So at some point, these two brothers get it all exactly right, and begin to carry out God's will as intended. Without complaint or attempt at escape from the responsibility given them, and even in the face of anger and criticism from those they are trying to help.
2021 - This chapter is where the signs and wonders God performs, escalating to the angel of death taking all the firstborn of Egypt, really begin. What went before was just preliminary. A simple request, and brutal response, and a rejection of Moses by the people. That all had to happen before these signs, sent in judgment and aimed at coercion, would begin.
Moses and Aaron talk to Pharoah. Staffs turn to serpents. Aaron's serpent eats the serpents made by the magicians. Still, Pharoah refuses to see, and God sends the first plague. God sends Moses to announce the plague with these words:
16 And you shall say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, "Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness." But so far, you have not obeyed. [Exo 7:16 ESV]
One could see in this that Moses is still asking Pharoah to let them go three days into the desert to sacrifice and then they will come back. But taken literally, it just says God wants the people to worship him not in Egypt but in the wilderness. The promise to return that was implied before is no longer here.
First plague. Water to blood for seven days. This affected not only the Nile, but all water in Egypt, even what was already stored in pots. But the magicians of Egypt could do the same. They could also turn water into blood. BUT, they apparently could not turn blood into water. They could not undo what God had done, but they could mimic it. Satan can do this too - and indeed he was likely working through the magicians here. By false signs he made Pharoah confident in denying the power of God, the sovereignty of God, and so escalated the events that were coming. Today, we use science to "explain" the unexplainable, and so justify continuing in our own "power" and denying God a place in our lives.
Possible FB post here. Maybe two.
2021 - This year I note that the plague had two parts. For Moses' part, the Nile turns to blood. That is here: 17 Thus says the LORD, "By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood. [Exo 7:17 ESV] God is speaking directly to Moses here, and this is what Moses is to say to Pharoah, and then Moses' staff touches the Nile and it becomes blood. But next is this: 19 And the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'" [Exo 7:19 ESV] All the other water in Egypt, besides that in the Nile, is turned to blood by Aaron's hand staff. This certainly reinforces vs 6, where Moses and Aaron were both doing exactly as instructed.
2023 - This also validates Aaron's role as "prophet" in the whole scenario about to unfold. Pharoah would note that it is not just Moses who is exercising God's power, but also Aaron.
Digging near the Nile you could get potable water. God's intent was not to kill off the Egyptians with thirst. It was to show his power and convince them to do as he willed. Even in the plagues, mercy still exists. This situation continues for 7 days.