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.” – Exodus 7:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 12, 2015): Exodus 7

The Egyptian God Osiris has come to be seen as the God of death in Egyptian mythology. But the description of Osiris as the God of death is incomplete. He would actually seem to be the God of all of the cycles of life. He is the birth, death and rebirth or resurrection of all life. His lifeblood is the Nile River, and every year as the Nile floods Osiris gives his lifeblood to the land causing birth and rebirth to be seen in Egypt. But as the Nile contracts and streams and waterways dry up, Osiris removes his blessing, and without his blessing death is the only possible result. But life always comes in cycles. And in Egypt, this cycle of life originates in the underworld, where Osiris is king.

The Nile River was extremely important to life in ancient Egypt. Many gods were associated with the river. Khnum, one of the earliest of the Egyptian deities, was thought to have been the creator and the protector of the Nile. Hapi was the Spirit of the Nile, but only Osiris had the Nile as his blood.

The first plague seems to have been directed straight at the Nile gods. All water in Egypt originated in some way from or was connected to the Nile River. And the destruction of the Nile to life in Egypt would have been catastrophic. So as Moses brings the first plague to the water of Egypt, he is threatening their very ability to survive. It is also becomes very evident that Khnum cannot protect the rivers that he created. Hapi would seem to have been destroyed by the plague. But the change of the waters to blood would seem to have been targeting Osiris. It was almost as if God was saying - if you believe the Nile to be the lifeblood of Osiris bringing the cycle of life to the land, let me show you what would happen if the rivers and streams of Egypt were literally blood. Let me see you drink and water your crops with real blood. How healthy do you think you will be then?

Interestingly, this plague also provides the first connection with the Ipuwer Papyrus. According to the Egyptian poem “the poor man complains: “How terrible! What am I to do?” Indeed, the river is blood, yet men drink of it. Men shrink from human beings and thirst after water” (Ipuwer II). Blood cannot satisfy the cravings that we have or water. For life, we need water. Whether the mention of “the river is blood” is an actual confirmation of the first plague is a subject of much debate. But what can be said is that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob wins the first round in this cosmic fight of the deities being waged over the territory of Egypt. The river deities are simply unable to stand in his presence.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 8