The Ten Plagues (3)

Do you have any rivers or lakes near the place where you live? Maybe you even have a small creek running through your back yard. Creeks can be so pretty and peaceful.

In the land of Egypt there was a large river near to the place where the children of Israel lived. That river was called the Nile River and was very important for the Egyptians. They used it for many things. Just remember, in those days people did not have water in their homes; they could not turn on a tap to get water like we do. They had to go to the river to get drinking water, water for washing their clothes, and for bathing. The river was also very important to water the ground so that the people could grow their crops. The people thought so much of the river Nile that they made it into one of their gods. Do you still remember when we told you that many people worshipped strange gods such as the sun and moon, and even gods of love and of war? The Egyptians also worshipped the river Nile.

One day when King Pharaoh was walking near the river, he met Aaron and Moses. They were again coming to ask the king to let them go to worship God. The Lord had told Moses and Aaron to go to the river and there meet Pharaoh. Pharaoh was not happy to see them. Moses and Aaron again said that the Lord wanted them to go to worship, but Pharaoh would not let them go. The Lord had told Moses to then smite the river with the rod that was in his hand. When Moses did that, the river changed color as the water turned into blood.

Pharaoh then called his magicians who also were able to turn water into blood. How is that possible? You and I cannot do that. The Lord allowed them to do this so that He could show even greater wonders to Pharaoh. Pharaoh refused to let the people go. The Bible tells us that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. When our hearts are hardened, we no longer have any respect for God’s Word. We should pray to the Lord that our hearts will not be hardened like Pharaoh so that we will listen closely to what the Lord has to say to us in the sermons we hear in church. Think how terrible it was for the Egyptians to have all their water turned into blood. That means that they would have to wash in it and even drink it when they became thirsty. The river also began to stink because all of the fish died as the Lord had said unto Moses. The people began to dig around the river to try to get water to drink. The water stayed bloody for seven days; then the Lord allowed it to again turn into clean water.

Do you know why the Lord did this to the river? We are told that we must worship and serve the Lord only. When we serve other gods, the Lord sends His punishments. He punished the Egyptians in this way because they worshipped the Nile as one of their gods. It showed that the Lord was more powerful than all these man-made gods.

The Lord had to bring many punishments upon the Egyptians before Pharaoh would let the people of Israel go to worship. We hope to tell you more next month.

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