Exodus 7:22, commentary and pictures

Exodus 7:22 belongs to the first plague, when the river worshiped as a god because it supplied water, crops, and food was struck in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants and turned to blood, the fish died, and the water remained unusable for seven days. Before the plague its nature and effect were faithfully told to Pharaoh, giving him the privilege of saving himself from judgment by letting Israel go to sacrifice to God, but his refusal brought the judgment. The plague struck at reverence for the Nile and its waters, exposing the inability of the worshiped waters to protect or help their worshipers and showing Jehovah's supremacy over idols.

Egypt's magicians imitated the turning of water into blood by their enchantments, even changing water drawn from wells in the same way, and their imitation did not end the plague or change its seven-day continuance. Moses acted by the power of God to convince Pharaoh that the great I AM sent him to command release of Israel to serve Him, while the magicians' success came not by human science alone but because Satan himself was present aiding and working through them. Through the magicians Satan sought to counterfeit the true work and destroy its influence, to harden Pharaoh's heart against God's manifestations, to stagger the faith of Moses and Aaron in the divine origin of their mission so his instruments would prevail, to keep Israel in servitude from serving God, and to send unbelief through all ages to destroy faith in the mighty miracles Christ would perform at His first advent to break Satan's power over the captive human family and prove the Father had sent Him.

Because the magicians copied the miracle, Pharaoh believed the miracles were performed by magic, and their imitation helped him resist the message and strengthened that belief. Pharaoh's heart was hardened as God had foretold; he remained unmoved, refused to listen to and heed the warning, despised the words of Moses and Aaron, refused to yield and humble himself, had no power to harm them, and only increased his hatred of the Israelites. Satan used the counterfeit miracles to resist God's will and keep Pharaoh from acknowledging God's supremacy and obeying Him, yet the counterfeits did not defeat God's purpose; God permitted Satan to imitate only a few miracles and would not suffer him to proceed further, and the counterfeits prepared the way for greater displays of divine power and glory that made the true and living God's existence and sovereignty clearer to Israel and Egypt.

Evidence that the plagues were judgments from God and not magic was given when the frogs were later removed yet their dead and piled-up bodies remained visible and corrupted the air. Most of the signs and wonders God wrought through Moses before Pharaoh were imitated by the magicians, and this is a pattern for the time just before the final deliverance of the saints, when God will work powerfully for His people and modern magicians working by Satan's power through rapping and mesmerism will be permitted to imitate God's work with increased power, working miracles and even bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men, and by that power will account for all the miracles wrought by Jesus Christ on earth and lead many to believe His mighty works were done by that same power. The magicians' imitation warns that deceptive powers are active in the world and among professed churches, like a growing power of darkness, against which God's people must remain awake, grow in grace and truth, and keep their spiritual strength.