Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 68:1 (Mar 2025)
Article: Turning Water To Blood (Exodus 7:14–24): The Literary Unity Of The First Plague Narrative
Author: Robert B. Chisholm, Jr.

JETS 68.1 (March 2025) p. 13

Turning Water To Blood (Exodus 7:14–24): The Literary Unity Of The First Plague Narrative

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Robert Chisholm is Department Chair and Senior Professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: The source-critical consensus contends there are two contradictory versions of the first Egyptian plague (Exod 7:14–24). In one, Moses strikes the Nile, turning the river into blood. In the other, Aaron—not Moses—raises his staff and turns all the water of Egypt into blood. However, discourse analysis reveals a unified text with a clear rhetorical strategy. After characterizing Pharaoh as obstinate, the narrator records Yahweh’s commission to Moses, gives a summary statement and description of Moses’s and Aaron’s actions—corresponding to the two parts of the commission—and then illustrates Pharaoh’s obstinance. The magicians’ duplication of the plague (v. 22) poses a challenge for interpreters. If all the water of Egypt had been turned to blood (vv. 20–21), the magicians would have had no water to transform. The logical problem signals temporal overlay. The incidents in verses 22–24 took place after Moses turned the Nile to blood, but before Aaron turned the rest of Egypt’s water to blood. The narrator’s thematic, rather than strictly chronological, arrangement begins and ends with Egyptian opposition (vv. 14–16, 22–24), bracketing the warning and implementation of judgment (vv. 17–21). The arrangement foreshadows the escalating severity of the plagues and highlights Pharaoh’s self-destructive obstinance.

Key words: Exodus, Moses, Aaron, Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s magicians, Aaron’s staff, plagues, Nile, source criticism, discourse analysis, rhetorical strategy, narrative chronology

Source critics contend that the account of the plague in Exodus 7:14–24 is comprised of multiple sources and lacks literary coherence.1 Contrary to source critical claims, I propose that careful attention to the passage’s discourse features and structure reveals its literary unity and rhetorical strategy.

I. Translation And Clausal Layout

I begin by providing a translation and (main) clausal layout of the passage that facilitates referencing when discussing the text�...