Komentarz do Wyjścia 7:17

ונהפכו לדם AND THEY SHALL BE TURNED INTO BLOOD — Because rain does not fall in Egypt but the Nile rises and irrigates the land and the Egyptians on this account worshipped the Nile, therefore God first smote their deity and afterwards smote them (Exodus Rabbah 9:9).

'בזאת תדע כי אני ה, to teach you who have said: “I do not know any god by the name of Hashem.” (5,2)

'בזאת תדע כי אני ה; I will turn something that never changes in nature and never ceases to flow, into something else. This will demonstrate My power over natural law.

בזאת תדע כי אני ה׳, "In this you shall know that I am י־ה־ו־ה." The reason G'd used the plague of blood to prove to Pharaoh that He was who He said He was, is understandable when we consider Shemot Rabbah 9,9 according to which the Egyptians looked upon the Nile as a benevolent deity. By striking this deity first and turning it into a source of curse instead of a source of life, G'd demonstrated that He owned the Nile. According to the Zohar volume 3 page 297 the tetragram implies the eternity of G'd. He had preceded the river Nile just as He had preceded every other phenomenon in the world.

כה אמר ה'.....הנה אנכי מכה במטה אשר בידי, “Thus says the Lord….behold I am about to strike with the staff which is in my hand, etc.” According to Ibn Ezra this verse is only a short summary of what is going to happen, the missing ingredient being the name of the One Who had entrusted Moses with this mission. The verse really should have read: “here I, the Lord’s messenger, am about to strike the waters in the river Nile with the staff which is in the hands of Aaron.” Moses described the staff as being in his own hand, although Aaron would use it to turn the water into blood, the reason being that he wanted to make plain to Pharaoh that both he and Aaron were equally involved in what was going to unfold before his eyes. Personally, I do not see why Ibn Ezra had any difficulty with the wording as it is, seeing that, as we already explained, it was always Aaron who addressed Moses’ words to Pharaoh. It is natural therefore that he referred to the staff as his staff.

V. 17. בזאת תדע כי אני ד׳, dass der gegenwärtige und nächste Moment nicht blindnotwendige Folge von tausendjährigem Kausalnexus ist, sondern jeder kommende Moment unmittelbares Produkt meines Willens ist, der ich die ganze Zukunft frei in Händen habe.

בזאת תדע, “by the way the punishment fits the crime you will know;” seeing that you have said: “I don’t know a deity called Hashem, I will give you proof of the existence and power of such a deity.” The precise meaning of the word תדע here is: “you will begin to know.”

G'd also hinted at His attribute of Mercy when He smote the river. He wanted to give Pharaoh a chance to repent when the latter realised His awesome power as manifested by His turning the river into blood. If not for the attribute of Mercy as represented by the tetragram, G'd would have already killed Pharaoh outright at this stage. The words בזאת תדע therefore refer to G'd's attribute of Mercy.

ונהפכו, “and they will be turned (into blood);” the letter ה is written with the vowel segol.

הנה אנכי מכה במטה אשר בידי, “I am about to strike with the staff which is my hand, etc.” The words הנה אנכי mean “at my command,” (seeing Aaron was doing the actual striking of the river, verse 20); The verse teaches that the water was transformed not only in appearance but also in taste as well as in smell. We know that the appearance changed from verse 20 where the miracle is described as occurring before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants. We know that the taste of the river changed from the words: “the fish in the river died.” Fish live in a cool environment. When the water turned into blood it also became warmer. The fish drank from it and died as they could not survive in the warmer temperatures. We know that the smell of the river changed from the words: “the river stank.”