Lately I've been reading through the Old Testament. I recently found a bit of a parallel between Exodus 7:14-21 and John 2:1-11. The account in John's gospel is the first "sign" that Jesus performs which is that of turning water into wine. Here is the passage from Exodus:
Exodus 7:14-21
English Standard Version (ESV)The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 15
Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on
the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent. 16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord,
the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go,
that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not
obeyed. 17 Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”’” 19 And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and
stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers,
their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that
they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land
of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”
20 Moses and Aaron did as the Lord
commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he
lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the
water in the Nile turned into blood. 21 And the
fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could
not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land
of Egypt.
This is the only other account in scripture that I know of that tells of water being changed into something else. This is an account that every Jewish person at the time of Jesus wouldn't have known very very well! The whole Jewish religion is based on national identity as the people of God. In fact, by age 10, Jewish boys would have memorized the entire Torah(Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). In this is a passage that all the disciples would have had memorized, God is saying that they would know that He was God by the water being changed to blood. Then they saw it happening in the presence of Jesus. They saw the water turn red, just like it did in Egypt. I can see them gasp as the servant draws some for the head of the party. This isn't the blood of Egypt though, it is the blood of a new covenant. It is blood that is sweet. It is the "best saved for last". Christ is the best saved for last. Christ's blood is that of the new covenant. This is how he began His ministry; by making the most bold and true statement possible. He was saying to them, "I am God".
I love this.
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