The Nile Turning to Blood

Question asked: "Is there any evidence that remains from the Nile turning to blood during Moses time? Someone was asking me this just the other day and I really have no answer. It does seem odd though, if it were blood that there would still be evidence somewhere in the Mediterranean…"

   Good question!  I do not know of any discoveries of blood found today in the Mediterranean Sea that remains from when the Nile turned to blood.  There may be evidences of this that have not yet come to the surface.

   However it must be realized that the waters of the Mediterranean (and oceans too) are fantastic recyclers, which is an amazing evidence of the earth's design.  Without that feature, the planet would soon be corrupted with blood and multitudes of rotting bodies, and life as we know it would cease to exist.  Of course we know that, whether or not evidence is found, the Bible is true, for God cannot lie.

   I think that the answer to this query can be found in the Bible in both Exodus 4 and Exodus 7.

In Exodus chapter 4, God has told Moses to go to Egypt, and Moses says the people would not believe him.  God gives three signs that would establish that Moses was from God:

"And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee."

First sign:
And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee."

   We find that God turns Moses' rod to a serpent, and then changes it back with no evidence of what it had just been.

Second sign:
And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign."

   We find that God turns Moses' hand to leprosy, and then changes it back with no evidence of the former disease.

Third sign:
"And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land" (Exodus 4:1-9).

   God does not do this with Moses in the wilderness, because the Nile wasn't present to draw from.  However, it is entirely possible that after it was used to give witness of God's appointment of Moses to bring the people out, that the blood would turn back to water, with no evidence of ever being blood.  In Exodus 4:29-31, Moses and Aaron delivered God's message to the enslaved Hebrews and "...did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed..."

   Now let's go to the plague of blood, the first of ten plagues that God did unto Egypt.  Each plague showed God's power and exposing the various Egyptian gods as fake and powerless (Numbers 33:4; Psalm 78:12,43-44, etc.).  The plague of blood was against the fraudulent god of the Nile.  Let's read the passage: "And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river." (Exodus 7: 20-25).    

   During this plague, the Nile waters turned to blood.  The fish died.  The river stank.  The Egyptians could not drink of the river.  And it lasted for 7 days.  By the time of the next plague (chapter 8), the river had returned to water.  Looking at it from the Bible, I see no need of evidence of blood from the river being found in the Mediterranean, for it had done its purpose, and was changed back to water.

There is still time to win a battle before the sun goes down.